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Microsoft Releases Windows 8 Tablet Ad Highlighting iPad's Flaws, High Price [Updated]

Liquorpuki said:
That's not how I see it. On a Win8 tablet, you have a tablet optimized UI in Metro.
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A tablet optimized UI with limited app support at this point. And you've discouraged developers from adding support by letting them continue to reach their customers with the legacy interface.

If you bring up a productivity software, you switch over to conventional keyboard/mouse inputs and you're good
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You're good? Not if you want to continue to use it as a tablet.

On an iPad, you have a tablet optimized UI in iOS. If you bring up productivity software, you have no choice but to do the best you can with the tablet UI and a BT keyboard
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Or just the tablet UI. Because it's a tablet.

Again, there's nothing wrong with wanting a hybrid experience. It's great for some people/use cases. Personally, I see it as an okay tablet and a poor laptop.

Apple simply chose another philosophy. A laptop is a laptop. And a tablet is a tablet.
 
donnaw said:
Are you kidding?? I'm retired from IT management. I regularly had massive documents prepared for multimillion dollar projects. Those docs consisted of Excel spreadsheets with all the cost/manpower/etc data. I embedded links into a Word doc that explained the entire project. (You must have embedded links so if something changes you don't have to go find the reference in the do and make the change twice), and then there would be a PowerPoint that was used for presentations. Once the project is underway, you add in project data, mock-ups, requirements, etc. all linked back to the spreadsheet so you can determine rest costs.

Doing this takes having at least two windows open at the same time. Otherwise it takes forever and you are open to making mistakes (ie bad links/data). That is a big no-no and can cost you your job.

And this scenario applies to just about every business that does major documentation (financial docs, ect).

All of this can easily be done on any win8 tablet running the full OS.

Your ideas of how the world works and the types of documentation created seems very limited.
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Alright but you're missing the point: Can you do all this standing up with only touchscreen input and not using the keypad, efficiently? Since sitting down implies a table you can just pull out a laptop and work flawlessly.
 
Yet again, a competitor using their rivals device to try and sell their product rather than pitching it to us on its own genuine merits.

In the Mac vs PC ads, Apple was the minnow with the miniscle market share compared to Windows. This time around Microsoft, thanks to Ballmer's ignorance, are playing catchup ... big time.
 
Microsoft is following exactly those steps: first they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win. Gandhi.

Only one step left.
 
Rossatron said:
well, that thing is what? $1000 if you go for the cheap kinda keyboard-cover. for that price i could get a pretty nice MBA :|
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If by "pretty nice" you mean "the cheapest possible one with the lowest possible specs", then we agree completely.

That being said, the 11 inch Air is the nicest netbook on the market. No one else even comes close.
 
Amazing Iceman said:
Bluetooth pairing needs to be done only ONCE, and it's the easiest thing in the world, so for you to say the above, you may be happier with a typewriter.
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Actually using a Bluetooth keyboard with an iOS device is a massive PITA. You need to explicitly go in to settings and enable and disable it every time. It isn't the easiest thing in the world.

spazzcat said:
You can use any dock and just about any BT keyboard. If you are in a hotel, you have a desk, on plane you have table, so could write your report, are you doing it a bus most likely not, but your not going whip out your laptop either...

What a lot people don't seen to realize is there are a lot of people that have ditched your laptop and/or desktop for an iPad. And guess what they can do real work. The fact that Office for the iPad is MS fault. Now, this isn't for everyone, and there will always be people that need a laptop or desktop.
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What do you mean by 'you can use any dock'? Now I need to bring a dock with me, too? And that's on top of the (rather bulky) BT keyboard. Apple's KB is probably the slimmest BT keyboard you can get, but even its battery bulge is like twice the thickness of an iPad.

Compare that solution with the utter ease of having a keyboard built in to the cover.

The case I'm thinking of isn't when sitting on the bus - it's when sitting on the sofa with your feet up. Balancing a dock and keyboard setup on your lap is just awkward, and Microsoft does have a much better answer to that situation (even if their solution isn't really ideal - like I mentioned the screens on tablets are small, the keyboard is small and doesn't have great tactile response).

