Nah, it would be dissed for having to actually hand-write a URL address, for lacking a bevel to prevent arms and wrists from scraping against it, and the edges of a table, for having no virtual keyboard, as stylus input would be too slow and inefficient on a continuous basis, the gap between screens makes video, large documents, e-books, and web browsing cumbersome, and the cut & paste implementation seems unrealistic. Other than that, this thing has great potential.
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Microsoft's Prototype Multi-Touch Tablet/Booklet
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Very off topic, but I have to ask:
Before this post, it showed me 19 pages, but it defaults to page 18 to me. Is it because a post is deleted and it therefore reverts to page 18?
Edit: Even after this post, it goes "back" to page 18.
Before this post, it showed me 19 pages, but it defaults to page 18 to me. Is it because a post is deleted and it therefore reverts to page 18?
Edit: Even after this post, it goes "back" to page 18.
This tends to happen occasionally when posts approach the threshold of a page advance, or if someone deletes a post responsible for advancing the page. You can go into User CP (Control Panel) and in "Thread Display Options"/"Number of Posts to Show per Page" select "Show 40 Posts Per Page." This way, you'll have fewer pages to deal with.
Probably.
This is because when apple release a product - its usually been designed to make it easy to use.
Its a matter of trust, faith if you will, that there is substance to match the style and the usability issues have been thought through.
We wouldn't have been cheering Vista just because someone stuck an apple on it.
The badge is the last thing to be added, and it has to be earned.
MS tablets already have a virtual keyboard, so this should too. Just not as cool to show it.
The same size arguments could be (and were) made against the iPhone. If it's meant mostly for business, then video is not a high priority. Not every device has to be used for everything.
I do think someone had a good idea: take two iPod touchs (or one iPhone and one touch) and put them together like that in a leather case. Then write software to allow menu/display sharing between them. Of course, they'd have to be jailbroken to do it.
Microsoft previously showed a working setup like that, using two OQO mini-tablets, called the Codex:
The split screen idea is just odd.
You get all the weight, bulk and power issues as a 14" device, but only half the screen size.
As a business user I would find it frustrating when showing keynote (powerpoint) presentations to colleagues.
You can only look at one screen at a time, half your power will be wasted.
You get all the weight, bulk and power issues as a 14" device, but only half the screen size.
As a business user I would find it frustrating when showing keynote (powerpoint) presentations to colleagues.
You can only look at one screen at a time, half your power will be wasted.
Yes, but when folded, it's half the width, easier to carry. Depending on how it folds, it could used as a display easel, or flipped to be half keys / half display.
It's not a new idea...
OLPC project:
Italian Canova concept from 2004:
ASUS reader, supposed to be on sale by Christmas.
It does have some good possibilities, the virtual keyboard especially
It would suit some modes of working more than others.
I am just wondering how often I would need to look at 2 different screens for any length of time.
Expose is great solution to multi windows, and it has the bonus of using the maximum screen space for the window you are working on.
It will hang or fall on the GUI, if its as comfortably resmonsive as the iphone it could do well.
I am more excited about the iPad though - maximum use of the form and just big enough to slip into a pocket like a paperback or use standing up.
Apple doesn't release vaporous 3D renderings and concept videos. They release actual products.
Your hypothetical is irrelevant because it would never happen.
Microsoft, make an innovative smartphone before you unleash any thing of this nature...
I know you were never keen on making amazing hardware, but it seems you are giving it a whirl as of lately.
I know you were never keen on making amazing hardware, but it seems you are giving it a whirl as of lately.
Expose is a solution to multi windows but is is not a solution for Multiple Monitors. I am going to assume you have never used a multiple monitor set up before because then you would understand how nice it is to have one.
Back when I did run duel monitors (2nd one was a cheap crappy one) I would set it up so the 2nd monitor held things that are nice for quick references while I am working and hold windows I like always to be there.
For me the 2nd monitor would hold AIM buddy list window, iTunes and any voice chatting program i was using. All was very useful to always have there for a quick look. Using Expose would interupt the work flow I was doing. The common thing I would shove there is a web page I was referencing for something I was working on the primary monitor. A lot easier to look over at it to pull info than to switch windows.
Or Spaces + Exposé. I find this combo to be indispensable. Some apps have their own dedicated space.
Dual monitors are great, though. I wouldn't mind adding another 24-inch Sammy to the one my MBP is already running. Not sure if I can, though.
Spaces is still no were close to multiple monitors.
Even a extra 13" CRT monitor beats the uses of spaces for a lot of things. It having that extra monitor is what makes a huge difference.
I have used things like Spaces dating back to 2003 when I used it with some Windows Power Toys on my computer. Nice still no replacement for multiple monitors. Spaces works a better than the XP version but still not any where close to multiple monitors.
See, this is exactly my point. You've thought things through and come up with some good arguments about the prototype and it's (mocked up) user interface, and made a judgement accordingly. That's cool.
There are others, like the person I quoted earlier, who have explicitly said that the primary reason they didn't like it is because it was made by Microsoft. There are others who would say the same about any device made by Apple. "Oh, it's made by ___, therefore it's crap." And that's just being fanatical.
Yes, it's true that past performance is an indicator of future outcomes. One could argue that Microsoft has, in the past, had a history of not coming out with the devices it demos, or has a history of technical or user interface design issues, therefore it might be reasonable to believe that this product will also be flawed. But to immediately dismiss it is "that's obviously how it's going to turn out" is short-sighted and narrow-minded. How many times has Apple come up with an idea that people dismissed as "nothing to see here, folks" and then turned out to be very, very wrong?
