Also I note in the original ad that the main guy, pulls the Surface pad out of his briefcase to use it, then decides that he'd like to type something so he dives back into his briefcase to get the keyboard cover. But if the keyboard is a cover, then why is it not already on the pad? WTF is the point of having an uncovered pad and the cover separately stored in your briefcase? Same seems to go for the bench guys.
What is the message here?
The message? That the rubber keyboard is a battery-sucking hog if left connected.
In case you're wondering why everyone was jumping around like they were totally nuts, Monkeyboy Ballmer was the choreographer for the commercial. It was either that, or he was gonna bust some moves his self...
Well I think it looks nice. Admittedly no reviews yet, but my biggest issue with ordering one is for some reason all the colours aren't available yet! I don't want a black cover.
Is it? When I'm sitting on the sofa with my laptop on top of me, trying to use the trackpad can be a real pain as its right next to my body. Being able to touch the screen would be far far far easier.
...one of my favorite working positions for reviewing text on my laptop screen. However when I move to inputting text I push the laptop down so it's raised up on one of my legs and stabilized with the heels of both of my hands. The general scale of buttons on a laptop don't make for easy gerfinger-poken...
Because technology has marched on in the intervening years. Touchscreens are better. Components are smaller. Software is better. Device cost is lower.
In short, because many of the issues that made the old old thing not worth buying have been fixed now.
I agree, unless you are including MS software in the above. MS software (OS and Apps) will either be heavy keyboard/mouse or some unholy marriage of the above and touch. Anything that diminishes the importance of the keyboard is not allowed by corporate culture led by the high priest Monkeyboy.
I know the Internet is going to be alive with comparisons between the Surface and the iPad and no one really wants to hear it but .....
... technically, nothing Microsoft is offering is truly a 'tablet" or a "post PC" device. These are all, without exception, convertible or hybrid laptops.
Even the RT ones with the keyboard cover contain essential system software and apps that in some cases, cannot be manipulated unless you attach a mouse. They also only operate in landscape mode.
These are hybrid laptops, not tablets. Microsoft's answer to the "post PC device" is to create a portable PC that imitates certain 'Post PC' features.
This is a perfectly valid strategy, but it ain't no tablet.
I agree, and this is pretty much what I have been saying along since it was first presented.
1. Detach keyboard/trackpad from a laptop, make it a "premium" add-on
2. Hide Windows desktop behind "Metro" Start page
3. Now tell everyone it's a tablet
Ballmer is a visionary!
Too true.
Now and again when I feel I have done something really dumb, like forgotten to compliment my wife's new hair style etc.
I sit down in a quite corner, turn on YouTube and watch Monkey Boy dance around, shrieking like a little girl, squeaking, Developers, Developers Developers ...
I then turn it off, and relax knowing full well that there is someone stupider than me on this planet.
Who cares about the price or if the keyboard is included?
The fact the RT tablets don't run x85 code is the biggest problem. Just wait until people buy a tablet that has "Windows" in the name and realize their existing Windows software WILL NOT RUN. Or that Office isn't quite the same as the full version on your PC. Or that there are hardly any programs available because of the major amount of work involved to re-write an existing x86 program to work on ARM.
That is the biggest reason these tablets are going to be a flop (or a very slow starter). No software.
AFAIR there is the possibility for business/power users of Windows RT to run remotely hosted x86 apps through remote desktop, we will see. There are already something like over 4500 'metro' apps.
The message? That the rubber keyboard is a battery-sucking hog if left connected.
In case you're wondering why everyone was jumping around like they were totally nuts, Monkeyboy Ballmer was the choreographer for the commercial. It was either that, or he was gonna bust some moves his self...
Why do you think so? My old Logitech LX710 wireless desktop's keyboard went through 3 years without batteries replacement. Mouse had batteries replaced every 3 months on average... but mouse has laser and constant stream of data being transmitted.
Smart cover keyboard is not even wireless. I'm expecting power usage will be negligible.
Interesting. Perhaps there may some regional differences, but in the USA the interest in trying out the Win 9 pre-release OS is only 1/5 of the interest in Win 7 when it was in its pre-release period. This little factoid has been a reliable indicator of the possible adoption rate of a MS OS.
Many of the largest corporation are either staying with XP or are only now adopting Win 7. But, for the first time ever, some products like the Win 8 phones and faplets will not be backward compatible to earlier versions of MS OS. This means that regardless of whether end user buys MS branded hardware or some other brand, the user will be operating within a mixed OS house.
