What exactly do you consider a proper computer? What do you mean by actual work?
I have a dual hex core (24 hardware threads) 26GB dev box in my office, a new Mac Mini, and a Dell Touch screen all-in-one - I develop on all of them.
The majority of people at a company (that isn't an ISV) don't need anything more powerful than an iPad to do everything they've got to do.
The Surface Pro is going to give them an iPad-ish form factor except it will run Windows 7/8 software that already exists - That's a pretty huge win for IT departments, especially given that they can provision the devices with group policies/AD.
The Google 'partner' that builds the phone isn't making a profit anymore than the actual manufacturer making the RT and Pro, plus they aren't 'marketed badly' by Google - that's is not their purpose. Neither is it the purpose of the Surface RT or Surface Pro.
It's like complaining back when nVidia and ATI made cards that they were poisoning their hardware partners when nothing could be further from the truth (they no longer need to do this because of the ubiquity of their chipsets.)
Micro$oft is simply putting out a reference design to generate initiative.
I tell you, I'd love to find a way to dual boot the thing and get OpenSUSE on it - otherwise it's a 1080p touchscreen laptop (which is moderately cool.)
If Google comes out with a phone or tablet it's simply fostering adoption and providing some reference for other hardware makers, if Micro$oft does it they're "declaring war" on their hardware partners. Utter stupidity.
Also, why would anyone think the Surface Pro was supposed to run on battery all day...? Clearly this is a workstation/tablet hybrid that leans farther to the tablet side.
In the longer run Intel will have move entirely into this market, and you'll find that people no longer have PCs at the office, they've got 'surface pro 3' with full blown M$ Office on it - and by that time it will run 10 hours on a charge.
Personally I thought this was going to happen sooner via systems like the Atrix phone and dock - they tried this at SIEMENS a few years back but Android was really the blocking issue, not the hardware. I love my Android phone, but as a full blown operating system it's got a long way to go.
I was surprised, maybe it's a spellchecker or something - I never use TextEdit but just opened it up, typed in the File:/// and after about 1/4 of a second the window disappeared and I got "TextEdit quit unexpectedly." with the standard Ignore|Report...|Reopen buttons...
...and according to some exploit news, spying on me.
Seriously though, I used Netflix on it constantly (I play comedy shows/specials/stand up on it as background noise during the day - or old movies) and I have it logged into Skype all the time (it has a nice webcam in it) as it makes a great teleconferencing device.
Without a good keyboard though, I'd never use it for inputting text (ye Gods and little boarlets that sounds like torture...)
It's a little silly I agree. The name comes from a story in a Dragon Magazine (remember that? lol) story about a dwarf that carries around a huge 2H Warhammer and the dwarf's name was Assmasher. For some reason that made me laugh for ages (hey, I was 12...) I have always used that name for character/profile names in games so I used it when creating my/. account (I had a much earlier slashdot account but registered it to a company e-mail I had at the time so I lost the account - this/. account was actually my first name [that's how early!])
So, being in my 40's now, it is a ridiculous profile name, and gives many people the wrong impression, but I keep it for nostalgia's sake...
...not give a rat's a** what your age is if you've got a good idea AND a good implementation (ideas are cheap - despite what you may think.)
I perform technical due diligences for multiple investors and they do consider the makeup of teams but never has age been a factor in the decision making.
They are working on it actually, it's called Kinect;).
I don't think Micro$oft is aiming Windows 8 and you or I, but more at people who use their PCs intermittently during the day to check mail, messaging, look through facebook every 20 minutes (what is up with that?), et cetera. People who walk into their kitchen and hit their touchscreen occasionally to peruse some content, or gesture at their HTPC.
I think it's a very bold move that will pay off in the long term for them, despite how I avoid it now...
Lol, it is annoying as all get out to mouse up and drag down the application (I run it on a Macbook Air I have dual booted), but, again, I pretty much work on the desktop so I don't have that annoyance too often.
I haven't tried it on multi-monitor yet, I'm afraid to.
People keep missing the point of the Metro interface. It is for Touch Screens. Micro$oft clearly believes that the vast majority of PCs that are going to be sold a few years from now will be touch or gesture (Kinect) enabled.
They may be wrong, and it certainly isn't the type of PC I want to work with daily (although it is fun for the superfluous types of things my kids use a PC for), but that's the bet they're making.
I think Micro$oft is preparing for a world, that will be here shortly, where there are no screens or monitors that are not touch capable or (further down the road if everything goes their way) 'Kinect'ed.
