Are you unaware that LINUX (depending on the distribution) can be installed on virtually any computer?
I'd reason that if anyone is even drawn to something as 'open sourced' as LINUX, they'll find Apple's iPad pretty unbearable.
Who Knows...
Yes, I do know that. But, it would mean a portion (however small it may be) of my money would be going to M$ if I bought a netbook now. That's unaccepable to me. But that's not all. OEMs had incentive to come up with cool new ideas and apps for Linux on the desktop, but now that progress has stopped due to the Windoze takeover.
Linux still progresses, but if it had been allowed to prosper on netbooks, the market for Linux based software could have exploded. Let's hope this works with tablets and phones w/Android. I don't think M$ will be able to swoop in this time and take over the market where Android powers the devices.
Finally, the fact that Winblows is default on netbooks now also means that I have to go through the effort (again, however small) to rip the bad OS off the machine and install my Linux distro... More wasted time on my end... I can handle that process, but what about the average consumer? "Lin-whaaat? Distro-huh? What's an .iso?
Perhaps the ironic thing is that the .NET 4 Touch SDK is actually pretty decent, as is the C# language compared to Objective-C. Combine that with some rather nice database, connectivity, and kernel technology and there's really no technical reason why Microsoft SHOULDN'T be able to make a kick-ass touch device. What they appear to be utterly incompetent at is using technology to build an actual solution to consumer needs and integrating well into a consumer's life. They still seem driven by the feature checklist and battling their competitors rather than just building good stuff for people.
Yes, but Ballmer wants Windows 7 on a Tablet, not their mobile OS. Windows 7 means having tablets with basically the specs of (at minimum) a cheap underpowered netbook running an OS designed for desktops with a keyboard and two-button mouse. If you want a thin & light tablet with long battery life & superior usability, this isn't the magic formula. In fact, this is a recipe for the exact opposite. Remember Project Origami? Microsoft has already tried this. All it does is make users wish they had a more powerful laptop with a real keyboard. And ironically, since the price bottom fell out of the PC laptop market, it's probably a better value to buy a decent laptop instead of a crippled Windows 7 tablet.
The .NET 4.0 Touch API is part of Windows 7 (it's what I was referring to). It's actually a pretty nice API and would enable some pretty decent apps. But again, Microsoft is trying to solve problems with technology that aren't technological problems.
Recently I spent several hours reading the Microsoft employees blog with many, many posting from those middle aged coders and sales people who had lost their jobs due to the Microsoft policy of firing the 10% who have not been given high job ratings. Magically, the upper echelons of Microsoft management do not get fired in the same way for underperformance, even if their stuff-ups are of the multi-million dollar kind (as in Ros Ho).
If I had not read those terrible posts of men wondering whether they were going to get jobs again and be able to feed their families I might (just might!) begin to feel sorry for Ballmer and his clueless ramblings about the products Microsoft can't come close to.
The iPad is pretty awesome. Allow me just one cross-posting here, that's all, I promise:
iPad shuts down in full sunlight? I've done the test, find out the results here... Okay... So if any of you are considering getting an iPad or thinking of whether to take it to the pool, park or beach, be sure to check out my video. Cheers.
Perhaps the ironic thing is that the .NET 4 Touch SDK is actually pretty decent, as is the C# language compared to Objective-C. Combine that with some rather nice database, connectivity, and kernel technology and there's really no technical reason why Microsoft SHOULDN'T be able to make a kick-ass touch device. What they appear to be utterly incompetent at is using technology to build an actual solution to consumer needs and integrating well into a consumer's life. They still seem driven by the feature checklist and battling their competitors rather than just building good stuff for people
I'm kind of in the same boat.
If you look at all the pieces in the "mobile device" jigsaw puzzle (consistent and compelling UI/UX, hardware, gaming, customer and enterprise cloud services, content delivery, mapping, development environment, enterprise workplace integration, desktop integration etc) Microsoft seem to be the company with the most pieces.
They are just missing one big piece in the middle... "hardware", which they have cut out a template for and said "this is how it should look".
Their big problem is that they don't seem to have anyone able to put the damn thing together, or rather they have a whole bunch of people trying to put it together all at once. The result is a phone puzzle that's almost ready and the Slate puzzle hasn't even been taken out of the box yet.