Now normally it would be easy to just pick Win 8 and go... but years and years have passed since Apple and then Android OEMs have been integrated into large company's IT efforts. These other choices have proven themselves with IT. A lot of eyes have been opened that were long closed, and MS may be shocked at what new attitudes their absence has awoken into being.
<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0px;font:17px Times;">“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake...”</p>
<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0px;font:13px 'Lucida Grande';">—Henry David Thoreau</p>
Probably regional. Though I'm talking about our customers, so I cannot even say if that is standard for New Zealand or not. Nor do I know what's the situation over the ditch, in Australia... but here, our big clients have mostly adopted Windows 7. Most of them have proper VL agreements, company wide desktop platforms (Win 7, Office 2010, CALs...), ongoing Software Assurance. XP exists in SOHO setups mostly, and is being slowly updated with new equipment purchase.
Windows 8 desktop is not drawing much attention either... so far. We've given our staff access to our VL on voluntary base, just so that we have some people familiar with Win 8 when above mentioned SOHO customers start purchasing new machines with Windows 8 preinstalled. Our experience is good, as in "works as fine in domain as Win 7 does". There are potential benefits of improved security features etc., but it is too early to comment on everyday impact of such features.
However, interest for WP8 and RT/Pro tablets is above our expectations. I'd say dominant reason is expectation that mobile Office will be closer to desktop Office than what is available on Android/iOS. There is also general expectation among our customers' IT that WP8 and RT will be snappier/friendlier/feature richer/more manageable integrating with MS corporate services, namely SharePoint, CRM, Exchange, RDS. That remains to be seen in real life, thus also if interest will grow into actual purchases. But realistically, for yet unreleased product, MS cannot expect more than people being interested, and should be happy that people ARE interested.
Well there goes my plans to buy a MS tablet, figured it was going to be cheaper. They should call the RT version a MS Office tablet instead of surface, same as a full on win8 version. I mean what apps are going to be available other than the bundled software day one? Has anyone heard devs talking about recoding any titles, games or otherwise, to work on RT variant?
I think the price is a little on the high side. I really do like the fact that it comes with a full version of Office 2013 though, Excel with macro/Visual Basic support is one hell of a selling point for me. Sure the app store is small to start but that will change. Yea, I think for the business crowd this little guy could be popular. Especially that it has a USB slot and a file manager.
Microsoft is probably one of the last companies that has not put up a serious challenge to the since the iPad came to the market, even thought they were in the Tablet software business with their partners making the hardware. Probably the best suited to put up a fight against Apple, will be interesting to see especially after the Apple announcement of the Oct 23 event.
MS may be becoming a victim of its own vision statement from the early Bill Gates era: "Windows Everywhere". Add MS Office to that, and you have the complete MS business model.
There business model is also to sell to the enterprise, not to the ultimate user. That could work, of course, since they still and likely will always have a lock on the enterprise, but its permanence now is not guaranteed.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnalogJack
Also I note in the original ad that the main guy, pulls the Surface pad out of his briefcase to use it, then decides that he'd like to type something so he dives back into his briefcase to get the keyboard cover. But if the keyboard is a cover, then why is it not already on the pad? WTF is the point of having an uncovered pad and the cover separately stored in your briefcase? Same seems to go for the bench guys.
What is the message here?
The message? That the rubber keyboard is a battery-sucking hog if left connected.
In case you're wondering why everyone was jumping around like they were totally nuts, Monkeyboy Ballmer was the choreographer for the commercial. It was either that, or he was gonna bust some moves his self...
Quote:
Originally Posted by timgriff84
Well I think it looks nice. Admittedly no reviews yet, but my biggest issue with ordering one is for some reason all the colours aren't available yet! I don't want a black cover.
Is it? When I'm sitting on the sofa with my laptop on top of me, trying to use the trackpad can be a real pain as its right next to my body. Being able to touch the screen would be far far far easier.
...one of my favorite working positions for reviewing text on my laptop screen. However when I move to inputting text I push the laptop down so it's raised up on one of my legs and stabilized with the heels of both of my hands. The general scale of buttons on a laptop don't make for easy gerfinger-poken...
Quote:
Originally Posted by v5v
Because technology has marched on in the intervening years. Touchscreens are better. Components are smaller. Software is better. Device cost is lower.
In short, because many of the issues that made the old old thing not worth buying have been fixed now.
I agree, unless you are including MS software in the above. MS software (OS and Apps) will either be heavy keyboard/mouse or some unholy marriage of the above and touch. Anything that diminishes the importance of the keyboard is not allowed by corporate culture led by the high priest Monkeyboy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gazoobee
I know the Internet is going to be alive with comparisons between the Surface and the iPad and no one really wants to hear it but .....
