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Microsoft Revives Its Hardware Conference
jfruh writes Microsoft's Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, or WinHEC, was an annual staple of the '90s and '00s: every year, execs from Redmond would tell OEMs what to expect when it came to Windows servers and PCs. The conference was wrapped with software into Build in 2009, but now it's being revived to deal with not just computers but also the tablets and cell phone Microsoft has found itself in the business of selling and even making. It's also being moved from the U.S. to China, as an acknowledgment of where the heart of the tech hardware business is now.
What the HEC is this?
The first BUILD conference was in 2011.
All my liberal friends think I'm a conservative, all my conservative friends think I'm a liberal.
I wouldn't take home any electronic swag...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Microsoft must think 'Go East, Young Man'.
.
China although an 'old country' is all about vibrant young men and women doing their own as they have been for thousands of years.
Take China and hardware -- I found myself Googling Chinese modern architecture the other day, and browsing and looking at the results spent maybe an hour in awe, gawking at immensely impressive
--both aesthetically and from an engineering standpoint-- constructions. So much so that I couldn't suppress the thought that the West is nothing compared to what's achieved here
Unfortunately, human rights wise, China has a long way to go -- if it ever does go that way, anyhow (I wish the Chinese well).
To come full circle -- I bet the latter notion is a major factor in Microsoft's move.
Coming soon - the Microsoft Watch.
It has a paperclip for it's face, and asks you really stupid questions ...
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
(bury the lede) is an old newspaper term, lede not lead.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
They always did make a pretty good mouse and keyboard !
"every year, execs from Redmond would tell OEMs what to expect .. now it's being revived to deal with not just computers but also the tablets and cell phone Microsoft has found itself in the business of selling and even making."
In a shrinking market, Microsoft is clawing back even more of your core business.
"Lead" can be spelled either way, though "lede" was popular in the days of hot metal typesetting to distinguish it from the metal whose symbol is Pb. It derives from "lead paragraph", meaning the paragraph that leads an inverted-pyramid news story.
Yup, Microsoft is trying so desperately to stay relevant in a post-PC / tablet world.
Apple currently gives away its OS. With Microsoft fleecing customers for $100 per OEM copy of Windows isn't winning over the hearts of the geeks over. Maybe if they weren't so greedy and lowered the price down to $20 that would do more to "buy" goodwill then the total damage the past 20 years has caused.
According the summary, Microsoft is actually selling tablets and mobile phones! Who knew?!
You misread. They're making tablets and mobile phones. It's mostly just Apple and Google's partners who are selling phones and tablets.
MS doesn't charge any where near $100 to OEM's. last I saw it was less than half that. Apple also doesn't just give away its OS, you have to pay for upgrades to OS.X, it only gives away iOS (but it is hard to call it giving it away since the premium you pay for the hardware). MS desktop marketshare is STILL above 90% (though I do agree they are fighting to stay alive in other areas, but desktop they still have on lockdown despite vista and 8)
> MS doesn't charge any where near $100 to OEM's.
Sorry, should of clarified OEM version of Windows.
* http://www.newegg.com/Product/...
* http://www.newegg.com/Product/...
Try getting the equivalent Mac OSX product...
Why should MS decide what tablets and phones need as minimum hardware?
Not only minimum, but maximum as well. MS gets to decide the biggest screen size, the highest speed CPU that can run Windows - tablet edition, on a non-desktop form factor. MS does not want vendors selling full fledged Windows on tablet form factor devices even though it is technically feasible.
Hardware had to be compatible to sell bundled with Windows.
MS does not want to encourage vendors who also provide open source drivers with their hardware. In this day and age, if MS made a reference standard for writing drivers hat did not require any signing, many vendors would only be too happy to innovate.
MS's goal is not to promote innovation, but to restrict vendors from making PCs that can also run Linux flawlessly. Having lost the tablet and phone business to Linux and Android, MS wants to keep on stifling the Linux desktop for as long as they can. One way they do this is to give incentives to vendors that make only Windows compatible hardware. Also the driver signing and Windows Update gives them a lever to destroy any vendor who gets too cosy with the Linux world.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-u...
From Vista and up, the hardware can be designed to give out intentional error messages that are ignored by Windows, and thus the hardware becomes unusable in Linux.
If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
China and their fellow freedom-reducing brethren operate on the idea of stealing from nations that innovate. A proven secondary use for that is for them to use it against their own citizens.
The US and the rest of the civilized world operate on the idea of creating something new or advancing existing technology in a new way. Unlike China, there has been no solid evidence to prove use against citizens - just the allegations of a spurned traitor(who in turn gave what he had to China and Russia, of all irony).
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
It's also being moved from the U.S. to China, as an acknowledgment of where the heart of the tech hardware business is now.
It also indicates the further wish to be out of touch with Western markets and continue to decline in overall quality. Checking a few boxes and translating the manual makes for a bad execution on implementing a product in other markets - as opposed to integrating the expectations made by the target market.
Besides, having it in Los Angeles doesn't diminish the value of Eastern contributions, but serves as a barrier to entry for the unqualified.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.