Apple and Google both have around half the puzzle, maybe more maybe less, and they have borrowed pieces from others to make something recognizable. The trouble for Microsoft is that they have both finished the parts of the puzzle they have, backed it, framed it and hung it on the wall.
I think the idea that a tech company can be all things to all users will soon be a thing of the past and that Microsoft should focus their mobile strategy on certain markets, specifically enterprise and tech savvy consumers/gamers. The idea that Microsoft will ever be able to create a a more compelling product than Apple for teenage girls and well-to-do soccer moms is all but lost. Strike that, it is lost.
Back to slates... I can't help but shake the feeling that Microsoft were (are?) waiting on Intel. I think they may have backed Intel to get a much faster and more energy efficient x86 CPU/GPU/chipset to market that would allow Microsoft to wrap a UI (hello MCE) around W7 Embedded and call it Windows Slate Edition.
This could very well still be their plan. You have probably noticed that native code isn't allowed in WP7 development which hints at a possible cross OS/architecture phone/slate strategy.
Or perhaps their recent deal with ARM is a sign that they no longer have confidence in Intel to deliver and are backing ARM and the WP7 OS for their phone and slate platform.
Regardless of whether they crash and burn or thrive there are certainly interesting times ahead!
Ballmer is an idiot. I hope they lose their ass in the tablet PC market.
HP got it right by canceling their Windows-based slate. However, I doubt their WebOS slate will do very well.
Any OS can perform better than what Windows Offer. Windows problem is what Ballmer boast that it's there in every form factor and that's reason it sucks beyond eternity. It just tries to everything and it doesn't work that way.
Kin is what you are thinking of, kin. No one said it'll be good, but it will be office, outlook and exchange that people are used to and they will flock to it like they always do. MS is losing the consumer battle, but they are still top dog when it comes to corporate productivity software and I have a feeling they can milk that for many years to come. Unless... someone moves us away from .doc(x), then Microsoft is totally fucked.
I really so hope someone moves us away from .doc, to PDF maybe?
The thing is, the only reason really left to run Windows is for corporate work. Wherein people are so enslaved to their jobs and Microsoft Office, there is no escape.
For everything else, there's Mastercar... Er, I mean, iOS, MacOS + Android.
Microsoft is standing on the beach watching the storm gather strength off in the distance, with the sky above getting quite dark.
They can rest on their corporate laurels, de facto operating system, and Microsoft Office, for several years more, but all the other castles are but made of sand.
The only reason Windows is still dominant is because no one else except Apple have made an attempt to compete. Even then, Apple doesn't really compete as such, unless it released OS X to run on any hardware.
In any case Windows and Office and server products all came to the forefront during Bill Gates' time. With Ballmer left in the driving seat, everything else has been stuttering and sputtering.
At any stage, if they wanted to, Google or Apple could pull the trigger and destroy Windows. By making an OS that integrates and runs on all hardware, ARM and x86, and developing compatible-enough versions of Office. Microshaft is lucky Google and Apple have their own strategies starting with the shift to mobility.
Some days, I wish Steve wasn't so zen and creation-driven, and if he just came out and said, "Let's f**ing destroy Microsoft. Let's do it. Endgame...I want to see them wiped off the map in 5 to 10 years' time!"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Firefly7475
I'm kind of in the same boat.
If you look at all the pieces in the "mobile device" jigsaw puzzle (consistent and compelling UI/UX, hardware, gaming, customer and enterprise cloud services, content delivery, mapping, development environment, enterprise workplace integration, desktop integration etc) Microsoft seem to be the company with the most pieces.
They are just missing one big piece in the middle... "hardware", which they have cut out a template for and said "this is how it should look".
Their big problem is that they don't seem to have anyone able to put the damn thing together, or rather they have a whole bunch of people trying to put it together all at once. The result is a phone puzzle that's almost ready and the Slate puzzle hasn't even been taken out of the box yet.
Apple and Google both have around half the puzzle, maybe more maybe less, and they have borrowed pieces from others to make something recognizable. The trouble for Microsoft is that they have both finished the parts of the puzzle they have, backed it, framed it and hung it on the wall.
