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Microsoft To Start Dumping Surface RT To Schools For $199
onyxruby writes "In a move that will remind many of Apple in the '80s, Microsoft is going to start dumping Surface RT computers to educational institutions. In an effort to try to gain mindshare for their struggling Surface RT platform, Microsoft is giving away 10,000 Surface RTs to teachers through the International Society for Technology in Education. They're also preparing to offer $199 Surface RTs to K12 and higher education institutions. The strategy of flooding the educational market was quite successful for Apple. Unfortunately for Microsoft, today's computers require management and the Surface RT presents significant management challenges in terms of the inability to join the computer to a domain or available management tools."
How would this remind people of Apple in the 80s? The Apple II was not a dud product being price dumped to clear inventory.
pick up a bunch of Surface tablets, and put Linux or Android on them
This will be as bad for it as it was for Apple. Kids will think of Surface RT as that stupid thing the teachers make them use and how inferior it is to whatever they have at home or whatever smart device they normally use.
Making kids use something is a sure fire way to get them to hate it.
Better $199.00 from a school than $0.00 from the dumpster.
* Carthago Delenda Est *
Yeah, just . . . that. Overpriced.
Microsoft, nobody wants your crap. Go fix your crap instead of trying to tell everyone how great it is.
You fucked up. Now go back to work and fix it. Instead of fucking around.
If Microsoft was smart about it they'd give Maddog a call and see if he would like some thin clients for his new high rise servers.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
not possible, UEFI Bios is locked to install Windows only
Why would you install Linux on a Windows tablet?
Yep.
At $49, I might buy one. At $199, I still expect to get something for my money. I discovered this recently when I bought a Chromebook on a whim. It was back in the box and returned in a few days. I thought I wouldn't care if it was just a toy at that price but I was wrong. I spent another $105 to get a quad-core 17.3" laptop and installed Chrome on it. Gives me the Chrome experience in addition to being able to do all kinds of other stuff.
None of the links posted say anything about "dumping", just discounts. I don't like Microsoft as much as the next neckbeard wearing unix sysadmin, however I don't see how this qualifies as dumping at all. Even the anti-MS troll stories are getting pathetic on /. these days.
May God have mercy on their souls.
What they did was confuse the hell out of people. At first Microsoft was touting a tablet that could run Windows Apps called the surface. What they meant was the Surface pro. Instead the device that got released first was the RT and it still had the name "windows". Most people looking at them, and I know of one business that bought a couple, did so thinking they could run existing windows programs. They got 'em home and learned they couldn't.
At least Apple makes it clear that while underneath the hood, both MacOS and iOS share many of the same parts, they are entirely different OS's designed for different purposes. Microsoft failed to do that with the Surface.
The next problem is that the Surface Pro is $1000. At that price what is the incentive to buy it? You can buy a convertible ultra book for just a few dollars more.
"The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
Dumping 3rd rate technology in schools, in the hopes that children cannot tell the level of substandard they are presented with.
Whether they are "substandard" or not, depends on what the children do with them. I.e. whether they work within the (assumed) confines of the technology, or are inspired to set and achieve their own limits.
There was a time when geeks were defined by taking whatever was at hand and adapting/extending it to whatever their imaginations came up with. Now ./ is overrun with crabby fanbois who define geek as "good at XBox even though M$ is teh suxxor", apparently. Oh well.
Who cares about what MS communicates in their PR anymore. Kids already have iOS or Android powered computers in their pockets. That's where all their apps and pals are too.
I love all these people replying that it's impossible. Every major hardware DRM scheme that has been placed into consumer devices has been cracked.
The only reason why the RT might be different is that it's so unpopular that nobody really cares to try.
You can buy *new* netbooks that actually run Windows applications for around that much. For the average person, having an RT is about the same as having a Linux netbook -- the only apps you're likely to run are the ones that come with it, and realistically, you're only going to use it for web browsing.
This is not worth $200.
Does Microsoft think we'll pay extra just for the logo? They're the wrong company for that.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
It comes with Office, so it's a business computer that can also play the tablet game, right?
Except that there's no Outlook. Try getting business done without that.
And you can't join a domain. That goes hand-in-hand with the above.
And most critical to anyone who just wants to get work done: it's not x86-compatible, and you're limited to Windows Store apps.
