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Microsoft's Prototype Multi-Touch Tablet/Booklet

>>microsoft has been stepping up their game lately

Unfortunately we are in the 21st Century

MS will never be a part of that
a legacy company, a legacy business model, legacy OS in a company full of aging post baby boomers
*So* 20th Century
MS is fast becoming irrelevant in todays world
like the dinosaur
big and ferocious at first
then slink off to die

No MS "hate" here
I just get annoyed seeing mediocrity held up as an example of mankinds best and brightest achievements in IT when we all know we can do so much better
 
great concept, but Steve Jobs said it best with:

"Real artists ship"

this is the yin to the yang of Apple, the zig to the zag... Apple wants to keep 100% secrecy until launch... Microsoft wants to show you the future you will have in the next 2-3 years today. Both styles have advantages.

In this particular case I see it as a strategic move by any company. Everyone knows Apple is working on something, so if you cant beat them to the street with a product why not try to steal some thunder by showing off amazing concepts...

Why not even take it a step further and show RIDICULOUS concepts that wont be available for 10 years, that way when the Apple tablet comes out it will be a letdown.

Well played Microsoft, well played.
 
MovieCutter said:
Doesn't mean squat until I can actually use it. Still don't have access to a "Surface" dining room table. Apple will have an ACTUAL shipping device in Q1/10...until then, Microsoft can create mockups of unicorns and it'd be just as real.
Click to expand...

Ok firstly, Microsoft for all their faults currently have a shipping tablet product. It isn't great but it exists.

Apple have released zero information about their plans for a tablet, yet you're certain they're going to ship in Q1 2010? Based on what?

It seems to me that it isn't Microsoft who are dreaming of unicorns here...
 
As with most Microsoft products (and this is not even a product yet) it is very derivative. Some of the UI stuff looks interesting but whether that makes it to the final product is moot. There seems a lot of iPhone derived stuff here- all that pinching, flicking etc.

Unless MS are using some new screen technology my experience is that using a stylus is pretty horrible and absoloutely nothing like pen/pencil on paper and next to useless for sketching.

As has been pointed out earlier this is an animation, not a real product. Possibly a spoiler from Microsoft to try and kill off any forthcoming Apple tablet -they did this way back by announcing the at the time non-existent "Windows for Pen" and effectively killed off the Penpoint operating system.

Another knowledge navigator type video - whether it will turn into a real product, well we will have to wait and see. I am sure that Apple will beat them to market regardless.
 
mikeppc225 said:
I am waiting to see this. I wont buy an XBox b/c it's MS. I won't buy a mouse b/c it says MS, but if MS were miraculously to deliver this very much like this and Apple comes out with something that doesnt top this, I will be looking at an Apple product over a MS product for the first time ever.
Click to expand...

?? First, you state that you wouldn't buy something because it's a MS product. Then, you state that, if this is a MS product and is what is shown, you would, for the first time, pick an Apple product over a MS product.:confused:
 
seashellz said:
>>microsoft has been stepping up their game lately

Unfortunately we are in the 21st Century

MS will never be a part of that
a legacy company, a legacy business model, legacy OS in a company full of aging post baby boomers
*So* 20th Century
MS is fast becoming irrelevant in todays world
like the dinosaur
big and ferocious at first
then slink off to die

No MS "hate" here
I just get annoyed seeing mediocrity held up as an example of mankinds best and brightest achievements in IT when we all know we can do so much better
Click to expand...

But we're nearly a tenth of the way through the 21st Century, and MS still seems a long way from extinction
 
I cannot wait for Apple's version that will likely be missing key features that will slowly get added over the course of the next decade but it will definitely be prettier!
 
The General said:
im not going to write out a website

we use keyboards for that sort of thing
Click to expand...

To be fair, I don't think the point of a device like this (be it MS or Apple) is to replace a desktop/laptop for keyboard based work; it's a complementary device aimed at a different type of user.
 
smg9779 said:
I cannot wait for Apple's version that will likely be missing key features that will slowly get added over the course of the next decade but it will definitely be prettier!
Click to expand...