I think the idea that a tech company can be all things to all users will soon be a thing of the past and that Microsoft should focus their mobile strategy on certain markets, specifically enterprise and tech savvy consumers/gamers. The idea that Microsoft will ever be able to create a a more compelling product than Apple for teenage girls and well-to-do soccer moms is all but lost. Strike that, it is lost.
Back to slates... I can't help but shake the feeling that Microsoft were (are?) waiting on Intel. I think they may have backed Intel to get a much faster and more energy efficient x86 CPU/GPU/chipset to market that would allow Microsoft to wrap a UI (hello MCE) around W7 Embedded and call it Windows Slate Edition.
This could very well still be their plan. You have probably noticed that native code isn't allowed in WP7 development which hints at a possible cross OS/architecture phone/slate strategy.
Or perhaps their recent deal with ARM is a sign that they no longer have confidence in Intel to deliver and are backing ARM and the WP7 OS for their phone and slate platform.
Regardless of whether they crash and burn or thrive there are certainly interesting times ahead!
Yes, but Ballmer wants Windows 7 on a Tablet, not their mobile OS. Windows 7 means having tablets with basically the specs of (at minimum) a cheap underpowered netbook running an OS designed for desktops with a keyboard and two-button mouse. If you want a thin & light tablet with long battery life & superior usability, this isn't the magic formula. In fact, this is a recipe for the exact opposite. Remember Project Origami? Microsoft has already tried this. All it does is make users wish they had a more powerful laptop with a real keyboard. And ironically, since the price bottom fell out of the PC laptop market, it's probably a better value to buy a decent laptop instead of a crippled Windows 7 tablet.
This is Ballmer expecting a different result from the same strategy.
Conversely... as the rather content owner/user of an Apple iPad 64/WiFi+3g, I can honestly say that it's really just an enlarged, overpriced iPod Touch lacking the convenience of being pocketable.
Conversely an iPod Touch is an undersized iPad? There are two sizes for different uses, you know like a table that seats eight (and they tend to cost more) is just an oversized table that seats four. That's how sizes work
At any stage, if they wanted to, Google or Apple could pull the trigger and destroy Windows. By making an OS that integrates and runs on all hardware, ARM and x86, and developing compatible-enough versions of Office. Microshaft is lucky Google and Apple have their own strategies starting with the shift to mobility.
I think you undervalue what Microsoft actually do in the enterprise environment. If all that was involved was chucking an Office clone on an OS then Linux would have wiped them out long ago.
5 years ago the obvious answer would be Apple, but today... I'm not so sure. If I was playing with money from someone else I'd probably try to ride the Apple wave and get off at the right time... if I were investing my own money between Apple and Microsoft... I'd probably choose the bank.
The phenomenal rise in Apple's stock price is tied to their ability to keep creating growth markets. The iPod and iPhone have both lost the momentum they had and the iPad will only carry them for another 1 or 2 years. After that they need to create another market similar to the iPod/iPhone/iPad in order to maintain the same stock growth.
They might be able to do it... but it would sure feel like a gamble.
I'm not offering investment advice here - merely pointing out the management incompetence now prevailing at Microsoft. Mr. Ballmer is having his Cpt. Ahab moments and that big white whale is going to sink his ship!
Everything in this world is a 'compromise' of sorts, and when it comes to the iPad, the ability to have all of my ZINIO subscriptions (I've been using the service since I purchased my first tablet PC, the Hp/Compaq TC, in 2003) readily available at any given moment on a device this convenient, and with such outstanding battery autonomy, more than justifies its presence in my (admittedly diverse) electronics arsenal.
As for my selecting the 'the top of the line' version, it's always my policy to buy nothing but the absolute most well-equiped version available of any and everything I purchase, that way there's never any regret as to what I could have bought.
That's About It!
Thanks for the reply and explanation and I agree with buying the best your money can afford. Especially since whenever you buy technology it's going to be outdated in just a couple years if not sooner. My main worry and reason for waiting on the iPad is I think a lot of people who bought one this year are going to be plenty p.o.'d when they likely come out with a webcam version next spring. As you said everything is compromise. Good day.
Ten minutes? Give me a break Ballmer. Why must he over exaggerate everything he says when he is talking about competition? Face the facts. We won in another category.
Why do you use the phrase "over exaggerate" when criticizing exaggeration?
