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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: Forget the iPad, Surface Is the Tablet People Want
zacharye writes "Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer undoubtedly knows that Apple has sold more than 100 million iPad tablets at this point, but according to the outspoken executive, that's not the tablet people really want. While speaking with CNBC, Ballmer said no company has built a tablet he believes customers want. 'You can go through the products from all those guys and none of them has a product that you can really use. Not Apple. Not Google. Not Amazon. Nobody has a product that lets you work and play that can be your tablet and your PC. Not at any price point,' he says."
One vendor lockin in enough and with the Copyright Board saying jailbreaking tablets is verboten, one is all I care to have.
Some days it's just not worth
chewing through my restraints.
Get out!
"Nobody has a product that lets you work and play that can be your tablet and your PC. Not at any price point,"
That's actually a true statement. Ballmer's problem is that it is still a true statement after Surface debuts.
AntiFA: An abbreviation for Anti First Amendment.
Wow - that's probably the clearest example of a shill comment that I've ever seen.
- too expensive
- too confusing (it's obvious that the iPad won't run Mac OS X apps, it's not obvious that the RT Surface won't run Windows apps)
- too late
(and I write this as a guy who'd like to replace his Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet PC w/ a Surface (Intel version, if it's possible to install Mac OS X on it)
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Dear Ballmer:
Steve Jobs is dead for real and you did not consume his soul. You do not have his magical ability to tell people what they want. You totally got screwed by that exorcist or whatever wacko you paid for Jobs' soul.
You can't do extensive photo editing or programming on an iPad either.
I just spent 6 weeks travelling with an iPad and the only thing it was really useful for was uploading photos I'd taken to and using it as a nice display to present the images to people I met. I did manage to edit up a video in iMovie to a reasonable degree though.
What *killed* it for me was the crappy keyboard and the limitations of IOS. I had to download an app in order to download and play freely available, legal MP3s off Soundcloud.
For my next trip I'm going to get a Mac Air I think, hardware wise the Surface looks exactly like it's what I want to be honest, but I'd miss OS X.
The problem with slashdot is that most of its users were bullied and stuffed into lockers as kids!
Somebody seems to be wanting those iPads
Thanks, guy.
I was excited to get my surface on Friday. By Sunday I decided to return it. I found it to be a compromise both as a tablet and a laptop. Many ui items are too small and I did not like the transitions from tablet ui to laptop ui and back again. I love the custom tiles of the start screen, unfortunately I found it to be all downhill from there.
Wether they know it or not consumers really want a tablet they can what they want with it. Not what you just give them. Which is what everybody is doing.
After "developers, developers" and the chair incident, Ballmer wants another quote for the hall of fame :)
So you are saying that the Surface is better at Facebook, Twitter and Netflix than the iPad? At best a toss up, but the iPad likely should win because of the maturity of the Apps and the integration into the OS.
http://www.vccircle.com/blog/2012/10/29/wake-ballmers-driving-microsoft-cliff
If not, then don't bother me until it does. If I want a crayon-level interface, I'll go with the one that has a bazillion apps for all my media content consuming needs. When a really useful, 256+ pressure level, pen-accurate input with palm/heel rejection gets here, then I'll consider switching.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Go back and look at Balmer's track record with his "statements". It's not really good at all.
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
DogKia,
Your contract clearly states that your posts must be illustrated with at least 3 examples, and "appeal to the user base of the site". You did give three examples, but only two are related to the topics that Slashdot users would care about (Facebook and Twitter are commonly disparaged on this site). The "first post" bonus only applies if the main criteria are met.
Sincerely,
Management
Yes. Tim Cook Will say the iPad is what people want. Balmer will say the Surface is what people want. Google will be pushing Chrome...
Time will tell what people really want. Focus group are sometimes wrong. Even what the internet buzz thinks it want isn't what people really want.
We here tend to figure if people didn't make the same choice that we made, some how their decision is corrupted by marketing, or misinformation, while we are more pure... But we all see things and weight them differently. If someone says they like x for reason y. You really shouldn't discredit reason y, if reason y is important to them. Reason y may not matter to you. But that is the great thing about choice... We get to pick what we want. So trying to discredit someone elses choice is just stupid.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I'd reckon Surface is better to throw across the office.
It would definitely look impressive if you get so angry that you throw your tablet and it smashes into tiny pieces against the wall.
The iPad isn't perfect, yet, but the Surface is so far down from perfect that it is not even a contender. Ballmer is dreaming. Or spinning PR.
Sounds as if he was trying to the use the Force, as in: Stormtrooper, "These aren't the Droids you're looking for."
Yesterday's Weirdness is Tomorrow's Reason Why
This would explain a lot.
But turns out I was just holding the wrong one.
Sounds like what you say when you're late to the party.
I can't remotely log in to my Linux machines and do programming on my iPad. I can't create presentations on it. I can't do photo editing or drawing. I can write papers for grad school.
No. wait. I can do all of those thing on my 1st gen iPad.
Nevermind.
May I assume he thought the same of the Zune? or Windows Mobile/CE?
A) Apple
B) Google
C) Facebook
D) Microsoft
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: Forget the Surface, iPad Is the Tablet People Want
That would have been worth a story. What Ballmer actually said: not.
Can't be... Microsoft doesn't use the "Metro" name anymore. All salesmen are supposed to use the new names for the various components. Shills are ethical and always follow the rules, right?
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
It's not like people with tablets will be racing to go buy ANOTHER tablet.
Just seems to me Microsoft jumped into the market two years too late. This isn't a knock on Surface or anything, just an observation.
All hail the great Steve, he invented the iPhone, the iPad, Time and ...... heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, WAITAMINUTE!!
What did you expect him to say?
Throwing in an incorrect fact or two adds to the authenticity!
Microsoft has had their OS in tablets for years and they never took off. The reason: They tried to be both a tablet and a PC.
The iPad showed tablets work great as tablets, not PCs, and vice-versa, and in one year probably sold more than all other tablets combined in history.
Now Ballmer wants to do the combined tablet/PC again. Honest, it'll work this time.
I do want a tablet that I can do regular PC stuff on when I want, especially music stuff with my wind controller. Surface RT isn't it any more than the IPad is, But the Pro model could be.
This is just corporate bluster until such time as Microsoft can trot out sales figures proving that people are actually buying these.
As a general rule, when the CEO of a company says "our product is teh best and our competitors are teh sux0rs" ... well, they're mostly talking out of their asses for their own purposes.
And, in the case of Steve Ballmer, he's got a long history of speaking drivel that he wants other people to believe, and being out of touch with what people actually want.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Telling the people what they want. How about produce a great product, and then when the people pick your product over the other one, being able to actually point and say that we have what people really want.
The Surface Pro does. Here is a longer list of Windows 8 tablets with DPI > 150 and a stylus. I find 150 DPI to be the minimum if you want subscripts to be legible when placing a full page on screen (width maximized). Of course, the higher the better.
I've long been frustrate that Apple decided to forgo the stylus (and all others are playing copycat), and I'm really really frustrated that no one else sees the utility and use case in a computer that acts like paper (facepalm). I'll give Windows 8 a try for 5 or 10 minutes, but then Ubuntu and Xournal are going on mine. I'm also really frustrated that all these morons decided a 16:9 TV screen is the only way to make a computer screen: they're substantially narrower and taller than a Letter or A4 piece of paper. But at least they've finally returned to the desired DPI and stylus feature-point. The last time that happened was 2007 with the Thinkpad x61 tablet (with the SXGA+ screen upgrade).
1^2=1; (-1)^2=1; 1^2=(-1)^2; 1=-1; 1=0.
