Posted on 06/18/2012 9:15:25 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
This is going to be a huge week for Microsoft. Today, the company is expected to announce its first tablet, which will be designed to compete with the iPad.
On Wednesday, we're expecting Microsoft to give us details on the next major version of its Windows Phone operating, which will likely be very similar to Windows 8.
Here's you need to know:
* Microsoft will announce its own tablet. This will be the first time Microsoft builds the hardware and software for a tablet.
* The tablet will run a special version of Windows 8 called "Windows RT." Windows RT is designed to run on devices with ARM processors. Those are the same types of processors found in smartphone and tablets (like the iPad) today. Windows RT won't be able today's traditional Windows apps, only apps from the Windows 8 app store.
* Microsoft may also announce a tablet that runs the full version of Windows 8. According to All Things D, there's a possibility Microsoft will announce a tablet powered by processors that allow it to run the full version of Windows 8. That means you'll be able to access the Windows 7-like desktop mode and run older Windows apps.
* There's a rumor Barnes & Noble will be involved (but don't believe it). According to TechCrunch, Microsoft's tablet announcement will be for a Nook-branded device made by Barnes & Noble. Microsoft recently invested $300 million in Barnes & Noble, so it's possible. However, Barnes & Noble shot down the Nook rumor.
* Microsoft may show off the next version of Windows Phone on Wednesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
However, it will be slightly heaver than an iPad.
What’s “Barnes & Noble?”
Will be interesting if anyone comes up with a "Monopoly" or "anti-competitive" class action lawsuit. It's hard to compete in the marketplace with an entity that can charge you $85 for WinRT while their cost is Zero - yet you all have similar hardware costs. The $85 per unit cost savings places MSFT at what some would call an unfair advantage.
Now, if MSFT were the sole purveyor of these WinRT tablets, one could argue that they are merely another Apple type of supplier. But, unlike Apple, MSFT is selling their OS to tier suppliers such as Dell, HP and others.
Going on record as saying I’m not thrilled about this. MS is designing an OS around tablets and smartphones, and while is probably in their best interest for the current market, leaving desktop and laptop users out of the mix might be seen as a move to force people on to tablets and smartphones.
Mea culpa: I completely understand that there will be a standard MAK desktop available, but according to my sources, it will not be enabled by default. This, I believe, will change before release, or the installation option for OEM/retail disk packages will be guided to allow the user to choose their default input option. Windows 7 does this to a lesser degree by having tablet support enabled by default.
Overall, Microsoft is getting better with their operating systems, but they are trying to cater to too many market segments at a time. Windows RT sounds too much like CE to me, and we all know how well that did.
When do we see the first patch?
I think Windows 8 is going to be train wreck. I can’t see business adopting this without undergoing some painful reworking of procedures and training.
A bookseller. They are saying that WinRT may have the Barnes and Noble "Nook" e-reader software built into the OS, thus allowing them to compete against the iPad (iBooks, Kindle and Nook e-reader software) as well as the entrenched Kindle and Nook e-readers.
I flatly do not know if the Kindle supports the Nook e-reader, or if the Nook allows you to load the Kindle e-reader software (although I doubt they would). I do know that neither the Kindle nor the Nook have iBooks (Apple's e-reader); and that the Apple iPad has apps availble for Kindle and Nook.
Kinda surprised that MSFT isn't hopping on the book retailer bandwagon like Apple did.
Suits under the Sherman Antitrust Act have nothing to do with profit margins...only market share. While loosely defined in the Act, subsequent interpretations suggest that you need to have 2/3 of the market to be considered a monopoly. MS is a LONG way from having that. Indeed, I doubt they will ever have that kind of share in the tablet market.
When you "log in" to what? I've heard that it will be necessary to "log in" to some microsoft site just to be able to use the OS. If that's true I'll stick with Windows 7 forever.
I was actually being facetious. Brick-and-mortar bookstores (B&N et al.) are dinosaurs. Figures that Microsoft teamed up with them.
IOW this author is wasting our time with mere guessing.
That may or may not be true. I'm not a lawyer. But, when I used to work for Intel; Intel made processors and chipsets. Intel stated categorically that although they made motherboards and the processors that went with them, they had no interest at all in putting them together in a box and making a PC - due to anti-trust and anti-competitive allegatiosn that would surely follow. To this day, Intel makes chipsets and processors - yet will NEVER put them in a box and sell that box to the consumer.
Ugh!
I don’t use any of the content of those tiles in the course of my day other than perhaps messaging and presumably Windows Explorer in order to find everything else I’m going to need.
Is there a way to configure that interface for those of us who use a computer as a tool and not as an entertainment device?
microsoft bough the nook device.
They don’t need the bricks.
I agree. I've been working with the Beta for Visual Studio and it was bundled with W8. I hated it so much, I took it off my system. My biggest complaint is that the op system is so dumbed down that I can't get anything done. (I do a lot of program development.) What takes a few clicks in W7 takes 5 times the effort with W8. I can't even imagine someone who is a casual Windows user wading through the interface trying to get to their word processor. Gees, even Microsoft's Bob op system made more sense than this one does.
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