You realize that the Surface line was created to demo what Microsoft's platform was capable of, not to take over the laptop and tablet business.
For them to make $1B off of sample hardware is pretty impressive.
What’s the purpose of this editorial? Did someone recently write a pro-Microsoft article that bashed Apple? How about writing an Apple editorial instead. Like maybe one saying their laptop line is a bit of a mess right now and the MBA, MB and non-TB MBP should be combined into one device. Or with regards to desktops either update the Mac mini or discontinue it already.
"Like maybe one saying their laptop line is a bit of a mess right now and the MBA, MB and non-TB MBP"
I don't think it's that bad but I do agree the MB / MBA / MB "Escape" should be merged into one line.
Well done Daniel. This article is a clever use of the scientific method to compose an experiment around the hypothesis: "There are no compelling reasons for Apple to react to Microsoft's supposed innovation around its Surface product line." You then go on to provide emperical data and evidence, analysis and logic, and unbiased insight to either support or dismiss your stated hypothesis. Hypothesis proven. Just missing the Q.E.D. at the end.
What’s the purpose of this editorial? Did someone recently write a pro-Microsoft article that bashed Apple? How about writing an Apple editorial instead. Like maybe one saying their laptop line is a bit of a mess right now and the MBA, MB and non-TB MBP should be combined into one device. Or with regards to desktops either update the Mac mini or discontinue it already.
I was really impressed by how last year DED critisized Microsoft for having a bad Quarter because customers were waiting for a Surface Refresh and this year blasts them when it rebounds.
Other than thAt difference seems like this is a retread of editorials from before.
I will say it again. TouchBar is a failed innovation. I’ll believe otherwise when they come out with a Desktop keyboard with Touchbar. Yes people want the TouchId and Apple Pay or they want the most power the could get so they have to get the TouchBar model. And the keyboard sucks. That’s why I bought a 2015 MBP last year. I just keep hoping that Next year Apple’s next MBP redesign has a keyboard with much more travel. (It should be a great machine if Intel finally delivers their 10 nm CPUs with LPDDR4)
‘Windows’ is a me-too moniker that someone thought up when cloning the Mac.
‘Surface’ was the same company's approach of a combo laptop / tablet.
They succeeded in putting Netscape out of business by declaring that browsers were part of the OS.
Bing did not dethrone Google.
MS is untouchable as a desktop software productivity, desktop OS, and server & file sharing publisher (among a few other fiefdoms). In these areas, they literally print money the way Facebook and Google do in advertising. MS is now successfully contesting the cloud space from Amazon and others. That's not too shabby.
Steve Jobs' strength was his ability to not want to compete in every single area.
Where are all the developers and apps on the Surface?
They are outhere maintaining the windows platform with the largest, diverse range and number of software packages in the world. The thing that makes Apple successful in the computer space is Mac OS only being officially supported running on Apple Hardware. The day Apple decides support and develop drivers for non apple hardware its complete line up would take a massive hit as it would face genuine competion so this will likely never ever happen. The surface is competing for sales with a huge range of manufacturer models not just Apple. Mac OS is what makes an Mac Book Pro better its not the hardware.
Microsoft's products are only "innovative" on the surface (pun intended). They are products that try to be different, but without any consideration to whether that difference is warranted or even useful. Microsoft's computer products look "interesting" at first glance, but they pale in productivity and usefulness compared to personal computers from Apple and other manufacturers (especially when you compare products in the same price range or lower).
I don't think that devices as the Surface Pro " pale in productivity and usefulness compared to personal computers from Apple and other manufacturers" when customer satisfaction was higher than the iPad.
Toss in the added disadvantages of Microsoft's piss-poor product
reliability and support, and it explains why sales of Microsoft's
Surface computers have been so anemic.
The PC market is very hard, and it's saturated. Even Apple, that have been there for +30 years, still far behind HP, Dell and Lenovo. I don't think it has to do with reliability or customer support.
"If you ask engineers or marketing people or anyone else in the real world about important factors to consider in buying a laptop, they will pretty quickly get around to the point where they tell you that having a large display or desktop-class power is far less important than being able to carry it around without their back and neck hurting. "
DED missed an important direction Jobs had led in product development. Battery and power. Can Microsoft Surface Pro beat MacBook Pro on these specs?
What’s the purpose of this editorial? Did someone recently write a pro-Microsoft article that bashed Apple? How about writing an Apple editorial instead. Like maybe one saying their laptop line is a bit of a mess right now and the MBA, MB and non-TB MBP should be combined into one device. Or with regards to desktops either update the Mac mini or discontinue it already.
Don't be daft, DED has his head so far up Apple's ass he barely knows products by other companies exist, he'd never write anything critical of Apple. His articles were once good, and journalistically they are still good; but they're so ridiculously pro-Apple and so dismissive of Apple criticism they're actually cringeworthy to read.
Apple did innovate, but more in the important details that are often overlooked because they are just considered as "improvement" by some and "gimmicky" by others. The keyboard, the LCD bar, the track pad, etc to name a few.
``Why isn't Apple rapidly sprouting out new form factors? in part, Apple isn't wildly experimenting because it already knows what people really want. That understand keeps evolving with Apple's Mac and iPad product lineup.''
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Why isn't Apple rapidly sprouting out new form factors? In part, Apple isn't wildly experimenting because it already knows what people really want. That understanding keeps evolving with Apple's Mac and iPad product lineup.
...non-engineer YouTube personalities and random Internet bloggers weighed in with comments that instantly jumped to the conclusion that Apple had lazily slapped new Intel processors into an old MacBook chassis, resulting in a simplistic "defective by design" overheating issue. In reality, the problem was solved within a week with a software patch...
