Ballmer: Microsoft-Powered Tablets Are 'Job One Urgency'

[wreckshop]

As a owner of a Zune HD, Microsoft can make some seriously solid products. Problem is there is a stink in the air that has made everyone believe [a lot of this comes from Vista I think] Microsoft sucks and can never make anything good.

Agree MS makes very nice products but fails because really, its all about timing. The orginal xbox was superior to the Playstation 2, but it came out at the wrong time. xbox 360 is a success because MS had a good product and launched at the beginning when the generation reset. Windows Phone 7 will probably be a great product too, but will fail because android and iOS are just too entrenched now.

The slate market is young. MS has a really good opportunity to leverage the windows platform advantages and be successful IMO, and this is coming from a person who doesnt even like MS. Imagine a thin fast slate that you can actually open create and edit office documents... that alone will make a windows powered slate the choice for businesses.

 

[Kid Red]

This is awesome, it's destined to FAIL. The HP SLate failed because it ran windows and not a stream lined OS. So Microsoft is rushing more failures to market. I love it.

 

[PerfSeeker]

This is awesome, it's destined to FAIL. The HP SLate failed because it ran windows and not a stream lined OS. So Microsoft is rushing more failures to market. I love it.

How do you know what they're rushing or not rushing to market? Also why would you want MSFT to fail? Isn't more competition good?

 

[iEdd]

The best thing for Apple users is if this thing sells enough to give Apple motivation to compete with it, but it still sells pretty low so that Apple have plenty of profit for R&D.

 

[userexec]

I hope they at least get the marketing right on this. I was just thinking about Windows 7 thanks to this thread and realized that I can only -remember- seeing one advertisement for it, and that was just because i nearly hit it with my cart at Sam's.

Basically, I made it through their whole launch without ever learning about why it doesn't suck as much as I may think. And then I got tired of XP and switched to Apple. Heck, I have a dual 3.2 Xeon tower with 8GB that hasn't been turned on in over six months, and I'm happily using an iBook G4.

Really, is there anything interesting whatsoever about 7? After using it briefly a couple of times, the most glowing feature I can asssume is there is that it makes the computer AS functional as it was when XP released (you know, before it slowly rotted for nearly a decade). That ("Get back what you had in 2001!") is just not enough to convince me to buy. Yet I've heard it's pretty good, even on here.

Either way, I'll buy Apple based on them telling me why their new products are awesome (because I already trust that they'll work great). MS, on the other hand, is going to have to explain both that their new products actually function, and are awesome. And by function, I don't mean to the standard that XP "functioned"; more like how NT was rock solid.

 

[cmaier]

Tablet PC is nothing new to Microsoft. They have develop on this idea for quite sometimes already. They started this idea when Apple not even come out with iPhone. Unfortunately, Apple make this idea famous. Too bad isn't it?

I owned 2 tablet PCs. Not at all the same thing.

 

[thedoctor9]

Apple hardware and software being NOT ovepriced is something only the real computing idiots believe.

For a $1600 Macbook with dated Nvidia graphics and an equally dated C2D, i can plonk down $1400 and get a 16" Acer with an i5 processor and an ATI Radeon 5650 which kicks the Macbook all the way to the ******** of performance.

And for the **** they call the iMac, i can build a much more powerful alternative with BLU-RAY, USB 3.0 AND SATA3, Biostar motherboards, Palit graphics cards and an AMD Athlon II at only about 75% of the robbing price the iMac is sold for.

WOW, great specs, really powerful. I bet, not an all-in-one pc. Still, not the same thing.

 

[thedoctor9]

throw in powerful hardware, and even a blob of an OS chugs like the Millennium Falcon on light speed.

But who's going to fly it kid... you? -Han Solo

 

[supmango]

who cares about the OS?

Pretty much everyone on this forum.

 

[supmango]

Apple hardware and software being NOT ovepriced is something only the real computing idiots believe.

For a $1600 Macbook with dated Nvidia graphics and an equally dated C2D, i can plonk down $1400 and get a 16" Acer with an i5 processor and an ATI Radeon 5650 which kicks the Macbook all the way to the ******** of performance.

And for the **** they call the iMac, i can build a much more powerful alternative with BLU-RAY, USB 3.0 AND SATA3, Biostar motherboards, Palit graphics cards and an AMD Athlon II at only about 75% of the robbing price the iMac is sold for.

Based on my (relatively old) experience with Acer laptops, I bet you can toast a bagel on it when you do anything remotely processor intensive. Not to mention I am sure when the fan is running you can use it as a noise curtain.

 

[Bytor65]

Please don't quote the trolls folks. It ruins the effectiveness of the ignore filter. The last 5 posts all fell for the same troll...

 

[Ubuntu]

Do they run Snow Leopard?

While that's a good question to ask I'd argue its not the same in this case. While the Slate will have a complicated OS, the iPad has an OS that is too basic, imo.

We just need a contender to meet both companies half way!

 

[chatin]

Microsoft should scrap their current OS and go with something open source and virus-free. Viruses are presumably much harder to take off tablets.

Ballmer would say that royalties are due on tablet software. Just make it right the first time because this is one market that has no second chances.

 

[Zepaw]

If you gave me an iPad with Windows OS on it I would throw the damn thing out. You can't just act like the OS is one size fit all.

 

[Becko]

A slate with Window's OS will be very stressing to use ... iPad for me please !

 

[Jinorasa]

I owned 2 tablet PCs. Not at all the same thing.

Exactly, if Apple do it in the same way, iPad won't be so famous.

 

[meatballs]

Which device is best will be determined by "fanboi logic" i.e number of sales.

 

[sparks9]

Microsoft will rush it and fail.

 

[soldierblue]

How can buy 'innovation' from someone says who's wearing a v-neck sweater and pleated pants?

So then, sow can you expect innovation from someone who's been wearing black turtle necks and stone-washed jeans for the last 15 years?

So ridiculously irrelevant.

Steve Ballmer could piss the cure for cancer and poop fried chicken and you'd all still hate him.

 

[LagunaSol]

Steve Ballmer could piss the cure for cancer and poop fried chicken and you'd all still hate him.

Let's see him do something even remotely as interesting as either of those and then we'll talk, hmm?

 

[Groovetube]

Let's see him do something even remotely as interesting as either of those and then we'll talk, hmm?

lol.

unfortunately for microsoft, with ballmer at the helm, they lack any vision, strategy, or any real capability to properly launch anything. That last failed cellphone thing what was it called, Kin or something? microsoft's only hope is a change in the guard, some kind of shakeup. The funny part is, it is well within their grasp to put something out that grabs huge marketshare, but not with ballmer at the top. He's a complete fool. Monkeyboy, they call him...

 

[Carniphage]

Steve Ballmer could piss the cure for cancer and poop fried chicken and you'd all still hate him.

I am not sure I would automatically be impressed by someone who could perform the fried chicken thing. I would not line up to eat that chicken.

But you are right that Microsoft is not seen as a cool brand.

But that isn't just the fault of the media.

Microsoft owns a set of brands which send out confusing messages. Why brand a phone with Windows for goodness sake?

MS has successful brands which it has failed to develop. MSN Messenger is the most successful IM client in Europe. It gets called MSN. So MS renames it Windows Live Messenger. Why Windows? Why not develop Messenger as the brand. Or Hotmail? Zune and Xbox are more brands that are not being exploited.

Pushing every product under the Windows umbrella reflects a lack of confidence. They need to be bolder. They need to create successful differentiated brands.

Office - for professional productivity
Hot - for messaging and email
X - for gaming
Zune - for media. and so on.

C.