I love it how people jump on comments and lump them together with other stuff they've heard, without even understanding what you said. I never said you can't do work with an iPad - I said that 'work' on the iPad is different from traditional ideas of what 'work' is. Lots of people refuse to believe that anything that doesn't involve Word is work; what I said is that work like that fundamentally isn't practical on an iPad. There is work you can do with an iPad, but it does not involve much writing of documents.

Having Office on the iPad is irrelevant; it would still suck. Document editing on the iPad is not being held back by software; it's just something the interaction model doesn't deal with very well.
 
When the windows 8 tablet passes the ipad in sales then MS can brag lol.
i would never buy one i played with it in best buy the other day its not that nice
 
Saladinos said:
Actually using a Bluetooth keyboard with an iOS device is a massive PITA. You need to explicitly go in to settings and enable and disable it every time. It isn't the easiest thing in the world.
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That's not true.

The case I'm thinking of isn't when sitting on the bus - it's when sitting on the sofa with your feet up. Balancing a dock and keyboard setup on your lap is just awkward, and Microsoft does have a much better answer to that situation (even if their solution isn't really ideal - like I mentioned the screens on tablets are small, the keyboard is small and doesn't have great tactile response).
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I don't see how the kickstand on a Surface or the TranSleeve Keyboard stand on the ASUS VivoTab Smart would work well on your lap in that situation.

I see the more likely scenario for the iPad, Surface, or ASUS VivoTab Smart when you are sitting on the couch would be to have the keyboard on your lap and the table propped up somewhere.
 
osofast240sx said:
Actually the surface only has about 30 not 64
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Well the ad is not comparing the Surface. My response was to the idea that they were comparing the most expensive iPad to a lesser product. And they are in fact comparing 64mb ASUS to 64mb iPad. Its not a 16mb verses 64mb and nowhere was surface mentioned in this ad. That was all I was saying.
 
FirstNTenderbit said:
Hey bud apologies for misinterpreting your post. My wife says I lack tact and you have emphatically proven her right. You and I were stating the same fact. Again, apologies. Maybe I jumped the gun and started typing before fully grasping what you meant. But help me. Re-read what you wrote:

Originally Posted by bgillander
The article is incorrect in that the Vivotab Smart is not Windows RT

Please keep in mind my aforementioned lack reading skills, but that 'not' before Windows RT means the opposite of what you meant to say. I probably just put my foot in my mouth again. More apologies in advance. Maybe I would have understood better if your quote didn't have that 'not':

"The article is incorrect in that the Vivotab Smart is Windows RT"

Again sorry.
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No problem. I get that the "not" was a bit confusing, but you just stopped reading the quote before the actual point I was trying to make, which was that it didn't include Office (because it wasn't RT.)

the Vivotab Smart is not Windows RT, so it does not include built in Office apps.
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The original article indicated that the Vivotab Smart includes Office built-in, which it doesn't because it is a Windows 8 tablet, and only RT tablets include Office (RT) for free. I wish the Vivotab Smart did include Office 2010, but it only has a 30 day trial version. I can confirm this as a fact, since I have the Vivotab Smart and it is actually quite nice, but Office is not included in the cost.
 
chrismarle said:
Desktop apps on Windows RT? Are you serious? Windows RT can only run apps from the Windows Store.
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LOLZpersonok said:
It's not native but the mere fact that it's possible is cool.

http://www.extremetech.com/computin...al-x86-windows-apps-on-your-windows-rt-tablet
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Perhaps, but the article you linked to claims Intel's Atom will catch up to ARM in energy efficiency and thus be the death of Windows RT (because the chief justification for getting a Windows RT tablet instead of a Windows 8 tablet will be gone, I assume they mean).
 