Galaxy Note 10.1 It has 1,024 degrees of pressure and palm/heel rejection.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/15/samsung-galaxy-note-10-1-review/
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
I can't run real cad apps on android and ipad either. There are shitty autocad drawing readers, but it isn't like I can run a full parametric program like solidworks on it. Can't really do any work at all, for that matter. The devices are built around consuming content: watching, reading, looking, listengin, buying. Not creating or working at all. That is why the first computing device that I buy instead of build on my own is going to be a windows 8 surface tablet. It is the right fit for me.
wooooosh.
I believe the term for that comment is 'sarcasm' not shill. Tone doesn't translate over text well, but the user's word uses made it clear - that was definitely sarcasm.
That being said, I'll take a NON-RT tablet over anything out there at the moment. Compared to the RT tablets, you're better off with an iPad, and if you are better off with an iPad, you might as well get one of the better Androids out there. The non-RTs however, can use normal Windows software, which means they don't have the walled garden restriction of the iPad or RT. Mind you, they are x86, so battery life and/or weight probably are a bit sucky.
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
Microsoft is in the tablet market since many years. If I'm not mistaken since shortly after the launch of Windows XP with these UMPC things. Nobody ever wanted tablets with Windows.
You're clearly a Linux shill, because everything you just wrote is completely false.
iPhoto allows you to do quite a bit of photo editing directly in the app. You can trivially program on an iPad, though you'll most likely want a bluetooth keyboard for heavy text entry.
Well that didn't work...try this link (these tables are not mine).
1^2=1; (-1)^2=1; 1^2=(-1)^2; 1=-1; 1=0.
Not sure if shill or genius...
I hate to point it out to you, but you've not really made a PC that can be my tablet and or PC too either. You keep fucking failing. I know, I've spent hours and hours testing windows 8, just like I tested XP on a Q1 and 7 on the same Q1 before it.
The ARM move you made probably does have a place - but its got ZERO to do with running my 'PC' as a tablet. In fact I can't do any of that. The PC part doesn't even exist. As for your X86 tablet - oh sure, I can have my PC - but minus the start button. And minus anything to do with tablet - unless I accept Metro/Notro as my new PC life. Only 99% of everything PC I used or use is desktop based. I have no idea who you think you are talking to - Its not me.
And the real world information is rolling through the isles. The real benchmarks are closing in. Worse performance in use, worse gaming, worse multitasking, worse application compat, and continuing doese of screw me.
To be frank, by forcing this broken Notro paradigm down my through - I've never ever going to be less than hostile to your dumb sales pitch. Your new OS is a cut down 7 with some nice engineering changes in the normal method of win development - and to get them I am forced to use WinRT and this garbage UI (I won't - I'll re-engineer machinery not to - end of.) - and thats all she wrote according to you. It deserves to fail, and it deserves to supply the big pink slip to the people inside MS who ignored all the feedback from the userbase that said no.
We`re all equal
WTF? MacOS X doesn't have nearly the limitations of iOS. I'd rather have Windows XP or 7, but OS X isn't the walled garden of iOS. You hit your head or something?
Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
> Facebook, Twitter and Netflix
This is the 99% win for iPads - iPad will do all of this.
The truth about the surface: Making a laptop without a keyboard or a mouse, and making it touch screen _DOES NOT_ make a tablet. It's a laptop without a keyboard, and a shitty flappy keyboard added on. The touchscreen is about SOFTWARE. Microsoft have done NOTHING except add a 5 minute html5 scrolling menu system. Who the fuck cares about this?
The ONLY way Microsoft are going to sell any of these is because of uninformed customers and idiotic wool-over-the-eyes marketing from Microsoft.
Example: Microsoft told people that the stores would open at 8am, then didn't open until 10am, to help build "CROWDS" of 20 people outside them. Pathetic.
Surface is dire - it is a stupid idea compounded by stupid people, further compounded by the fact that Microsoft "has" to get this to work - even their Room 101 can't rewrite this as another "Stepping stone" and make the idiots forget about them trashing YET ANOTHER ecosystem and investment?
As long as there are idiots, there will be Microsoft.
What is a postmodern consumer, exactly?
And when was the modern consumer's heyday?
What will come after the postmodern comsumer? Neoclassical? Baroque? Romantic?
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
More like Poe's Law in action, I expect. :-)
The new Samsung Windows 8 tablets have the same technology. Not sure what the DPI is exactly, but it appears we can finally work, play, consume media, etc all in a tablet form factor. I have one on pre-order. http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/tablet-pcs/XE700T1C-A01US-features
By this interview, Ballmer proves what I had suspected: that Microsoft doesn't understand why tablets are popular, and what tablets are for. And this failure to understand is why they are ruining Windows, by trying to make it a "universal" OS.
Tablets are not a substitute for a laptop or desktop PC, nor do most people want them to be. They are a more convenient and portable way of surfing the Web, listening to music, watching videos on YouTube or Netflix, playing simple games, doing Facebook, reading e-books, and so forth. They are, in short, content consumption devices. They aren't good at producing stuff, and aren't supposed to be. A tablet is not a "junior laptop" and when Microsoft tried to treat it as such with their previous attempts, they failed miserably. But nor is a desktop or laptop a scaled-up tablet; if it was, no one could ever get any work done.
Ballmer doesn't seem to understand that for the average home user, firing up MS Office is a rare use case, and one that is easily enough satisfied by a 6-year-old system running Windows XP that the buyer sees no reason to upgrade. As for businesses, they like things the way they are; many of them would still be running Windows 2000 if they were able to. Microsoft doesn't see that the fact that they would benefit by people spending more money is irrelevant; what matters is if the buyers see the benefit in spending more money. And when it does come time to spend, they have to demonstrate why their product is better than the competitor's. It's not enough any more just for them to show up.
You do know what the word "extensive" means, don't you?
Tablets are pretty awesome actually have you owned one? I used to think like you until I bought one. Are they absolutely required like a smart phone (my opinion) or computer? No. But nothing beats a tablet for vegging out watching TV & surfing the internet.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: "Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers! DEVELOPERS!! DEVELOPERS!! DEVELOPERS!! DEVELOPERS!! DEVELOPERS!! DEVELOPERS!!"
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer: "DRM is the future!"
Don't we have more important things to think about?
Thank you, Mr. Ballmer, maybe I will get a free iPad out of this . . .
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
they're too hated for their business practices.
I'm sorry, I must have gotten confused. Were you talking about Microsoft or Apple?
Hey, there's still time for them to pull a HP and say "you can't haev it"!
Like they did with the Kin.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Microsoft's CEO thinks that a Microsoft tablet is the way to go. Put it on page 1. In other shocking news, Larry Page recommends Google over Bing and Tim Cook uses a mac!
I understand that a CEO should be pushing his own products, but really? This is his reasoning? And it's not even reasoning, but sad marketing pulp that I don't think anyone actually believes (including the Microsoft people). People love their iPads, and people love their Android tablets. Sure, there are people who aren't happy and maybe flip, but I somehow doubt Microsoft is going to be the innovator in this part of the market.
/.
* Except that it's running Windows 8 which no one is familiar with.
I would have actually agreed if he said something like: most people are familiar with Windows and probably use it at work/home, so now we've tried to put together a tablet that uses an OS they are familiar with! *
br
I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces. Illyria
Yeah, like, "he's a shill for the competition.".
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
I know I'm just one person, but I have to admit that I'm glad that Microsoft seems to be providing the handwriting support I've been wanting for years.
And the zune was awesome too right.
dipshit monkey ballmer. stick to being a sideshow freak and stop pretending you know jack or shit about what people want from microsoft.
its embarassing how often and completely you guys fuckup with your 'metoo!' shit.
