This thing doesn't compete against a puny ARM tablet or even a puny $450 laptop. It competes against ultrabooks and especially ultrabook-tablet hybrids
Nope. It competes against iPads, as per Microsoft's own advertising. To repeat: Microsoft just spent a metric assload of money to tell the world that the Surface is a better iPad. Some units in the company might think that they're competing against ultrabooks and hybrids, but their marketing department has said clearly that it's competing against Apple tablets.
Like evolutionary forces, the free market ensures the survival of the fit (good enough to keep going), not the fittest as so many people have erroneously come to believe.
No, it ensures survival of the fittest. The problem is that "fit()" is rarely defined the way we think it should be, and often has lots of extra parameters like looks_cool, friends_use_it, saw_it_in_a_movie, and brand_is_trendy. McDonalds is much more widespread than In-n-Out, but FastFood.fit() isn't predicated exclusively on food_quality.
I've been using Astra blades and loving them, but I'm going to try Feather next time. I've heard great things about them. I got a pack of Wilkinsons free with my handle (standard Merkur 33) but wasn't too impressed.
Exactly this. It isn't like some small-town garage startup managed not to notice that the name was already taken in one of the world's largest markets.
I think the core problem is that the market - as a whole - doesn't want real productivity devices. They want things to replace their desktops and laptops, but more portably. They want web browsers and YouTube players. They want messaging. They want simple photo editing. A few people here and there want office suites and development environments, but their numbers are dwarfed by those who just want to "carry the Internet around" easily so they can interact with it in a fun way.
I'd buy a tablet that booted directly into Sublime Text in one window and a shell in another. I'd have a lot of fun with that and it would be my idea of a productivity device. And yet, I don't think I'd have to wait in line on launch day.
According to the article, it is supposedly to increase privacy protections for the patient
And how would that work, anyway? I don't have a privacy agreement with myself. I can tell the whole world all sorts of crazy stuff about myself without any recourse against me for doing it.
I have a 15" early 2011 MBP right now, and my job is giving me a 13" Air next week. As much as I love the MBP, I'm looking forward to carrying 3 pounds instead of 4.5 pounds in my messenger bag on the BART. It doesn't seem like a big difference on paper, but is hugely noticeable in practice.
Don't be so defensive. I saw a clip of that video and it horrified me, but I don't know a lot about geology and thought this was a good place to ask. I truly wanted to know. I wasn't trying to blame anyone, and I didn't really have an opinion beyond "I don't think that's supposed to happen".
But what about the videos of people lighting their tap water. Are there explanations that don't directly implicate fracking? I asking seriously. I haven't read up on those films and I'm sure someone has a perfectly reasonable sounding story for how that could be.
And suppose the fracking chemicals themselves don't migrate. What about the petrochemicals they've broken loose (which is the whole reason for fracking in the first place, as I understand it)? Can those work their way up into the water supply?
If they just took it more seriously they could have owned it lock and key.
I think they took it seriously, or at least some groups within MS did. I think it's more that they simply couldn't conceive of a different way of doing things, a different interface, a different usage pattern, than they already had on the market. I think they were so focused on making it easier to use a Windows desktop UI clone on a tiny screen by making the buttons easier to click, etc., that it simply never occurred to them that users would prefer something else entirely.
Put another way, they were focused on evolution and not revolution. Apple had insight to ask "what should a mobile UI look like?" instead of "how can we make our current UI easier for mobile users?" and it worked out for them. Microsoft could've asked the same question of themselves, but no one with the power to actually answer it thought to do so.
I think it's simpler than that. Everyone knows that this year's car models get a lot cheaper as soon as next year's models are announced, but no one really complains about a Ford being cheaper next month than this month. Microsoft doesn't really want to train their customers to hold out until the prices start to drop before buying a new device. Contrast with Apple who more or less never discounts a device before its replacement is available for sale, and even then more often simply removes the old one (still at its launch day price) from the store.
So what's your take on Pages for iPad - did you try that, too? I'm genuinely curious because I don't really have a need for word processing on a tablet, but wondered if Apple's own native offering was good enough for people who did.
if they had got there first, it may well have been adopted in the same way as the iPad. [...] so why would people go for a non-mainstream device with the associated lack of support from apps and OS updates?
...and then...
for whatever reason, people will pay Apple's inflated price tag just to get the Apple brand.
Apple got there first and people bought into its ecosystem. Android's app selection is essentially equivalent to Apple's, but a lot of people already started with Apple and are now loathe to leave it. But if they did, Android is the no-brainer alternative with it's also-huge app store and broad developer support. I doubt that Windows is even on the radar for most potential switchers.
