The Samsung Series 7 Slate machines are pretty nice (IMHO). Acer and Gigabyte would probably be my next choices. As a Thinkpad owner, I would never recommend them.
I think Microsoft came very close to getting it right this time, but they weren't bold enough.
And the Android tablets are measurably bad, so there is hope for the Microsoft yet
There are already lots of Windows tablets out there. It seems that a lot of people believe Surface will succeed because it's a better fit for corporate needs than the iPad is. Well, the current crop of Windows 7 tablets (some of which are very nice) are a better fit for corporate needs than either the iPad or the Surface yet nobody is buying them. I do agree that the Android tablets have been pretty dismal, but I think that's mostly because there isn't much software for them. It's all about the developers and Microsoft isn't interesting to non-corporate developers any more (ie the people who are passionate about software are not passionate about Microsoft).
My prediction is that Surface will bomb and Microsoft will scrap it and have something even better planned for Q1 2014. It will be tied to the XBox brand rather than Windows.
There are already lots of Windows tablets on the market that are arguably more enterprise-compatible than the iPad and maybe even more suitable than Windows 8 tablets that lack AD integration (and yeah, I know about Active Sync).
Why is a Windows 8 tablet so much better for business use than a Windows 7 tablet? Both are already better than an iPad, right?
The enthusiast and corporate market want something that lets them do everything they could do on their desktop.
The broad consumer market likes their phones and hates their (Windows) laptops. They want their laptop to be more like their phone, not the other way around. Apple is chasing this market and it looks like they are making OSX more like iOS with each major release.
I really don't know why the new Windows tablets are going to turn things around for Microsoft. Windows tablets have been available for years now and some of them are very good. If you want the extra battery life and thinness that an ARM tablet gives you, then wait. If you want an x86 tablet, why not just buy one now and load Windows 8 on it later? For corporations, the current crop of Windows tablets may actually be a better choice than the locked down ones coming from Microsoft this fall.
Microsoft's biggest problem is that they have lost too many developers. WP7 was a flop and I'm not sure WP8 does much to turn that around.
Interesting point. I assumed that these things were going to be shipping with Windows 8 later this year. The hardware certainly isn't pushing any boundaries so I don't see why they won't be ready later this year.
I think Microsoft has actually done something smart this time.
Apple and Amazon are fighting it out in the consumer space. They are the only two tablet makers that have sold significant numbers. The enterprise market hasn't picked a winner yet and I think Microsoft realizes that if they don't make a grab for it now, they are going to have a much bigger fight for it next year.
There is far, far more music being played and recorded today than ever before. If the 90% figure is accurate, then there's far more non-crap music made this year than in 1972, 1982, or 1992. I personally think that's true. People who complain that modern music is throwaway garbage haven't being looking very hard. There's some phenomenal stuff out there and just about any decently sized city has a healthy music scene.
Employers aren't allowed to monitor personal phone calls. If you've been told that personal phone calls are not allowed and your employer does listen in, you won't get far with a privacy defense.
Banks are subject to different regulation than auction houses. If they want eBay to report on the auctions going through their system, the government should make the rules explicit in law.
Because when I buy a car from a dealership, I'm paying them more than $10,000. When I pay for eBay's auction service, it costs much less than that. If eBay were to start selling cars rather than just providing a marketplace, then they would have to report large transactions too.
Imagine a car dealership in a shopping mall (some of these do exist). Part of the lease agreement is that the mall management gets some fraction of the stores revenue. Asking eBay to report large transactions is a little like asking the mall management to report large transactions through one of their tenants.
I bought a $12,000 car with cash and no feds were ever directly involved. I had to sign a couple of forms and that's about it, one of which was an acknowledgement that the transaction was being reported.
That's ok. I'm sure Microsoft will launch a service called "Microsoft Signature Phone" where you can pay $99 and they will remove the sticker and clear out any malware.
Xbox is well respected but from a business point of view, it's tough to call it a huge success. They may have broke even sometime late last year, so the division has a chance of being profitable this year.