It's going to be a bitch waiting for copy and paste for 2 years. Remind me to avoid MacRumors over that time.
 
The video is just a video mockup of what the user interface might be like. It's unclear to me if the photos are of a working device or not, but it looks like it's non-functional, pieced together from computer parts, other plastic, paper and some faux leather.

Given that I could probably throw together the same in about a week, I don't see any evidence of this being a functional prototype. Just looks like somebody's concept that may or may not be developed.

That said, if Microsoft chose to make this, I could certainly see their Surface technology coming into play here.
 
pmjoe said:
The video is just a video mockup of what the user interface might be like. It's unclear to me if the photos are of a working device or not, but it looks like it's non-functional, pieced together from computer parts, other plastic, paper and some faux leather.

Given that I could probably throw together the same in about a week, I don't see any evidence of this being a functional prototype. Just looks like somebody's concept that may or may not be developed.

That said, if Microsoft chose to make this, I could certainly see their Surface technology coming into play here.
Click to expand...

Or it's a computer rendered model, which a good designer could put together in about a day...
 
Great concept, I would love to have such a device even though a lot of it's features I can already accomplish on my iPhone.

Still putting aside the praise for this concept product I can't help but feel that Microsoft has no direction. Now it seems they are determined to try and morph themselves into Apple. However I wonder how companies like Dell and HP are going to feel about competing with Microsoft. The line between traditional computer and these type of devices is quickly disappearing. Could Microsoft risk their biggest asset (Windows) by trying to become the new Apple?
 
Knowing MS it will RROD and BSOD all the time. I mean when was the last time they made any decent consumer hardware?
 
Now we know what MS may be wanting to show in their retail stores besides a Zune. Maybe they will call it a Zablet?
 
Woo

SandynJosh said:
Now we know what MS may be wanting to show in their retail stores besides a Zune. Maybe they will call it a Zablet?
Click to expand...

No worse than putting an i in front of everything!:p

What is good for both Apple and Microsoft is the fact that its competition.
It's healthy for companies to battle

It actually looks promising from Microsoft. It should push the Apple to raise the bar even further!
 
MacMonster1985 said:
Knowing MS it will RROD and BSOD all the time. I mean when was the last time they made any decent consumer hardware?
Click to expand...

Ever used a MS mouse or keyboard?

And the PC's that BSOD aren't MS hardware, they're MS software running on third party hardware. If MS can control the OS's operating environment (i.e. the hardware) like Apple do with Macs, then the OS will become much more stable. I'm guessing the we'd get a lot more "spinning beach balls" on OS X if Apple started letting us install any old motherboard/CPU/graphics card.

RROD? Yeah, serious problem, but look at the number of people who go straight out and buy a replacement; the 360 can't be all that bad.
 
When you see the real product it will have you watch a dancing monkey while it grinds away loading another huge hunk of code.

I only considered a MS mobile phone once for a few seconds. I touched a button and thought that maybe the phone wasn't operational, then just when I was about to put it down, it reacted. Talk about unresponsive!
 
Consideration

1. Who is going to manufacture it? Will the shown quality match the real life quality?
2. Will this new Microsoft strategy of building their own products create problems with their Windows "partners" OEM?
3. Will they license the software OEM so that Dell and others can build a specced down, crappier and cheaper version of this?
4. Will OEM partners feel bypassed by Microsoft and hence look further in Linux or Chrome OS? This is happening in smartphones and I guess the next step is computer OS.
5. Will this concept be like Microsoft Surface? Full of promises which never came true?
6. Is Microsoft slowly changing attitude and shifting towards the Apple model of business (control every step of the user experience)?

My guess is that point 6. is true and that Microsoft stores will sell exclusive products such as these. I wonder how long it will take for OEM manufacturers to see that this is bad for them, and start looking for alternative OS. This, more than anything, will hurt Microsoft badly, because a lot of their revenues come from their monopoly of the OS.