You probably mean, "not on non-touch screen desktop PCs" as I have an Inspiron Touch Screen in my office for testing and the tile interface is very cool. As a developer it's not really for me, but my wife and kids are going to love using it.
How hard is it to press the "Desktop" tile when it boots up? LOL...
I'm quite happy with my OSX/Win7/OpenSUSE setup, but I had to test a Windows 8 Touch Screen (Dell Inspiron something or other) and I'll be honest, I thought I would HATE Windows 8 tiles, but they're actually pretty cool once you invest the 5 minutes to figure out how to do all the stuff you used to do in Windows 7.
My Windows 8 test machine has a 'Desktop' tile that takes me straight to desktop.
I agree it would be nice, for the sake of completeness, to totally bypass tiles, but if I was Micro$oft I wouldn't either. People need to move forward, otherwise keep using Windows 7.
...I, uh, I want you to collect magazines from everybody.
Hudson -> Is he fuckin' crazy? Frost -> What do you expect us to use man... Harsh language? Gorman -> Flame units only - I want rifles slung. Apone -> But, sir... Gorman -> Do it Apone... And no grenades.
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What exactly do you consider a proper computer?
What do you mean by actual work?
I have a dual hex core (24 hardware threads) 26GB dev box in my office, a new Mac Mini, and a Dell Touch screen all-in-one - I develop on all of them.
The majority of people at a company (that isn't an ISV) don't need anything more powerful than an iPad to do everything they've got to do.
The Surface Pro is going to give them an iPad-ish form factor except it will run Windows 7/8 software that already exists - That's a pretty huge win for IT departments, especially given that they can provision the devices with group policies/AD.
"First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist..."
Plus, what exactly are you referring to as crap?
The hardware's not crap - although it doesn't serve my needs.
The OS isn't crap - although I primarily use *nix.
But hey, your opinion is as good as anyone's.
A man's reach should exceed his grasp... ;)
I think that's a case of semantics ;).
The Google 'partner' that builds the phone isn't making a profit anymore than the actual manufacturer making the RT and Pro, plus they aren't 'marketed badly' by Google - that's is not their purpose. Neither is it the purpose of the Surface RT or Surface Pro.
It's like complaining back when nVidia and ATI made cards that they were poisoning their hardware partners when nothing could be further from the truth (they no longer need to do this because of the ubiquity of their chipsets.)
Micro$oft is simply putting out a reference design to generate initiative.
I tell you, I'd love to find a way to dual boot the thing and get OpenSUSE on it - otherwise it's a 1080p touchscreen laptop (which is moderately cool.)
If Google comes out with a phone or tablet it's simply fostering adoption and providing some reference for other hardware makers, if Micro$oft does it they're "declaring war" on their hardware partners. Utter stupidity.
Also, why would anyone think the Surface Pro was supposed to run on battery all day...? Clearly this is a workstation/tablet hybrid that leans farther to the tablet side.
In the longer run Intel will have move entirely into this market, and you'll find that people no longer have PCs at the office, they've got 'surface pro 3' with full blown M$ Office on it - and by that time it will run 10 hours on a charge.
Personally I thought this was going to happen sooner via systems like the Atrix phone and dock - they tried this at SIEMENS a few years back but Android was really the blocking issue, not the hardware. I love my Android phone, but as a full blown operating system it's got a long way to go.
Not file:/// you must type File:/// and it vanishes with a crash dialog for me.
I literally just run TextEdit and type File:/// and 1/4 second later it vanishes and I get the "quit unexpectedly" dialog ;).
Must be a spell check/URL converter (like Word/Outlook does.)
BTW, crashes Notes when you put it in the search box, but not in the note text area.
I was surprised, maybe it's a spellchecker or something - I never use TextEdit but just opened it up, typed in the File:/// and after about 1/4 of a second the window disappeared and I got "TextEdit quit unexpectedly." with the standard Ignore|Report...|Reopen buttons...
Just double checked - same result.
Strange.
I just crashed it in 10.8.2 by simply typing it (exactly as specified) into the document area in TextEdit.
Running 10.8.2 here also and it crashes in TextEdit when simply typing the text into the document - LOL!
It would be depressing to think that life in the real world was so closely paralleled to life in the business world...
..that they have written and have them walk you through it.
I've always found that to be a very useful exercise because you can ask them all kinds of questions like:
"Do you always name your variables a1, a2, a3...?"
