HP Continuing To Flee Windows Reservation With Android Tablet

Nerval's Lobster writes "Hewlett-Packard seems more determined than ever to flee the Windows reservation, unveiling a $170 Android tablet, the HP Slate 7. It runs Google Android 4.1, the first version of the 'Jelly Bean' build, which has been ever so slightly outdated by the recent release of Android 4.2. This isn't the first time in recent memory that HP's opted for a Google product over one offered by longtime partner Microsoft. As it helpfully pointed out in a press release, HP has produced a Chromebook running Google's Chrome OS, a largely cloud-dependent operating system for laptops and notebooks. Built around Google services such as Gmail, Chrome OS also offers access to the Chrome Web Store, an online storefront for apps. If HP and other manufacturers increasingly adopt Google's offerings over Windows, it could cause some consternation among Microsoft executives. Microsoft, of course, is pushing Windows 8, which is meant to run on tablets and traditional PCs with equal facility. If it wants the Windows division to continue as a cash cow, it needs manufacturers to adopt that operating system in massive numbers. Android and Chrome OS could make that strategy a lot more difficult."

Comments

UEFI and Windows 8 strategy

[rs1n]

I cannot help but wonder if UEFI is now Microsoft's backup plan to force casual PC users into Windows 8. There seems to be some resistance (the degree of which is debatable) to Windows 8 adoption. Perhaps users will, in the end, still be forced into Windows 8 if they lack the know-how to use alternate OSes?

Re:UEFI and Windows 8 strategy

[Anonymous Coward]

It would only work by bribing all the vendors... and that would likely cost more than even MS pockets can stand.

Besides, MS has already insulted the Asian manufacturers, so why would they go out of their way to help MS?

Re:UEFI and Windows 8 strategy

[exomondo]

I cannot help but wonder if UEFI is now Microsoft's backup plan to force casual PC users into Windows 8. There seems to be some resistance (the degree of which is debatable) to Windows 8 adoption. Perhaps users will, in the end, still be forced into Windows 8 if they lack the know-how to use alternate OSes?

How is that be any different to the way things are now?

Re:UEFI and Windows 8 strategy

[RabidReindeer]

I cannot help but wonder if UEFI is now Microsoft's backup plan to force casual PC users into Windows 8. There seems to be some resistance (the degree of which is debatable) to Windows 8 adoption. Perhaps users will, in the end, still be forced into Windows 8 if they lack the know-how to use alternate OSes?

How is that be any different to the way things are now?

More telling is the fact that to the casual observer (e.g. drooling idiot user), Windows 8 already is an "alternate OS". Which sort of leaves them between a rock and a hard place.

Re:UEFI and Windows 8 strategy

[unrtst]

It would only work by bribing all the vendors...

Or just enough of the big ones that production and support costs for the alternatives fail to meet similar economies of scale.

and that would likely cost more than even MS pockets can stand.

Wrong. It essentially costs them zero. They just need to offer a discount on the Windows OS licenses (and/or other software/hardware/etc). Even if said discount doesn't seem to matter, it does matter in relation to the competition. It's not like we don't have evidence that this has happened in the past, and there's even a better chance of it happening now since they're not as much of a "monopoly".

Besides, MS has already insulted the Asian manufacturers, so why would they go out of their way to help MS?

Because it's what they're being paid to do. How did they insult them anyway, and when has that mattered as long as they're the ones making everything and getting paid for it?

FWIW, I don't think UEFI (actually, restricted boot, aka secure boot) changes much as far as the common users ability to install an alternate OS... most people don't care enough to learn how, even without anything in their way. There appear to be ways around it in all cases so far AFAICT. That said, I think it WILL have an effect on the number of users running dual boot, and maybe even some that planned on running an alternate OS almost all the time. Every little annoyance when not doing as you are told will make it less interesting to do otherwise; and making sure that it's still *possible*, and even providing docs to do so, will mean that people will be less likely to actively oppose it.

Imagine the number of times you might need to boot up a netbook-ish thing to check something really quick. If it takes an extra 30 seconds to boot the alternate OS, you'll probably do the path of least resistance (NOTE: this is in reference to the Chromebooks, but it's a similar issue, and all they seem to say is, "if you don't like it, don't buy it", while at the same time saying their commitment is to think of the user first, which is BS).

Re:UEFI and Windows 8 strategy

[symbolset]

The playing one against the other thing used to work. The thing is that making Android devices turns profits for the OEMs lately and making Windows client devices hasn't for the last 10 years. The WPC market has been Dellified, raced to the bottom, and there it will stay. Microsoft is fine with their OEMs cutting each others' throats until they grow too few or one grows too strong, and then they nurture some contenders and hold calls on the dominant one so that the fight will stay fresh and even and retain their dominion over the combatants.