Comments
Hmmm...
Are you unaware that LINUX (depending on the distribution) can be installed on virtually any computer?
I'd reason that if anyone is even drawn to something as 'open sourced' as LINUX, they'll find Apple's iPad pretty unbearable.
Who Knows...
Yes, I do know that. But, it would mean a portion (however small it may be) of my money would be going to M$ if I bought a netbook now. That's unaccepable to me. But that's not all. OEMs had incentive to come up with cool new ideas and apps for Linux on the desktop, but now that progress has stopped due to the Windoze takeover.
Linux still progresses, but if it had been allowed to prosper on netbooks, the market for Linux based software could have exploded. Let's hope this works with tablets and phones w/Android. I don't think M$ will be able to swoop in this time and take over the market where Android powers the devices.
Finally, the fact that Winblows is default on netbooks now also means that I have to go through the effort (again, however small) to rip the bad OS off the machine and install my Linux distro... More wasted time on my end... I can handle that process, but what about the average consumer? "Lin-whaaat? Distro-huh? What's an .iso?
Originally Posted by Booga
Perhaps the ironic thing is that the .NET 4 Touch SDK is actually pretty decent, as is the C# language compared to Objective-C. Combine that with some rather nice database, connectivity, and kernel technology and there's really no technical reason why Microsoft SHOULDN'T be able to make a kick-ass touch device. What they appear to be utterly incompetent at is using technology to build an actual solution to consumer needs and integrating well into a consumer's life. They still seem driven by the feature checklist and battling their competitors rather than just building good stuff for people.
Yes, but Ballmer wants Windows 7 on a Tablet, not their mobile OS. Windows 7 means having tablets with basically the specs of (at minimum) a cheap underpowered netbook running an OS designed for desktops with a keyboard and two-button mouse. If you want a thin & light tablet with long battery life & superior usability, this isn't the magic formula. In fact, this is a recipe for the exact opposite. Remember Project Origami? Microsoft has already tried this. All it does is make users wish they had a more powerful laptop with a real keyboard. And ironically, since the price bottom fell out of the PC laptop market, it's probably a better value to buy a decent laptop instead of a crippled Windows 7 tablet.
The .NET 4.0 Touch API is part of Windows 7 (it's what I was referring to). It's actually a pretty nice API and would enable some pretty decent apps. But again, Microsoft is trying to solve problems with technology that aren't technological problems.
Just what are you trying to say christopher?
Made me laugh, John! Thanks for taking it as intended....humorously! Good on you!
Another way to say it....
"I'll take that hint....whatever it was!"
Best
Quote Hot on the heels of our resounding success
With the Zune
We shall be making a new product which will reach higher degrees of achievement
It will be the tablet from MS called the """ NUZE """ .
Pronounced Noose
If I had not read those terrible posts of men wondering whether they were going to get jobs again and be able to feed their families I might (just might!) begin to feel sorry for Ballmer and his clueless ramblings about the products Microsoft can't come close to.
iPad shuts down in full sunlight? I've done the test, find out the results here... Okay... So if any of you are considering getting an iPad or thinking of whether to take it to the pool, park or beach, be sure to check out my video. Cheers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jv1EYFQuZM
Perhaps the ironic thing is that the .NET 4 Touch SDK is actually pretty decent, as is the C# language compared to Objective-C. Combine that with some rather nice database, connectivity, and kernel technology and there's really no technical reason why Microsoft SHOULDN'T be able to make a kick-ass touch device. What they appear to be utterly incompetent at is using technology to build an actual solution to consumer needs and integrating well into a consumer's life. They still seem driven by the feature checklist and battling their competitors rather than just building good stuff for people
I'm kind of in the same boat.
If you look at all the pieces in the "mobile device" jigsaw puzzle (consistent and compelling UI/UX, hardware, gaming, customer and enterprise cloud services, content delivery, mapping, development environment, enterprise workplace integration, desktop integration etc) Microsoft seem to be the company with the most pieces.
They are just missing one big piece in the middle... "hardware", which they have cut out a template for and said "this is how it should look".
Their big problem is that they don't seem to have anyone able to put the damn thing together, or rather they have a whole bunch of people trying to put it together all at once. The result is a phone puzzle that's almost ready and the Slate puzzle hasn't even been taken out of the box yet.
