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Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

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Re: Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

#201

Post by digitalinfinity »

mrjatx wrote: post #97
pjmlp wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Properties -> Settings -> Layout -> change res -> Save. I never understood why some people make such a big fuss out of it.

Because some of us have to deal with hundreds/thousands of servers. Lots of Windows boxes without Chef/Puppet bootstrapping them is a miserable experience. I don't know how many times I've disabled IEESC and made cmd quickedit enabled in my life just to be able to use the box (prior to doing it via bootstrapping).

Here's the regkey that controls this setting: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc978570.aspx

Should be fairly easy to script deploying that to all your machines.

Re: Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

#202

Post by jimmahoney »

bratsche wrote: post #74
paperwork wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm rooting for MS. My (not so serious) test for windows is simple: the day I can resize dos command prompt as easily as terminal windows on linux/osx is the day Microsoft I need to seriously consider going back to windows :)

I know you're not being serious, but there are some other terminal apps that are better than the basic DOS prompt. Check out ConEmu, for example. Now, once you've got ConEmu or something like it that will resize nicely and do other things, you'll still be stuck on the crappy DOS-style prompt though. :)

Another is Git Bash (http://git-scm.com/downloads) which gives a reasonable terminal/shell on Windows including many of the standard utilities (e.g. ssh).

Re: Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

#203

Post by veemjeem »

gcb0 wrote: post #140
ggreer wrote: post #50

That's a really nice piece of hardware. I've used MacBook Airs since 2010, but the Surface 3 looks to be strictly dominating in the hardware department. Unfortunately, I don't think Microsoft will convert many OS X devs unless they make some changes to their software. One of the advantages of OS X is that it's a Unix, and lots of Unix software runs on it. It's not hard to compile tools such as nmap, Vim, or steam loc…

OSX is less unix than it can get. No X. Crazy apple-only-standards... Heck you can't even use vim! i will eat my hat if you open vim in OSX and be able to copy/paste. The + register just goes to nowhere. OS X is broken unix. windows sucks in many regards, but it always had million more devs than OSX... i know implementing fixes on top of windows goes against the free software philosophy, but there are already too man…

Not sure I understand your post. I use vim everyday with copy & paste on my mac. Maybe the commands are slightly different than when ssh'ed into some box, but us vim users are capable of remembering many obscure keystrokes.

Re: Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

#205

Post by seanmcdirmid »

astrodust wrote: post #52
josefresco wrote: post #6

Microsoft needs to keep at it. While this iteration is great, the platform will not flourish if they falter or take a release cycle off. Consistent upgrades to the Surface hardware, and support of the developer community is key to winning the overall tablet war for MS.

While it's great to see Microsoft innovating like this and pushing their product aggressively forward, it must really chafe with their OEM community. Why would you buy some clunky classic notebook when you can get a Surface 3 for virtually the same price? It's basically impossible for OEMs to compete when Microsoft can include Windows for free and they have to pay a premium to bundle it.

As far as I can tell the surface pro 3 is still not lap friendly, which makes it a no go for my working preferences (a sofa chair at Starbucks sans table).

I'm interested in what the OEMS will produce, if only I could get a true convertible with hi dpi + decent stylus support! I would buy that (yoga pro 2 is tempting, but no stylus + crappy trackpad...). Competition is good (and I say that as an MS employee).

Re: Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

#206

Post by X4 »

smrtinsert wrote: post #194
bri3d wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Services_for_UNIX ? In my experience Cygwin works better for the "compile software targeted mostly at Linux users" use case, but Microsoft definitely pursued the "make Windows a Unix" approach. Sadly Interix saw limited adoption (probably due to pricing) and has been discontinued, so we're left with the user-space emulation approaches (like Cygwin).

They should really just buy cygwin and make it the default shell keeping powershell as optional. It's time for MS to acknowledge they need to catch up and be a little bit more interoperable with power users from other oses. cygiwn is one of the first thing i install when I bring up a new windows box.