Now that we don't have to play in their colluseum by their rules there will be change. For a little while at least there will be profits on average in the new mobile realm. In the meantime there will be progress so swift it will be awesome to behold, as the new feature drives more profit. There will be more choices as vendors seek the mix of features that deliver the most profit amongst trillions of possibilities.

Re:UEFI and Windows 8 strategy

[symbolset]

How is that be any different to the way things are now?

Before UEFI and SecureBoot if a business wanted to load an alternative OS on their client PCs it was a simple matter. It has become more difficult. The increase in difficulty is a deliberate attempt to prevent migration. Just the fact that a software vendor is employing its market leverage to make migrating off of their software nigh impossible through technological means should blacklist them from consideration in the enterprise environment. Working with someone who does that is not in your best interest. They want to own you, your data, and your future and if you build on that you will live in their chains for all subsequent generations.

This is a boat to not get on. It leads to the New World, but you'll be farming cotton.

I would hardly call it Fleeing!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sensationalism at its best. Almost everyone makes android tablets. I am no MS fan but I am even less a fan of sensationalism just to get some people to read your bogus stories. Just read the title and felt I had to comment.

Re:I would hardly call it Fleeing!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Sensationalism? And duplicate articles? In MY slashdot?

It's more likely than you think!

Re:I would hardly call it Fleeing!!

[jedidiah]

> Sensationalism at its best. Almost everyone makes android tablets.

So you're basically agreeing with the "sensationalist" headline.

PC vendors are finally straying from Microsoft.

It doesn't matter how you try to spin it. It still comes out the same. Microsoft's grip on consumers as computer users is waning. It took something that looks nothing like a PC, but it finally happened.

Surprising?

[exomondo]

This is hardly surprising, with Android smartphones, tablets and chromebooks as well as Google web apps if you've invested in that Google platform - and so many people have - then you probably don't *need* Windows. Not to mention creating a Windows RT tablet doesn't exactly do much in terms of integration for existing Windows customers (that is non-Metro UI users).

previous discussion

[Trepidity]

It doesn't lead with the "fleeing windows" angle, but here is yesterday's /. discussion on the tablet, which I'm going to guess covers a lot of what we're about to discuss here...

Sensationalism in /.

[Taco Cowboy]

Sensationalism at its best. Almost everyone makes android tablets. I am no MS fan but I am even less a fan of sensationalism just to get some people to read your bogus stories

As a long time visitor to /. I have to concur with what you have said

What is the most unfortunate is that the editors seem to agree with this type of unhealthy yellow-journalism

HP is merely making another attempt into producing Android tablets. It's only a business decision, that's all !

Win 8 shows decline of the WinTel fiat

[swschrad]

fact is, you have seriously different needs and input technologies between desktop and mobile systems. Win 8 attempts to make them into one system. I can't reach over my desk to touch a screen that doesn't have touch capability anyway, and Live Tiles just clutter things up. Microsoft insists on directing the user to the MS vision, when we liked earlier versions of Windows because we could make the machine "ours". that vision gets in the way. which is why there are Android and IOS/MacOS alternatives gaining on the Redmondonians every hour.

a drowning man will grasp at straws

[lophophore]

No offense to Google; I like their products.

HP is going to need to do a lot more than market a Chromebook and an Android tablet to get out of the ditch.

Not surprised.

[tom229]

My girlfriend recently decided to trade in her old boat anchor of a laptop for a new device. Her budget wasn't high (around $500). She came to me for advice and I had an extraordinarily difficult time finding an affordable, light, and fast x86 device. She also wanted a keyboard and trackpad so we ended up settling on an Asus Transformer TF300T. She couldn't be happier. It can do all the things she's interested in doing (facebook, email, pinterest, skype, etc), its fast, easy to use, and fits in her purse.

I think this is going to be the story going forward for the casual home user. Why buy a bulky laptop or expensive ultrabook? A tablet transformer has a more convenient form factor at all times, and content consumption operating systems like Android are more friendly to the end user.

I don't see high end gaming or content creation devices going this way any time soon, but the days of the casual home use desktop are coming to an end.

Re:Not surprised.