Apple and Google both have around half the puzzle, maybe more maybe less, and they have borrowed pieces from others to make something recognizable. The trouble for Microsoft is that they have both finished the parts of the puzzle they have, backed it, framed it and hung it on the wall.
I think the idea that a tech company can be all things to all users will soon be a thing of the past and that Microsoft should focus their mobile strategy on certain markets, specifically enterprise and tech savvy consumers/gamers. The idea that Microsoft will ever be able to create a a more compelling product than Apple for teenage girls and well-to-do soccer moms is all but lost. Strike that, it is lost.
Back to slates... I can't help but shake the feeling that Microsoft were (are?) waiting on Intel. I think they may have backed Intel to get a much faster and more energy efficient x86 CPU/GPU/chipset to market that would allow Microsoft to wrap a UI (hello MCE) around W7 Embedded and call it Windows Slate Edition.
This could very well still be their plan. You have probably noticed that native code isn't allowed in WP7 development which hints at a possible cross OS/architecture phone/slate strategy.
Or perhaps their recent deal with ARM is a sign that they no longer have confidence in Intel to deliver and are backing ARM and the WP7 OS for their phone and slate platform.
Regardless of whether they crash and burn or thrive there are certainly interesting times ahead!
Ballmer is an idiot. I hope they lose their ass in the tablet PC market.
HP got it right by canceling their Windows-based slate. However, I doubt their WebOS slate will do very well.
Any OS can perform better than what Windows Offer. Windows problem is what Ballmer boast that it's there in every form factor and that's reason it sucks beyond eternity. It just tries to everything and it doesn't work that way.
Kin is what you are thinking of, kin. No one said it'll be good, but it will be office, outlook and exchange that people are used to and they will flock to it like they always do. MS is losing the consumer battle, but they are still top dog when it comes to corporate productivity software and I have a feeling they can milk that for many years to come. Unless... someone moves us away from .doc(x), then Microsoft is totally fucked.
I really so hope someone moves us away from .doc, to PDF maybe?
I'm going to throw a party the day M$ dies.
A few of the Windows machines are projecting the BSOD instead of the desired images for the ceremony.
Link: http://sites.google.com/site/pedrogf...mpic-bsod-2008
For everything else, there's Mastercar... Er, I mean, iOS, MacOS + Android.
Microsoft is standing on the beach watching the storm gather strength off in the distance, with the sky above getting quite dark.
They can rest on their corporate laurels, de facto operating system, and Microsoft Office, for several years more, but all the other castles are but made of sand.
The only reason Windows is still dominant is because no one else except Apple have made an attempt to compete. Even then, Apple doesn't really compete as such, unless it released OS X to run on any hardware.
In any case Windows and Office and server products all came to the forefront during Bill Gates' time. With Ballmer left in the driving seat, everything else has been stuttering and sputtering.
At any stage, if they wanted to, Google or Apple could pull the trigger and destroy Windows. By making an OS that integrates and runs on all hardware, ARM and x86, and developing compatible-enough versions of Office. Microshaft is lucky Google and Apple have their own strategies starting with the shift to mobility.
Some days, I wish Steve wasn't so zen and creation-driven, and if he just came out and said, "Let's f**ing destroy Microsoft. Let's do it. Endgame...I want to see them wiped off the map in 5 to 10 years' time!"
I'm kind of in the same boat.
If you look at all the pieces in the "mobile device" jigsaw puzzle (consistent and compelling UI/UX, hardware, gaming, customer and enterprise cloud services, content delivery, mapping, development environment, enterprise workplace integration, desktop integration etc) Microsoft seem to be the company with the most pieces.
They are just missing one big piece in the middle... "hardware", which they have cut out a template for and said "this is how it should look".
Their big problem is that they don't seem to have anyone able to put the damn thing together, or rather they have a whole bunch of people trying to put it together all at once. The result is a phone puzzle that's almost ready and the Slate puzzle hasn't even been taken out of the box yet.
Apple and Google both have around half the puzzle, maybe more maybe less, and they have borrowed pieces from others to make something recognizable. The trouble for Microsoft is that they have both finished the parts of the puzzle they have, backed it, framed it and hung it on the wall.