I despise apple. But i'd rather use apple anything than get stuck with more shit microsoft hardware. or maybe one of them will be the GOOD version. and they'll stop making it real fucking quick. sidewinder like.
no.... i think i'll forget the ipad AND surface. i hear samsung has a nice tablet. rounded corners and everything.
I got a Surface RT on launch day, and was sitting at the bus stop playing with it, and some guy ran past and grabbed it.
I was about to give chase, but as he was running he looked at it, stopped, turned around, and gave it back saying "Sorry man, I'm so sorry for you man."
It's basically theft-proof.
I agree, I don't fully understand why Microsoft tries to appeal to end users. The decision to jump in to the tablet market this late in the game fighting a market inflated with Apple and Android tablets just seems desperate. Also, HP is jumping back in to the game with Envy after making us think they were done with end user devices.
Tablets do have a limited use case, but from the perspective of these four companies they are all that matters right now.
Actually Mr. Ballmer, the tablet I want is the Nook HD+.
In 3 days, it will be the cheapest and lightest 9" on the market.
It runs Android, so my other devices play nicely with it. (And I can put the Kindle app on it)
It is a Nook, so I can take it into Barnes and Noble brick and mortar stores and read any eBook I want for free while I'm in the store.
Surface? Do. Not. Want.
Steve Ballmer is the kind of guy that makes comedians lose their jobs. After he talks, there's basically no room to mock him, nothing funny or idiotic left to say, no better snarky riposte than what he just said. The comedic absurdity is built in. He mocks himself. He does it all, from soup to nuts. He's just that kind of guy.
Why he's still there, though, is baffling.
8th try is the charm, amirite?
Steve Ballmer may be fat, ugly and stupid... but he has a sense of humour.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Microsoft has spent 10 years trying to crack open the tablet market, and always failed. Now that Apple has done it, suddenly Microsoft's response is the real holy grail?
The tablet market is fueled by hype and will die out in a couple years once the consumer realizes how limited they are. Just like netbooks
Microsoft has tied win8 to this sinking ship with every rope and chain they can find.
Are you kidding me?! Surface is revolutionary! Its like a laptop, but the screen is where the keyboard goes and vice verse, and you use it the other way around! Then instead of a touchpad you just smear your fingers all over the screen and, if you are lucky, it doesn't tip over - Brilliant! Its like an ipad but without all the apps and fanboism, no wait... Its like a tablet for people that don't like tablets, wait...nobody likes tablets.
People buy apple because it's in vogue to own apple products. Tablets don't have much use period. Smartphones are useful, laptops are useful. The tablet with a dock laptop concept is kind of interesting to me, but mostly only because it finally brings laptops with touch screens. I don't see it ever being in vogue to own a Microsoft product - they're too hated for their business practices.
Over simplification. I own mostly Apple products due to ease of use. I mostly use my handhelds as media players which Apple excels at. It's also painless to check mail and surf the web and it's a good platform for gaming. Sure if you are willing to put up with some hassles you can do most of this with Android devices and probably Surface. It's the "some hassles" that talk me out of the other products. Back when I owned half and half Windows and Mac computers I always went to the Macs to watch movies and video clips let alone music. I constantly found the Windows machines couldn't handle the type of clip I was trying to play. I still have Windows machines but they drive me nuts because they are always trying to download updates in the background. Mac gives you the option. I finally got sick of it and use mostly Macs. I have Parallels on my main Mac because my web site software is Windows only. I can drag files directly into the Parallel window then everything else I do Mac. I just had my Windows Vista notebook freeze up due to an OS crash. I tried everything and it says it isn't fixable. I rarely use it so there was maybe a month or so of time on the machine and now it's dead because of the OS. Windows needs to do a ground up like Mac did with OSX. I never used to like Mac but now I'm sold. I'd love to use Linux but I found everything was a hassle with Linux. I want to spend my time with software and apps not fighting OSs.
Oh, it will be. Why do you think Apple wanted us all to ease into buying all our software on the App Store in OSX? It's not for OUR financial health...
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
Plus, he's just an ordinary user like you. Again, he's just an ordinary guy, not a programmer or anything. It must be true if he had to say it twice.
Ballmer continued to speak, explaining how he felt almost bad for Apple's losses after the Zune drove the iPod from the portable music player market. He then announced that Windows Vista had reached a new record of 92% market share, before taking a call on his Windows Phone and zipping off on his Segway.
I would like to see their sales forecasting. I mean outside of Apple, you've still got the Nook, the Fire, the Nexxus, and a plethora of other Android tablets eating up market share. Add the iPad Mini and the new HP Envy and I really don't see how this could go well for them.
Surface doesn't have any real competitive edge other than working with other Microsoft products (which is closer to a disadvantage IMHO).
I too am just an ordinary user like you, and I have found the Microsoft Surface (tm) tablet to be the best consumer electronics device to be looking at with a pleasantly studious expression, then after a pause just long enough for your focus to have moved to the device and back to my face, I look straight at the camera and smile invitingly, planting the notion that if you buy a Microsoft Surface (tm) for yourself that we would then having something in common which you might use to begin a conversation with me, leading to my impregnation and allowing you to propogate your genes.
Wow- that's probably the clearest example of a closed-minded Linux fanatic trying to stir up FUD.
I went into several London electronics stores yesterday. There were plenty of Windows 8 devices including a good few Surfaces on display. Next door were the iPads and some Android Tablets.
There was hardly anyone looking at the Windows devices let alone goid 'wow, fantastic, wonderful etc'.
The Gobo's and Kindles were attracting more attention but the clear winner was the iPad.
Now Mr Balmer, based upon this small survey, would you please like to tell us all here why you think that everyone and his dog wants a surface?
Nah, thought not.
Oh, it will be. Why do you think Apple wanted us all to ease into buying all our software on the App Store in OSX? It's not for OUR financial health...
You say it past tense as if it's already happened.
On the contrary, it's a slippery slope conspiracy theory that some people, most of whom don't even own Macs, believe Apple might pull off at some point in the future.
I bought the Vivo Tab RT on Friday, and I can say for a fact that it IS more than what my iPad (3rd gen) is. My only disappointments with the device came when I forgot that I was on my tablet and tried to do things that I can only do on my PC running Windows 8. Most of those were due to Flash being missing on the tablet. Adobe says that's coming, so it gets a pass for now.
My only other disappointment was that I had bought books on iBooks that aren't going to be available on Windows (I don't think). All my Kindle and Nook stuff was available through the Kindle app and the Nook web client/epub downloads.
I was just looking for a lighter replacement for my iPad and I think I got an acceptable laptop replacement. Hopefully my iCallous on my pinkie finger will go away with this lighter device.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
I want the Surface, but at $250.
For me the tablet is for Netflix, books, news and the occasional email. The price for the surface is far above the value of the intended application. I would fork over up to 600 for the intel based surface tough.
True, but that doesn't mean there isn't the possibility that Ballmer is right.
They probably looked at people who *aren't* buying iPads, and saying "what do you want?" and the answer was a highly portable keyboard, and regular desktop programs. The latter isn't an issue for the ipad exactly, and Microsoft hasn't pulled a great job by forking x86 and ARM and all that stuff, but I can see the argument that a laptop that easily doubles as a slate is more appealing than a slate by itself (to use the MS parlance of slate rather than tablet).
ANd the thing is, this isn't really news that MS feels this way. They've been pushing convertible tablets for years, I've had several over the last 7 or 8 years, surface is like that, only adopting a slate form factor.
That doesn't mean any of this will actually sell well, or that their attempt at a solution is a good idea. But this is certainly the same line of thinking that MS has been pushing since the Bill Gates days.
