No time to read all 15 pages here, except to say seeing this reminded me in so many ways of Richard Branson "announcing" Virgin Galactic flights almost a decade ago.
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Microsoft's Prototype Multi-Touch Tablet/Booklet
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Ok i think you all need to cut MS a little slack here.
Whilst the mockup is just that an animation, the article states that it's in an advanced state of prototyping.
What that means is that as far as you trust a rumour, the thing exists in a lab.
Conversely all we have from the other side is a rumour that a tablet with a 9" screen might turn up early next year. No idea what it might finally look like. You just have pure faith that el jobso will build perfection (note. he doesn't always succeed).
In other words this is all vaporware until they appear, but slagging MS as being incapable of building it and just putting out FUD to disrupt the Apple 2nd Coming Tablet that's been promised by the prophet SJ. is a bit disingenuous .
I'll give them the benefit of doubt until at least one of these fabled beasts is delivered. From that moment the other will be ridiculed for the rest of it's pathetic existence.
M.
Whilst the mockup is just that an animation, the article states that it's in an advanced state of prototyping.
What that means is that as far as you trust a rumour, the thing exists in a lab.
Conversely all we have from the other side is a rumour that a tablet with a 9" screen might turn up early next year. No idea what it might finally look like. You just have pure faith that el jobso will build perfection (note. he doesn't always succeed).
In other words this is all vaporware until they appear, but slagging MS as being incapable of building it and just putting out FUD to disrupt the Apple 2nd Coming Tablet that's been promised by the prophet SJ. is a bit disingenuous .
I'll give them the benefit of doubt until at least one of these fabled beasts is delivered. From that moment the other will be ridiculed for the rest of it's pathetic existence.
M.
May be here sooner then you think...
This may be a concept, but its roots are in a real device
have a look at the video here
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/23/codex-and-inkseine-the-roots-of-microsofts-courier/
This may be a concept, but its roots are in a real device
have a look at the video here
http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/23/codex-and-inkseine-the-roots-of-microsofts-courier/
So MS release an animation and apple release controlled leaks to titillate the masses about their next release. Same thing in the end.
The joke might be that it actually comes out before an apple 'version'. MS would probably give a choice of ownership/business model too. Apple will probably go for whatever model shafts the customer the most.
I'm prepared to pay premium for quality - but lets not kid ourselves that Apple don't bend us over an pull down our pants on a regular basis.
If this device came out I'd consider it - it would be great for reading without scalding your legs.
There are some impressive things in the video, a possible device with a great deal of potential, but it strikes me as a well-produced demo of concepts that haven't actually been fleshed out yet. It gets the "what's possible" right while glossing over the "how you'd do it." The "how" of the gesture interface apparently hasn't been thought through yet. When you start to think about how many other instructions you'd need to input with gestures, the gestures shown quit seeming intuitive or natural.
Why does flicking a name from the address book to the map show their location (as opposed to letting you set their location) while flicking a name from the address book to a notebook invites them to share that notebook (as opposed to adding their info to the page)?
Why does flicking the map down open the journal, and not some other app or some other direction?
Is pinching a good gesture for closing an app? She didn't open an app with a spread gesture.
It just doesn't seem well thought out. My assumption is it's because they aren't at that stage yet (though it seems silly to invest so much energy in such a polished concept demo rather than actual development.) If it has been thought through and those are their decisions about a gesture-based interface, I don't think it's going to be a very intuitive device in actual use.
Hilarious
waaaaahhhhh haaa haaa haaa
I wouldn't hold your breath on this, folks...they can't put this out until they've had a couple of months to copy the Apple tablet.
And all you trumpeting the Zune-have you been to the store? Have you seen the "Zune points?" Have you seen their software that supposed to perform like iTunes? It's a JOKE.
Hilarious. I'd look for this in about 3 years.
waaaaahhhhh haaa haaa haaa
I wouldn't hold your breath on this, folks...they can't put this out until they've had a couple of months to copy the Apple tablet.
And all you trumpeting the Zune-have you been to the store? Have you seen the "Zune points?" Have you seen their software that supposed to perform like iTunes? It's a JOKE.
Hilarious. I'd look for this in about 3 years.
AWESOME device
If this actually gets made I'm going to buy one. I'm an apple fanboy (love and own most of their products). But I also can see good ideas. This is perfect for students and business!
If this actually gets made I'm going to buy one. I'm an apple fanboy (love and own most of their products). But I also can see good ideas. This is perfect for students and business!
Sure it looks good, but is it efficient!!??
This does look very cool and everything, I don't deny. It looks very neat and there seem to be some cool UI bits and pieces.
However, you have to ask yourself: two screens? Instantly you've got a large extra technical difficulty and expense, and for what benefit? Keeping the work on the screen organised? Isn't software supposed to do that, not hardware? Also, with screens like that it would be a pity not to watch films on it, but then you don't want a big black bar down the centre, but then, you can't really prop it up on its end and just use one. As for audio, it's too big to listen to music from it on the go really, but then, as it's for portability, you'd want it for when you're on the go, but then you'd need an mp3 player as well, so you wouldn't need it for music.
Maybe there's potential for games, but again, you can't just whip it out on the bus, and again the bar down the middle suggests casual gameplay only.
So if we rule out most common multi-media applications, what are you left with? Basically, just a less stiff, more heavy, and much more expensive clipboard... which doubles as a personal organiser. And web browser, and it would be good to use as a web browser, I admit. But, isn't that what netbooks are for?
I don't know if I really see the market for this. Certainly is high-end, though, and that's probably somewhere MS would like to move into very much.
