Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface

ignorethecode.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 162 posts

Re: Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface

#11

Post by jmduke »

nextstep wrote: post #4

"There are artists who draw on iPads, and musicians who make music on iPads, and writers who write novels on iPads, and movie makers who cut their movies on iPads. But the fact that you have to point to these people, the fact that there are articles about these people, shows that they’re unusual." Unusual in a relative sense, the same way artists and musicians and movie makers are unusual in any segment of society. T…

Unusual in a relative sense, the same way artists and musicians and movie makers are unusual in any segment of society. There are millions and millions of iPad users; of course most of them are going to use their iPads primarily for consumption.

What you are saying is correct, but does not address the author's point, which is that the subset of artists/musicians/etc. who mainly use iPads for their creative/productive output is still very small.

Using a Microsoft Surface is in itself unusual. I remember clearly the one time I saw someone using a Surface. It was an usual event. But on my way to work I see tens (hundreds?) of iPads and an assortment of android tablets and kindles.

Why was using the Surface unusual, beyond the fact that seeing one was unusual?

Re: Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface

#12

Post by bunderbunder »

dangrossman wrote: post #5
bunderbunder wrote: post #2

's funny; one of the screenshots is used to call out the Charms bar as an example of great UI. For me - as a user of Windows 8 on a desktop - it has become something of an icon of just how poor Windows 8's UI is. On a tablet, you swipe it out from the left edge of the screen. Makes sense - so much sense that Apple copied the idea in iOS 7. On a PC, you bring out the charms bar by frustratedly wiggling your mouse agai…

Shooting the mouse into a corner is actually one of those gestures that is hardest to get wrong, which is why we've placed the window's close button up there for decades. Your mistake is aiming for the side instead of the top right corner of the screen; you can't overshoot it, so it never takes more than one physical gesture. You can also swipe from the right edge of your touchpad as if it were the screen.

What's the equivalent of the right edge of the touchpad if you're using a mouse? Do I need to stand up and walk over to the side of my room so I can start from the wall?

On my monitor, the charms appear really far from the corner of the screen. It's true that it's an easy target to hit. That isn't the only way in which I find interacting with the charms bar to feel like throwing hatchets at the side of a barn. The arm motion's remarkably similar, too.

Re: Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface

#14

Post by dangrossman »

bunderbunder wrote: post #12
dangrossman wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shooting the mouse into a corner is actually one of those gestures that is hardest to get wrong, which is why we've placed the window's close button up there for decades. Your mistake is aiming for the side instead of the top right corner of the screen; you can't overshoot it, so it never takes more than one physical gesture. You can also swipe from the right edge of your touchpad as if it were the screen.

What's the equivalent of the right edge of the touchpad if you're using a mouse? Do I need to stand up and walk over to the side of my room so I can start from the wall? On my monitor, the charms appear really far from the corner of the screen. It's true that it's an easy target to hit. That isn't the only way in which I find interacting with the charms bar to feel like throwing hatchets at the side of a barn. The ar…

> What's the equivalent of the right edge of the touchpad if you're using a mouse?

Moving it up and to the right. You may remain seated.

Re: Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface

#15

Post by fumar »

nextstep wrote: post #4

"There are artists who draw on iPads, and musicians who make music on iPads, and writers who write novels on iPads, and movie makers who cut their movies on iPads. But the fact that you have to point to these people, the fact that there are articles about these people, shows that they’re unusual." Unusual in a relative sense, the same way artists and musicians and movie makers are unusual in any segment of society. T…

Last summer I participated in a startup accelerator in Chicago. My Macbook died in the first week! At the time, I didn't have the funds to purchase another Apple machine. Luckily, my girlfriend had recently purchased a Surface RT with the keyboard cover.

I did not think that the tablet would be able to replace a laptop for "serious" work, but it did. There are a couple of things that allowed me to do this. First, a USB port having the ability to hook it up to "stuff" comes in handy. Second, snapping apps side by side. And, the ability to use the desktop. I could have Excel and a browser window open at the same time. Third, I could access all of Google's apps through Internet Explorer.

I was able to create great decks on Powerpoint, manage large Excel files, use the Google Suite, and multitask like on a laptop. The Surface RT was my main machine for the entire summer. And, at home my lady still used it to watch netflix and surf the web in bed.

In August instead of replacing my Macbook with another Mabook, I purchased a Surface Pro. I run Adobe CC, Ableton Live, Microsoft Office on it everyday. It is my all one in solution.

Windows 8 has a learning curve. It took me about two weeks to fully understand the OS, but I came from an Mac OS background. I recently started working in a digital agency, and we use Windows 7. I have to say Windows 8 makes my workflow easier than 7.

Edit: I forgot to mention the pen! This is one piece of technology that makes me giddy. It works great with OneNote and Photoshop. I grew up with plenty of PDAs with stylus input. But, none of those lived up to the promise of an actual digital pen. Most filled the need to tap small boxes and areas on the screen. The stylus on the Surface Pro makes it feel like a different device when I am in a meeting taking notes. It stops feeling like a laptop or "tablet" and more like a digital notebook.

Re: Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface

#18

Post by Ologn »

> Preventing apps from interacting with each other cuts down on complexity, but it also means that it is difficult or sometimes even impossible to use multiple apps in conjunction on the same task.

Which is why Android has a full-range systems of Intents, BroadcastReceivers etc. to deal with this.

The blog post talks about how the iPad does not solve his problems, but Android is only mentioned once in a footnote.

Re: Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface

#19

Post by LukasMathis »

nextstep wrote: post #4

"There are artists who draw on iPads, and musicians who make music on iPads, and writers who write novels on iPads, and movie makers who cut their movies on iPads. But the fact that you have to point to these people, the fact that there are articles about these people, shows that they’re unusual." Unusual in a relative sense, the same way artists and musicians and movie makers are unusual in any segment of society. T…

You're right that Surfaces themselves are uncommon. However, people who use their devices for productivity are probably a lot more common among Surface owners than among iPad owners.

Re: Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface

#20

Post by LukasMathis »

Ologn wrote: post #18

> Preventing apps from interacting with each other cuts down on complexity, but it also means that it is difficult or sometimes even impossible to use multiple apps in conjunction on the same task. Which is why Android has a full-range systems of Intents, BroadcastReceivers etc. to deal with this. The blog post talks about how the iPad does not solve his problems, but Android is only mentioned once in a footnote.

I thought the article already covered a wide range of topics, so I wanted to focus on comparing the iPad and the Surface. You're right, though, Android solves many of these problems, too.
Post reply on HN