Ontopic:

I would buy it, if these criterias were met:

     1) I can install  an unpopular Linux distro onto it (NO VM!).
     2) I won't get serious issues on Linux, due to no drivers being found compatible, overheating, hybrid-gpu switching problems, touchscreen issues, jumping stylus, battery dead in
@smrtinsert

Should, would, could. But they didn't, for about two centuries, sorry シ There is so much hope in your writing, hope that Microsoft recognizes where it erred and where it did it right. Alas, there might be no such plan, because they haven't found a way to directly capitalize on that yet, or political/strategical/management reasons.

I don't have any prejudices against Windows, OSX, Linux, BSD and alternative OS users, but I like all of them. What makes me and probably others turn off the ears are hardcore evangelists of any kind just as well as fanboys/fangirls. This is not directed to you, you're ok check ✊ . I just want to say that, there are such people whom you can innocently ask, why they've installed Windows onto their Mac (for example) and all you get is arrogance and hatred plus a bunch of prejudices on how one can question the superiority of windows. On another case I talked with a Windows Phone developer and she was such a hard knock evangelist, I was kinda feeling attacked, just because I asked how she plans on integrating with the back-end software we've developed to deploy the final app to various app stores.

Re: Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

#207

Post by seanmcdirmid »

LeafyGreenbriar wrote: post #135
bane wrote: post #16

I'm starting to see more and more Surface devices in my area. It seems to be getting popular with the Starbuck's salesguy crowd who need something as compact as a tablet, but they can use real applications on. I know that's kind of cliche, but you don't really "get" that meaning until you walk into a coffee shop and see 2 or 3 people sitting around with tablets sticking up on the tables. The Android and iPad guys are…

I completely agree about the keyboard cover. That accessory is critical to the experience of using the device. Without it the Surface is an oversized tablet with a diminutive app store (yes, I know that it is a lot better than it used to be). The ability to switch it into "laptop-mode" is the key selling point, and has appeared in every demonstration of the device I've ever seen. It should be included, and they need…

Is it really laptop mode though, or does the surface pro 3 still require a table to use effectively? I might buy this if I could actually use it well on my lap!

Re: Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

#208

Post by rbanffy »

JimmaDaRustla wrote: post #127
rbanffy wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that a mechanical backlit keyboard? Are we comparing apples to apples (no pun intended)?

The point of the comparison isn't to compare the two products against each other, but rather to suggest that the Surface is more power/technology for less weight as a portable device.

I would expect a brand new just launched device with the most recent technology available would stack up favorably against an older device that uses a different form factor and has not been significantly updated in about a year.

It's like saying your V-8 Corvette is lighter than your 3 year old V-8 Dodge Challenger. I would be very surprised if it weren't.

Re: Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

#209

Post by JimmaDaRustla »

dublinben wrote: post #199
JimmaDaRustla wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point of the comparison isn't to compare the two products against each other, but rather to suggest that the Surface is more power/technology for less weight as a portable device.

Putting two objects on a scale is pretty much the most literal way to compare them. You're being far too generous in your interpretation here.

No, I'm not. I was watching the live feeds - they even put both iPad plus MacBook Air on the scale versus the Surface Pro with the pure intention that one would carry both laptop and tablet on a daily basis, and that they are aiming to have the Surface be a full solution in a single, smaller form factor. Again, it is pretty clear that the intent wasn't to present the weight of product A vs product B, but rather the weight of one solution versus others.

Edit: Otherwise, the comparison is completely redundant - different form factors, different materials, difference screen sizes, etc.

Even the whole theme of the event was that the want the Surface to replace laptops. "You've been told to buy a tablet, but you know you need a laptop. Today we're going to focus on that, and only on that, taking that conflict away."

Re: Microsoft announces the Surface Pro 3

#210

Post by Rudism »

I bought a Surface Pro 2 a while back, mostly excited about the digitizer. I was definitely not disappointed.

From a casual digital artist's perspective (read: I draw a webcomic and occasionally dabble in hobbyist animation), this is a dream device. The ability to sit at my desk with the tablet hooked up to KVM via a USB hub, write and edit my script like on any desktop computer, then simply unplug and start drawing right on the screen is an amazingly satisfying work-flow. Looks like the Surface Pro 3 will only make that even better with the larger screen area.

With the right tools that are touch-enabled for panning, zooming, and rotating, it's basically the perfect way to work.

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