Who the hell came up with this horrible hodgepodge of an OS? And who expected anyone to pay a premium price for it? They'll be lucky if they can get these things to move even for $200!
Man is the animal that laughs.
And occasionally whores for Karma.
Haven't we seen this movie ending before?
I was recently running a poll, and I found out that at least 20% of our department faculty own a Surface tablet of one sort or another - and that was before this move was announced. 20% of our faculty, and that's assuming none of the non-responders own a Surface.
I was seriously shocked. Android and iOS tablets are apparently less popular than Surface among our EE faculty. We've got some pretty close ties to Microsoft, but that is still surprising.
#DeleteChrome
of Microsoft Surface in everyone's minds in now $199?
It probably does.
I'm probably one of the few on here who have used an RT. Picked one up for $99 + keyboard at TechEd, and used it all week at the conference to take notes/surf/do work. Honestly, for your basic user who wants surfing/word docs, it's perfectly fine.
Also - I have an iPad that I love, but I couldn't dream of doing the work I was doing on the surface. The desktop mode is very nice, plus it just seems more workable when I can VPN in just like my PC at home. When comparing iPad to Surface for doing actual work, it's not event close, the Surface wins by a landslide.
What exactly is the need for management on a tablet that can only run approved apps, which is hard for students to mess up? If anything, today's mobile devices with their walled garden appstores and cloud backup should require less maintenance.
Good I was looking to replace my HP Touchpad.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Yep.
At $49, I might buy one. At $199, I still expect to get something for my money. I discovered this recently when I bought a Chromebook on a whim. It was back in the box and returned in a few days. I thought I wouldn't care if it was just a toy at that price but I was wrong. I spent another $105 to get a quad-core 17.3" laptop and installed Chrome on it. Gives me the Chrome experience in addition to being able to do all kinds of other stuff.
Yeah, but this isn't offered to you, it's to schools. Schools will buy them, because they'll think they are getting a big fat deal. Then IT people in schools will point out what a pain they are to do anything with, but with enough tar or mortar could be used to patch holes in the roof.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
We use a recording of Windows RT to lure the tablets into Lake Michigan?
Seems feasible.
crazy dynamite monkey
Without x86 legacy applications, there just isn't that much reason to bother with Windows.
On the other hand, pretty much anything available for Linux is available as source and can be rebuilt for alternative platforms. If not by the author than by some interested 3rd party.
Windows on ARM is a shadow of it's x86 variant.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
MS should create an emulation layer that allows RT to natively run Android apps. That will solve the chicken and egg issue of limited app availability and make their platform a more compelling offering.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Isn't attempting to flood a market with a device being charged at sub-standard pricing to subvert a competitor, like, illegal?
I thought this was covered by anti-dumping laws.
If they're running Win8 then I can kind of understand it. WinRT not so much...
android is out of the MS app store and has 3rd party apps so that is out.
Maybe I'm getting old, but when did "dumping ... to ..." become a valid phrase?
TFA says "offering schools/colleges $199 Surface RT Tablets"... how does one turn "offering" into "dumping"?
Treat every day like it's your last; delete your browser cache before going to bed.
I can feed it to my dog. ...and when he 'reboots', my other dog will try to eat it.
The government which is strong enough to protect you from everything is strong enough to take everything from you.
I would have been glad to have one... if not for the bootloader lockdown bullshit.
Foot, meet bullet.
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...
Before they can purchase an RT they will have to have a list of programs that they need that run on a surface RT.
No programs.
No purchase.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
They should sell the RT for $99, just like the HP tablet, and build a user base. I would buy a Surface RT if it was $99, and I don't even like tablets.
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
Not with the bios-enforced bootloader lockdown, you won't.
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 how massive of a failure it was when Microsoft did it with Office to dislodge Wordperfect & Lotus 123?
Good. Do that with your other junk too. Be regular, stay regular.
So give my kid a surface RT. I will be nice and provide the hockey stick he will need to use it correctly. Can anyone say slapshot.
Before the Surface RT came out there was quite a bit of excitement and anticipation that it would be priced at $199. So now that that price if finally a reality let's not call it "dumping". Just call it a great deal.
There is a jailbreak that allows running arbitrary Windows desktop-based programs on a Surface RT - if you recompile for ARM. It even allows kernel-mode drivers. Microsoft still hasn't fixed it, because it's not a security hole in the traditional sense--it requires Administrator privileges.
