The Microsoft Tablet

Manco said:
Most of the stores are in malls, so it's hard to camp out there. Plus by having people get a ticket and show up before noon, they do have a chance of having a line at the open. I'm sure they will have cameras at the ready to feed the press :)
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Apple store in downtown Toronto is in mall. I believe they made arrangements with mall security before hand.
 
Seriously, I don't see people ever standing in line for Microsoft hardware, simply becuase they aren't the only windows 8 hardware vendor in town. With apple, you know there is no alternative, so your decision is Apple or nothing. Here people will take time to figure out if the Lenovo, Asus, Samsung, Acer, HP, Dell, Fujitsu etc will be the right choice. It's not as simple a decision.

My son waited in line for Halo2, but that's an exclusive game.
 
Manco said:
Seriously, I don't see people ever standing in line for Microsoft hardware, simply becuase they aren't the only windows 8 hardware vendor in town. With apple, you know there is no alternative, so your decision is Apple or nothing. Here people will take time to figure out if the Lenovo, Asus, Samsung, Acer, HP, Dell, Fujitsu etc will be the right choice. It's not as simple a decision.

My son waited in line for Halo2, but that's an exclusive game.
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Have to agree. There isn't just one droid phone so you don't get the huge lines that happen with an iPhone release.
 
DAB said:
You seriously believe that? What about it stirs someone to even want to go check them out? I wasn't sure if it was a computer or a tablet?
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That seems to be the point to all their ads. Aimed at twenty somethings this seems to be the point they are driving across.
 
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
That seems to be the point to all their ads. Aimed at twenty somethings this seems to be the point they are driving across.
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I get the premise, but I just think its a fail. Most folks that are looking for a laptop want a fully functioning laptop, those looking for a tablet want a tablet. This comes off as a wanna be both. Lenovo has already tried this didn't do well in the market place.

Apple has proven that marketing works best when you show a potential buyer what it can do for you in your daily life. Samsung starting doing the same type ads as Apple and it is paying off for them. (Of course Samsung seems to like to take coping to an extreme, but that is another topic)

MS is missing the mark in the demographics too because that age group also has the least deposable cash.

I will give MS high marks for the GUI though on their tablet, I think it looks great and functionality wise they got it right. It seemed more fluent and smooth than Android Jelly Bean. I think their mail and calendar makes iOS versions look old and dated.
 
DAB said:
I get the premise, but I just think its a fail. Most folks that are looking for a laptop want a fully functioning laptop, those looking for a tablet want a tablet. This comes off as a wanna be both. Lenovo has already tried this didn't do well in the market place.

Apple has proven that marketing works best when you show a potential buyer what it can do for you in your daily life. Samsung starting doing the same type ads as Apple and it is paying off for them. (Of course Samsung seems to like to take coping to an extreme, but that is another topic)

MS is missing the mark in the demographics too because that age group also has the least deposable cash.

I will give MS high marks for the GUI though on their tablet, I think it looks great and functionality wise they got it right. It seemed more fluent and smooth than Android Jelly Bean. I think their mail and calendar makes iOS versions look old and dated.
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I think in MS mind Windows 8 is merging the 'fully functional laptop' model with a tablet. They probably believe the Surface running Windows 8 should be like a fully functional laptop. Whether it actually is or not is a user decision.

Apple have had several strategies in advertising. The Mac adds were much like Samsung ads were -- mocking their competitor for a long while. There was nothing about what a Mac does or didn't do just that they didn't have the limitations of their competitor (Windows). Certainly you remember the "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads?

Neither is right or wrong. It is really hard to say which will be effective and which won't. Personally, iPhone5 ads are a bit lame IMHO. They are just recycled iPhone4 ads with different features. Not sure how effective they are. The mainstream media seems to be Apple's best advertising tool.

Personally, I don't see MS having an ad campaign which would turn the Surface into an iPad like device. But if this is their first step into the market, I think they are doing things right. But this can't be a "let's try this and abandon it if we don't get immediate results" campaign.

A lot of 20 somethings have daddy's money and are really into technology.
 
I think MS is looking to bridge the gap between tablets and laptops. It might work. I think it's smart for them to not try to compare themselves to apple. Why bother.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
HecticArt said:
I think MS is looking to bridge the gap between tablets and laptops. It might work. I think it's smart for them to not try to compare themselves to apple. Why bother.
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I don't see it being successful trying to bridge that gap. Lenovo and a couple of others have already tried this and were not successful.

I think Windows 8 even the RS version is good enough. I just think the design of the product in and of itself will be its biggest draw back. I think some of the other designs that aren't trying to bridge the gap and actually making real tablets that are better design wise stand a better chance.

Here is a review by The Verge and I think this guy sums it up nicely...