Got me all excited for a moment. Then I did a google search and turned up nothing detailed on the stylus input. I can hold my nose on 16:9 if I get real, pressure sensitive stylus input. The next questions is whether the screen will have a decent color gamut and viewable angle without degradation (IPS variant?), and when will the HD actually be available. My laptop is ready for replacement, but the end of the year is is (somewhat) artificial limit so that I can capture the business tax savings as quickly as possible.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, Developers, ....ops, wrong term
App makers, App makers, App makers, App makers, App makers, App makers, App makers,.
Ah, much "cooler" now
Forget the iPad. Live with us in forests of Surface. Out here on the perimeter there are no stars, Out here we is stoned - immaculate.
Microsoft CEO Ballmer thinks Microsoft's tablet is better than Apple's.
'You can go through the products from all those guys and none of them has a product that you can really use. Not Apple. Not Google. Not Amazon. Nobody has a product that lets you work and play that can be your tablet and your PC. Not at any price point,' he says."
Psst, Steve - this is where you're supposed to qualify your statement with "except Microsoft!"
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Every device is about compromises. My laptop has comparable specs to a lot of the desktops. I still have to put it on the dock, connect to my dual 22" monitors, my full sized keyboard, full sized track ball, etc. A tablet for me is something to pull out of my bag at a hotspot to check my emails that require closer reading than I can do on my phone. The closest in concept to a single device was the Motorola atrix.You still have the headache of having to have all the accessories to make it functional. It looks like the surface could replace many of the functions of my laptop, but its almost the size of a laptop without the power of an i7 processor.
I know I'm just an ordinary user like you, but I really like Surface tablet. It's elegant, fast and powerful, and it does all the things I need it to do. iPad gets close there, but for me, Surface is the clear winner.
I don't do fancy things like programming or extensive photo editing, just normal every day uses like Facebook, Twitter and Netflix. Surface has great support for these and Metro makes it better and more powerful. But then again, I'm just an ordinary guy, not a programmer or anything.
Hello mr ballmer.
What planet are you from, Mr. Ballmer?
Tablets do have some cool uses.
I can't wait for developers to realize there's room for more than glorified webapp frontends and touchy-feely "share with friends" stuff. You could get actual work done if the applications were present.
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Or perhaps because they're trying to delete optical drives from their notebooks? In order to do that, and not just mandate everyone buys a USB drive (they won't), you have to have an alternative distribution model.
But I guess you can go all birther / moon landing / chemtrails / 9-11 truther conspiracy guy with it too.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
I think the key to Balmer's statement statements is the phrase "that I see customers wanting". I think that the market has spoken in the past and what Mr. Balmer sees customers wanting does not always line up with what the customers actually want (all companies have misses). While sales have shown that customers want iPads, time will tell if Microsoft's Surface, when released, will meet the needs, expectations and/or "wants" of customers.
I may be wrong, but does't Windows RT also fall under the banner of "Surface", and thus probably will not be able to run the same applications that the customers are currently running? And, if so, what, then, makes Surface the solution?
http://www.thestreet.com/story/11749058/1/is-microsofts-ceo-steve-ballmer-crazy.html
Adding up sales of iPads, Kindles, Nooks, Android tablets, etc, and then saying "none of these people -wanted- what they've bought" (particularly in the face of people upgrading their devices) -really is idiotic-.
To me that's the real counter-argument: Lots of people have bought more than one tablet, which means they must have found utility in the concept and the product. (Claimer, my wife's on her 2nd iPad device and my mother loves the hand-me-down 1st gen iPad. Me, I'm sticking with my MB Pro because I want a full size tactile keyboard.)
The argument about Microsoft's marketing approach in the cited article is also relevant: Microsoft should sell its tablets on the basis of what you can do with them, rather then on some pseudo-demand buzz.
p.s. I think Microsoft's Surface is notable/worthy because it's not such an obvious clone of the iPad. That doesn't mean I want one, it means I'm crediting Microsoft with "thinking different" ;-) Your opinion may vary.
Are you paid by the number of words or are you salaried ?
Or because they want a product which isn't overly fiddly to use and which does what they want. For years, Microsoft over-promised, and under-delivered, which is why many of us started using Linux and other alternatives in the first place.
Since I was already using iTunes, it was a no-brainer for me. Everything was ready to go in about 5 minutes.
Define 'use'? I can do everything on a tablet that can be done on a smart phone (if you have a smart phone, you probably don't need a tablet -- for those of us who don't want/have smart phones, the tablet is a better choice due to screen size).
But when I travel, I get a lot of use out of my iPad -- movies on the plane, checking Gmail in the airport and hotel, Google voice calls to the wife, and video games to pass the time. Finding restaurants with Urban Spoon and the map applications come in handy as well. The last few times I travelled for business, I didn't use my laptop even once, but I used my iPad 3-4 hours daily.
It's also my eBook reader, and gets used in the living room when I need to quickly check something on the web. And, all of those Bluray disks I buy that have a digital copy can go onto it, so I can watch Avengers on an airplane or in a hotel room (on their TV if I bring the cable I have for that).
I wouldn't do my daily work on it, but a lot of things I do on a computer don't require that I be sitting at a desk and typing. For those things my tablet is fine, if not actually better (and probably would be true of any tablet).
When I go on vacation the only device I'll bring is my iPad -- because I can access all of my email accounts (including my corporate Outlook web stuff) and have ready access to the stuff that I need when I'm on vacation. If I can check my company email from the hammock in my mom's back yard, and then go back to reading my book (all without getting up), I call that a pretty useful thing.
Every time I see someone say "tablets don't have much use" I can only think that it should be qualified as "for you". I actually get quite a bit of use out of mine. Everybody I know with a tablet gets a fair bit of use out of it ... just not to do the same tasks they'd be doing on their work computer.
Hell, a friend of a friend is a professional photographer. Last year after he and his team had covered an event, he logged into his system, and kicked off the first few steps of his photo processing workflow -- all from poolside with a beer in his hand. In 5 minutes, he had initiated the automated stuff, and could relax for the rest of the day.
You may not be able to think of uses for one, and that's fine. But for many of us, it does cover a lot of things.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Honestly I've thought that tablets are pretty pointless. I mean all they can do is watch movies and play games. If I want to watch a movie, I would rather do it on my big screen t.v. If I want to play a game, I'd rather play on my P.C. If I'm traveling somewhere, I would rather bring my ultrabook that has a larger screen and practically as light and portable as a tablet and is just as functional as my desktop. The surface pro is the only tablet that breaks out of the movie/games container. Its nice to see a tablet that is compatible with native windows apps and comes with a i5 ivy bridge processor. I'd like to see a iPad run a virtual machine or run visual studio or eclipse. Even if you don't like Microsoft, I bet now you will start to see Apple and Android tablets starting to have a lot more functionality in them to compete with the Surface Pro. Don't you just love companies competing with each other. We as the consumer can only win.
..Laptop. It won't burn your balls. If you take the ARM version.
Haha wow, could this comment be any more manufactured?
If I'd known that I wasn't "really" using my Android tablet, I'd've quit months ago! Surely, I wouldn't have wasted time reading all those news articles, posting all my /. comments from it, or all my forum posts, or GOD FORBID connect it to my 360 with Smartglass. I need to quit being a sissy and start using my laptop to look for a new apartment and keep in touch with friends and family, because my current tablet CLEARLY isn't up to the task.
Thanks for the heads up, Steve, I can get back to the rest of my life now!
Do you see what I did there?
I developed Turbo Pascal and Turbo C programs on a 386 with 4Megabytes of RAM and could have done that with 1MB. You are saying a 700 MHz ARM processor with 256MB with a much better display cannot be used for software development ?
You are either a M$ shill or your tech judgement is rather limited. You were probably born in 1992.