That's exactly why I ended up with an iPad Mini. I have a 30-40 minute bus commute each way and spend it checking Twitter, reading news on Flipboard, scanning Reddit (Slashdot really needs its own Alien Blue!), and otherwise being unproductive and entertained. My phone's screen is a little too small to do all that comfortably, especially when the bus is changing velocity and shaking. A laptop is way too big to comfortably hold on a full bus. A small tablet is absolutely perfect, though, for my daily 1 - 1.5 hour downtime. That I can't easily write code or play Call of Duty on it is of zero interest to me.
That's nice and all, but what does BES do with the credentials? Does it always connect to the Gmail account you think it is, then downloading your mail, not uploading your credentials to nsa_drop_box@gmail.com's Notes folder? I keep hearing blah blah blah security! blah, but I don't see any particular reason to trust one corporation with all my personal credentials over another corporation.
PS: The "locking down the devices to prevent installation of undesired apps" certainly seems like it'd be appealing, but in practice that's a big part of the reason why no one actually wanted to carry a Blackberry boat anchor alongside the iPhone or Droid they were actually using.
This pull type email is best related to having a Post Office box. It requires physical action on your part to go and check your mail. You have to get up, drive in your car to the PO Box location, open it up, check for new mail, get back in your car, and drive home.
Meanwhile, back in reality, that "hugely inefficient" polling works like:
Phone: Hi, mailserver.
Mail: Hi, phone.
Phone: I'm Joe. Here's proof.
Mail: Hi Joe.
Phone: Do I have any new mail?
Mail: Nope.
Phone: KTHXBYE
Mail: Whatevs.
...all at the speed of light and consuming microwatts if scheduled correctly. Decades-old tech like IMAP IDLE makes that even more trivial. No, I'm just not seeing the compelling need for this beyond "that's the way we've always done it and it's magical!".
This seems to me like an optimization for a problem that no longer exists. Is email popular in places where data plans are expensive? My understanding was that texting was far more popular in developing economies, and email polling couldn't account for more than a pittance of my 4GB monthly allowance. So who actually wants this functionality these days?
Slashdot Mirror
This thing doesn't compete against a puny ARM tablet or even a puny $450 laptop. It competes against ultrabooks and especially ultrabook-tablet hybrids
Nope. It competes against iPads, as per Microsoft's own advertising. To repeat: Microsoft just spent a metric assload of money to tell the world that the Surface is a better iPad. Some units in the company might think that they're competing against ultrabooks and hybrids, but their marketing department has said clearly that it's competing against Apple tablets.
Like evolutionary forces, the free market ensures the survival of the fit (good enough to keep going), not the fittest as so many people have erroneously come to believe.
No, it ensures survival of the fittest. The problem is that "fit()" is rarely defined the way we think it should be, and often has lots of extra parameters like looks_cool, friends_use_it, saw_it_in_a_movie, and brand_is_trendy. McDonalds is much more widespread than In-n-Out, but FastFood.fit() isn't predicated exclusively on food_quality.
I've been using Astra blades and loving them, but I'm going to try Feather next time. I've heard great things about them. I got a pack of Wilkinsons free with my handle (standard Merkur 33) but wasn't too impressed.
Exactly this. It isn't like some small-town garage startup managed not to notice that the name was already taken in one of the world's largest markets.
In college, I christened a friend's Jaz drive a "WORN drive", for "write once, read never". The name was well-earned and it stuck.
Damn, and "FailDrive.com" is already taken.
None of my workplaces have used Windows for anything important. The shift to everything-as-a-web-app certainly helps.
I think the core problem is that the market - as a whole - doesn't want real productivity devices. They want things to replace their desktops and laptops, but more portably. They want web browsers and YouTube players. They want messaging. They want simple photo editing. A few people here and there want office suites and development environments, but their numbers are dwarfed by those who just want to "carry the Internet around" easily so they can interact with it in a fun way.
I'd buy a tablet that booted directly into Sublime Text in one window and a shell in another. I'd have a lot of fun with that and it would be my idea of a productivity device. And yet, I don't think I'd have to wait in line on launch day.
According to the article, it is supposedly to increase privacy protections for the patient
And how would that work, anyway? I don't have a privacy agreement with myself. I can tell the whole world all sorts of crazy stuff about myself without any recourse against me for doing it.
Wow, I wish my business strategy were failing as successfully as theirs.
I have a 15" early 2011 MBP right now, and my job is giving me a 13" Air next week. As much as I love the MBP, I'm looking forward to carrying 3 pounds instead of 4.5 pounds in my messenger bag on the BART. It doesn't seem like a big difference on paper, but is hugely noticeable in practice.
I am sure I am not the only one who doesn't know what GUADEC is
I'm guessing "Gnome User Aggrevation/Deprecation Enhancement Committee", based on their past output.
