It's pretty myopic to assert that all you need a tablet for is media consumption, thus why a full OS? Sure 80% of the market only need a stripped-down tablet OS like what the iPad gives them. But for that other 20%, the Surface becomes a viable option. The key thing will be for Microsoft to improve the Surface RT to a point where it can compete with the iPad head on. Considering it's 720p display and limited app selection, def not for at least a year.
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Microsoft Announces New 'Surface' Tablet, New Hardware and Software Based on Windows 8
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I'll give you that Apple is consistently better at marketing than their competitors, but when did Apple 'truly invent' something original? It wasn't the MP3 player, the smartphone, the tablet nor the provocative TV commercial. I'll also give you that Apple consistently releases more 'refined' or 'polished' products compared to their competitors and that typically means someone else (including MS) tested those waters first and Apple took note of what worked, what didn't and what they think they could improve upon.
Lethal
Apple had the luxury of completely starting over in 1997. Microsoft has had to juggle their gigantic legacy business while also trying to be innovative, a far harder task. They look like they are just about to pull it off too.
And I love my Surface that can run Internet Explorer to bring me a full web experience.
Oh wait......
"As soon as he says, We can see here, Im running Internet Explorer. I can browse smoothly, the tablet freezes, and hes forced to finish his presentation with a bricked Surface in his hand."
http://betabeat.com/2012/06/watch-microsofts-surface-tablet-freeze-in-the-middle-of-a-presentation/
And you gotta love the last line, "At least there was no blue screen of death?"
Wow, that was "like taking candy from a baby." Thanks!
You probably should have read the posts first because you regurgitated the same nonsense the other apple lovers said. In a nutshell, when apple does something it's amazing and any competing product is ****. Props to you for taking the nonsense a step beyond. Apparently now innovation only applies when Apple copies something and improves it. Here are the cliffs notes:
Xerox invents GUI: not innovative
Apple copies and improves GUI: innovative
MS copies iPad concept and adds improvements: not innovative
Makes perfect sense...
Beta software running on prototype hardware. I can fault them for being so heady to assume absolutely nothing would go wrong during the presentation, but comeon...
Oh. Wait. It's you.
Where you been, man?
Ah yes because one freeze means that Windows 8 = crap and Surface = Crap. Guess what, the rest of the entire presentation not a single freeze or crash. Are you telling me that Macs never freeze?
And no one else, not even Apple, has had something go wrong during a demo. Please...
At least MS is consistent, the "Copy Cat Kings" are "par for the course," AGAIN!
And at least Ballmer is somewhat backing his two years in the works, "Coming Full Guns" proclamation. But it seems in this case it's more like "Coming Full Water Guns." LOL!
It's bizzaro world. On one side you have Apple, first to ditch the floppy and arguably the most aggressive PC maker to ditch physical media; on the other, Microsoft, purported supporter of physical media. Yet, somehow as it currently stands, Mountain Lion is going to include native DVD support, while Windows 8 is not only going to continue to fail to provide native Blu-Ray support but is also dumping built-in support of DVD.
I think his point is that he can't remember Steve Jobs ever getting a kernel panic on stage.
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Xerox's GUI, pre-dating the Mac and the Lisa.
Here are the MPMan and the Diamond Rio, MP3 players released in 1997 and 1998.
The 1993 IBM Simon Smartphone and the LG Prada, unveiled in 2006 and released early 2007, before the iPhone.
The...
Nevermind.
And I love my iPhone 4, which gives me a smooth, stable Wi-Fi connection.
And my Mac's operating system, which would never lock up in the middle of a presentation, forcing me to switch to a backup machine.
As I said in an earlier post, if you want to judge the product, judge it when it is released, not based on a stuff up in a presentation. Do you think OS X and the iPhone 4 are awful products for stuffing up in Apple presentations?
Except that picture is very misleading. "Tablet PC" was a completely different animal from iPad. iPad did create the modern capacitative tablet market driven by mobile OS with "ecosystem" optimized for ARM and other low power CPUs, which is exactly what Surface WinRT is. WinRT tablets have little in common with the older Windows tablets with stylus except in the name "Windows" only.
This is no different from saying Windows Mobile and Palm had touchscreen devices before iPhone, similar on paper, but very different implementation.
You guys so annoying with who invented what. Apple and Microsoft are 2 big corporations that will rip each other off to death. The only thing that matter for them is that they get your money. Apple is now winning at it and Microsoft is trying hard to get back on track.
@Linux2Mac; your arguments sound like a 12 years old. If explorer don't suit you, just install Firefox or Safari. The tablet run a full OS, you can actually install Safari on it.
Good specs and good price, there's no denying that. The surface will please a lot of advanced users who want something else than a media player. I myself cannot wait to see how Adobe softwares runs on it.
@Linux2Mac; your arguments sound like a 12 years old. If explorer don't suit you, just install Firefox or Safari. The tablet run a full OS, you can actually install Safari on it.
Good specs and good price, there's no denying that. The surface will please a lot of advanced users who want something else than a media player. I myself cannot wait to see how Adobe softwares runs on it.
What are you talking about? The big difference was that Xerox wasn't going to release their GUI technology to the public PERIOD. Xerox's administrators thought their GUI technology was crap. So Xerox just basically gave it away to Jobs and Apple upon Jobs request. Like I said, then Apple improved the GUI technology a bit and it was APPLE NOT XEROX that introduced the GUI technology to world. Thanks to APPLE we now have icons base and mouse clicking operating systems over the last 30 years.