Microsoft is pretty aggressive about encouraging developers to write for it
This is absolutely true. Nobody I know has ever been contacted by Apple or Google about porting their app, but Microsoft does all the time. They can be pretty persuasive too (offers of free hardware and tools are not uncommon). I have to give them credit for that.
I like the $10 monthly credit idea because it expires. If you don't use it, it's gone and so I think this would encourage people to use it up. Spending $120 / year / handset is nothing for them when you consider they spent $2,000 per handset sold during the WP7 launch.
I think now they have to do something about the slow rate of change on their hardware. The new Samsung phones are pretty spectacular and I think Microsoft needs to be pushing a bit harder on that front.
I think you are right about this. With consumers, Windows as a brand has negative value. They would have been better off calling it an X-Phone. I know at one point Zune Phone was considered, but they were at least smart enough to avoid that. OTOH, they call their ARM Table OS "Win RT", so they are still clueless when it comes to marketing.
I don't care what the OS is but I do care what apps are available. Microsoft is in the unusual position of having a hard time attracting developers to their platform.
As an occasional mobile developer, I have limited resources and develop for where the people are. If I want an audience willing to pay, I would target iOS (never have so far). If I want a broad audience, Android. There really isn't anything compelling about Windows Phone to me.
Microsoft has billions in the bank and I think they could turn this around if they worked out a deal with the carriers to give customers a $10 credit each month for the app store. They could easily afford it because there just aren't that many Windows Phones out there. If those few owners became big spenders though, that could trigger more development on the platform which in turn might attract more users.
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The Samsung Series 7 Slate machines are pretty nice (IMHO). Acer and Gigabyte would probably be my next choices. As a Thinkpad owner, I would never recommend them.
I think Microsoft came very close to getting it right this time, but they weren't bold enough.
That's a big assumption.
There are already lots of Windows tablets out there. It seems that a lot of people believe Surface will succeed because it's a better fit for corporate needs than the iPad is. Well, the current crop of Windows 7 tablets (some of which are very nice) are a better fit for corporate needs than either the iPad or the Surface yet nobody is buying them. I do agree that the Android tablets have been pretty dismal, but I think that's mostly because there isn't much software for them. It's all about the developers and Microsoft isn't interesting to non-corporate developers any more (ie the people who are passionate about software are not passionate about Microsoft).
My prediction is that Surface will bomb and Microsoft will scrap it and have something even better planned for Q1 2014. It will be tied to the XBox brand rather than Windows.
There are already lots of Windows tablets on the market that are arguably more enterprise-compatible than the iPad and maybe even more suitable than Windows 8 tablets that lack AD integration (and yeah, I know about Active Sync).
Why is a Windows 8 tablet so much better for business use than a Windows 7 tablet? Both are already better than an iPad, right?
I think there's more than one market for tablets.
The enthusiast and corporate market want something that lets them do everything they could do on their desktop.
The broad consumer market likes their phones and hates their (Windows) laptops. They want their laptop to be more like their phone, not the other way around. Apple is chasing this market and it looks like they are making OSX more like iOS with each major release.
I really don't know why the new Windows tablets are going to turn things around for Microsoft. Windows tablets have been available for years now and some of them are very good. If you want the extra battery life and thinness that an ARM tablet gives you, then wait. If you want an x86 tablet, why not just buy one now and load Windows 8 on it later? For corporations, the current crop of Windows tablets may actually be a better choice than the locked down ones coming from Microsoft this fall.
Microsoft's biggest problem is that they have lost too many developers. WP7 was a flop and I'm not sure WP8 does much to turn that around.
Interesting point. I assumed that these things were going to be shipping with Windows 8 later this year. The hardware certainly isn't pushing any boundaries so I don't see why they won't be ready later this year.
I think Microsoft has actually done something smart this time.
Apple and Amazon are fighting it out in the consumer space. They are the only two tablet makers that have sold significant numbers. The enterprise market hasn't picked a winner yet and I think Microsoft realizes that if they don't make a grab for it now, they are going to have a much bigger fight for it next year.
