Microsoft Surface tablet coming in two flavours

ChocolateBadger said:
Those Tabs aren't meant to be competitors. iOS is a mobile OS where windows 7 is a desktop OS. Those tablets aren't even in the same league. Those tablets are actually meant to compete with ultrabooks.
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sure... it competes much better with thin laptop... but still the cost is craze... add a small BT keyboard and mouse, and the dockstation, and the cost is close to R12K.... can get some very nice ultra notebooks for that
still, depending on usage needs, it does offer an option... we're giving mobile office users an option of good laptop, or desktop+tablet (Windows).
Windows 8 on tablet will make it a much nicer deal
 
Arthur said:
If I were a developer or heading a development shop, I'd make it a priority to get started with RT as soon as possible - there's a huge opportunity opening up to unseat incumbents.
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Or to head at speed down a dead-end.
 
rwenzori said:
Or to head at speed down a dead-end.
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Hehe. We'll see.

A lot of lessons were learned from the last time we saw a API+GUI shift -- from DOS+Win to OS/2. OS/2 was as much a Microsoft strategy as it was IBM's. And Win NT is really just OS/2 32-bit with the Win32 API instead of IBM's Presentation Manager (CUA). What sunk Presentation Manager and in the end OS/2 was the unexpected success of Win 3.0/3.1. It lay at the root of the Big Divorce way back then.

But many things are very different now, and RT has a much better chance.

Edit: Remember, RT is the strategic direction for mainstream desktop and server apps, not just the tablet. And no, it doesn't mean desktops and servers will be full-screen like current Metro. Metro is just a UI, I am speaking of the underlying API set. You can take it as 100% certain that RT apps will window in a future interation. Right now it's about getting the RT API out there and enabling it on the desktop systems AND tablets. When popular commercial and LOB apps on RT start happening, the transition to a new windowing GUI becomes possible - it'd just be too confusing now.
 
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inferno said:
Any reason why the writer kept calling this a PC? Does that make the Ipad a PC as well? Or was it written by an Apple fanboy who thinks anything MS must be a PC?
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LOL..WTF
Dude, it's a PC.
 
inferno said:
Any reason why the writer kept calling this a PC? Does that make the Ipad a PC as well? Or was it written by an Apple fanboy who thinks anything MS must be a PC?
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haha what? The iPad is a pc
 
roguemat said:
Yes - that's the point in "WinRT" which is the new framework that apps are built atop. It creates partity between ARM and traditional Intel architectures.
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But they're not entirely compatible. Software compiled only for traditional Intel architecture will NOT run on ARM, only new software developed with the WinRT API will run on both. This is going to create endless confusion and frustration. Not every developer/app is going to work in both environments, and neither should they.
 
I have been holding up on getting a tablet waiting on a windows 8 based one (still have a cheap android tab) but I hope that there will be affordable options later on.

This tab looks great, Microsoft will just need to market it well.
 
ChocolateBadger said:
PC is the term coined by Microsoft, Apple and anyone else as a computer/device/anything that runs the full Windows operating system.

Such as a Mac is an Apple device that runs the full Macintosh OS
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What?? Nice revisionist history.
PC (It is an abbreviation for "personal computer") is a term that has been around for ages. And it includes Macintosh's for anything other than marketing terms.

And a Mac (Which is just a brand) is whatever Apple decides to put the word Macintosh in front of
 
Arthur said:
From a developer perspective, RT is the future, so tablet or not, we're gonna have to move there eventually. Win32 just doesn't have the legs anymore, and there really isn't any way forward other than RT.
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Win32 may not be the way ahead, but I'm having a hard time believing RT is "the future" for development. It might be "the future" for consumer applications on Microsoft tablets, however, business applications tend to not be suited to exclusively touch interfaces (I can't see data capturers waving their arms around all day to use a touch interface). It's an environment really suited to tablets only, (e.g. Metro apps are full screen only), so I guess the bigger question is whether you bet the farm on Microsoft tablet development, or believe that there will still be a place for the keyboard.
 