Because it is possible to make a jailbreak that automatically runs soon after startup, and it is possible to use the jailbreak to load a kernel driver, it is possible to boot up another OS by doing the equivalent of a kexec(). The problem is merely that nobody has done it.
I could write the code to do the kexec(), but I have no clue how to build a Linux kernel, let alone figure out how to interface with the hardware devices. If anyone wants to do that part, which I think is the hard part, let me know. =)
"Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
It is common to estimate sales rates when pricing is impacted by QUANTITY especially in a tightly contested market with thin margins (that is, unless you have a huge quantity discount allowing your margins to be high.)
Such things are the reason why small players don't enter into such markets, they cost more and provide less with lower margins due to low production runs.
Marketing, promotion, and possibly a tax write off - WHILE also maintaining sales levels. For marketing it doubles as PR and provides better statistics on units sold etc.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
This isn't news. It's been MS strategy for ages to give discounts to public and private organizations. It's a fine strategy. and it's not like Apple in the 80's because Apple software back then didn't run on a thousand different devices from a thousand different vendors, each potentially offering different features than the others, without breaking my existing software "ecosystem".
When Microsoft sells a thing at or near cost, /. calls it dumping. When Google sells a thing (Nexus tablets), at or below cost it's called smart business.
"Nice cafeteria tray you have. I especially like the glowy rainbow tiles. Oops, watch the gravy there."
Table-ized A.I.
What was this jibberish meant to say? And how were you modded up?
is what you need when you're in school. And Surface RT lacks the stylus support that the pro version has, making it rather useless.
Funny, I don't remember anybody cracking the bootloader on my old Droid X...
Sorry to burst your bubble, AC, but I've had mine since it launched in the US and I use it every day.
Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
"The strategy of flooding the educational market was quite successful for Apple."
Ummm it was a disaster that put Windows in charge of all home markets in the 90's actually.
"Unfortunately for Microsoft, today's computers require management and the Surface RT presents significant management challenges in terms of the inability to join the computer to a domain"
At my organization we have to unfortunately deal with managing a couple thousand ipads. IT always gives our Apple rep a hard time about the shortcomings of the ipad and it being a consumer device trying to work in a corporate environment. Things like they can't really be managed period because users can just hard reset and easily wipe management profiles, and things like you can't join ipads to a domain. Any Apple rep will dismiss these concerns as non-issues so it is funny to see these types of issues be an issue with the MS haters when it comes to the surface. Not defending the RT it is pretty lame, although the Surface Pro is the best mobile device I have owned for the things I need to accomplish every day.
Chromebooks make better sense than either in a school environment however. They can be managed easily and are affordable to replace. ipads and Surfaces break like a mofo when dropped compared to other devices and it happens all the time when these devices are handed out to kids in schools and is a huge expense in labor and repair/replacement costs. Not to mention that you can easily buy more than two Chromebooks for every ipad or retail priced surface which is a better value for the taxpayers who actually pay for this stuff. I would rather purchase Chromebooks all day any day over reduced price RTs or ipads for sure.
Without x86 legacy applications, there just isn't that much reason to bother with Windows.
So true. At least one company knows the value of backwards compatibility (and it's not Apple).
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Joe Dragon is always rambling on with some incoherent stuff. I don't know if he isn't a native English speaker or if his grammar is just that bad but whatever it is, I think he has some alt accounts stackin up mod points to dump on himself. The more incoherant the post, the higher it gets modded and I call him out every time.
Microsoft does not have "the cool".
Select from tblFriends where interesting >= 4;
Ah, but the Chromebook would have given you portability and better battery life...
They should rather start bundling Surface RT in baby/toy stores. Kids these days are starting early... Very early.
I think the schools should be paid more than $199 per RT.
Home-built cards on wire wrap boards.
And the computer came with a full set of schematics.
Unfortunately, one of the clock phases was missing on the expansion connector.
In a blow to Microsoft, Apple wins $30M LA school iPad contract
The choice of words is a little different when it an Apple product, isn't it????
But no media BIAS, of course not.
If the screen and keyboard can be made to run with a raspberry Pi, the bootloader doesn't matter any more. There may be even more usable parts, like a nice battery.