Also I wonder about the keyboard omission. I think that's the main problem addressing mid-range devices.
Still, it will be very interesting to see where this goes. I agree with those who've said Microsoft seems to have pulled its socks up. Win7 aeons better than its predecessors, Zune HD not too shabby, this... If only Steve Ballmer weren't such a jerk...
This does look very cool and everything, I don't deny. It looks very neat and there seem to be some cool UI bits and pieces.
However, you have to ask yourself: two screens? Instantly you've got a large extra technical difficulty and expense, and for what benefit? Keeping the work on the screen organised? Isn't software supposed to do that, not hardware? Also, with screens like that it would be a pity not to watch films on it, but then you don't want a big black bar down the centre, but then, you can't really prop it up on its end and just use one. As for audio, it's too big to listen to music from it on the go really, but then, as it's for portability, you'd want it for when you're on the go, but then you'd need an mp3 player as well, so you wouldn't need it for music.
Maybe there's potential for games, but again, you can't just whip it out on the bus, and again the bar down the middle suggests casual gameplay only.
So if we rule out most common multi-media applications, what are you left with? Basically, just a less stiff, more heavy, and much more expensive clipboard... which doubles as a personal organiser. And web browser, and it would be good to use as a web browser, I admit. But, isn't that what netbooks are for?
I don't know if I really see the market for this. Certainly is high-end, though, and that's probably somewhere MS would like to move into very much.
Also I wonder about the keyboard omission. I think that's the main problem addressing mid-range devices.
Still, it will be very interesting to see where this goes. I agree with those who've said Microsoft seems to have pulled its socks up. Win7 aeons better than its predecessors, Zune HD not too shabby, this... If only Steve Ballmer weren't such a jerk...
Not practical.... why make it look like a book? Just make a slick tablet with a laser virtual keyboard and pen. 10 and 13 inch models. Running a real OS with min-DVI out 3 USB ports and a mag power connector. Express 34 slot would be a bonus for peripherals. Its simple, why are they not doing this already... there's the modbook which has a lot of these features already... except laser virtual keyboard...
It is only a render based on something that have been discussed for years.
There is nothing new about it, probably they do not even have a team to create the first prototype yet.
What ever Microsoft does it will be after Apple sells theirs. THEN MS will release their own "superior Ballmer" model.
Do you seriously think that there would be an expresscard slot in an Apple version of this? And three (3!) USB slots!?
Are you nuts?
You'd be lucky if there's a single dock connector to be used for anything besides syncing with iTunes.
The laser keyboard is ridiculous. You'd be better of having an on-screen keyboard. I know, a laser keyboard looks cool on tv, but that's about it.
I'm not so sure I like the dual-screen approach (although I said the same thing about the Nintendo DS at first), but one cool thing you could do that was not shown in the video would be to have one screen have a flip-out stand on the back, you prop up the screen and then rotate 90° to use as a laptop, with the lower (flat) screen being used as a large virtual keyboard plus gesture/touch pad which would not obstruct your content on the top (angled) screen.
Apple has had tablets in their labs for years and Jobs hasn't felt they've evolved the design to maturity. MS, from what I suspect, is on their first interation of design, and what is it: two over-sized iPhones glued edge to edge. That's why it looks so yummy at first glance.
I was saying there's a difference between anecdotal evidence and statistical. I cited an anecdotal incident that is backed up by statistics. The XBox 360 hardware has an inordinately high hardware failure rate. The MacBooks do not. Those facts are backed up by statistics.
well all i've got to say is that apple needs to get their tablet out before microsoft does. this will give apple a great advantage to start off with, and could really hurt microsoft if their product doesn't compare
I'm not so sure they need to rush. There were a lot of MP3 players out there before the iPod, and a lot of mobile phones ("smart" or otherwise) before the iPhone. If Apple does it right, I don't think MS is going to corner the market on tablets before Apple gets one out.
Plus, I tend to think Apple is probably a lot closer to actual production on their tablet than MS is on this design, they just keep everything top secret. I'll bet a lot that whatever MS puts out is not going to be what's seen in this video (which is all just After Effects concepts that don't address actual engineering issues), and I doubt it's right around the corner either. We know Apple has been researching and prototyping this stuff for years, so whatever they produce will likely be a mature, well thought out design. Apple's way has been to think everything out and put out a product when it's ready instead of rushing something to market, and I think it'll be the same case here.
MS loves prototypes. Just like the car industry.
Fantastic/futuristic prototypes very seldom make it to market retaining their cool, though.
"Real artists ship" - Steve Jobs
Also very interesting "Why Apple doesn’t do “Concept Products”
Fantastic/futuristic prototypes very seldom make it to market retaining their cool, though.
"Real artists ship" - Steve Jobs
Also very interesting "Why Apple doesn’t do “Concept Products”
First iteration ??
MS has had tablets for sale for almost a decade. In hardened forms, they're quite popular both the military and with enterprise field applications.
More recently, MS tried to push smaller tablets, the so-called Origami versions.
The problem with tablets is that, unless they have customized software, they don't really fit anyone's lifestyle. I don't care if they're Win7 or OSX.
That's why everyone's been working on more user-friendly application concepts such as in the video.
I have to agree. The concept seems pretty decent, and I really feel that it would be hard to beat if it was delivered the right way. THIS is something that I was hoping that Apple would do: Completely in left field when it comes to other traditional tablets.
One another note, I want to see something like this within the next few Q's, and BEFORE Apple's suspected tablet. That would mean something.