JStrike said:
What?? Nice revisionist history.
PC (It is an abbreviation for "personal computer") is a term that has been around for ages. And it includes Macintosh's for anything other than marketing terms.

And a Mac (Which is just a brand) is whatever Apple decides to put the word Macintosh in front of
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Apple even acknowledged the PC/M$ link with the MAC vs PC ads.
 
ChocolateBadger said:
Apple even acknowledged the PC/M$ link with the MAC vs PC ads.
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It is frikken marketing.
The distinction is only a marketing tool.
An Apple iMac, Sony Vio, Apple iPad, HP Pavilion and Microsoft Surface are all PC's.

Do you believe the word "Resolutionary" exists just because Apple uses it in its marketing?
 
Let's end this silly argument
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer

A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator. This contrasted with the batch processing or time-sharing models which allowed larger, more expensive minicomputer and mainframe systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time. Large data processing systems require a full-time staff to operate efficiently.

Software applications for personal computers include, but are not limited to, word processing, spreadsheets, databases, Web browsers and e-mail clients, digital media playback, games, and myriad personal productivity and special-purpose software applications. Modern personal computers often have connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources. Personal computers may be connected to a local area network (LAN), either by a cable or a wireless connection. A personal computer may be a desktop computer or a laptop, tablet, or a handheld PC.
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macterrible.jpg


:D
 
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JStrike said:
It is frikken marketing.
The distinction is only a marketing tool.
An Apple iMac, Sony Vio, Apple iPad, HP Pavilion and Microsoft Surface are all PC's.

Do you believe the word "Resolutionary" exists just because Apple uses it in its marketing?
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PC as personal computer, yes, even your "frikken" smart phone nowadays is a Personal Computer.

But when people say PC they think of Microsoft because of marketing. Thats why people refer to windows computers as PCs regardless of make.

I'm talking about the linked meaning, the stigma, the reason why people link PC to M$ and not the literal meaning.
 
garp said:
Win32 may not be the way ahead, but I'm having a hard time believing RT is "the future" for development. It might be "the future" for consumer applications on Microsoft tablets, however, business applications tend to not be suited to exclusively touch interfaces (I can't see data capturers waving their arms around all day to use a touch interface). It's an environment really suited to tablets only, (e.g. Metro apps are full screen only), so I guess the bigger question is whether you bet the farm on Microsoft tablet development, or believe that there will still be a place for the keyboard.
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WinRT has nothing to do with touch interfaces, Metro or any specific UI. It's an API set for app development and the way the system layers and services are called. Do not confuse WinRT and Metro.

PS. Microsoft is not helping much with the confusing uses of "RT". As I said, it's traditionally poor at marketing. What I am really saying is that RT is the new architectural framework for future apps. We must carefully distinguish architectures and specific implementations. Today, the implemented RT UI is Metro. But that's just an implementation - the architecture itself is GUI agnostic precisely to accommodate future growth in the decades ahead.
 
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ChocolateBadger said:
PC as personal computer, yes, even your "frikken" smart phone nowadays is a Personal Computer.

But when people say PC they think of Microsoft because of marketing. Thats why people refer to windows computers as PCs regardless of make.

I'm talking about the linked meaning, the stigma, the reason why people link PC to M$ and not the literal meaning.
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+1
C'mon guys, don't let it rest here! Round #2! Dingding! :D
 
ChocolateBadger said:
PC as personal computer, yes, even your "frikken" smart phone nowadays is a Personal Computer.

But when people say PC they think of Microsoft because of marketing. Thats why people refer to windows computers as PCs regardless of make.

I'm talking about the linked meaning, the stigma, the reason why people link PC to M$ and not the literal meaning.
Click to expand...

So somebody running a linux box is not running a PC? Microsoft is the defining factor for PC?
 
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