Microsoft Surface review | The Verge
 
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
I think in MS mind Windows 8 is merging the 'fully functional laptop' model with a tablet. They probably believe the Surface running Windows 8 should be like a fully functional laptop. Whether it actually is or not is a user decision.

Personally, I don't see MS having an ad campaign which would turn the Surface into an iPad like device. But if this is their first step into the market, I think they are doing things right. But this can't be a "let's try this and abandon it if we don't get immediate results" campaign.

A lot of 20 somethings have daddy's money and are really into technology.
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Unfortunately the RS version isn't really a fully functioning Windows 8 product. They have a pro version that will be, but this initial release has several issues as I see it. First of all the apps are just not there, it is so lacking in this area that is almost scary. You can go into what looks a lot like a windows 7 desktop, but only 5 apps supporting in this environment and that is MS Office software.

Again we've had Lenovo do this bridging the gap between lap and tab and it didn't do very well. I think the design itself is the biggest issue for this device.

I would never suggest MS compete by comparing itself to Apple. But my point is that by showing what the device offers to the every day user as Apple does is a better selling point, then slapping the kick stand back and making a cute jingle.

MS has no intent to continue making this for very long in my opinion. I think they did this purely to push others into the space running Windows RS. They want to sell their OS more than they do actual hardware devices like the Surface.

There is no doubt there will be some parents tapped to buy these, but ultimately how many really? I guess we'll find out!
 
DAB said:
I don't see it being successful trying to bridge that gap. Lenovo and a couple of others have already tried this and were not successful.

I think Windows 8 even the RS version is good enough. I just think the design of the product in and of itself will be its biggest draw back. I think some of the other designs that aren't trying to bridge the gap and actually making real tablets that are better design wise stand a better chance.

Here is a review by The Verge and I think this guy sums it up nicely...

Microsoft Surface review | The Verge
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Clearly you aren't their target market. ;)
 
HecticArt said:
Clearly you aren't their target market. ;)
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This is likely true, but I wanted to be, but the question is did they miss the mark. We'll have to wait till they release the numbers to see. They sold out of their initial batch which is a good sign.

The biggest issue I see for them is that they simply don't apps to give someone an overall great user experience compared to the competition. The office suite is nice, but both Android an iOS have compatible Office Apps that work great with access to the cloud.
 
DAB said:
This is likely true, but I wanted to be, but the question is did they miss the mark. We'll have to wait till they release the numbers to see. They sold out of their initial batch which is a good sign.

The biggest issue I see for them is that they simply don't apps to give someone an overall great user experience compared to the competition. The office suite is nice, but both Android an iOS have compatible Office Apps that work great with access to the cloud.
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I'm certain that there is a good market for people/ companies that want to stick with the MS platform if only to simplify their software management plan. Office and their other software will transition the way users expect it to with little to no learning curve. I know several people that don't consider their iPads serious business machines. Will they sell enough? Who knows. I'm not ready to buy one yet.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
HecticArt said:
I'm certain that there is a good market for people/ companies that want to stick with the MS platform if only to simplify their software management plan. Office and their other software will transition the way users expect it to with little to no learning curve. I know several people that don't consider their iPads serious business machines. Will they sell enough? Who knows. I'm not ready to buy one yet.
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Clearly if MS can tap into those with windows already this will be a win. That won't really happen till they release the pro model, which will be much higher priced.

I have often been able to get work done on my iPad and I think clearly where the iPad has excelled is in the medical field. I work with several MD's and they all have iPad which they use for doing notes, ordering meds, watching telemetry on patients. Those aren't ghost technologies they are real. I also know many business that have came up with their on apps that are specific to what they do and have outfitted their staff with iPads. Airlines are using them and almost every day you read about a fortune 500 company that is opted to get their staff iPads. So, if they aren't really valuable in the work place why would these companies be doing this? I would agree that there are likely some business that wouldn't find them useful, but clearly there are many others that absolutely do consider them for use in their businesses here is an example below.

This past week I went for my yearly check up at my doctors office. I not only checked in on an iPad, they reviewed my medical history, asked me several follow-up questions and put the responses in right on the iPad. I even signed some documents on the iPad. Then when I went in to see the doctor, he had an iPad and reviewed all the information that the nursing staff obtained. Wrote my prescription on the iPad and when I got to the front they were printed out with his signature and they girl just had to stamp them.
 
DAB said:
I don't see it being successful trying to bridge that gap. Lenovo and a couple of others have already tried this and were not successful.
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Microsoft and others have tried this before, but never with an OS like Windows 8 so not really fair to compare. I think they have a huge opportunity over Apple at the moment, they have unified the interfaces on all their devices, and familiarity and application sharing will be beneficial overall for the ecosystem. So long as the interface is good enough for a tablet OS then they are ahead in terms of strategic technical direction of unifying the platforms. This is something Apple probably won't or possibly can't do between iPad, Phone and Desktop. The new hardware out there is simply amazing, computers no longer need to have a keyboard, but the keyboard can be used to make an ultra book, or extend the battery life of the removable screen/tablet.

