Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft's Touted iPad Rival Courier Becomes Less Than Vapor
Kostya writes "The much discussed Courier two-panel tablet device from Microsoft is now even less than vaporware — now it's just plain dead. 'Microsoft execs informed the internal team that had been working on the tablet device that the project would no longer be supported.' While the Courier had never been officially announced as a supported product by Microsoft, it had generated a lot of discussion as what the iPad should have been."
I bet you can BING some awesome reviews and success stories about this tablet anyhow.
*snicker*
Moved to http://soylentnews.org/. You are invited to join us too!
Plus, the time wasn't right. The entire Microsoft line of failed products happened not always because Microsoft's version was worse, but because it came across as Microsoft copying the industry leader. Lets see here:
The Zune looked like a copy of the iPod. The Zune HD looked like a copy of the iPod Touch. Bing/Live Search all seemed to be copies of Google. Etc.
Microsoft's products that have been successful have been those ahead of their competitors. Look at the 360 which got a few months head start on Nintendo/Sony and has been very successful (of course a lot of this could be due to the lack of decent games for the Wii and the astronomical price of PS3 hardware for the longest time...).
Releasing Courier would seem like a copy of the iPad, something that Microsoft can't pump money into because it will be dead on release.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Er, the ipad is selling hugely. This is the start of the era of tablets, so no they are not dead.
The advantage they offer over laptops and netbooks is a tactile natural way to consume media at your leisure i.e. while you're on the sofa.
They won't replace laptops or desktops or anything else, but they're here to stay.
Azural - instrumentals
They've had tablet support since Windows 3.11.
Yeah, and look how many Windows tablets you've seen in the wild since then.
I have only seen one with my own eyes. In use by a Microsoft partner account manager, so it kinda figures.
its all part of market testing.
And if the "testing" happens to kill a competitors product launch while people wait for the Microsoft product, well that was just an accident!
Happily there are very few product announcements from Microsoft people are willing to wait for these days it was apparent to pretty much anyone Courier wasn't going anywhere at slow pace of even delivering concept videos...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
You have exactly one VP saying that the product was real, but was shitcanned. Besides that, there's some leaked computer generated videos and pictures of an alleged product.
You're mourning the fact that a puff of vapor got carried off by the breeze. That's not awesome, that's standard operating procedure for Redmond; unless by awesome you mean "marketing bullshit that never has to withstand real world use and criticism," in which case, spot on.
Getting Work Done isn't the primary use of computers for a very large slice of the market. This is where you and many others fundamentally misunderstand the tablet space. Traditionally the market problem is that full computers are too much machine for the everyday user -- they want to check their Facebook, emails, read the news, and catch up on that show they missed last night on ABC. The iPad does all these things adroitly. Mom knows to touch the little "ABC" icon and then touch her favorite show. Actually, screw mom, I know that too, and I don't have to futz with Silverlight or Flash or Growl notifications popping up or emails dinging in the middle of a show.
Open your mind. Not everyone uses a computer the way you do.
Sony ha
The problem I have with all these technophiles decrying the iPad's lack of flash is this: are you not the same group that beats down any flash site? FFS, slashdot is the place that puts [PDF WARNING] next to links. If anyone was going to complain about the lack of flash, this is the absolute last group of people I would have expected.
As I said in reply to the OP, the problem is that full PCs are simply too much machine for what many people want to do (watch a show, check facebook, etc). A $99 iPad would be a true game-changer, and I think something along those lines is the next step. At this price point, people (like you) get confused because of the price and say (as you did), 'but... look at the sweet box I could buy for $500, I don't get it!' The point is that my mom and my wife and many like them don't care in the least if they have a sweet box. They care if they can "like" timmy's facebook status.
Your geek factor (Look at me! HTPC! Check me out! Modded Wii!) is what's keeping you from seeing this market. Not everyone uses computers the way you do, and not everyone derives the same satisfaction from setting up their own rad HTPC setup. My wife is perfectly content to watch DVDs, out of a box, on her laptop. I thought that was madness when I first saw it. Fact is, people compute in different ways.