I bet you can somehow jailbreak the crapola and then run a proper editor, a USB keyboard and gcc/gnat/freepascal. Yeah, not the biggest screen, but you can still develop algorithms with it or administer a linux cluster somewhere in the cloud.
I can "really use" and "work and play" on many tablets, and have on several. As far as "a product...that can be your tablet and your PC", I have, at last count, 5 PCs (2 desktops, 2 traditional laptops, and one Atom-powered wifi-only Netbook) in my home. If I'm going to buy a tablet, I want a tablet that can be my tablet, full stop. None of them -- including Microsoft's Surface -- is going to be a close to as good at being my PC as any of the actual PCs. And the only reason for Ballmer to be making this argument is that he knows that Surface isn't as good of a tablet as the competing tablets, so he's trying to sell it as something else, and tell all of us who have used tablets that we really haven't, because they are impossible to use, and especially impossible to use for all the things we've used them for. Which might have had some choice of convincing people when few people had direct experience with tablets, but now?
He's channeling Obi-Wan Kenobi , these are'nt the tablets you are looking for. :)
Clearly, what Ballmer should have said was that the Surface is *not* what people want. That would have been better. CEOs should never believe in their products. I mean, it's not like Steve Jobs or Tim Cook or anyone else in their Marketing presentations ever said anything crazy (you know, like "inventing" tablets or something)...
I don't see how this is even a story. Of course Ballmer is going to say that the Surface is better than the iPad. What do you expect him to say?! "The iPad is better than the Surface, but please buy a surface."
The surface is the tablet many consumers need. But it is not the one they want.
Because the surface OS can morph between tablet and desktop style and has video out and USB, it does make a very practical desktop replacement when paired with a screen. That keyboard cover is really clever but it really only pays off if there's also a desktop mode for it to be a true laptop replacement deserving a separate KB. The Windows machine is the only machine that has logins for different users making it able to be shared by a family as the desktop replacement. And while the RT won't run current apps, the apps that it will run will resemble your current apps. So it's perfect for people who have an old crappy dell and want to join the modern world of tablet computing. it fully replaces the cheapo dell with the minimum change in OS and works for shared user situations.
But really once you get above $450 you'd have to be stupid not to get the best tablet with the most apps. That's apple's pad.
personally: I'm very excited the nexus 10 is under that figure. Makes the cost benefit trade worthy of considering.
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Yeah, I've seen people stand trying to balance a laptop on their arm while using the touchpad or keyboard without tipping it over. It looks stupid.
Only a non-owner would say a tablet has no uses. "I take the subway, a car has no uses".
People buy Apple products because they are actually quality hardware, with responsive and user-friendly UIs. People who think people buy Apple products just because of "vogue" are deluded.
Apple restricts what you can do and you are somehow happy about it? I'm confused. When did less capability mean better? Apple took away your optical drive as the first step to force all software for OS X to be sold through their App store. Its the first brick in the Wall. Enjoy your prison.
The iPad has set the standard for tablets so low, people will accept pretty much any pos that lets them listen to music and post status updates to Facebook.
Oh no, I actually said that! Wow! WTF!
Nope, still no joy. But thanks for the info; I've got my new december "Uncle Sam's Buying" list started.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
"The is what people want!!"
"The cannot offer all the features, services, productivity tool as "
I think I've been listening for that since I was born.
According to TFA, sales figures notwithstanding, you don't want an iPad, you want a surface. No clear explanation as to why, what surface does that the competition doesn't or how it accomplishes being more suitable for productivity than the competition. Sorry Steve, but "just because" isn't good enough.
From AP: Mr M. Ahmadinejad's of Theran's case, illustrates the health threat posed by modern Laptops: Their software is so horribly inefficient that the CPU gets very hot and in turn heats up the testicles of the user. The increased testicle temperature then degrades the sperm to be sterile.
Says Mr Ahamdinejad: I just tried to grow some balls to defend me and my family from the bullies who roam my neighbourhood, but then my Windows Laptop destroyed my manhood: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuxnet#Windows_infection
In the future, I will only use our indigenous UIranux operating system, which is a Linux variant.
Actually, they ARE starting the walk-in on OSX. And I'm speaking from the POV of someone who loves OSX and Apple laptops but hates their mobile offerings. They're starting with a "default to no" to install apps which they haven't signed.
Do you see what I did there?
Yes and all these Tech websites are being flooded by these shills. It's ridiculous and I hope users are smart enough to figure this out; very sad to see this happening but this is how Microsoft works.
This and Win8 is going to be ugly.
..don't panic
The future of computing will be based on ILUOS. We don't even need any hardware for it - no heavy tablets and charging devices. We just have to tell ourselves that ILUOS (Illusion Operating System) already runs in our brains. That will eliminate the need for any hardware.
Here is a $19,99 limited offer for a License To Use ILUOS. I also have rebates on second-hand OSes like "BILBLE" ($7.99) and "DIANETIKOS" ($0,99). They work like a charm for billions of users !
One more try to get this link right.
1^2=1; (-1)^2=1; 1^2=(-1)^2; 1=-1; 1=0.
He is coasting on all the things put in place by billyg and the guys hired by billyg. The business world needs to draw polished diagrams of bullshit and he controls the delivery of bullshit-polishing tools. So far this is a money-spinner and because the bullshit universe continues to expand at an exponential rate, his money source will also continue to expand at a proportional rate. Yeah, all very sad, but you can only be forced to use the bullcrap tools eight hours a day.
Can you imagine how Surface would set the ghetto even further back than it already is ?? Responsible Surface users secure it with a bottle of self-destruct hydrofluorine.
..and we all know it works for Larry's Yacht Building Efforts. I would also argue it works for Mucksoft Inc, too. Look at the bottom line and ignore the pesky details.
So it sounds like *right now*, the weight is the only benefit for you, right?
I presume you don't have the keyboard dock?
Asus Vivo Tab RT is 1.2 pounds (2.3 pounds with keyboard dock)(*), the newest iPad is 1.44 pounds for WiFi(**).
(*) http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2411428,00.asp
(**) http://store.apple.com/us/buy/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad#tech-specs
..you are talking to an MBA !
I don't know how many times it has to be said, people neither want nor need a tablet that can double as a desktop. That is not what tablets are for. That is why all the tablets that came before were niche products at best, landfill at worst.
Apple grasped it was not a desktop replacement, but a specialized appliance. You can't use a tablet like a PC, nor should you. It's a different feature set, a different interface, different everything. I thought perhaps MS had got the message but apparently this is not the case, esp. with the keyboard-case thingy they've got. They're still trying to shoehorn two disparate user experiences together into one, and this neither can nor should be done.
Frankly, as long as Ballmer is in charge, I fear MS is going to keep going down this primrose path, and before it gets better it's going to get a lot worse.
Entertainment! Ballmer is SO entertaining!
But then again, I'm just an ordinary guy, not a programmer or anything.
The word you're looking for is "content consumer" and the iPad, Surface, etc... are probably, to varying degrees, excellent for that. I'm not sure, however, that anything with limited expandability and/or customize-ability - or Windows 8 - will be ideal for programmers, developers or business users - i.e. non-consumers.
in4btroll: Not one Windows Surface or Windows 8 commercial show anyone doing anything productive with their devices, just watching TV, movies and finger painting.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
Contrary to popular opinion, and for that matter to MS marketing, the walled garden on RT is a myth. Sideloading apps is fully possible (built into the OS and free to enable) so it's not really any more "walled" than Android in that respect.
Additionally, people have already figured out how to bypass the desktop app restriction, so you aren't even limited to just "Metro"-style apps from third parties either. That one *is* unofficial, so it's possible Microsoft may patch it out, but for now you can do pretty much anything you like with RT.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Wow - that's probably the clearest example of a shill comment that I've ever seen.