There is far, far more music being played and recorded today than ever before. If the 90% figure is accurate, then there's far more non-crap music made this year than in 1972, 1982, or 1992. I personally think that's true. People who complain that modern music is throwaway garbage haven't being looking very hard. There's some phenomenal stuff out there and just about any decently sized city has a healthy music scene.
Employers aren't allowed to monitor personal phone calls. If you've been told that personal phone calls are not allowed and your employer does listen in, you won't get far with a privacy defense.
Banks are subject to different regulation than auction houses. If they want eBay to report on the auctions going through their system, the government should make the rules explicit in law.
Because when I buy a car from a dealership, I'm paying them more than $10,000. When I pay for eBay's auction service, it costs much less than that. If eBay were to start selling cars rather than just providing a marketplace, then they would have to report large transactions too.
Imagine a car dealership in a shopping mall (some of these do exist). Part of the lease agreement is that the mall management gets some fraction of the stores revenue. Asking eBay to report large transactions is a little like asking the mall management to report large transactions through one of their tenants.
Hmmmm... then even if I use TrueCrypt, there's no way to trust it.
I'm guessing this is where stories about the Chinese government rolling their own Linux distro come from.
When you sell something through eBay, you don't get paid by eBay, you have to pay eBay.
When you sell something through eBay, you don't get paid by eBay, you are paid by the seller. In fact, you pay eBay.
I bought a $12,000 car with cash and no feds were ever directly involved. I had to sign a couple of forms and that's about it, one of which was an acknowledgement that the transaction was being reported.
Yep. Only Apple and Samsung are making money with cell phones. Everybody else would happily apply a sticker for a few dollars per handset.
That's ok. I'm sure Microsoft will launch a service called "Microsoft Signature Phone" where you can pay $99 and they will remove the sticker and clear out any malware.
They've had several profitable years, but if you add up all the profits and all the losses since XBox was launched, they haven't made very much money.
The XBox division lost money last quarter and that's being blamed on weak XBox sales (it's pretty old now) and pathetic phone sales.
Xbox is well respected but from a business point of view, it's tough to call it a huge success. They may have broke even sometime late last year, so the division has a chance of being profitable this year.
This is absolutely true. Nobody I know has ever been contacted by Apple or Google about porting their app, but Microsoft does all the time. They can be pretty persuasive too (offers of free hardware and tools are not uncommon). I have to give them credit for that.
I like the $10 monthly credit idea because it expires. If you don't use it, it's gone and so I think this would encourage people to use it up. Spending $120 / year / handset is nothing for them when you consider they spent $2,000 per handset sold during the WP7 launch.
I think now they have to do something about the slow rate of change on their hardware. The new Samsung phones are pretty spectacular and I think Microsoft needs to be pushing a bit harder on that front.
The quality of the developer tools does matter, but not nearly as much as the quality or size of the end user market.
Your air can run the development tools in either a virtual environment or by dual booting. They are very versatile machines.
You aren't typical. Most people don't simply use a phone for what they 'need'. The devices are fun and amazing and end up becoming very personalized.
I think you are right about this. With consumers, Windows as a brand has negative value. They would have been better off calling it an X-Phone. I know at one point Zune Phone was considered, but they were at least smart enough to avoid that. OTOH, they call their ARM Table OS "Win RT", so they are still clueless when it comes to marketing.
I don't care what the OS is but I do care what apps are available. Microsoft is in the unusual position of having a hard time attracting developers to their platform.
As an occasional mobile developer, I have limited resources and develop for where the people are. If I want an audience willing to pay, I would target iOS (never have so far). If I want a broad audience, Android. There really isn't anything compelling about Windows Phone to me.
Microsoft has billions in the bank and I think they could turn this around if they worked out a deal with the carriers to give customers a $10 credit each month for the app store. They could easily afford it because there just aren't that many Windows Phones out there. If those few owners became big spenders though, that could trigger more development on the platform which in turn might attract more users.