Sony ha
Vaporware is the ultimate refining of the process of "Overpromise, Underdeliver".
In other words, when you promise everything, and deliver nothing.
Though the basic premise of overpromise/underdeliver has always a basic theme in I.T in general. You're making promises you know you can't deliver, to an audience that is in no position of expertise to question what you say, and in their dependent state, has to believe you, and has no choice but to accept whatever you happen to actually deliver. (a process also known more commonly as "I.T. Consultant")
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
At the moment. But will Apple really be able to carry the momentum once people start realizing theres nothing really -great- about the iPad?
They would not be selling hugely if there were not things people found great about them NOW. Marketing can only get you so far, and marketing only helps Apple much because people have grown to trust Apple more than other companies.
But signs point to iPad sales climbing. They just got a big boost from Oprah (formerly champion of the Kindle), they also have had to move back international release dates. And at this point, people thinking about buying one can try them out in Apple Stores and figure out if they are great or not.
With the iPad, what benefit are you getting for the cost?
An excellent screen (which really matters if you care about eye strain) over any normal screen for a device in that price range.
Tens of thousands and soon hundreds of thousands of applications dedicated to operation by touch, and used in that form factor. Yes you can buy a netbook but few applications work well in the screen sizes most netbooks support. This is such a massive benefit I can't believe it is constantly overlooked.
Compact size for the battery life - sure some netbooks also have good battery life, but they are a lot larger.
A world of peripherals that all work via the dock connector.
A fantastic data plan ($15/250MB/month or $30/month unlimited, no contract).
And let me repeat the thing about many, many developers working hard to write software that works really, really well on the device vs. running software that was built for a desktop and "works OK" on a netbook.
On a side note, you and so many other people are so mistaken about the iPad being only for consumption, or even consumption focused... That is not the end game.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I was ill for two days this week. I grabbed my iPad and watched some new shows that I've not had time to check out. ABC's iPad app let me watch Castle and V in 720p. Then I watched some movies on Netflix. I also bought the latest book from Steven Erikson using iBooks.
It wasn't too heavy.
It has a bigger screen than my netbook, and its stunning.
It didn't get too hot like my netbook does when watching movies. I *hate* frying my balls.
The wife's netbook can't watch 720p movies at all.
I didn't have to have it plugged in, so I could move it about easily while I tried to get comfortable. Charged it overnight.
When I was done puking, I wiped it clean with disinfectant.
I'm not sick all the time, of course. The wife uses it and her iPhone. Her netbook hasn't been touched for months. The iPad is "just" a more usable iPhone for her. Its set up with her email, not mine (and she did it herself - amazing what she can do when I'm not around). I will be buying two more for our children.
I hear you, although I think your first statement contradicts your last statement a little bit. I'd rephrase it, "the average consumer wants to play simple games." The app store has boatloads of popcap-like games, many of them free.
True that they may not be able to play $THIS_SPECIFIC_GAME, no doubt. Although I've been thinking about how flash games would even translate to a touch-based interface. Would you have to just display a soft keyboard? It wouldn't be using the device's human interface well if it did. What about hover states? This is all very confusing.
Sony ha
First it is "the iPad won't sell".
Then when it is selling, the claim is "it ain't running out" when figures show Apple just ordered more then at previous introductions.
then when it sells half a million, it won't last...
Oh and lack of flash will kill it despite more and more sites ditching it.
Face it, Jobs has done it again. Move on and start predicting his fall for the next gadget.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
And beyond that, Apple is building a computing platform that is completely appropriate for 95% of users out there.
I've been observing with great amusement the geek outrage over Apple's closed, locked-down ecosystem, starting with the iPod and iPhone, and culminating with the iPad, and I say: more power to Apple .
