First wave of Windows 8 tablets rumored to arrive in October

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  • Reply 21 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addabox View Post


    Really? Because I was under the impression that there weren't any actual productivity apps for Metro thus far. So that "being productive" on desktop Metro, at this point, would involve checking your email, surfing, looking at Twitter feeds or weather widgets or stock tickers, and the like. Or did MS skin a bunch of legacy apps to feel "Metro-ish"?



    I agree.



    To me... "being productive" is using all the programs I've been using for years... and not waiting for them to be "Metro Ready" or having their interfaces completely mucked with.



    Do I really need little Metro "apps" when I've had no problem using programs on every version of Windows from 95 to Windows 7 all these years?



    I use a desktop computer, keyboard, mouse and a 20" non-touchscreen monitor. What exactly is Metro gonna do for me?
  • Reply 22 of 78




    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tofino View Post


    Your whole life fits on a handful of colour tiles?







  • Reply 23 of 78
    - Nobody wants an Android tablet -- Google's will fail miserably ....



    Google needs to get off its a$$ if it wants to survive the mobile market. I've played with Android but can't find reasons to buy a device with this OS.



    - Nobody wants to do Windows8 computing on the go -- on a desktop, sure, but not a tablet ....



    I think some people do want Windows, but it may not be what MS is offering at the moment. If Ballmer and company introduces Windows 8 with another funeral or my pipe is bigger than yours ad strategy, then it will already fail miserably. Windows Phone 7 is only gaining some recognition now and it is in spite of MS's bungling.



    *Note to Ballmer: fire your ad company or fire yourself.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by BoxMacCary View Post


    Will they sell some?



    Sure -- as collector's items & curiosities.



    But Apple & Kindle Fire [horrible name, by the way] own the tablet space.*



    Those are the massmarket items.



    Haven't the last 2 years shown anybody anything?!?



    Nobody wants an Android tablet -- Google's will fail miserably ....



    Nobody wants to do Windows8 computing on the go -- on a desktop, sure, but not a tablet ....



    But Mi¢ro$oft cleanses thier arse with $100 banknotes, plus they're bored, so this is what we get.



  • Reply 24 of 78
    philboogiephilboogie Posts: 7,675member
    If MS is successful, will that add significant revenue? How much are hardware makers to pay for this OS? I don't think for a second they will come anything close to the revenue Apple enjoys with the iPad. As Steve told Walt Mossberg on AllThingsD 'it's all in the software' yet fully understanding that people don't like to pay for software, they create hardware people are willing to pay for. Top dollar even.



    Yes, MS will need to create a helluva OS, but the burden on the hardware makers is just as great. I wonder if they, like Apple, will release tablets in the $499 - $829 range.
  • Reply 25 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rtm135 View Post


    Not exactly. The Start SCREEN completely replaces the Start MENU.



    I've been running the Consumer Preview as the primary OS on my PC and I have to say Microsoft is really on to something with these Live Tiles. The Mac OS looks ancient in comparison. It's nice to have your whole life laid out for you on one screen without having to actually launch any programs.



    I wouldn't be surprised if Apple copies it in one form or the other when they finally release their replacement for the 30 year old desktop metaphor.





    Oh Please... I have tried it out and Windows 8 is a disaster that very poorly integrates Windows 7 and Windows phone OS. Some call it Windows Frankenstein.



    http://www.infoworld.com/t/microsoft...ily_2012-03-01



    http://www.i-programmer.info/profess...n-monster.html
  • Reply 26 of 78
    How how many Apps will run on the "new" Windows 8 tablet? Three years late to the table and playing catch up is really difficult.
  • Reply 27 of 78
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by PhilBoogie View Post


    If MS is successful, will that add significant revenue? How much are hardware makers to pay for this OS? I don't think for a second they will come anything close to the revenue Apple enjoys with the iPad. As Steve told Walt Mossberg on AllThingsD 'it's all in the software' yet fully understanding that people don't like to pay for software, they create hardware people are willing to pay for. Top dollar even.



    Yes, MS will need to create a helluva OS, but the burden on the hardware makers is just as great. I wonder if they, like Apple, will release tablets in the $499 - $829 range.



    MS being a SW-based company pulls in much higher margins than Apple but since they only sell one aspect of a device they need to sell substantially more units to equal Apple's profit from one sale.



    Do we know the figures? Pulled from first google result but not verified as accurate or current we have MS with 31.72% net profit margin compared to Apple with 20.70%. I think that means MS needs to sell 2/3rds the revenue of Apple to equal their profit.



    But how much is a Windows license? $50 for a tablet OS? Seems very high but let's use it. iPad ARP is over $600 but let's say it is $600. That means MS needs 2/3rds of $600 which is $400, or 8 licenses just to match Apple with one iPad sale.