Jesus guys, these "first post over-the-top shills" are clearly just trolling us, I thought most had realized that by now.
I grudgingly updated my laptop the other day, and the managed-pc model is pretty far reaching. For now, it can have its head. I am curious how it will annoy me before disabling it.
If he really believes that, he's at least making good progress on copying the Reality Distortion Field feature...
You know what: Whoever aids M$ has 0% credibility. I claim you have not a single Apple or Android product. It is standard procedure for M$ shills to claim that they have knowledge of competing products - that claim is supposed to bolster their pro-M$ arguments. All we know is that M$ lies through all bodily openings and that is why all your arguments are crap.
This is a Microsoft shill if I ever saw one. Pretending to be critical of Microsoft while spouting aggressive close minded nonsense like this is a sure way to discredit people who support other platforms and are critical of Microsoft as just rabid zealots.
hmm..
try the Ahmdal tablet frame. It's advertised as if it was a tablet but in fact weighs over two tonnes (machine only) and comes with it's own water cooling kit. It doesn't have any of the features of a modern tablet, but it does allow you to run your favourite 1970s mainframe software as you and your free team of sherpas (with purchase of the 64k version) lug it around for you. Please note: batteries are an extra add on and require a separate truck to transport.
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
Good luck on running your 'CAD' apps on the garbage crappola he's pitching.
If the future of PC's is to re-wrap what was a netbook idea again in 2012, screw them. If the PC can't have decently balanced hardware - and real GPU function, then any old pice of ARM will end up kicking its ass. And deservedly so.
We`re all equal
That's just speculation. I don't see things changing in OS X. However, Microsoft is really scaring everyone with their hardware moves, especially OEMs - even if OEMs publicly deny it.
If nobody has built a tablet people want why has Apple sold 100 million tablets to people who didn't want them?
Wal-Mart sells netbooks - cramped, useless machines with tiny screens - to people who can't afford real laptops with 15 or 17 inch screens. No one buys a netbook because they want one, they buy them because they can't afford real laptops. Netbooks are cheap - check out those pricetags under them at Wal-Mart! The Surface is almost laughably overpriced, especially when the netbooks at Wal-Mart run actual Windows software you can buy (such as in little boxes at Wal-Mart). No one wants a 10 inch Surface when the same amount of money will buy them a nice full-sized laptop.
> I'm also really frustrated that all these morons decided a 16:9 TV screen is the only way to make a computer screen: they're substantially narrower and taller than a Letter or A4 piece of paper.
What he said! (Or, what he probably meant... (Did you mean, substantially shorter and wider than an A4 piece of paper? Or, do you have your monitor in portrait mode?) I find 16:9 screens to be awkward and annoying. The minimum height in pixels that works as a workstation (as opposed to a media device) is 1200 pixels (16:10) and monitors with this ratio are difficult to find. 1920X1080 is probably great for watching movies (which I never do on my PC, for Fudd's sake) but it sucks as a desktop.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
Sorry Mr Ordinary Guy, I think you have the wrong site. Slashdot is a news site for geeks and nerds, not ordinary guys.
monkey
dance
Mr. Ballmer, the evidence against you -- by you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc
Could it be that he just likes the product?
Would you assume that he was a shill if he ejaculated a post about the iPad instead?
Required reading for internet skeptics
So 100 million "useless" devices, and that's just iPads, have been sold?
(BTW, I don't own an iPad or any other tablet.)
Of course he was right. He spoke to those people personally. Both of them want a Surface tablet.
"Lame" - Galaxar
Actually, they ARE starting the walk-in on OSX. And I'm speaking from the POV of someone who loves OSX and Apple laptops but hates their mobile offerings. They're starting with a "default to no" to install apps which they haven't signed.
I personally think that is a great idea. It's not like it's exactly hard to launch the unsigned app. (Right click and choose Open. And you only have to do it once, it will launch normally every time after that.)
no longer working for cnet
As long as those are not present, WinRT is as different to Win7 as iOS is. I am working on a corpo-crapo-app (which I inherited) which uses VBA and MFC and I know lots of other people use at least one of these.
The very reason why the Average Corpo-Drone loves Windows - VBA - is MISSING. FAAAAIIIILLLL, Mr Ballmer. You don't even know how "lock-in" properly works. I could start to like you because you undermine one of M$'s most powerful app development environments - measured by number of developers. VBA is a keystone of lock-in and RT does not provide it !
...and the world is a disk.
I don't want any tablet by any-maker. I remember the days of the 13 inch monitors and i don't want a tiny or small screen the days of me squinting over a tiny screen are over and no i don't own a smartphone either no need.
Jack of all trades,master of none
I've seen how apps are sideloaded on a Windows RT tablet, and it's ugly - it's just one step removed from being rooting the device. It's such a hack that it looks like MS is going to plug it ASAP.
And, as you said yourself, even MS is saying that sideloading apps isn't possible, which signals their actual intentions on the issue.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Ballmer has his head up his ass, as usual. My N800 was my tablet and my PC for years. My Note almost does as well. A surface tablet would be very pretty, but I can't see how it could replace my desktop, as Ballmer has no idea what my desktop does for me.
No, the Start Page is way better at conveying information than the iPad ever was. When I turn on the computer, it presents me relevant information. More than simply the number of emails I have unread in my inbox. Everything I'm interested in is right there on a single surface, not hidden on other pages or folders requiring burrowing into the UI to access.
The Vivo Tab RT is 525g which is significantly less than my iPad (64Gb Verizon LTE) at 662g (this assumes that the retina display iPad weighs the same as the New iPad, which is the model I have. That's not available on the Apple Store any more). When I hold the Vivo Tab RT in my hand the way I'd use my iPad, it's much more comfortable. With the iPad, it would slip so I'd have to hold the iPad with a finger at the bottom in order to keep it in place. I've got a callous on the pinkie finger of my left hand from holding it. I don't need to do that with the Vivo. I can hold it from the edge in either portrait or landscape mode with a single hand without issue. I was reading The Cloud Atlas for several hours on Saturday without a problem. The rubberized antenna cover on the back of the Vivo Tab also makes it easier to hold.
The decreased weight makes it easier to balance the device with my fingers, instead of having to hold it with gripped hands. This makes typing and using onscreen controls easier.
The weight with the keyboard isn't as significant, because I doubt I'll be hold the device with the keyboard the same way that I hold the tablet by itself. The significance of the weight isn't for toting-around purposes, it's for holding-in-one-hand purposes.
I don't think anyone has the keyboard yet. Asus is going to send them out to us. I'd assume this means that they weren't ready for the big roll out last Friday. The reason I chose the Vivo Tab over the Surface was because the Vivo keyboard includes a supplemental battery. That increased their stated battery life to 16 hours.
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
"If I want a crayon-level interface, I'll go with the one that has a bazillion apps for all my media content consuming needs. "
Brought to you by iCrap - the all-purpose buzz-phrase generator.
"Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer undoubtedly knows that Apple has sold more than 100 million iPad tablets at this point, but according to the outspoken executive, that's not the tablet people really want"
In Mandy Rice-Davies's immortal words, "Well, he would say that, wouldn't he".
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
Thanks for your input Steve.
You should give Surface a chance. With the ability to plug in any mouse our keyboard you want you can do anything an laptop can do. The best thing is taking just the Surface to meetings and remoting in to your desktop/laptop for the big applications.
The tablet, I want. The operating system?.. not so much.
Proverbs 21:19
I get sick of people saying tablets have no use.
I disliked Apple and refused to own an iPhone on principle. I decided I really needed a tablet, I was desperate to find an alternative but at the time there was nothing of the same standard as an iPad so I bought one.
It is now my third most used possession after my glasses and my car!
I use it for...
