Microsoft Launches New Anti-iPad Surface 2 Ad Highlighting Kickstand and Multiple Accounts

[vmachiel]

Embarissing.

 

[Smartass]

I actually like Surface, but i dont really have any need for it at the moment...

 

[chameleon81]

Whats next? Multiple accounts on iPhone?

I think a mobile phone is more personal than a tablet. Tablet is more a computer , at least for me.

 

[9000]

I do have to agree. It was cheap or maybe just greedy on Apple's part not to offer expendable storage. A micro SD slot would have been easy to add to the iPad and then a user could pop in a 32GB card if more storage were needed.

I thought that, but someone pointed out that SD card storage is very slow compared to internal storage and could not be used to replace it. And having two separate disks would be a mess.

 

[melendezest]

WRONG.
Given the limited storage (16GB) do you really want to have 2 lots of iTunes music , what about Apps, different users, different iTunes accounts. Who is allowed to use what App, will they have to be duplicated ?

Do you then allow "admin" accounts, but what extra functionality will that give/remove. Does it give you access to remove someone else's music so you can add/delete, if so what other data ( e.g. iWork documents) do you then get access to, be able to delete without their knowledge. What about reminders, alarms, calendars, email, iCloud ? What happens when its password locked ?

Its not as easy as "just add another account", there are a whole pile of considerations that must also be taken into account to make the device still useable and keeping security high

Every problem scenario you point out is worthy of a solution and then implementation. Isn't iOS OSX-lite? Doesn't some Android devices already have this feature? Just copy how they did it or something.

The truth is, this is not a matter of whether or not it can be done. It isn't even about whether or not it should be done.

It is simply easier for Apple to not implement it. They really do not have an incentive to, since the devices are flying off shelves. Let's not lose focus here. Apple is a business.

But the merits of separate user accounts on any computing device speak for themselves, especially one that is positioned to replace a PC for many. Apple doesn't really want that, though, which is why they'd want to keep it as a "personal" device. This forces families to buy more hardware.

 

[knightlie]

First one sucks, second one is pretty good. I actually do have a friend who shares an ipad with his daughter, and daughter took it upon herself to delete all his contacts off icloud, download a whole bunch of apps, and read his email. She was mad she was grounded.

That's an issue with parenting, not the device.

 

[9000]

First, they'll have to convince me to buy a tablet in the first place. It's a pretty obvious strategy to just use my laptop, and it works... multi-user and all (not that I ever care about multi-user).

 

[gnasher729]

That's one part of it. With multiple profiles, you will need to handle push notification a little differently. The OS will need to be smart enough to handle that while you are logged off.

There are a few different use cases. There's the work vs. home case - which actually is solved on the iPad through MDM. There's the husband vs. wife use case - which is solved by buying two iPads, and there are plenty of problems that having two accounts wouldn't solve anyway. And there's the owner vs. guest use case - it would be great if my granddaughter could play games when she visits while I _know_ that she can't mess up things. That would be a nice feature, and you wouldn't care about notifications much, but it's not a feature that would make me be willing to suffer a Surface tablet.

 

[danielowenuk]

Apple's solution to multiple accounts is, as always, beautifully elegant but expensive.... Buy more than 1 device!

 

[knightlie]

I think it's pretty obvious that the Surface "sucks" just by walking by it. Pretty much how I can tell that Whoopi Goldberg would be an awful girlfriend just by walking by her.

It runs Windows 8 - it can't not suck.

Disclaimer: Used Windows 8 for as long as I could stomach it, regularly use Windows Server 2012. They suck.

 

[lamerica80]

Exactly. Nobody shares their smart phone and I cannot think of many people that would share their ebook reader so why would people share their tablets?

You can share an iPad within a family and have parental controls enabled to prevent the kids from doing bad things. Just don't expect to have separated accounts for iTunes and the mail app.

People who use tablets as extensions of their computer/smart phone by using it for creating things and/or email are not likely to be sharing them.

People who use with their kids to play games and casual web surfing are not going to bother setting up email accounts on the tablet so again, separate accounts are not needed in that case either.

The user segment with a desire for multiple accounts on a tablet is an extremely small niche.

I disagree. Its a small niche because apple have decided its a small niche. In reality the pad is becoming more of a computer than a personal device and it happens that sometimes people ask to use your computer for stuff = why you have a guest account or separate account for a family member.

For example, my girlfriend has an ipad and i dont (i will soon though) and sometimes i feel it would be nice to borrow it for casual surfing, however i dont even bother asking since i know shes logged in to all her stuff and its "personal". If she had a guest account on it it wouldnt be an issue.

 

[melendezest]

No it won't. Their model has worked for many years, and will continue to do so. An iDevice is a personal device, I don't believe multiple users are a necessity.

Apple's model worked because Steve Jobs was at the helm, steering the ship in the right direction. We'll see what happens in his absence (it's too soon to tell).

"An iDevice is a personal device." Not in my house. I have a family of 6 and everyone uses my iPad. Multiple user accounts are not a "necessity", but it would make life a lot easier if they were there. It would also mean less iPads at the house; I'm sure Apple doesn't want that (obviously).