[Bearhouse]

Mod up. Now, if Libreoffice or, more probably Google, could get "good enough" compatibility with MS Office docs, (including Excel macros, weird PPT presentations and fonts) then this could really go somewhere...

addressing wrong problem

[bloodhawk]

HP's problem is not the OS (though that might not be helping), it is there damn ugly designs, crapware and bloatware that every device comes configured with making even the most expensive items feel like you are using a device from 10 years ago. It won't matter what direction they pick till they fix there core problem of not making machines for usability and performance.

Casual PC users

[snadrus]

That's an interesting term here. Guesses:
- Light-duty (email, read-heavy web): Best served by Chromebook & tablets:
        They're cheaper & easier to maintain.

- Upgraders wanting things like before: Likely to defect to the above group.

- Businesses: Bound to their software, & likely can hold-out until next version
        May try moving to HTML5 cloud software for less administration, but gain OS choices.

As SemiAccurate said months ago

[steveha]

SemiAccurate reported that HP was very annoyed by the Microsoft Surface, was dropping any plans for "WART" devices ("Windows on ARM"), and would embrace Android.

http://semiaccurate.com/2012/06/29/hp-said-to-dump-microsoft-over-surface/

It's also about what people want and don't want

[erroneus]

People want to keep using their computers, at the very least, in the way they have grown accustomed. Microsoft has a winner in the present day Windows 7. (Hilarious that I would even say that, but I did.) The last thing Microsoft should do right now is attempt to take that away from its customers and yet that's clearly Microsoft's aim.

People don't want change. They don't want it forced on them and yet if they want a new computer, guess what is most likely to come on it? And most of those people don't have the skill to put Windows 7 on it so they are pretty much stuck with whatever comes with it. So increasingly, they are resisting the need to even buy new computers. This doesn't sit well with computer sellers.

ASUS has shown the buying public is interested in tablets but they don't "need" Windows. The Google Nexus 7 has proven itself well. HP, a starving PC maker just wants a piece of that action. How long before Dell does the same? I know Dell has played in that field already... they inexplicably [my opinion] pulled out. Every attempt at supporting Linux was half-hearted enough to make me believe they did it to "prove" that Linux is not a viable alternative to Windows. Just a theory...

But Microsoft stopped caring long ago about what people want and what they don't want. They have demonstrated their contempt for the public numerous times. People have somewhere else to go now... and we are seeing them go.

Re:It's also about what people want and don't want

[jader3rd]

People don't want change.

Exactly. Which is my most people will never touch cell phones, let along smart phone, and will keep happily using their landlines. They also hate change so much that they know that a computer will certainly never replace their typewriter. And ARM based tablets are so much change from everything they previously knew they, that not a single person would ever want one.

Re:It's also about what people want and don't want

[SEE]

It's not that people reject change. It's that Windows 8 on phones/tablets/netbooks is the equivalent of cramming a lobotomized MVS onto the original 8088-based IBM PC, while Windows 8 on PCs is like making a port of COMMAND.COM the shell on MVS.

Re:It's also about what people want and don't want

[jurco]

...if they want a new computer, guess what is most likely to come on it?

My roommate Phill.

Huh?

[Junta]

UEFI can and has been booting Linux, Windows 7, Vista (with limitations), and OSX (significant limitations).
If by 'UEFI', you mean 'SecureBoot', then on x86 platform, so far, I'm willing to believe that malware mitigation is at least part of it (though I question the efficacy), but I think it's giving them, mostly, the facility to lock out competitors on MS 'subsidized' devices like Surface.

Re:Huh?

[exomondo]

but I think it's giving them, mostly, the facility to lock out competitors on MS 'subsidized' devices like Surface.

I suspect that if that were the case then they would have prevented SecureBoot from being turned off on the Surface Pro, but they didn't, you can turn it off and install Linux on it if you want.

Re:Huh?

[ozmanjusri]

but they didn't

Yet.

This is the extend phase.

Different beast..

[Junta]

Windows presents MS with a conundrum.

In the case of Adobe, their market was, mostly saturated. Switching to a rental model doesn't do much to erode future revenue opportunity since the unwilling parties probably were already not buying new copies, and Adobe really doesn't have that much of a vested interest beyond the explicit revenue on the offering.

MS does have a wider vested interest in Windows though. They want to monetize facilitating and curating an application ecosystem and services like skydrive. They need users. MS would probably do better to make their OS free as in beer. This is, incidently, more the Google model, who doesn't burden ChromeOS or Android with advertising or anything nor do they charge up front or periodically (yes, vendor usage gets complicated, but end users are free to do whatever) and instead it is a means to an end of getting users into their ecosystem.

MS is instead stuck in the mindset that each individual component must be considered on its own and be a profit center in and of itself, meanwhile Google threatens to eat their lunch more and more every day.