Some people in this thread seem to have this attitude of, "Pffft, who cares what Microsoft does, Apple is obviously going to be better". Sometimes that's manifested as, "This is an Apple fan site, why are we talking about Microsoft?" I say you always have to be watching out for what the competition is doing, because you just never know.
Well have you? The last table I used was an HP Tx2 notebook. It was the most beautiful experience in the world, a bit heavier than expected though, but handwriting recognition was almost perfect and the screen was very responsive, not sure what technology it uses though.
Now with Windows 7 I cannot expect nothing but win in the table notebook area.
This new device would be perfect for students, I know it would be for me.
The problem is not necessarily whether it still exists (which, by the way, it does, even in XP... not sure about Vista and beyond, but most workplaces including my own are still on XP). The problem is that the BSOD exists in people's minds, and it's going to take a while for that to go away.
I'll give an example: I volunteer at a children's summer camp, and one of my jobs is to do a slideshow at the end of each week of camp. One week last summer, someone else took on that task, and the photos were loaded onto his Windows laptop. We fired up the projector, and plugged in the laptop. It tried to detect the projector, and ... nothing. We tried all sorts of things, resolution settings, FN-F7, reconnect cables, all that stuff, but nothing was working. So we decided to reboot, maybe it would detect properly and come up in the right display mode. So we did. And it worked. Everyone watched on the big screen as the black "Windows XP" logo came up. And a few seconds later, as everyone watched ... a giant, 10-foot-wide, BSOD.
Everyone laughed and cheered. And someone in the crowd piped up, ".... and that's why Jay uses a Mac." That got another round of cheering!
Keep in mind, this was a room full of kids. 8 to 16 years old. They've all grown up knowing what a BSOD is, what a RROD is. There was nobody evangelizing to them about the relative merits of a Mac vs a PC. I (the only Mac guy in the room) didn't have to say a word. They all know already.
We kept them distracted by singing a few songs while I rebooted the PC (without the projector this time) and used a USB stick to copy the photos onto my Mac. And, sure enough, when I plugged it into the projector, everything worked the first time.
Track records. MS really hasn't done anything compelling over thr last decade hardaware-wise (plus the software that runs on it.)
MS:
Xbox (successful)
Zune (failure)
Zune HD (not sure yet - but it isn't looking too promising)
Windows Mobile devices (failing)
Pure and Turtle (WTF?)
Apple:
iPod + itunes (unbeatable to this day)
iPod Classic (what started it all)
iPod Nano - video (already making waves)
iPod Touch + App Store (revolutionary)
iPod Shuffle (meh, it's fine for what it is)
Macs
Macbooks
Macbook Pros
iMacs
all running OS X
(leaders in customer satisfaction; dominate the Premium end of the market)
Macbook Air (not a sales leader, but imitated relentlessly)
iPhone + OS X + App Store (revolutionary, currently unsurpassed)
So what do you expect our reaction to be when we hear about MS' latest "attempt", bearing in mind that the current management in Redmond is essentially unchanged from years ago?
I see a lot of fanboyish stuff in there but lets strip that assided.
There is a lot Microsoft does that is a head of its time but Microsoft is not huge in the consumer market. Some of there greatest things are all behind enterprised base and lots of stuff on the back end. Things that apple honestly sucks at.
Microsoft got it right on media extender. Apple TV fails to make it even to the starting line. Microsoft is leading the way with Computer linking up to TV.
Other things that many people will not notice are those nice little DVR everyone uses happen to be run on Windows CE or att least the AT&T Uverse uses which right now is just that part of the system is better than anything else on the market. I expect the next step in those Uverse DVR is going back over the network to the PC and streaming stuff off a PC.
I have talk to people who saw some of Microsoft R&D 10 years ago and they had some great things but were a head of there time and technology was not around to make it. WinFS was thought of and invented in 1995 but it is only now the we have the hardware to run it. Vista for all of its faults biggest problem was the hardware had not caught up to software.
Apple is great at marketing and great in the consumer sector but kind of stuck on the back end with enterprise support.
Another random peice of tech from Microsoft ahead of its time is Surface. I see lots of future uses of Surface coming into play just we have not reach a point were it is cost effect to use it yet but it is getting there.
That "fanboyish" stuff is actually true. It doesn't by default become fanboyish if it's laudatory of Apple. It's not me talking, it's the market, the consumers, the general discourse in tech today. Being an Apple fanboy is pretty easy because Apple makes it easy.
And yes, MS is lousy in the consumer market. That's precisely what we're talking about. That's precisely what MS is trying oh-so-hard to get right here: ZuneHD, tablet videos, Pure and Turtle. The consumer/home market, not the business sector.
As Apple users who are understandably enthusiastic about these great Apple products that we wouldn't have if Apple weren't around, is it any small wonder that were bewildered when a company twice Apple's size, with twice the workforce, resources, and R&D budget of Apple, is so clueless, year after year? At some point it's going to elicit laughs and general derision. I'm not bound to be "fair" to MS or view them equally when the situation is, and has been (for a long time), so unbalanced.
And really, things like Ballmer, lame Windows 7 party videos, and laughable ad campaigns don't help. At some point we're gonna start ripping on them and have a good time doing it. It's just that we've been doing it for years, because so much at MS hasn't changed over the years.
MS is Mitt Romney trying to be the everyman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDwwAaVmnf4
You still failed to noticed that Microsoft got Media extender right. Something Apple failed at big time. Hell apple attempted failed then did not even try to make it better. They just let it sit there in this crap hole.
Hey, I actually like Mitt Romney - heaven knows he'd be a better fit to solve the economic crisis. Oh wait, I'm not turning this thread political...
That said, that "Who let the dogs out?" line was one of the most cringeworthy I've ever heard in politics. A true Microsoftian moment.