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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 It runs Google Android 4.1, the first version of the 'Jelly Bean' build, which has been ever so slightly outdated by the recent release of Android 4.2.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."
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?
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.
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).
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 !
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
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.
there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count
* those who can't
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.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
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.
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.
Science & open-source build trust from peer review. Learn systems you can trust.
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/
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
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.
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.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.