To paraphrase Spider-man: "With great computing power comes great computing responsibility." Manufacturers have placed general-purpose computers into the hands of the masses, and what have we gotten in return? Mountains of spam, malware galore, and tens of millions of zombie boxes. A general-purpose programmable device has proven, overall, a disaster for the Internet. In the hands of typical non-technical users, they are just begging to be exploited, and that's exactly what happens to them.
Steve Jobs has it exactly right. The overwhelming majority of people don't need a computer with a general purpose operating system. They need an iPad or something like it - an appliance that meets the needs of 95% of users, and is locked down so tightly that it is very hard to exploit via user stupidity.
Personally, I don't want an iPad. I don't need an iPad, because I'm capable of managing a general-purpose computer. But the appeal of the iPad to the average consumer is blatantly obvious. Apple is going to sell a lot of iPads.
A $99 iPad would be a true game-changer, and I think something along those lines is the next step.
I'm not an Apple historian, and this is an actual question, but has Apple ever sold a product at anything but a premium price? Any Apple product I can think over the last decade has cost far more than the median price of equivalent hardware by Apple's competitors.
iPod Touches aren't $99, and they've been on the market for a number of years. Plus, if the iPad was $99, what would an iPod Touch sell for? $69? Never, ever, ever going to happen. I could see the iPad maybe selling for $399 eventually, but I would be very surprised if it ever sold for less.
Better known as 318230.
Kudos to timholman and the mods. This post is a great (though perhaps rare) example of what I love about slashdot - a post that actually got me to change my opinion.
While I've been bemoaning the locked down nature of where Apple is going, I think for the majority of internet users this is exactly what they need.
The problem I have with all these technophiles decrying the iPad's lack of flash is this: are you not the same group that beats down any flash site?
Damn, when are you morons going to realise, THERE IS MORE THAN ONE PERSON ON THIS SITE. And we all have different opinions. Look at yourself, you clearly have a different opinion to the person you are responding to.
Why do you feel the need to group all these technophiles with one brush stroke. Most of use here to hate flash. So shut the fuck up, and wake up.
Personally, I think the iPad is a great idea, and can't wait to get one, but also understand why some people don't like the direction that we are heading.
So why does the closed Apple ecosystem bother you when you freely admit that the Android ecosystem is a viable alternative to those who wish to hack their handheld devices? Apple is not forcing Android out of the market - on the contrary, Android is doing very nicely. But that Apple monoculture has clearly been a boon to developers and consumers alike, far more so than Android to date.
If Apple was the only choice for smartphones, I'd be unhappy too. But Apple is only one player of many in that market. How does Joe Average's choice of the Apple monoculture diminish Android in any way?
And yet the iPad will probably sell more units in the first year than all the installed Linux desktop distros in the U.S. It's not just the concept, it's the implementation. Apple takes ideas that have been tried by others, and makes them mainstream and popular. I have nothing against Linux (I use it myself for part of my work), but even at its best you can't begin to compare it with Apple's ease of use.
Like what? Games? Books? Music? Movies? Occasional word processing? Web surfing? You've got all of that in spades with the iPad, plus a real, actual external keyboard if you want one.
What "certain things" do 95% of consumers need that an appliance like the iPad won't satisfy? And please don't list programming as one of them! Like I said: 95% of consumers.
Because like so many markets that Apple has chosen to enter, they have figured out how to do it right. Apple did not create the MP3 player, the smartphone, or the appliance computer. But their genius is in figuring out how to make them reliable and easy to use. We saw it with the iPod and iPhone, and now we're seeing it with the iPad.
And what I find puzzling is why you (and so many others) are unhappy about it. How does the existence of the iPhone and iPad diminish the utility of Android or Linux in any way, shape, or form? We've still got our general-purpose computers, and Apple's success hasn't hurt them in the slightest. Nothing has been taken away from you. I am no more unhappy with Apple for creating a closed information appliance than I am with my TV manufacturer for creating a TV that is equally "closed". I can buy a consumer TV, or I can hack together my own MythTV box. How does one choice diminish the other?