Microsoft's 'major' June 18 event said to showcase Windows RT tablets - Page 2

Ah, yes, I remember those 1980 years of MS dominance. The word "vaporware" came about because of MS. 

 

This time through not many folks are looking to MS to lead. Apple has assumed that position since 2007 and has held on tightly. But I think you may be onto something and MS may not fully realize they have not much relevance outside of the PC market. 

 

Microsoft is so... last century.

 

Will the Window 8 tablets run on car batteries with little casters under them, or do you think they will just use a thick power cord?

 

A massive gassive, far from passive?

as an iPad owner I hope the Microsoft tablets are a success and push Apple to do an even better job on the next iPad.  I don't get all the hate.  If Windows does well on the tablet it doesn't mean you're any less of a person if you own an iPad.  Some people take this too personally.  More competition means better products for everyone.  

Actually, those consumers don't seem confused at all. There's a difference between "if you want all the features get the latest model" versus "these are the latest models - some do this, this, and this and the others do that, that, and that".

The only place Windows 8 tablets will sell is to corporate IT departments who will force them on users, and those users will hate them and just ask why can't they use an iPad. The ship has sailed in the tablet market.

The next playbook....  ha ha ha

Comment of the day - I'd like to see that! 

I don't think this event will be all about Windows 8. It will most likely be about Windows Phone 8.

Edited by NasserAE - 6/14/12 at 7:28pm

There are no words to describe how bad that looks.:o

Which one? I'm personally not digging the drop shadows and chamfers on the bottom one…

Windows 1.0? It had everything Calendar, Calculator, file explorer, and so much more! I don’t see anything different from Vista. I mean killer drop-shadow on the calculator! That is some 3D eye-popping madness! :)

 

Windows 3.11 OMG  We can drag windows around and customize their size until we plead insanity. Lets also not forget about the sweet Minesweeper, Solitaire and Hearts! Windows 3.11 was sheer bliss.

 

Wndows XP- Extra Problems, well actually this is probably the best OS MS designed, took them long enough though, still lots of problems, ddl architecture is still there, memory management still as crappy as ever, 

 

Lets not even discuss Windows 98, ME, Bob or even clippy. Just as well Apple had its head so far up its butt at the time.

 

Which leads us to NT , Nice Try MS , the code base is still the same with at least some attempts at isolating the kernel. 

 

 

MS start project Longhorn which was scrapped after a few years. rumor has it that they had to throw all the code out it was so badly done.

 

I guess they had to resurrect some of the NT code base to get Vista going why Vista, apart from the fact that we have been living with Viruses, Intruders, Spyware, Trojans and Adware for a decade, why would MS name their latest OS in this way, beats me!

 

oh the Start Menu that we have all come to know and love is over 10 years old. Should really be called the "Restart menu, or for purists the CTRL_ALT_DEL" menu. It had its celebrity debut back in Windows 95…along with the adorable “Did you know” tips. 

 

which brings us to Windows 7 and 8 , and RT

 

RT us another attempt at taking the server hegemony of NT/RT into it next iteration and trying to shoehorn it into the consumer desktop.tablet

 

Its so schizophrenic who knows how long it will take MS to get all the bugs out, if history is anything to go by expect to wait at least 3 years after its debut before it is stable. Looks like we are in for another few years of hell doing all of MS's testing. ahhhhhhh

 

or wait a minute you could buy ........ OSX or iOS, say it ain't soooooooo

Yes, there are: Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In:

MS is actually under the impression that consumers will want this. 

 

Lmao

 

they won't copy Apple's "wait until it is ready to actually go on sale before you show it cause no one will remember this in six months" tactic. 

 

Those are all the same tablet just in different sizes etc. 

 

Unlike Microsoft which as at least two variants the RT and the Windows 8 which won't cross over in any way. 

 

and then there's the 50 or so just enough different Android tablets. 

For those complaining, the color schemes for Windows 8 very user-adjustable.

 

I know you guys don't want to hear this, but this is superior technology to iOS.

 

Why?  For starters, dynamic icons are more useful that static icons.  The whole experience is more engaging than anything iOS provides.  The whole "glance & go" metaphor makes iOS look quite dated.

