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Microsoft Surface Release Date Confirmed
twoheadedboy writes "Microsoft is going to release its Surface tablet on the same day Windows 8 goes on general availability, Oct. 26. The news was disclosed in a filing made with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which also revealed that the company expects launch and the accompanying marketing to harm its profits. We'll soon find out whether Microsoft has what it takes to take on the seemingly indomitable iPad."
Users will not be allowed to touch their devices until software updates are issued sometime next year.
Consider how badly Microsoft has hurt Apple in the past with products like:
If Microsoft's tablet has round corners, then we know they will be in serious legal trouble.
I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
I would 't read too much into the loss of profit declaration. New product launches cost money and new products may not make profit for some time until after the launch to recoup costs. As a general rule, financial statements disclose risks like this all the time. The issue will be six months to a year after launch. If Surface isn't profitable by then, that would be news.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
So why the fuck is this under apple.slashdot.org? Maybe it's time for /. to be slightly less biased and add a ms.slashdot.org?
Yeah I guess that didn't work for IBM, HP, Dell, Sony, Acer, Asus, Samsung and hundreds of other computer OEMs after Apple released their first PC back in the 70's.
It's just been two years since the iPad release. It takes a decade for things to settle down. I think by 2016 or so all cells phones will look and perform the same. It will always come down to software and it's developers. The tablet "wars" will be hashed out by 2020 and will probably all look the same and perform the same.
Look at history to predict the future. Back in the late 80s and most of the 90s each computer OEM had their own take on what a computer should look like till we entered the beige box era. History will repeat itself again.
Let them make the mistakes. Go cheap. Go even cheaper.
It worked quite well with Windows. It failed with the Zune.
It will fail with this release of Surface also.
Asking all your customers to buy a new copy of MS Office? Not a great idea.
I loved the MS idea of a fully collaborative,contextually aware, common screen surface.
If they could get that working outside of marketing videos, cheap enough for the consumer, it could be quite fun.
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> We'll soon find out whether Microsoft has what it
> takes to take on the seemingly indomitable iPad.
Spoiler: No.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
No, Microsoft has been flogging the pen computer game for a _long_ while:
1992 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_for_Pen_Computing
while Apple only formally got in the game later:
1993 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MessagePad
(and then bailed when Steve Jobs came back on board)
Though both were inspired by Go Corp.'s PenPoint:
1991 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PenPoint_OS
but one should look farther back still:
1914--1990 http://users.erols.com/rwservices/pens/penhist.html
Microsoft crashed the initial party (read Jerry Kaplan's _StartUp_), partied in a room which quickly emptied, tried to re-start the party many times (sort-of-successfully w/ their Tablet PC in 2002), then was surprised when Apple started a rave (the iPad) somewhere else in town.
If it's possible to install Mac OS X on the Surface, I may buy one.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Even if it was released tomorrow it would feel anticlimactic. I feel like I've been hearing about this thing for months.
Any word on pricing?
I understand they've renamed their table computer, but I don't think I've ever seen any explaination on what motivated them to want to change the name of that and call their new tablet "Surface" instead.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Yeah I guess that didn't work for IBM, HP, Dell, Sony, Acer, Asus, Samsung and hundreds of other computer OEMs after Apple released their first PC back in the 70's.
The tablet world is relatively young and there is no sign whatsoever that people are bored by iOS or Android. You are comparing the situation over decades. It is iOS and in lesser extend Android that get's all the love from developers, I don't really hear a lot of enthusiasm for Windows RT. I develop apps and I don't care, let alone that my clients care. And apps is what can make and break a platform. It is also a lot easier to shell out 99$ for developer license and that for a platform that has proven itself, then something that is very questionable to say the least.
The only people I do know that are enthusiastic about Microsoft tablets offering are the typical Microsoft people. The kind that get their trousers wet when they hear things like "exchange", "sharepoint","office",... . Those guys that have such a tremendous thrilling life that girls fall on their feet when they spread their theory about how integration with exchange will make Microsoft conquer the tablet space. Or my favorite "it comes with office", because that is really a fun factor... .
The only enthusiastic things I hear about those tablets are about the integration with current Microsoft software and that for 99% in the work space environment. And while Apple does have an enterprise program (which is btw not that strict), I think it is safe to say that most of their tablets are sold to consumers.
That group of people where Microsoft isn't a strong brand or where consumers have a lot of confidence in. I once had a friend who tried to argue that because most people used windows on their pc, it is a "strong" and "popular" brand. The difference is that for PC (especially if you like gaming) you don't have a lot of choice, in tablet space it is a complete other story.