Apple, on the other hand, must not forget their business users (Aperture, Logic, etc).

Tablet is not for me. But a concept like the shown one could be interesting for a lot of users. Remember, it is just a concept, and the product might be available in more than one configuration. Still, the question about where Microsoft is going, and how this choices affect their overall bottom line remain open.

Microsoft is realizing that Apple has a good strategy in place and are trying to copy it as much as they possibly can (because it allow bigger margins). Let's see how long it takes before Dell, HP and so on look for something else than Windows for their PCs
 
seashellz said:
>>microsoft has been stepping up their game lately

Unfortunately we are in the 21st Century

MS will never be a part of that
a legacy company, a legacy business model, legacy OS in a company full of aging post baby boomers
*So* 20th Century
MS is fast becoming irrelevant in todays world
like the dinosaur
big and ferocious at first
then slink off to die

No MS "hate" here
I just get annoyed seeing mediocrity held up as an example of mankinds best and brightest achievements in IT when we all know we can do so much better
Click to expand...

Yeah, because... They dominate over 90% of the market share (in which Apple growth has been basically insignificant for the past 15 years). Because... Virtually every company in the world relies on MS technology. Because... is Apple who in the past 15 years almost disappeared. Because... They are the only gaming platform available. Because... MSOffice is the world standard for business documents and iWork is not even known by half of the Mac community and the whole PC community.
Yeah, those are clear signs that MS is disappearing soon. Maybe tomorrow.
 
iMat77 said:
...6. Is Microsoft slowly changing attitude and shifting towards the Apple model of business (control every step of the user experience)?

My guess is that point 6. is true and that Microsoft stores will sell exclusive products such as these. I wonder how long it will take for OEM manufacturers to see that this is bad for them, and start looking for alternative OS. This, more than anything, will hurt Microsoft badly, because a lot of their revenues come from their monopoly of the OS.
Click to expand...

I'm confused by your logic - if you think that (6) will be an obviously catastrophic move for MS, why do you also think that that will be the direction they go in?
 
Matthew Yohe said:
Boring.

Concept videos are easy to make, but pulling off a real device with a real interface...

Microsoft loves making these things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9JBSEBu2q8
Click to expand...

LagunaSol said:
Some 3D renderings and a multimedia mockup of how it's supposed to work and we're supposed to be impressed? There's no more substance here than in those "imagine the day" Microsoft ads with their pie in the sky concepts.

Ship an actual product, Microsoft, and you'll deserve respect.

I see this as a preemptive FUD attack on the rumored Apple tablet. Apple will announce an actual, shipping product and Microsoft will say "See, we're not copying Apple - we demoed our stuff 3 months ago (but won't ship for another 18)."
Click to expand...
Quite true.

kockgunner said:
For some things like zooming out of journals, you pinch in, but for photos, you pinch out? The device looks pretty cool though, but do I really have to write out URLs?
Click to expand...

The General said:
im not going to write out a website

we use keyboards for that sort of thing
Click to expand...
A good indicator that this is merely a concept, which was farmed out, perhaps through a contest.

dicklacara said:
I think it is a slick concept, with many good ideas and some bad ones.

First this is not a demonstration of an existing product-- it's an animation of what a product would be. Especially notice the drawn hands and stylus.

Second, Samsung has publicly demoed a similar product: clamshell with 2 side-by-side displays.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtN_TkZUOt4
Click to expand...
Though Samsung would have the caliber and capacity to actually pull it off.

sushi said:
Interesting concept.

Reminds me of the Knowledge Navigator in a HP-19BII business calculator format.
Click to expand...
Yes, sans the voice recognition.

Snowy_River said:
Or it's a computer rendered model, which a good designer could put together in about a day...
Click to expand...

Gm7Cadd9 said:
great concept, but Steve Jobs said it best with:

"Real artists ship"
Click to expand...
This remains to be seen.
 
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