"Where are your comments?""
"Why did you do this part this way?"
Et cetera...
People who say "well, I don't really have any code to show you" I am immediately suspicious of.
It doesn't need to be anything impressive, just an example of their work.
Personally, I don't care how good a 'Programmer' someone is, I care about how good a 'Software Engineer' they are.
...and according to some exploit news, spying on me.
Seriously though, I used Netflix on it constantly (I play comedy shows/specials/stand up on it as background noise during the day - or old movies) and I have it logged into Skype all the time (it has a nice webcam in it) as it makes a great teleconferencing device.
Without a good keyboard though, I'd never use it for inputting text (ye Gods and little boarlets that sounds like torture...)
You had me at ManBearPig...
Who needs the internet, I've got Facebook!
It's a little silly I agree. The name comes from a story in a Dragon Magazine (remember that? lol) story about a dwarf that carries around a huge 2H Warhammer and the dwarf's name was Assmasher. For some reason that made me laugh for ages (hey, I was 12...) I have always used that name for character/profile names in games so I used it when creating my /. account (I had a much earlier slashdot account but registered it to a company e-mail I had at the time so I lost the account - this /. account was actually my first name [that's how early!])
So, being in my 40's now, it is a ridiculous profile name, and gives many people the wrong impression, but I keep it for nostalgia's sake...
...not give a rat's a** what your age is if you've got a good idea AND a good implementation (ideas are cheap - despite what you may think.)
I perform technical due diligences for multiple investors and they do consider the makeup of teams but never has age been a factor in the decision making.
They are working on it actually, it's called Kinect ;).
I don't think Micro$oft is aiming Windows 8 and you or I, but more at people who use their PCs intermittently during the day to check mail, messaging, look through facebook every 20 minutes (what is up with that?), et cetera. People who walk into their kitchen and hit their touchscreen occasionally to peruse some content, or gesture at their HTPC.
I think it's a very bold move that will pay off in the long term for them, despite how I avoid it now...
Lol, it is annoying as all get out to mouse up and drag down the application (I run it on a Macbook Air I have dual booted), but, again, I pretty much work on the desktop so I don't have that annoyance too often.
I haven't tried it on multi-monitor yet, I'm afraid to.
People keep missing the point of the Metro interface. It is for Touch Screens. Micro$oft clearly believes that the vast majority of PCs that are going to be sold a few years from now will be touch or gesture (Kinect) enabled.
They may be wrong, and it certainly isn't the type of PC I want to work with daily (although it is fun for the superfluous types of things my kids use a PC for), but that's the bet they're making.
What's "new" is that touch capability is becoming ubiquitous. That's why Micro$oft is pushing tiles (in my opinion.)
I'm particularly happy about it because I like my triple monitor development setup (which doesn't really fit in just yet to this new UI paradigm.)
I totally agree.
I think Micro$oft is preparing for a world, that will be here shortly, where there are no screens or monitors that are not touch capable or (further down the road if everything goes their way) 'Kinect'ed.
You probably mean, "not on non-touch screen desktop PCs" as I have an Inspiron Touch Screen in my office for testing and the tile interface is very cool. As a developer it's not really for me, but my wife and kids are going to love using it.
"force advertising"? Do you, perhaps, mean 'offer the ability to advertise'? The same way that desktop gadgets "force advertising" on you? ;)
It's a Touch Screen OS put in an OS that is meant to bridge the two paradigms (non-touch/touch PCs and tablets.) That's all.
How hard is it to press the "Desktop" tile when it boots up? LOL...
I'm quite happy with my OSX/Win7/OpenSUSE setup, but I had to test a Windows 8 Touch Screen (Dell Inspiron something or other) and I'll be honest, I thought I would HATE Windows 8 tiles, but they're actually pretty cool once you invest the 5 minutes to figure out how to do all the stuff you used to do in Windows 7.
My Windows 8 test machine has a 'Desktop' tile that takes me straight to desktop.
I agree it would be nice, for the sake of completeness, to totally bypass tiles, but if I was Micro$oft I wouldn't either. People need to move forward, otherwise keep using Windows 7.
...I, uh, I want you to collect magazines from everybody.
Hudson -> Is he fuckin' crazy?
Frost -> What do you expect us to use man... Harsh language?
Gorman -> Flame units only - I want rifles slung.
Apone -> But, sir...
Gorman -> Do it Apone... And no grenades.