Reading news
Reading books
Watching TV in the kitchen
Listening to music in the shower
Playing games
Video chatting (skype) with my Girlfriend when she is overseas
Managing my accounts
Paying my bills
I used to use it for finding my way about ( not so sure about the new maps)
Sharing my photographs with friends and family
My first exposure to the MS "Surface" term was a few years back when they used it to describe their TABLE offering.The coolest thing about this (IMHO) was the build-in "picture scanning" technology. (Scroll down to the "computer vision"/"object recognition" section.) I kinda hoped the new tablet would employ some of the same technology (I'd love to be able to lay a business card down on the face of the tablet and have it scan in automatically).
If MS did that... that would really rock the world!
Yeah, I've seen people stand trying to balance a laptop on their arm while using the touchpad or keyboard without tipping it over. It looks stupid.
Only a non-owner would say a tablet has no uses. "I take the subway, a car has no uses".
People buy Apple products because they are actually quality hardware, with responsive and user-friendly UIs. People who think people buy Apple products just because of "vogue" are deluded.
I'll be forever faithful to the iPad after the first time I remotely diagnosed and rebooted some servers from bed in the middle of the night. As soon as the iPad came out, I was able to login to a server in 3 touches (click on, tap app icon, touch server icon). I no longer had to get out of bed, go upstairs, turn on my computer, etc.
When that used to happen I'd be fully awake by the time I was done. Now I can reboot, see if it's working, and drift back to sleep without making a noise or getting out of bed. Worth every nickel and fanboi comment. Sure you can do that on an Android tablet now, but the iPad was the first that it was so easy.
Ok. He says this and I say https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edN4o8F9_P4 lunatic..
Casey Muratori already investigated what your options are for enabling side-loading in Windows 8.
In short: you need to be an enterprise customer, with the machine joined to a domain. Home users: sorry, you're fucked.
Windows 8 is a closed platform, just like the Xbox360 and the PS3 and the iPhone. It is completely unlike the open platform formerly known as "PC". Sensible people should refuse to buy it.
FYI, ByOhTek is one of the many Microsoft/Waggener Edstrom sockpuppet accounts.
The first poster is an aunt-sally account which posts a planned message for them to respond to.
Sorry but It's the age of the video phone and Apple won the supremacy by integrating it into iOS.
Even my 85 year old grandmother can use it on her iPad 2 and she never touched a computer and has a hard time with non-rotary phones.
Oh, and did you see how ugly Surface is? Microsoft has never been able to put something together that can win on looks because it's always been to cautious to not shake the boat too much on appearance. Apple has had many ugly products but at least they were pushing the envelope.
And where is the LTE version of the Surface?
I didn't try photo editing on the iPad but I tried video editing, and its pretty damned nice actually. I'm not saying that the next Hollywood blockbuster should be edited on an iPad, but its pretty good for many consumer use cases.
When I first saw Surface, I thought it was a pretty nice idea that might take off. But the more I think about, the more I think what people want is NOT a bigger clunkier tablet, but smaller and more convenient tablets like the iPad mini. Even if what the world really DOES want is a tablet with a keyboard and trackpad so they can edit photos, it's not going to sell unless the software is there and easy to use, cheap and conveniently fits people's workflows. Right now Apple has got it all pretty well sorted out, and they are improving all the time. We've yet to see what Surface can actually do beyond being a thought experiment in interesting design.
So 100 million "useless" devices, and that's just iPads, have been sold?
(BTW, I don't own an iPad or any other tablet.)
I can't say nobody at all uses them, but I personally know four people with ipads that mostly collect dust. Those people use their cell phones when out, and their computers when home. Two of those people have the white apple sticker from the package on the back of their car, though!
when you have CEOs who think they are Gods and they are surrounded by Yes-men who want to be Gods.
Links to instructions, please?
Asus Vivo Tab (the Intel one, not RT) is spec'd as weighting 680 grams and having 9 hours of battery life. That's pretty much the same as iPad or RT tablets.
P.S. Management also requests you reword one of your existing examples in the form of a car analogy.
Tablets have ruined the computing environment. If it weren't for tablets we wouldn't have the clusterfuck of desktop UIs that are being pushed on us (Metro/Modern in Windows 8, Unity and GNOME 3 in Linux). I like my desktop interface, particularly the one used in Windows 7 - I hope it lives forever as I'm getting to the point in my life where the less things change, the happier I am. But it seems like something as sacred as a traditional desktop UI is an endangered species now.
Whenever I travel, I use a netbook. They're cheap (often cheaper than a tablet) but still have the power to run a full desktop OS like Windows 7, or Linux if it's your fancy. Plus it's not locked down like a lot of tablets are becoming - we're heading into a future of computing where things are non-upgradable and closed, and when I see even DRM-locked app stores like Steam being accepted by traditional Linux users simply because they're gaming addicts and MUST have games and would prefer giving up control over the stuff they buy just for some shooter, then it's clear we've failed.
We've hit the peak. I'm ready to become a grumpy old man at this point. Fuck the world.
Most people on Slashdot are fucking idiots.
... for now you can do pretty much anything you like with RT.
I thought that Secure Boot was enforced on these devices, how does that translate to it being able to do anything i like?
I like running Linux and enjoying freedom. I don't think a RT tablet is for me.
capatch: trapped (I shit you not, I love you slashdot)
For enabling sideloading, it's just the Powershell command Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenseRegistration (must be run as Admin, though). You can read more about it here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/Hh974578.aspx
To sideload apps, you'll generally download a bundle (probably a ZIP archive or similar) containing the .APPX file, the certificate for the key which signed the app, and a Powershell script. Such bundles are generated automatically by Visual Studio, including the entire script. Just run the script in Powershell, and agree when prompted. It will install the certificate if needed (i.e. if it isn't already installed or doesn't chain to one that is) and then install the app. The entire process takes well under a minute for most apps.
For desktop apps on RT, it's still pretty messy and complicated. Probably best if I just link you to the forum thread where the work is being discussed (and there are links to explain how to do things): http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1885399
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
Uh... you download the bundle, right-click the script file, select "Run in Powershell", and approve the prompts. That's all there is to it. The thing comes pre-rooted (you have Admin access, although it uses UAC so stuff doesn't run as Admin at all times) and the whole process takes like 30 seconds even if the app has a signature that you haven't installed the cert for yet (Powershell will install it for you, after prompting). For apps that you already have the cert installed, the actual installation process takes no longer than installing an APK does.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...
I know about Store app sideloading; I was really interested in the desktop part of the story.
I do note that so far there is only one guy who has reported success with this method, and that's on a developer reference device, not any of the shipping tablets. Anyway, I have a Vivo RT and I'll give it a try. If it works, awesome.
... and it didn't work - there is an error message saying that the setting is protected by Secure Boot policy.
Anyway, from all that I've heard on the topic from people actually working on it, it's really locked down pretty tight, with no easily accessible workarounds, so I'm not surprised. Eventually someone will probably find some exploit to break it through, but it's going to be as much pain in the ass as it currently is with iOS, if you want to keep your system up-to-date.
In what way is Apple restricting my use of OS X?
Could it be that he just likes the product?
Would you assume that he was a shill if he ejaculated a post about the iPad instead?
Seriously? This is Ballmer we are talking about. He'd never ever admit Apple had a better product. In fact, he knows if he wants to keep his job, he needs to turn MS around. This is what a Captain is like on a sinking ship, but still trying to get business.
Be seeing you...
In all honesty, compared with an iPad, the Surface is pretty crappy. Even the people who got excited for it's release have given less then thrilling reviews. Like everything Microsoft, they will force companies to force it upon their employees until there is enough vendor-lockin to force them to buy it at home. Microsoft has such vendor clout that they could easily force businesses to purchase Surfaces, and it's what Microsoft has always done in the past.