Please know your computer history before you spew off.
What COPYSOFT did Monday they basically just copied Apple BUT they added a few of their own things like putting a few I/O ports on the tablet. It's the same thing that they did 30 years ago with their Windows.
VaporMg - copying
Integrated kickstand - copying
The magnetic cover/keyboard - copying
Windows 8 - copying
Metro design language - copying
riiiiiiiiiiight.
Yeah, because the iPad was so innovative. They took an iPod Touch, and made it bigger, amazing!
Microsoft has taken a laptop and made it smaller with the Surface Pro. I fail to see what's "copied" about that.
Here's the thing.
Windows is great for business's, big enterprise, and R&D ( which is what I do, the company I work for runs some pretty crazy simulation software, I've said this so many times, but my Workstation is worth almost 20K, good thing I didn't pay for it! ), OSX would literally crash and burn with this software ( it can only read 96gb of ram, not enough for us ). Its super great for power users to, and gamers.
OSX is great and all, but it fails to really appeal to a huge amount of the market, which is why its a very small OS, marketsharewise. Maybe one day it will get bigger, but as far as 10.7 goes, I can say its a huge downgrade for me from 10.5, it just feels like its a mess.
Maybe some people made the mistake of buying the wrong version, but those versions with less features cost less, to well. Give buyers choice and save them money, if they don't need features. Microsoft doesn't do the same one size fits all thing Apple does. Grandma doesn't really need the same features that Westinghouse Nuclear does lol.
By really old, XP is still used by a TON of people, it might not be as shiny and refined as OSX or Windows 7/8. But its still VERY useful for a huge amount of users. Why don't they upgrade? Because it works.
That's one of the reasons I love windows, I know that software I buy for Windows 7 will be supported FAR intro the future. Hell, I would guess a solid 80% of new windows programs still run on XP just fine. Hell, I can still run software I bought in 1995 on Windows XP no problem, hell. Most DOS programs still run on XP/Vista/7. Thats what I call a ton of ' apps ' lol.
While painful for a consumer, its very EXPENSIVE for business's. One of the reasons they kept supporting NT/2000/ME/ and now XP for so long is that because so many people use it, they keep it updated.
They still have the option to upgrade to 7 whenever they want, but the great thing about windows is, and what I think keeps so many people and business's coming back to it, is that if you upgrade to say, Windows 7. There is a VERY good chance that all your software as well as your OS will be supported for 10+ years. Which saves a ton of money as opposed to Apples " Upgrade every 2 years or **** you " policy.
Different strokes for different folks.
I just find it totally insane that a 2006 Intel Mac is mostly useless today for newer software.
Kind of makes me sad, my new iMac might very well be the last Mac I ever buy, I refuse to spend 3K on a toy ( well toy for me anyway ) computer, or ANY computer for that matter. And have it be useless in a few years.
Rather than watch the entire thing, can you just give me the time in the video when the kernel panic occurs? I'm guessing you are not referring to the issue resulting from the limitations of 802.11n (which can hardly be considered a bug).
Okay, computer history aside, I'm not even gonna talk about that. Instead, I'm going to attack your argument directly.
Lets say Genius Baker makes a recipe for some of the best tasting cookies anyone has ever tasted. He isn't big on marketing. Could care less about it really. So he doesn't have any problem handing off the recipe to someone willing to do something with it.
Enter Apple Baking Company. They take the idea, remove some of the unnecessary ingredients, add raisins, and release it to the world. Since you happen to like Apple Baking Company. Shine on you crazy innovators of the cookie world!
Then Micro Baking Standards comes in. Tastes these cookies, likes them, and wants to make some of their own. They take the basics, throw in some oatmeal, brown sugar, and release it to the world.
...THOSE BASTARDS JUST TOOK WHAT APPLE BAKING DID AND ADDED OATMEAL AND BROWN SUGAR TO THE MIX! THEY'RE RIPPING THEM OFF!
How does your argument make sense? You're giving one company a pass and blasting another for DOING THE SAME THING!
Why are you even picking nits? Crap happens with beta software on prototype hardware. Doesn't look good for MS, no. But since the final product won't have hugely severe issues (well, I hope not), it doesn't really matter in the long run.
Other than going "olol company I hate cuz I buy stuff from other company can't make good stuff cuz stuff mess up" anyway. Guess you win an internet.
Where did you get this? There are reports that there is no LTE version and the Pro pricing seems VERY low from what I would expect. Those prices seem too good to be true, but definitely possible in 4 months time I guess.
See cliffs notes here:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15099444/
Shall I add another note that says "when apple copies, its called innovation"?
Why do you think MS copied Apple? Because it's a touch screen tablet?
If that's the case, is every vehicle a Ford copycat? Is every game console a Magnavox Odyssey copy cat? Did Apple copy Microsoft by switching to Intel processors? Is the iPhone a Palm copy cat?
Your definition of "copy" is pretty weak given the huge differences between the iPad and Surface.
Yeah, the iPad made a whole new category of computing, what's so innovative about that?
You nor anybody else (outside of Microsoft) haven't seen the Surface Pro working. So don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
Hell, we even don't know the price or the battery life for those things yet.