... technically, nothing Microsoft is offering is truly a 'tablet" or a "post PC" device. These are all, without exception, convertible or hybrid laptops.
Even the RT ones with the keyboard cover contain essential system software and apps that in some cases, cannot be manipulated unless you attach a mouse. They also only operate in landscape mode.
These are hybrid laptops, not tablets. Microsoft's answer to the "post PC device" is to create a portable PC that imitates certain 'Post PC' features.
This is a perfectly valid strategy, but it ain't no tablet.
I agree, and this is pretty much what I have been saying along since it was first presented.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton
How to make a tablet, Microsoft style:
1. Detach keyboard/trackpad from a laptop, make it a "premium" add-on
2. Hide Windows desktop behind "Metro" Start page
3. Now tell everyone it's a tablet
Ballmer is a visionary!
Too true.
Now and again when I feel I have done something really dumb, like forgotten to compliment my wife's new hair style etc.
I sit down in a quite corner, turn on YouTube and watch Monkey Boy dance around, shrieking like a little girl, squeaking, Developers, Developers Developers ...
I then turn it off, and relax knowing full well that there is someone stupider than me on this planet.
Why do you think so? My old Logitech LX710 wireless desktop's keyboard went through 3 years without batteries replacement. Mouse had batteries replaced every 3 months on average... but mouse has laser and constant stream of data being transmitted.
Smart cover keyboard is not even wireless. I'm expecting power usage will be negligible.
Probably regional. Though I'm talking about our customers, so I cannot even say if that is standard for New Zealand or not. Nor do I know what's the situation over the ditch, in Australia... but here, our big clients have mostly adopted Windows 7. Most of them have proper VL agreements, company wide desktop platforms (Win 7, Office 2010, CALs...), ongoing Software Assurance. XP exists in SOHO setups mostly, and is being slowly updated with new equipment purchase.
Windows 8 desktop is not drawing much attention either... so far. We've given our staff access to our VL on voluntary base, just so that we have some people familiar with Win 8 when above mentioned SOHO customers start purchasing new machines with Windows 8 preinstalled. Our experience is good, as in "works as fine in domain as Win 7 does". There are potential benefits of improved security features etc., but it is too early to comment on everyday impact of such features.
However, interest for WP8 and RT/Pro tablets is above our expectations. I'd say dominant reason is expectation that mobile Office will be closer to desktop Office than what is available on Android/iOS. There is also general expectation among our customers' IT that WP8 and RT will be snappier/friendlier/feature richer/more manageable integrating with MS corporate services, namely SharePoint, CRM, Exchange, RDS. That remains to be seen in real life, thus also if interest will grow into actual purchases. But realistically, for yet unreleased product, MS cannot expect more than people being interested, and should be happy that people ARE interested.
Also you gotta love these,
How Microsoft set out to build the world’s best tablet
Microsoft airs its first Surface tablet ad, focuses on keyboard, kickstand and... dancers?
Microsoft gets crazy with its first Windows 8 TV ad
I think the price is a little on the high side. I really do like the fact that it comes with a full version of Office 2013 though, Excel with macro/Visual Basic support is one hell of a selling point for me. Sure the app store is small to start but that will change. Yea, I think for the business crowd this little guy could be popular. Especially that it has a USB slot and a file manager.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nishanth
Microsoft is probably one of the last companies that has not put up a serious challenge to the since the iPad came to the market, even thought they were in the Tablet software business with their partners making the hardware. Probably the best suited to put up a fight against Apple, will be interesting to see especially after the Apple announcement of the Oct 23 event.
MS may be becoming a victim of its own vision statement from the early Bill Gates era: "Windows Everywhere". Add MS Office to that, and you have the complete MS business model.
There business model is also to sell to the enterprise, not to the ultimate user. That could work, of course, since they still and likely will always have a lock on the enterprise, but its permanence now is not guaranteed.
Microsoft is very aggressively pushing for Windows 8 and surface tablets.
The advertising guy says the company expects to ship over 400 million units of windows 8 by July 2013.
That's pretty aggressive and far ahead of iPad's market share.
http://www.beet.tv/2012/10/windows8ads.html. ;
Has anyone seen any deals for surface. I saw some savings at this site but not much.
Originally Posted by KHARRIS
The advertising guy says the company expects to ship over 400 million units of windows 8 by July 2013.
Link to that complete idiot?