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Microsoft Targets The iMac With New All-In-One Surface PCs, Reports Say (networkworld.com)
New submitter Miche67 writes: Two reports say Microsoft is working on an all-in-one (AIO) PC under the Surface brand. If that's true, it would put it in competition with HP and Dell, which have their own AIO lines, as well as put it in competition with Apple's iMac. Network World reports: "Both DigiTimes and Windows Central picked up on the story, each citing their own sources. DigiTimes, a Taiwan-based publication with connections to the PC industry over there (but also a very mixed record of accuracy) said the new devices would come in the third quarter of this year. Windows Central, which is a little better when it comes to rumors, said it did not have a solid release date." Business Insider was able to find a patent filing by Microsoft for a desktop PC that supports the rumored AIO design. "The device is evidently targeting a 'modern and elegant' design and is meant to be something akin to a premium appliance or furniture," Windows Central wrote. Intel's release date of the new Kaby Lake line of processors around Q3 of this year complicates things. While Kaby Lake is said to be more mobile-friendly with less power consumption and heat, they would make for a good choice for an AIO machine. However, it would be pushing it for Microsoft to release its AIO machines in the same quarter that Kaby Lake is due. On a semi-related note, a programmer at Building 88 recently confirmed that Microsoft will release Surface 5 devices next year powered by Kaby Lake processors. He posted pictures of four device holders marked "2017" on his Twitter account.
Things must be desperate inside Microsoft. They are attacking their own customers. (Dell, Asus, etc.)
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
If not, it doesn't compete wit the iMac.
...by continuing their Apple and other company envy. They need to do some ground-breaking things that are unique for themselves AND are wildly successful in the market. Not be a clueless follower:
Mac OS, so then Microsoft creates Windows
iPod, so then Microsoft creates Zune
Google search, so then Microsoft creates Bing
Google does ads, so then Microsoft has to do ads
Apple app store, so then Microsoft creates an app store
Apple stores, so then Microsoft has to have stores
Apple provides free OS updates, so then Microsoft has to provide a free OS update
Apple high-end hardware, so then Microsoft has to have high-end hardware
Apple all in one PCs, so then Microsoft has to make all-in-one PCs
I mean sheet 4 of the drawings takes the cake, and all of them pretty much look like they got creative with a spare parts bin from several other appliance companies. Frankly I was shocked NOT to see a 1950s pull-lever ice cube tray as part of one of the designs.
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
" DigiTimes, a Taiwan-based publication with connections to the PC industry over there (but also a very mixed record of accuracy) said the new devices would come in the third quarter of this year."
Digitimes mainly reports on the incredibly extensive second and third party research of display technology industry from Chinese (Taipei) language technical journals, and has been one of the best tech sector news journals I've relied on over 20 years. Sure, sometimes predictions and schedules reported to Digitimes don't happen but that's usually the fault of the industry source whom Digitimes quotes.
I would feel nit-picky making this point, but at Slashdot of all places, which regularly cites blogs as news articles, the slap at Digitimes comes across as cringeworthy. I hesitate to play the "r" card, but it reminds me of all the other BS we are constantly reading about Taiwan and Hong Kong "primitive processes" and "child labor" and "suicide nets" etc. Digitimes is the one of the best news sources ever cited on /., if not the most "articulate", and dinging it with the unnecessary parenthetical rubs me the wrong way.
Gently reply
It's bitztream, the autism-hating Slashdot troll!
Someone has to innovate or offer quality products when the entrenched suppliers are mass-producing the same boring crap they produced last year.
Apple introduced the Newton a few years before PDAs took off.
Microsoft demoed a smartphone two years before that market took off.
Intel developed the ultrabook concept because laptop OEMs were complacent.
Microsoft made the Surface because the laptop OEMs were being cheap and producing crap for convertibles.
While I will continue to build my own PCs for the foreseeable future, I can still see a lot of places that would benefit from inexpensive-yet-durable AIO PCs. Education, basic users, and kiosks for starters.
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According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.