Winni said:
The guy in charge of Apple Maps (and iOS) was also fired shortly after its disastrous release...
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osofast240sx said:
He was fired because he was disruptive and a first class jerk. No one wanted to work with him.
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[citation needed]

I remember reading on MacRumors that he was fired after he refused to sign the open letter of apology to iOS users for the failings of Maps. I assume he did so because he believed he and his team created the best possible map app that anyone could have produced in the time that was allotted to them.

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^VE1N said:
You just can't compare it to iPad coz surface is a hybrid of a tablet and ultrabook. Apple doesn't do hybrids, only pure products :apple:
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Is an all-in-one computer (e.g., iMac) not a hybrid of a CPU case and a display?

needfx said:
a BIT overdramatic maybe??
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Welcome to the MacRumors forums. If your feelings were hurt, then the "F" in "RTFA" stands for "fine".
 
My only question is, how long does the battery last running a full version of windows? If it only lasts 2 or 3 hours then it should come with a keyboard and be a laptop instead. Large tablets should actually be hybrid laptops anyway. 7" tablets are the only ones that makes sense to drop the physical keyboard. Above 7" there should be keyboard and the screen should be able to flip facing up or down so the it can be used as a tablet or close up like a laptop to protect the screen. In both cases you should be able to set it on a desktop and use the touch screen instead of a mouse and have a full keyboard like a laptop. If done right it wouldn't be much thicker than a 2nd gen iPad.
 
rtomyj said:
Alright but you're missing the point: Can you do all this standing up with only touchscreen input and not using the keypad, efficiently? Since sitting down implies a table you can just pull out a laptop and work flawlessly.
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Back in 2003 I bought my first 'tablet'. It was a HP 1000. I took it to meetings and took handwritten notes (using OneNote). At the end of the meeting I was able to use the software to translate my notes into text and include the screen mock-ups in less that 5 mins and circulate the notes. All with no keyboard or mouse. I certainly can't do that with my iPad now. Nor can I create complicated documents on my iPad. But I can on a Win 8 Pro tablet. And yes, much can be done with just the touch screen. But if I want/need a keyboard or mouse I have that option.

Oh, and another thing I can do is send an email with multiple attachments, just like the complicated project I described. Yeah, I can see it now, first email - "here's the spreadsheet for Project X", second email - "here's the Word doc for Project X", third email - "here's the PowerPoint for Project X", etc. THAT goes over REALLY well with bosses. And never mind having to use multiple apps just to send those emails, or the confusion caused with file names because you can't create a folder for Project X to keep everything together. Heaven forbid you have several projects going at once! Or need to keep them for months/years to refer to.

And the point I was responding to was the statement that the only artists needed to multitask or have more than one window open at a time. All I did was point out that there are many business uses that simply cannot be accomplished without that functionality.
 
donnaw said:
Back in 2003 I bought my first 'tablet'. It was a HP 1000. I took it to meetings and took handwritten notes (using OneNote). At the end of the meeting I was able to use the software to translate my notes into text and include the screen mock-ups in less that 5 mins and circulate the notes. All with no keyboard or mouse. I certainly can't do that with my iPad now. Nor can I create complicated documents on my iPad.
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Why can't you do that on an iPad?
 
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l3it3r said:
Not natively, and even if you do run an x86 emulator/wrapper on the RT, you're going to get poor performance compared to the Pro or x86 tablet equivelents like the one in this ad.
Microsoft will not get any money from me anymore though. Played that game for far too long.
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Regardless, the mere fact that it's possible is still cool.

I haven't had any problems with MS. I only got an iPhone because the Nexus 4 wasn't in stock.

This is one reason I dislike Apple fans. Besides, that's why there's full-out computers for that. Tablets are just meant to be brought around everywhere.
 
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Terrin said:
If I was going to ditch Apple, which I am not, I would go with Windows. Microsoft did a nice job with its OS, and it is not a clone of ios (like Android).
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Would you go for Microsoft because you think their OS is better or because they didn't copy? Android's marketplace, for one, is already huge compared to MS's store.

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BaldiMac said:
Lying Microsoft Advertising
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This is the nonsense I mentioned earlier. Their ad is quite honest, especially compared to other stuff like the thing you put there.
 
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