I'm even sure that this was a wake up call for Microsoft and is the reason why they try to shove down "Metro" and their "unified" vision down our throat. That in the hope that familiarity will influence the choice people make when buying a new tablet. I know a lot of people who replaced their PC with a tablet or are using the PC a lot less since they have a tablet. I think for the general population that does some surfing, e-mailing and simple games a tablet can be good enough. And that is a big threat for Microsoft when the dominant tablets don't have a Microsoft operating system on board.
For the more boring environments like most businesses they have a change, in consumer space I don't see it happening. I know it is popular to predict doom and gloom, but if you think about it Microsoft is facing the biggest threat it has in years or even decades.
they just won't admit it because everyone wants a slice of that pie but most cannot even get to the table.
MS's other issue is that if rumors hold true a new smaller iPad hits stores in September. I still think MS blew it by announcing a product they could ship at the time they announced it.
Rule #1 now is, do not announce what is not shipping now. Apple already exploits the magic in that phrase, NOW SHIPPING
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
What we've so far seen from Win8 (Metro) is on a regular PC possibly a pig but that does not yet make it good on a tablet.
Looking at the hardware I feel it would be really sweet with the tablet version of KDE.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
The new Intel Medfield processor (X86 based) is very competitive with the ARM architectures when it comes to processing power and battery life. A tablet powered with a Medfield processor should provide plenty of battery life. And since it's X86 based, it'll run all those Windows apps.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
The only enthusiastic things I hear about those tablets are about the integration with current Microsoft software and that for 99% in the work space environment.
Which is microsoft's whole deal, where the money is, and the way into the market. With office 2013 they're pushing to make home a lot more like enterprise. If people can understand what features they get, and how to use them then suddenly it becomes a compelling product. Of course no one outside of MS HQ really understands everything you can do with office, so that barrier to entry is probably insurmountable. However, students will find a lot of enterprise features really useful, and the computer illiterate would find things like cloud storage useful for when they kill their computers and don't have to copy everything over, but they're computer illiterate and can't take advantage of those features.
The other thing to keep in mind is that Surface is supposed to be significantly more capable as a content creation product than ipads and android tablets which are basically content consumption devices. There is a market there, unfortunately Windows 8 is sufficiently terrible that I'm not sure anyone really wants windows 8 devices.
With all of this it's about building the critical mass to get developers on board to make compelling software you can't get elsewhere. MS seems to have a vision for a combined windows 8 family across phones desktop and tablets, but the base of that visions is windows 8 which is terrible. That doesn't mean there isn't something they could do that would make the whole thing really compelling though, I just doubt their users could manage it.
Keep in mind Apple only sold 40 million iPads in 2011. That seems like a lot compared to say... android tablets. But windows 7 sells about 240 million copies a year. If they can present it as easier to use, easier to connect with the PC etc. people might go for it. Lots of people are completely baffled by iPads (seems odd, I know) but those people don't *have* iPads. Of course those people also aren't going to have a clue how to use windows 8 either, but there's probably 200 million customers who's needs aren't served by iPads or android and MS is figuring they could eat up a chunk of that, though admittedly, they'll cannibalize some of their own laptop sales with surface.
The parent poster is putting forth a sound theory, but I'm going to have to disagree with it.
Ultimately, the problem is, I don't think most people see the tablet form-factor as ideal. It's great in certain scenarios, which happen to be the ones traditional desktop or portable computers fail at. (I'm talking about such things as trying to use one while lying in bed, or while standing up and walking around. I'm also talking about comfortably reading for extended periods of time while seated in any random chair or couch.)
Since the iPad is the established "standard" in this area, with a massive ecosystem of software apps built up for it, there's little reason to switch from it. But that also means there's probably little reason to duplicate the hardware with ANOTHER tablet form-factor device. The Ultrabooks on the market still fulfill the tasks we've been doing for years with slightly larger notebook computers. They've got actual keyboards built in and their screens fold up at various angles for easy reading while you sit the entire thing on a flat surface. They've got battery life equivalent to the iPads and other such tablets, too, so that's been addressed. They'll even run the SAME operating system Microsoft is pushing for the new Surface tablets. So where's the real motivation to migrate to the Surface?
I'm cheering for Microsoft.
Competition is good.
I purchased an iPad 1, used it for less than two months and sold it to a friend for half what I paid for it. I wanted it to be so much more than it was - more than they still are. Steve gave his amazing presentation, I swooned - I drank the kool-aid. I was Captain Picard, carrying my StarFleet tablet around. Then I bought one.