 

Since most of you are old farts that are resistant to change and have AAPL stock, you'll say I'm wrong, but none of you will be able to say why.

 

We've had the desktop metaphor for 30 years.  It's time for a change.  Sad that it wasn't apple to think of it first.

 

Despite how often it is repeated, as if it is one of the prayers of the modern American, more competition not only doesn't always mean better products, it frequently means worse.  Behold the cell phone market and the multiple bands and antennas, exhibit A.

 

*If* a good tablet from MS meant the next iPad would do better, I would agree.  However great products from Apple did nothing to improve windows for decades, quality software performance (if not design) from Linux similarly did nothing to push Apple or Redmond.  Dr. DOS only served to be copied, stolen, broken, and ultimately lost in the mists of time.  And on, and on, and on.

 

..but you keep hope alive, K?

Balmer is being fired...that would be major announcement thats about it.

A bruised METRO sexual?..

Short version. I got to use one of those Nokias with the new winphone (that funky blue) just before they were released to the public. The AT&T guy said it was ok but he really liked his iPhone over it. I played with it a bit and showed him how I didn't like the way it clipped text and the edge of those boxes. He thought I was a bit dense as if I didn't realize you could scroll down to see the rest of the box that was clipped. I pointed out that I shouldn't have too scroll.

No matter how good the concept Microsft can't sweat the details. Dive in more than a layer or two deep and it will always default to some screen that looks like Win-95. And having a tablet version that can run on Arm but not run your favorite program unless its been ported is a non starter. And having a full boat version of Windows on a I7 powered tablet is great but the one hour battery life....not so much. Shades of Win 7 basic, home basic, home fair to midlin, home premium, home custom deluxe, business.......yeah not exactly a winning combination.

 

Me, I have it on my desktop PC and have been using it for a while. I'd imagine it'll work OK for tablet devices, but it's a horrible way to run an OS on a big widescreen monitor with keyboard and mouse. Also someone made the point that it's like looking at a screen full of banner ads, I agree with that. I really don't understand where Microsoft are going with the whole Metro UI - everything is big and gaudy and full of 32 point text that has to scroll on your 24" monitor.

 

The concept itself of the tiles definitely has some legs, but the simplistic colour schemes and horrible MS-Paint backgrounds make it look cheap and nasty. I'm not sure why they can't at least give you the option to use the more elegant layout of the app store or Xbox sections, which have a nice white gradient and look a lot easier on the eye.

 

The one thing I really like is the app switcher thing on the left side of the screen, it makes working in a remote desktop environment much more streamlined.

 

I know people always complain about major changes in these sort of things and they normally end up getting used to it, but I honestly think MS is going to have a disaster on their hands with Windows 8 that will far outshadow the negative publicity with Vista. I can't see the tablets gaining enough traction in the market (the stupid branding won't help) and they've basically ruined their desktop OS - Windows 7 is a fine operating system. I really wouldn't be surprised if they have to bring out a Windows 8.5 or even Windows 9 within a year to try and rescue their market.

Really? http://www.netmarketshare.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8&qpcustomd=0

The Zune reborn

Will it feature Contrl/Alt/Delete?

 

What happened to the Courier they announced last fall?  Did it ever ship?

Does it include "CNTRL/AL/DELETE   ?

Either one. They're both horrible. And I thought iOS's skeuomorphic design language was bad (well it still is). :o

Well then I'd be the first one changing it to something that doesn't look like a kids coloring book.

How is this superior technology to iOS???
Edited by esstek - 6/15/12 at 5:02am

Yeah, just look at the state of the Airlines these days. A bus ride from hell that cost *much* more than it's now worth. De-regulation and increased competition worked great for that industry, didn't it???
Don't forget the terrestrial and wireless telephone industries as well as the whole banking mess...

No it doesn't. Planes are full. That means that consumers are willing to pay the price being asked and the market says that flights are worth the price.

Different situation. The problem airlines have is that they can't easily adjust supply to meet demand and therefore there's a massive incentive to sell seats at whatever price they can get. That, combined with idiots running airline companies who never managed to create a value-added mentality, is what has destroyed the industry.