Why isn't Apple rapidly sprouting out new form factors? in part, Apple isn't wildly experimenting because it already knows what people really want. That understand keeps evolving with Apple's Mac and iPad product lineup.
Had Dave Lee not made his YouTube video, and had no one else noticed the throttling, would Apple have solved the problem "within a week"? I speculate not.
Apple also doesn't know everything we want as evidenced by that horrid keyboard. Even people who claim to like that thing would certainly otherwise if Apple had come out with a thin keyboard with more key travel and it was Microsoft who came out with the butterfly keyboard. Seriously... Who among us loves pounding their fingers on a table-top, which is tantamount to what you get when you type on the butterfly keyboard?
Except for those 2 points, I liked the article very much. Bravo!
Microsoft’s OS gymnasts to make the transformer idea work resulted in a poor user experience for everyone.
I agree with you. I have a Surface Pro 4 issued as my work computer and only use it docked to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse.
I tried using the touch screen, but it really is non-intuitive. You cannot shoehorn a pointer-based OS to a touch screen and expect it to be great. Like Apple, they need to develop a touch-based UI from the ground up.
And lastly, where is the updated Mac Mini? Cook promised and update. “It’s in our future” Remember. Which future?
The multiverse has many futures. In one version of ourselves everyone has a sensibly priced, compact and up to date Mac mini in every room of the house. It just isn’t this version.
DED wrote, "Despite all this confident insistence on what people really want,
we have the results from a democratic vote where people cast ballots in
the form of dollars..."
That's quite an eloquent and memorable turn of phrase!
Though true, and agreed for the most part. There's one thing missing in the whole analysis. The only supplier of computers that run MacOS is Apple. If I don't like their current product, I can't run to another supplier and use the MacOS there. Sure, I can use a frankenstein and violate the licence agreement, but that's not really a solution. If you love MacOS and find it better than anything out there, your only pro laptop solution is the one Apple offers.
I'm casting a vote with my dollars, but the choices are Apple silver or Apple space grey.
You realize that the Surface line was created to demo what Microsoft's platform was capable of, not to take over the laptop and tablet business.
For them to make $1B off of sample hardware is pretty impressive.
What, exactly, does Surface "demo" that's unique to Windows PCs? And why would Microsoft spend billions of dollars on product development and advertising, call its corporate strategy "devices and services" (not "demos of stuff OEMs should make") merely to show Windows OEMS how to build PCs?
The idea that Microsoft and Google are not really trying to sell the hardware they are obviously very diligently and desperately trying to sell is so asinine it makes you look incredibly foolish to repeat it. You really think Microsoft built out a retail store network at incredible cost just to show PC makers how they could alternatively create PCs?
That's called a "reference design" and Microsoft's been that for decades. Building its own hardware is clearly not a brochure for PC makers.
Comments
I don't think it's that bad but I do agree the MB / MBA / MB "Escape" should be merged into one line.
Other than thAt difference seems like this is a retread of editorials from before.
I will say it again. TouchBar is a failed innovation. I’ll believe otherwise when they come out with a Desktop keyboard with Touchbar. Yes people want the TouchId and Apple Pay or they want the most power the could get so they have to get the TouchBar model. And the keyboard sucks. That’s why I bought a 2015 MBP last year. I just keep hoping that Next year Apple’s next MBP redesign has a keyboard with much more travel. (It should be a great machine if Intel finally delivers their 10 nm CPUs with LPDDR4)
‘Surface’ was the same company's approach of a combo laptop / tablet.
They succeeded in putting Netscape out of business by declaring that browsers were part of the OS.
Bing did not dethrone Google.
MS is untouchable as a desktop software productivity, desktop OS, and server & file sharing publisher (among a few other fiefdoms).
In these areas, they literally print money the way Facebook and Google do in advertising.
MS is now successfully contesting the cloud space from Amazon and others.
That's not too shabby.
Steve Jobs' strength was his ability to not want to compete in every single area.
DED missed an important direction Jobs had led in product development. Battery and power. Can Microsoft Surface Pro beat MacBook Pro on these specs?
Apple also doesn't know everything we want as evidenced by that horrid keyboard. Even people who claim to like that thing would certainly otherwise if Apple had come out with a thin keyboard with more key travel and it was Microsoft who came out with the butterfly keyboard. Seriously... Who among us loves pounding their fingers on a table-top, which is tantamount to what you get when you type on the butterfly keyboard?
Except for those 2 points, I liked the article very much. Bravo!
I agree with you. I have a Surface Pro 4 issued as my work computer and only use it docked to an external monitor, keyboard and mouse.
I tried using the touch screen, but it really is non-intuitive. You cannot shoehorn a pointer-based OS to a touch screen and expect it to be great. Like Apple, they need to develop a touch-based UI from the ground up.
We are probably in the Dark Multiverse !
I'm casting a vote with my dollars, but the choices are Apple silver or Apple space grey.
Other than that, I found this a nice editorial.
Just pondering...
What, exactly, does Surface "demo" that's unique to Windows PCs? And why would Microsoft spend billions of dollars on product development and advertising, call its corporate strategy "devices and services" (not "demos of stuff OEMs should make") merely to show Windows OEMS how to build PCs?
The idea that Microsoft and Google are not really trying to sell the hardware they are obviously very diligently and desperately trying to sell is so asinine it makes you look incredibly foolish to repeat it. You really think Microsoft built out a retail store network at incredible cost just to show PC makers how they could alternatively create PCs?
That's called a "reference design" and Microsoft's been that for decades. Building its own hardware is clearly not a brochure for PC makers.