They will then declare Success and that the sales are because it's what people Want.
Microsoft suffers brain damage from having enjoyed years of monopoly control of computing (or at least what consumers consider "computers" to be). They are so in love with themselves that they really can't fathom a world that couldn't care less about them. People have used Windows PCs not because they love Windows, but despite the fact that they dislike Windows. There was just never any other economically viable way for companies to put any other sort of system in front of consumers because of the massive lock-in and network effects. MS has always been about keeping the public from having any choice.
But the monopoly is waning, and people are leaving the "Windows PC" in droves. What in the world is Ballmer thinking - that iPad purchasers are telling themselves, "this is cool, but I REALLY wish it were more like the Windows PC I'm forced to use at work"? LOL
It is really striking to look back to around 2000-2002 and see the extent of the stranglehold, and how it was presented as merely being something that consumers had demanded. Even when the iPhone came out, it seemed shocking to some observers that consumers would "accept a computer with a non-Microsoft operating system".
The headline in their business section today said "Public Yawning over Windows 8". Yep, that really sounds like this is what people want. It will out sell the iPAD by the end of the year at this rate! LOL.
Apple just emailed me to say my iPad mini order was processed. All because you're a tard. Thank you and good night.
Place something witty here
Seriously this has to be the Microsoft bonehead move of the year. The obvious move would have been to release the x86 version first, sell the platform on the benefit of working exactly like your bulky office laptop, and then try their hand at trapping people in the walled garden with the iPad style/Microsoft store 4 years too late. Bonehead Ballmer strikes again.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Additionally, we quit calling it "Metro" months ago. Please check your shillmail.com account more frequently.
Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
Galaxy Note 10.1 It has 1,024 degrees of pressure and palm/heel rejection.
Wasn't that banned from sale in the US?
Apple restricts what you can do and you are somehow happy about it?
Could you explain what Apple is doing to restrict OS X?
Enjoy your prison.
Enjoy your paranoia.
I don't do fancy things like programming or extensive photo editing, just normal every day uses like Facebook, Twitter and Netflix.
You don't use Facebook or Twitter either, unless you are using a normal browser (so not using the metroness
Surface gets some things right, and some things wrong.
Just like the iPad, gets some things right, and some things wrong.
Ballmer is right, iPad is not the tablet you want, but neither is the Surface.
Look's like Ballmer's definition of "people" is not what we have in dictionary. I wonder if he mean lizards, or may be ant folk...
Unfortunately the entire concept of the surface has been clouded for me by the earthshatteringly stupid decision to take Windows 8 to desktops and laptops. It is ONLY a touchscreen tablet / phone OS. I can only assume Balmer was responsible for the ridiculous decision to make this the next iteration of OS for real computers. To say it is bad is an understatement. And their biggest market, the business sector, will NEVER adopt 8. Why? Because of its interface, and the wonderful integration of advertizing, and the integration of social media, and the removal of the start menu, and the metro interface in general. MS sells significantly to OEMs, but this smells like the old Vista fiasco with downgrade being a popular option at all retailers. And with no businesses buying it EVER, this may as well be renamed MS Bob 2012.
Creating an tablet operating system that easily syncs with their other their primary system should have been the focus, not the misguided effort to synchronize all OSs across all platforms. MS has not once created an easily synced portable OS. Just consider WinMo and Activesync and WMDC, not one worked well or even across all versions of their own operating systems. And now we are supposed to believe MS has mystically fixed all their past wrongs by creating an even bigger monstrosity.
Sure. I've got a bridge to sell you too...
You can't do extensive photo editing or programming on an iPad either.
Programming, no, but for photo editing start with Snapseed and Touch Retouch, maybe add in Photoshop or something along those lines if you want to play with layers.
Tablets aren't at all shabby for monkeying around with photos.
Dear Mr. Ballmer,
Just because you say it, doesn't make it so.
Have a nice day.
Don't try to deny it, that only makes you look more guilty.
See how that works? It's pretty easy to accuse anyone of a future crime.
You do realize you can tell your windows machine not to download updates in the background, right?
And you're complaining about a Vista laptop?
Are the you opposite twin of the guy at the start of this list praising the surface?
Are the Shills out in force today?
You know, that's not the fault of the existence of tablets ... that's the fault of people who have decided they need to get on the bandwagon, and implement a UI which is the absolutely wrong one for a desktop.
Blame marketing and the people who figure they need to emulate what other people are doing instead of coming up with something new. I have no idea why Microsoft would think the interface used on a tablet would be fine on my 24" non-touch monitor -- that has always sounded stupid to me.
Embrace the horror my friend. It doesn't get any better.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Yeah, anyone who doesn't agree with your religious notions have to be a "Shill". Don't you get tired of being a retard every now and then?
For work, I program in Java on JBoss (and soon on Weblogic and Oracle). My programming environment is installed on Ubuntu, mostly Eclipse and plugins. At home I do a lot of photo and video work using Adobe Creative Suite and Vegas Video, so that is mostly a Windows thing, but I run Ubuntu for Rails development for my personal websites. I have two iPads in the house, one provided by the wife's workplace and one bought for my daughter. My primary phone is a Win Phone 7, my secondary is a Galaxy SIII. I have done some development for Android, but gave up in disgust over the mess. I have two discarded iPhones too, no longer in use.
In other words, I have a little of this and a little of that, but I have no religion about computers whatsoever. I used to, but I was a moron then. Only morons are religious about computers.
Monday afternoon my Surface RT with a TouchType keyboard showed up at my door courtesy of MyUS.com and DHL. Despite a dearth of software, the appeal is almost instant. Why is that? Well, it is a tablet exactly the way a tablet should be. The hardware is impressive to say the least. Nobody disagrees with that I think. A lot of good engineering here. That isn't the most important though. The most important is usability.
So, I sat down and played with it in my lap for a while, as if it was an iPad. It was fast, easy to use, instantly connected to Google and Facebook and downloaded all my contacts. Very useful, though the People app in RT is well behind the same app on Windows Phone 7, which is odd to say the least. After a little while it was clear to me it was about as much an iPad as the iPad is, but with much less software. Then I moved into my office.
Plug the tablet into my big monitor. OK. Hook up a USB switch and add 1T of storage to the tablet from a USB drive I have. OK. Add a proper mouse and my keyboard. OK. Open the main share on my NAS. OK, now I am smiling. I can easily access all shared data on my NAS. This is a little cool compared to the iPad. Open up a few Excel documents I have been working on. No worries. Open. Edit. Save. Works like a charm. Interface is like Windows 7. This replaced my laptop for all work except development (I'll probably get a PRO for that, and then no more travel with iPad and laptop, only one tablet).
I didn't think the Surface RT would be as useful as it is. I figured the Surface PRO would be the thing, and for some things it is. I can not run a dev environment on my RT (yet, probably never), but for other work it works really well. In an iPad sized package with a very good (compared to on-screen) keyboard included.
Religious nuts on /. will never agree, but the Surface is a genuinely useful tablet, even for work. Not many of its competitors are. I know it doesn't have any particular features that various Android tablets have, but honestly, I like my Galaxy SIII phone, but it is not a nice programming environment compared to RT.
I would add that the Surface is better at connecting to shares on my home network, printing to printers on my home network, accepting my DAS Keyboard and my mouse as peripherals, allowing me to add storage either through SD cards or through a USB connected disk drive of any size you want, editing my Office documents, and quite a few other things as well.
Oh, and I forgot, the Surface is also better than my iPad at showing movies. The iPad has better resolution, but that is mostly gone with a movie, and the 16x9 aspect ratio of the surface is more suited for movies. In the same way, the iPad is better for books.