I think the idea that a tech company can be all things to all users will soon be a thing of the past and that Microsoft should focus their mobile strategy on certain markets, specifically enterprise and tech savvy consumers/gamers. The idea that Microsoft will ever be able to create a a more compelling product than Apple for teenage girls and well-to-do soccer moms is all but lost. Strike that, it is lost.
Back to slates... I can't help but shake the feeling that Microsoft were (are?) waiting on Intel. I think they may have backed Intel to get a much faster and more energy efficient x86 CPU/GPU/chipset to market that would allow Microsoft to wrap a UI (hello MCE) around W7 Embedded and call it Windows Slate Edition.
This could very well still be their plan. You have probably noticed that native code isn't allowed in WP7 development which hints at a possible cross OS/architecture phone/slate strategy.
Or perhaps their recent deal with ARM is a sign that they no longer have confidence in Intel to deliver and are backing ARM and the WP7 OS for their phone and slate platform.
Regardless of whether they crash and burn or thrive there are certainly interesting times ahead!
Yes, but Ballmer wants Windows 7 on a Tablet, not their mobile OS. Windows 7 means having tablets with basically the specs of (at minimum) a cheap underpowered netbook running an OS designed for desktops with a keyboard and two-button mouse. If you want a thin & light tablet with long battery life & superior usability, this isn't the magic formula. In fact, this is a recipe for the exact opposite. Remember Project Origami? Microsoft has already tried this. All it does is make users wish they had a more powerful laptop with a real keyboard. And ironically, since the price bottom fell out of the PC laptop market, it's probably a better value to buy a decent laptop instead of a crippled Windows 7 tablet.
This is Ballmer expecting a different result from the same strategy.
Conversely... as the rather content owner/user of an Apple iPad 64/WiFi+3g, I can honestly say that it's really just an enlarged, overpriced iPod Touch lacking the convenience of being pocketable.
Conversely an iPod Touch is an undersized iPad?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRcTYgEx3mI
At any stage, if they wanted to, Google or Apple could pull the trigger and destroy Windows. By making an OS that integrates and runs on all hardware, ARM and x86, and developing compatible-enough versions of Office. Microshaft is lucky Google and Apple have their own strategies starting with the shift to mobility.
I think you undervalue what Microsoft actually do in the enterprise environment. If all that was involved was chucking an Office clone on an OS then Linux would have wiped them out long ago.
5 years ago the obvious answer would be Apple, but today... I'm not so sure. If I was playing with money from someone else I'd probably try to ride the Apple wave and get off at the right time... if I were investing my own money between Apple and Microsoft... I'd probably choose the bank.
The phenomenal rise in Apple's stock price is tied to their ability to keep creating growth markets. The iPod and iPhone have both lost the momentum they had and the iPad will only carry them for another 1 or 2 years. After that they need to create another market similar to the iPod/iPhone/iPad in order to maintain the same stock growth.
They might be able to do it... but it would sure feel like a gamble.
I'm not offering investment advice here - merely pointing out the management incompetence now prevailing at Microsoft. Mr. Ballmer is having his Cpt. Ahab moments and that big white whale is going to sink his ship!
Balmer is a true collosus of idiocy.
Everything in this world is a 'compromise' of sorts, and when it comes to the iPad, the ability to have all of my ZINIO subscriptions (I've been using the service since I purchased my first tablet PC, the Hp/Compaq TC, in 2003) readily available at any given moment on a device this convenient, and with such outstanding battery autonomy, more than justifies its presence in my (admittedly diverse) electronics arsenal.
As for my selecting the 'the top of the line' version, it's always my policy to buy nothing but the absolute most well-equiped version available of any and everything I purchase, that way there's never any regret as to what I could have bought.
That's About It!
Thanks for the reply and explanation and I agree with buying the best your money can afford. Especially since whenever you buy technology it's going to be outdated in just a couple years if not sooner. My main worry and reason for waiting on the iPad is I think a lot of people who bought one this year are going to be plenty p.o.'d when they likely come out with a webcam version next spring. As you said everything is compromise. Good day.
Ten minutes? Give me a break Ballmer. Why must he over exaggerate everything he says when he is talking about competition? Face the facts. We won in another category.
Why do you use the phrase "over exaggerate" when criticizing exaggeration?