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CNN Anchors Caught On Camera Using Microsoft Surface As an iPad Stand
MojoKid writes Since the release of its Surface Pro 3 tablet, Microsoft has pushed their new slate hard. It's as if the company wanted it to overwrite that part of our memory that recalls the Surface RT and its monumental losses. This past August, we saw the company make a big move by deploying a boatload of Surface Pro tablets to every team in the NFL, gratis. All season so far, coaches and even players have made use of them to plan their next course-of-action, and for the most part, they seemed to be well-received. Unlike some of the products Microsoft tries to get us to adopt, the Surface Pro 3 really is a solid tablet / convertible. Unfortunately, at least where the CNN political team is concerned, Microsoft hasn't won over a few anchors, like they have in NFL, when they were supplied with brand-new Surface Pros. In recent shots captured and tweeted about, a Surface Pro 3 can be seen acting as an "iPad stand," and quite an expensive one. As humorous as this is, it might not seem that interesting if it were just one correspondent who pulled that stunt. Let's be honest, some people just like their iPads. That wasn't the case, though. There were at least two commentators using an iPad on the same set, despite having the Surface right in front of them and seemingly hiding it behind Microsoft's darling Windows 8 slate.
At least they would have been using a core functionality. The surface pro is one of the better devices to come out of redmond. It hands down beats the Ipad in lots of areas except for the apps. But the Apps are what people want, and they certainly don't want to give up the interface they are used to.
They are NOT comparable devices. Surface Pro addresses an ENTIRELY different segment of users and is an entirely different class of machine (can run arbitrary code)
Good-bye
Microsoft didn't "win over" nfl teams and coaches. They paid so much money in sponsorship fees to the nfl, that the nfl required teams to use them.
Given a choice, they'd still be using iPads.
They put full Windows OS in their tablet, it's not as easy to use as an iPad.
They put a tablet OS in their tablet, it doesn't have full Windows functionality.
The surface pro is one of the better devices to come out of redmond. It hands down beats the Ipad in lots of areas except for the apps.
and the sales.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
iOS does not have a wider variety of applications than Windows.
The vast majority of Win32 applications that runs on the Surface Pro is much larger than iOS's app store selection.
The vast amount of apps out there are not tablet optimized however, and the majority would actually be hard to use without a keyboard and mouse.
technically, the iPad can run arbitrary code. they are both computers, and Turing complete even!
Yeah, because I totally want to be creating Excel spreadsheets on a tablet.
Being able to run Windows apps is irrelevant if they can't be used effectively without a keyboard and mouse.
Besides which, you can buy an entire Android tablet for less than the cost of the keyboard alone.
It hands down beats the Ipad in lots of areas except for the apps.
I think this sort of thinking misses what has made Apple successful over the years. Techies keep worrying about whether a device beats another in terms of functionality, and meanwhile Apple focuses on usability. Yes, having a full desktop OS running on a tablet allows you to do more, but Windows 8 is a mess of an OS. Yes, Windows 8.1 improves the mess a bit, but it's still a mess.
At least, that's been my experience. Using Windows 8 on a desktop, I'm thinking, "Well it would be pretty good if they got rid of all this touch-interface crap. It's confusing and useless." Using Windows 8 on a tablet, I'm thinking, "The tablet UI could use a little work because it's a little too confusing. It's great that I can run desktop stuff, but for that stuff, I'd probably be better off with a laptop." Using an iPad? I'm probably not thinking much about the features and interface, because it's pretty clear what the device is, what it does, and how to use it.
Just because you value a SD slot more than life itself doesn't mean that everyone else does. I use three or four different platforms every day. Never once have I caught myself saying: "damnit, if only I had a SD card slot!"
Physical media is a pain in the ass.
Solving Unix problems since 1989...
Objection! Speculative.
I've heard that argument since the late nineties. I'm still not buying it.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
So is it a bad laptop or a bad tablet?
Microsoft gives you the worst of both worlds: a tablet that has hardly any apps, which, once you attach the keyboard, becomes an expensive, not very ergonomic laptop.
If you have anchors using items with prominent logos, you aren't doing the news, you are doing advertising. Get out of the news business and become an advertiser. I go to watch the news to find out whats going on in the world, not to find out whats going on in the world while being subjected to branding. That's called shilling, and people wonder why the media is trusted less these days.