    That means if Apple sells 25 million iPads in the holiday quarter of this year MS will need to sell 200 million Win8 licenses just to tablet makers.



    That doesn't seem remotely possible to me. Of course, MS doesn't have to best Apple to still be successful and profitable in its own right.
  • Reply 28 of 78
    pmcdpmcd Posts: 396member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ouragan View Post


    Great. Only a fool would allow Microsoft and PC partners to go unchallenged as they make a frontal attack on the iPad and its market dominance. Especially in October 2012, just as Christmas shoppers start to buy.



    Now, this will require Apple to be flexible and competitive to end its usual one size fits all, and only one model per year, since Apple is overstretched as it is. But the reward will be market dominance for years to come.



    Make the iPad 4 a better tablet with the A6, a quad core CPU built with a smaller and cooler die, and an 8 MegaPixel back camera, and I'll buy one.









    It's not about hardware specs. Unless people get off their Office addiction Microsoft will have a huge market for a Windows tablet. The key to dealing with Microsoft is in dealing with Office to which businesses are addicted.



    Who would have thought that word processing and elementary matrix manipulation would hold everyone back.



    philip
  • Reply 29 of 78
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Metro is inelegant. Own it for a while and that Start screen will be a cluster-feck. Swiping in apps on tablets blind is a bad idea as a main UX method and hiding all of the controls although makes for a "cleaner" experience it also makes for a potentially much more confusing experience and it adds more taps to every single task which is a bad idea. And Metro for keyboards and mice is terrible design. The hot-corners by default is also extremely misguided on Microsoft's part.



    The only thing I see Metro has going for it at this point is the fact that it's NEW! The fact that MS clearly didn't think a lot of this stuff though is obvious. They were so hellbent on being successful and were so reactionary to the iPad that they are acting impatiently and not hiring the right people to make the right calls in Metro. And the fact that they couldn't kill the desktop is inexcusable. Either kill it or keep it, you cannot do both concurrently with success.



    If Microsoft's choices with Windows 8 on both tablets and desktops proves anything it's that Apple's choices with their two OS's were more clever and insightful than we thought.
  • Reply 30 of 78
    I wish there was a way to change "metro"s obnoxious colors. They hurt my eyes



    One should never underestimate Microsoft, as Sculey did with windoze 3.0. Their interfaces always look crude and vulgar but they still have the legacy following and are willing to play underdog and stay the course. Whatever comes out in oct will probably be a testbed so they can gather info for their next gen tablets. They adapt to market conditions.



    That said, their Zune strategy has been a colossal failure and besides Kinect, they are not a big name in any gadgetry. With Nokia (and who knows who else) making tablets it will be hard to position their product to the average person. Most people use tablets to browse and play games. Only when they have convinced the developers to write for them exclusively they may have a chance, but that boat has sailed.
  • Reply 31 of 78
    I hope that they work well. I'd love to have a tablet with a full OS that can handle real programs in addition to apps, and which has a full range of software vendors.



    If they can keep the costs reasonable, and the performance acceptable, they might have a winner here.



    Keep hoping - but wait and see.
  • Reply 32 of 78
    duplicate
  • Reply 33 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Granmastak View Post


    I wish there was a way to change "metro"s obnoxious colors. They hurt my eyes



    One should never underestimate Microsoft, as Sculey did with windoze 3.0. Their interfaces always look crude and vulgar but they still have the legacy following and are willing to play underdog and stay the course. Whatever comes out in oct will probably be a testbed so they can gather info for their next gen tablets. They adapt to market conditions.



    That said, their Zune strategy has been a colossal failure and besides Kinect, they are not a big name in any gadgetry. With Nokia (and who knows who else) making tablets it will be hard to position their product to the average person. Most people use tablets to browse and play games. Only when they have convinced the developers to write for them exclusively they may have a chance, but that boat has sailed.



    The problem is that microsofts actual microsoft produced hardware is pretty good. I had a zune before i got an iphone and i loved it. always worked, was fast and the zune software was great . the zune software is much better then itunes.



    IF microsoft actually produced its own computer i am sure they can compete with apple. Microsofts problem is they rather give everything to their partners.
  • Reply 34 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    With Metro... where is all the stuff that used to be on the Start Menu? Programs and such?



    Old image... I know...









    I have always found it bizarre that one clicks on "Start" in order to access "Shut Down".



    Good old Microsoft
  • Reply 35 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Michael Scrip View Post


    Ok cool... just wondering. I have all my programs pinned to the Windows 7 Start Menu now... a lot of frequently used programs. Just curious what that would look like in Windows 8



    I'm a desktop/mouse/keyboard guy. I plan to keep using all my existing desktop programs. I guess I don't see the appeal of Metro on my desktop machine... as I will be running regular Windows programs.