Maybe if we'd all spent a little more time in the dorms shooting for $10 bounties than headshots, we'd be paying on smaller loans.
Do you work in a Microsoft cafeteria, by chance?
In the real world, I've seen exactly one Surface Pro and no Surface RTs.
Don't be so defensive. I saw a clip of that video and it horrified me, but I don't know a lot about geology and thought this was a good place to ask. I truly wanted to know. I wasn't trying to blame anyone, and I didn't really have an opinion beyond "I don't think that's supposed to happen".
Thanks, truly! That seems pretty reasonable.
But what about the videos of people lighting their tap water. Are there explanations that don't directly implicate fracking? I asking seriously. I haven't read up on those films and I'm sure someone has a perfectly reasonable sounding story for how that could be.
And suppose the fracking chemicals themselves don't migrate. What about the petrochemicals they've broken loose (which is the whole reason for fracking in the first place, as I understand it)? Can those work their way up into the water supply?
If they just took it more seriously they could have owned it lock and key.
I think they took it seriously, or at least some groups within MS did. I think it's more that they simply couldn't conceive of a different way of doing things, a different interface, a different usage pattern, than they already had on the market. I think they were so focused on making it easier to use a Windows desktop UI clone on a tiny screen by making the buttons easier to click, etc., that it simply never occurred to them that users would prefer something else entirely.
Put another way, they were focused on evolution and not revolution. Apple had insight to ask "what should a mobile UI look like?" instead of "how can we make our current UI easier for mobile users?" and it worked out for them. Microsoft could've asked the same question of themselves, but no one with the power to actually answer it thought to do so.
I think it's simpler than that. Everyone knows that this year's car models get a lot cheaper as soon as next year's models are announced, but no one really complains about a Ford being cheaper next month than this month. Microsoft doesn't really want to train their customers to hold out until the prices start to drop before buying a new device. Contrast with Apple who more or less never discounts a device before its replacement is available for sale, and even then more often simply removes the old one (still at its launch day price) from the store.
So what's your take on Pages for iPad - did you try that, too? I'm genuinely curious because I don't really have a need for word processing on a tablet, but wondered if Apple's own native offering was good enough for people who did.
if they had got there first, it may well have been adopted in the same way as the iPad. [...] so why would people go for a non-mainstream device with the associated lack of support from apps and OS updates?
...and then...
for whatever reason, people will pay Apple's inflated price tag just to get the Apple brand.
Apple got there first and people bought into its ecosystem. Android's app selection is essentially equivalent to Apple's, but a lot of people already started with Apple and are now loathe to leave it. But if they did, Android is the no-brainer alternative with it's also-huge app store and broad developer support. I doubt that Windows is even on the radar for most potential switchers.
That's exactly why I ended up with an iPad Mini. I have a 30-40 minute bus commute each way and spend it checking Twitter, reading news on Flipboard, scanning Reddit (Slashdot really needs its own Alien Blue!), and otherwise being unproductive and entertained. My phone's screen is a little too small to do all that comfortably, especially when the bus is changing velocity and shaking. A laptop is way too big to comfortably hold on a full bus. A small tablet is absolutely perfect, though, for my daily 1 - 1.5 hour downtime. That I can't easily write code or play Call of Duty on it is of zero interest to me.
That's nice and all, but what does BES do with the credentials? Does it always connect to the Gmail account you think it is, then downloading your mail, not uploading your credentials to nsa_drop_box@gmail.com's Notes folder? I keep hearing blah blah blah security! blah, but I don't see any particular reason to trust one corporation with all my personal credentials over another corporation.
PS: The "locking down the devices to prevent installation of undesired apps" certainly seems like it'd be appealing, but in practice that's a big part of the reason why no one actually wanted to carry a Blackberry boat anchor alongside the iPhone or Droid they were actually using.
This pull type email is best related to having a Post Office box. It requires physical action on your part to go and check your mail. You have to get up, drive in your car to the PO Box location, open it up, check for new mail, get back in your car, and drive home.
Meanwhile, back in reality, that "hugely inefficient" polling works like:
Phone: Hi, mailserver.
Mail: Hi, phone.
Phone: I'm Joe. Here's proof.
Mail: Hi Joe.
Phone: Do I have any new mail?
Mail: Nope.
Phone: KTHXBYE
Mail: Whatevs.
...all at the speed of light and consuming microwatts if scheduled correctly. Decades-old tech like IMAP IDLE makes that even more trivial. No, I'm just not seeing the compelling need for this beyond "that's the way we've always done it and it's magical!".
This seems to me like an optimization for a problem that no longer exists. Is email popular in places where data plans are expensive? My understanding was that texting was far more popular in developing economies, and email polling couldn't account for more than a pittance of my 4GB monthly allowance. So who actually wants this functionality these days?