They are just 10" iPod Touches.
I wanted to be able to prop it up and type papers on it. I purchased the sleek 3rd party bluetooth keyboard/case combo. They keys were a compromise, tiny, poor travel, poor to type on. So I bought the Apple wireless keyboard. Apple's Pages software was friendly, and easy to use, but failed utterly to have any true usefulness in a world where Microsoft Word so utterly dominates academia or corporate America. Printing was a nightmare. Moving documents to my PC required iTunes syncing. .. iTunes..?? The music store software? What kind of "computer" was this!? My dream of a sleek, cool Sci-Fi space man computer was dashed as I realize the iPad is little more than a toy for reading Facebook on the toilet and clumbsily tapping in replies to emails from your sofa at a blistering 15 words per minute.
A sleek tablet with integrated, nearly full-size keyboard/cover and full, actual Microsoft Office built in?? A solid, well-engineered stand that folds out of the tablet to support it without needing to buy a pile of 3rd party cases, folios, etc. ? Be still my heart.
Touch is awesome. Touch is great for web surfing and watching cat videos on YouTube. Touch, paired with NO keyboard or keyboard and a very lightweight word processing app was absolutely useless. The keyboard is an order of magnitude more efficient for actually doing WORK.
The Surface tablet brings us so much closer to the dream of the all-in-one small, lightweight portable computer. I have hated Micro$oft as much as any other linux-using, Android using Slashdot reader. But I am cheering for them on this one. I hope the Surface takes it to Apple, and takes it to them hard.
Competition is good.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
C'mon obviously he was "holding it wrong"..
I'm even sure that this was a wake up call for Microsoft and is the reason why they try to shove down "Metro" and their "unified" vision down our throat. That in the hope that familiarity will influence the choice people make when buying a new tablet. I know a lot of people who replaced their PC with a tablet or are using the PC a lot less since they have a tablet. I think for the general population that does some surfing, e-mailing and simple games a tablet can be good enough. And that is a big threat for Microsoft when the dominant tablets don't have a Microsoft operating system on board.
Here Here!
Price is going to be a big factor. The Nexus 7 is $200 and does alot. How much? Enough to make some one wonder if they want to buy 3 Nexus 7's for them, their spouse, and a kid, OR do they want to buy on Surface or other Winsows 8 tablet at $600 plus? The only way that Microsoft adds "value" for an OS that is priced at $50 or $150 is on expensive hardware. If you put Win 8 on the Nexus 7 it would be a $300 tablet. You have to hide the price of Win 8 in the cost of overpriced hardware.
That is not to say there is not value havind a keyboard as well as front and rear facing cameras. Microsoft is betting that someone will look at a Nexus 7 wth no keyboard, front facing camera, scratchable screen at $200 and pass it up for Win 8 tablet at $600. Remember, this is WinRT at $600 and there are more Andriod apps than Win 8 apps and you must trust Microsoft with your cloud info better than you trust google.
The market to me looks like Android owns the sub $400 market, Apple owns the $500 to $900 market and those that absoletely must run a Windows desktop on a tablet might spend $900 + on a Win 8 tablet ... unless they would prefer a $900 Win 7 tablet. After all, one you hit that price point the hadware is goog enough to make Win 7 sing.
vi +
The Apple 1 not only wasn't a PC, it wasn't even a whole computer.
The Commodore PET predates the first Apple PC, the Apple II.
I think by 2016 or so all cells phones will look and perform the same.
I hope not; different people have different requirements for a phone. Me, I want a small enough phone to fit in a pants pocket, I want it to have a good video camera and sound, and I want it to surf the web and do text; email I'll do on the computer. I have no use for Angry Birds on a phone, or Skype since I don't have overseas friends.
Others carry purses and want a big screen and Angry Birds and Facebork and email, but don't give a damn about a camera.
Others just want a PHONE, something they can make and recieve calls on and don't want a camera, internet, text, or anything else.
When it comes to phones, unlike yesteryear one size does not fit all. If all phones are alike in 4 years, I'd consider that to be a very bad thing.
Free Martian Whores!
Please don't feed the trolls, they're all way too fat anyway. You just made a "-1. troll" visible by quoting him! Mods, fix this guy's wagon, please. Biters should be downmodded, just as the trolls themselves.
Free Martian Whores!
Sigh.
"Hear, hear!"
Not:
"Here, here"
Where?
There, there.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it