What Microsoft has done is not to obsolete iPad, but provide a very good alternative to the iPad, with many hardware solutions to pick and choose from.

I have upgraded my primary laptop to Windows 8, an older laptop and have been using Surface RT over the weekend. The more I use it the more I am liking it, and can't imagine going back to Windows 7 for my own personal use. My review of the Surface RT would definitely be more positive from the Verge's review in many ways. I have some complaints on some of the apps like Music app seems a bit buggy on Surface, but I'm sure they will fix that over time. My biggest complaint is no native app for Amazon music/video, hopefully they will add that. I can still use cloud player but I would prefer to have a native app like they have on the Fire.

As a test I handed Surface to my Wife with the Travel application open which is a very nice application. She didn't even need to be told how to use the thing, it was so natural, and intuitive. Internet explorer is really well done for touch, not a single hint of chrome on the screen, just text unless you use some simple gestures to pull up address bar and quick launch icons.
 
Manco said:
Microsoft and others have tried this before, but never with an OS like Windows 8 so not really fair to compare. I think they have a huge opportunity over Apple at the moment, they have unified the interfaces on all their devices, and familiarity and application sharing will be beneficial overall for the ecosystem. So long as the interface is good enough for a tablet OS then they are ahead in terms of strategic technical direction of unifying the platforms. This is something Apple probably won't or possibly can't do between iPad, Phone and Desktop. The new hardware out there is simply amazing, computers no longer need to have a keyboard, but the keyboard can be used to make an ultra book, or extend the battery life of the removable screen/tablet.

What Microsoft has done is not to obsolete iPad, but provide a very good alternative to the iPad, with many hardware solutions to pick and choose from.

I have upgraded my primary laptop to Windows 8, an older laptop and have been using Surface RT over the weekend. The more I use it the more I am liking it, and can't imagine going back to Windows 7 for my own personal use. My review of the Surface RT would definitely be more positive from the Verge's review in many ways. I have some complaints on some of the apps like Music app seems a bit buggy on Surface, but I'm sure they will fix that over time. My biggest complaint is no native app for Amazon music/video, hopefully they will add that. I can still use cloud player but I would prefer to have a native app like they have on the Fire.

As a test I handed Surface to my Wife with the Travel application open which is a very nice application. She didn't even need to be told how to use the thing, it was so natural, and intuitive. Internet explorer is really well done for touch, not a single hint of chrome on the screen, just text unless you use some simple gestures to pull up address bar and quick launch icons.
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I think the opportunity that MS has vs Apple is the large Windows base, now rather that translates to those that want a device that is a hybrid of being a laptop, but is really a tablet. I guess we'll see. I think the Pro version coming in Jan has a much better chance of this than the RT version because it will be able to run native windows programs though from the desktop and not the new environment.

I've been using this OS all weekend long and I feel disjointed and disconnected. There isn't any logical flow to the way the OS operates. There are inconsistencies depending on rather you are in the desktop or the new environment.

Overall I like the new setup, but it needs a lot of work and I am sure over time they will tweak it. I think the bottom line is they had to start somewhere and I'll admit is a fair start. I have been reading a lot of the end user reviews on Youtube and many are complaining about the Surface having a lot of lag and taking a long time to load programs. I think much of the loading issues is like any new program until you open it and some of caches it does take longer.

By the way you do realize that with Mountain Lion Apple has melded the desktop environment of OS X to work in many ways like the iOS versions. Everything works in unison with each other. So, I can be on iPhone, iPad, iPod and multiple Mac computers and everything is in perfect sync. Many of the programs like Mail, Reminders, Calendar, Bookmarks, Photo Stream they pretty much all the same across the board. There is even lunchpad, which is a cool start up menu of sorts that you can lunch programs from. Granted these are live tiles. I think both Apple and MS understand that to some degree you need a unified system across mobile and desktop/laptop.. They have just taken different directions on who to get there. I think many in the Windows world would have rather MS do it the way Apple is rather than forcing a whole new environment on them.

Will this new OS energize a rather flat PC sector right now? Another question that I guess we will find out over the next few months.

Just to clarify I think MS did the right thing releasing Windows 8. I just feel they could have done it different and ended up with the same results, without forcing end user to work out of two environments.

The Surface to use is a no brainer if you are just going to IE and other things that in tiles. Its the more elaborate things that will take some getting use too. I mean we gave an iPad to my 94 your old aunt who uses it to Facetime and Text with the grandkids. It would be rather disappointing if your wife would have had issues using the Surface to do the simplest of things.
 
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