Tablets are very different.

Read this and thought "June 18, let me know when we get closer and maybe I'll care".  Good grief, the year is half over! 

I'd say it did work out pretty well.  The price of an airline ticket has come way down, the places you can fly has dramatically gone up, and you have actual choices now.  Before all the airlines were EXACTLY the same except for the name on the plane.  Now if you want to fly as cheap as possible you can (Spirit) or if you want to not worry about any additional costs you can (Jetblue and Southwest).  If you want to go international you have many more options as well. 

So yeah, deregulation and more competition has helped a lot.  Now more people can fly than before, and have choices. 

Here's the thing....why would Microsoft bother making a tablet or a phone for that matter?! I mean isn't it apparent that Apple has both those arenas sewn up to the point that it is absolutely a joke that MS would even TRY to go head tp head with Apple. Their OS is light years behind Mac's iOS 5. And if they try and copy Apple like so many have they can just get in line at the supreme court and wait in line to get their "You can't copy Apple." Just ask HTC, Motorola, Google....and so on. You go anywhere near Apple's patients, you get sued out of of business. Look at RIMM. Or Blackberry if you didn't know. They are all but out of business. Apple and Macs are where it's at!

Because if Microsoft wants any OS share whatsoever in the future, they have to make products in this field.

Their OS is kind of their reason for existing. They forcibly locked people into their wholly proprietary environment in the 90s, incompatible with all other environments, and now everyone is stuck unless they make the switch, which they're quite happy to do, given that Windows 8 is a worthless piece of trash.

Meh.... (rolls over in the garbage pile)....snooze... snooze....snooze...snooze.... Is that Steve bringing me a two-day old doughnut??? Snooze....snooze.....snooze.... Bomber you clown, not Elop......snooze...snooze....snooze....

...and the cell phone industry is different from the airlines, yet there it is again.  And the OS system, and and and.

 

A lot of things are different.  Yet repeatedly, competition fails to actually make things better.  In fact it is one of the common denominators.

I genually agree. The iPad is great, but what's great about is is the hardware and the apps. The OS is basically irrelevant, let's face it it's basically windows 3.1! After you open an app the OS doesn't really do anything on screen apart from the keyboard which ain't the great.

So with that in mind Win 8 tablets could be great. Unlike iOS they os actually has a lot of features for sharing files between apps, live tiles, split screen. I have a the latest iPad but I would seriously love a nokia win 8 tablet.

The other thing I don't get that people aren't talking about is how this could be a game changer in terms of the web. On my iPhone I downloaded apps rather than visit sites, on my windows phone I download apps rather than visit sites, on my iPad I download apps rather than visit sites. Once windows has on obvious store that lets you safely install apps that are going to have things like live tiles, how many websites am I going to go on? Certainly news and weather will now all be through apps.

 

You may have missed the memo where iOS devices have been found to represent 90% of the volume on the web of phones and tablets. 

 

You may enjoy having your eyes dazzled while reading text on bright red, purple, green and blue backgrounds, but don't think most people are into that. 

 

You bring up an interesting point in that the OS should be irrelevant to the user — but it needs to be highly relevant to the user experience. It needs to manage the devices resources, including battery life in such a way that is invisible to the user. The OS needs to make the experience of synching data, music and photos intuitive. Finally, the OS needs to make all the various apps, devices, phones, computers, and the cloud feel like a single cohesive environment. Apple has been honing that experience over the last six years, and people LOVE what it feels like.

(1) Dynamic Icons are superior to Static Icons because they allow you to "glance & go"

(2) The entire system is designed for search.  iOS makes you go to a special screen.

(3) The apps can communicate with each other, which adds functionality to programs by simply adding other programs.  iOS can't do this.

(4) The 30 year old desktop metaphor finally receives an update that makes you more productive than you were previously.

 

The OS also shouldn't get in the way of people doing things. Like if your in the photos app and want to edit the photo in a 3rd party app then you should be able to open the photo in that app from there. Equally if your in any app and want to share something through any other app the OS should provide a way to do that. iOS currently doesn't do either of these or anything other than open apps. The apps may as well be websites.