 

[rctlr]

Multiple accounts. The winning feature for me. iOS should have had support for them ages ago. (And on screen multitasking).

There's a solution to that on iOS - buy more ipads.
(just bought 3 more for the children, making 7 iOS devices in the house now, as well as Macs)
They are personal devices, in my opinion. I dont like it when people move my icons about on my ipad.
You invest a lot of time on the device, and so it becomes an extension of you.
My precioussssss.

 

[Zodiac.mj]

What stupid idea is to tell people to but more devices? Not everyone wants to waste their money on something I will use 3-5 times a week.

Those commercials get it right, Apple sucks when it comes to iOS 7 accounts. It's a shame.

 

[firsttube]

When I'm cooking with ipad, I usually use my (clean) knuckle to do whatever i might need to, to interact with the iPad. I'd rather actually use my knuckle than some weird whole-hand handsfree mode that I saw in the first ad.

 

[wilhoitm]

Mine!

All we need is little kids saying "Mine!, Mine!"

And then throwing a temper tantrum when you take the Surface tablet away from them to check your e-mail!

The production quality of these two commercials is horrible! How much Money does Microsoft have for advertising these days?

Were these commercials made using Microsoft Movie Maker? LOL!

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-live/movie-maker#t1=overview

Mine!

 

[9000]

Apple does have multiple accounts... on a Mac. Remember, iPad has always been the post-PC era gadget. If you want multiple accounts, Apple wants you to buy a Mac. The iPad has always been promoted as for the individual, also, as a parent, I wouldn't trust my kids with my iPad. People tend to upgrade so the old one goes to the kids or significant other, the new one to the purchaser.

There's no post-PC era until I can jailbreak an iPad with an iPad.

Even on a laptop, do people really regularly use multiple user accounts? The laptop (and especially iPad) will have the problem of user A not having it when user B has it.

 

[ds2000]

Keeping an open mind, I'm keen to try a surface 2. The iPad is limiting for me, so once I can order my new MacPro I think a Surface 2 or MacBook Air will be the perfect companions for my needs.

Competition is a good thing, these ads are silly however. Multiple accounts is very handy, more than one dropbox per device..... perfect

 

[Swordylove]

I really hope Apple will not ever cave in to this obnoxious trend of making anti-(competitor product) ads.

 

[9000]

Apple will implement it on all iOS devices as soon as the iPad gets Touch ID. It's one of those areas in which we may have to wait a bit longer than users of certain competing platforms, but the solution will be quite elegant once it arrives.

No reason why it wouldn't work with a passcode. It could ask for a password for the last used account and give you the option of trying to log into a different account. Or, like the fingerprint, one unique password per account, and you don't even choose your username.

But multi-user on an iPad sounds like overkill :/
One user with some "guest" modes for others to use might be more suitable. Chances are that you'd want many things shared between both users, like music.

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I really hope Apple will not ever cave in to this obnoxious trend of making anti-(competitor product) ads.

They already did it... a lot. But they usually did it a lot better.

 

[wilhoitm]

What stupid idea is to tell people to but more devices? Not everyone wants to waste their money on something I will use 3-5 times a week.

Those commercials get it right, Apple sucks when it comes to iOS 7 accounts. It's a shame.

I'd like to see a Surface tablet with 3 accounts on it! I bet it comes to a grinding halt! Remember, Microsoft does not care if their tablets are usable, they are just trying to sell tablets! Microsoft lost a lot of credibility with Windows 7 and they are still paying for it now! Also, Microsoft has had a really rocky start with usability and the Dr. Jekll / Mr. Hyde nature of Windows 8! That is not Apple's fault!

 

[9000]

I think a mobile phone is more personal than a tablet. Tablet is more a computer , at least for me.

But what about a phablet?

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I'd like to see a Surface tablet with 3 accounts on it! I bet it comes to a grinding halt! Remember, Microsoft does not care if their tablets are usable, they are just trying to sell tablets! Microsoft lost a lot of credibility with Windows 7 and they are still paying for it now! Also, Microsoft has had a really rocky start with usability and the Dr. Jekll / Mr. Hyde nature of Windows 8! That is not Apple's fault!

But fortunately, the OS installation only needs to take up its 30GB once no matter how many users you have.

 

[wilhoitm]

Where is Microsoft Office unlimited license shared friends and family edition?

Oh, and kids can use it too! And it is free too right Microsoft?

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But what about a phablet?

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But fortunately, the OS installation only needs to take up its 30GB once no matter how many users you have.

And it is a life saver that 20GB of that 30GB is for the virus checker!

 

[Calle68]

Infinite

The MS Ad ends showing Infinite Blade III on the Apple Store. Curious way of closing with a crescendo ....

 

[peterdevries]

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

Love The Big Lebowski..

Using your finger is a lot less precise for things like this, and since your finger blocks out the part of the screen you select, you can't tell if you hit the right spot until after you've moved it away.

This sounds like an issue that could and should be solved in the software and not by adding additional hardware. I think Apple's method is actually very good with the magnifying glass, and it solves the finger blocking the content issue quite elegantly.

The Windows way is much less intuitive with the jumping cursor. I used a windows phone for work shortly and it was a horrible system to work with.