    But I totally understand Metro for tablets.




    I feel the same way. I am interested in Metro for a tablet, but NOT for a desktop.



    I keep icons in various locations depending on how I use them. There are a couple of groups on the desktop for programs I use in conjunction with each other. The everyday stuff is pinned to the task bar. Stuff I use rarely resides in the drop down menus attached tot he "All Programs" part of the taskbar.



    IOW, three convenient places to show/hide Shortcuts to programs. Some are in more than one place. That is how I like it. Will I have to be shoehorned into a new paradigm? If I wanted that, I'd get a Mac.
  • Reply 36 of 78
    mrstepmrstep Posts: 513member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by rtm135 View Post


    Not exactly. The Start SCREEN completely replaces the Start MENU.



    I've been running the Consumer Preview as the primary OS on my PC and I have to say Microsoft is really on to something with these Live Tiles. The Mac OS looks ancient in comparison. It's nice to have your whole life laid out for you on one screen without having to actually launch any programs.



    I wouldn't be surprised if Apple copies it in one form or the other when they finally release their replacement for the 30 year old desktop metaphor.



    Let's look at it the other way around - would I buy an app that gave me, say, Mission Control functionality had Apple not built it in? Yes. Would I buy a full-screen app manager that integrates by putting the apps into their own desktops nicely? Yes.



    I certainly wouldn't buy an app that gave me that horrific Live Tiles screen, and even less an OS that made me use it as my main screen. I wouldn't specifically buy Lion's Launch Pad either, but there I have the option of just not opening it.



    Pushing touch UI to the desktop just for the sake of making things the same may be a marketer's dream, but there's a reason pushing the desktop to tablets never sold either. Desktop and tablet are not the same. Microsoft is pulling their classic "let's push the wrong interface onto every device" yet again. But hey, I just base that on running the preview myself.



    Anyway, that all doesn't mean Microsoft will fail. They managed to push DOS, Windows 1/2/3/3.1, Vista, etc., so I wouldn't write them off, though why anyone would buy an ARM tablet with their OS (lose the legacy apps) or x86 tablet (use Metro but only for some stuff, if you want compatibility it's back to the future - use desktop stuff, but with a stylus/mouse & keyboard - hey, this didn't sell for the past decade either) is beyond me.
  • Reply 37 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post


    MS being a SW-based company pulls in much higher margins than Apple but since they only sell one aspect of a device they need to sell substantially more units to equal Apple's profit from one sale.



    Do we know the figures? Pulled from first google result but not verified as accurate or current we have MS with 31.72% net profit margin compared to Apple with 20.70%. I think that means MS needs to sell 2/3rds the revenue of Apple to equal their profit.



    But how much is a Windows license? $50 for a tablet OS? Seems very high but let's use it. iPad ARP is over $600 but let's say it is $600. That means MS needs 2/3rds of $600 which is $400, or 8 licenses just to match Apple with one iPad sale.



    That means if Apple sells 25 million iPads in the holiday quarter of this year MS will need to sell 200 million Win8 licenses just to tablet makers.



    That doesn't seem remotely possible to me. Of course, MS doesn't have to best Apple to still be successful and profitable in its own right.



    Can'tremember where I saw the figure but I think last year it was announced that windows 7 was selling at the rate of 3 to 1 to IOS and OS X combined since it's launch if that is any help at all\



    edit

    No it was just IOS vs Windows 7

    http://articles.businessinsider.com/...-iphones-apple
  • Reply 38 of 78
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleSauce007 View Post


    Oh Please... I have tried it out and Windows 8 is a disaster that very poorly integrates Windows 7 and Windows phone OS. Some call it Windows Frankenstein.



    http://www.infoworld.com/t/microsoft...ily_2012-03-01



    http://www.i-programmer.info/profess...n-monster.html



    Windows Frankenstein, eh? I hope not. And I hope that there won't be any compelling need to change from Win7 on my current machine.



    I hope that it works well for tablets, however.
  • Reply 39 of 78
    old-wizold-wiz Posts: 194member
    They will have a very tough time competing against the iPad and the Kindle. By October the iPad will have a huge lead and I can't imagine how a Windows 8 tablet will catch up.
  • Reply 40 of 78
    ssls6ssls6 Posts: 49member
    Two things:



    1) Most people I work with use the desktop to place their files. Metro runs counter to this. I don't use my desktop that way, I'm the hotkey and spaces type.



    2) Three people must make margin on a windows box (MS, Intel, and the box guy). Apple doesn't have this burden. I think in the small mobil space this matters.
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