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With Surface Tablet, Microsoft Stands Alone
Mashable ^ | June 19, 2012 | Lance Ulanoff

Posted on 06/19/2012 8:02:28 PM PDT by SmokingJoe

With its new Surface Tablet, Microsoft didn’t just break the mold. It smashed it into a million little pieces, chucked them all into the furnace and set the temperature to obliterate. There really is no precedent for what Microsoft did this week. What was once recognizable is gone. The expected is no more. There are no rules, only supply and the possibility of demand.

Microsoft finally built the tablet it wants to use for its platform: an ultra-thin, superlight, kick-stand-sporting, brainiac-cover wearing, touch screen wonder that elicited dozens of “I wants” in Mashable’s live blog chatter.

Surface is still wrapped in so much mystery (no pricing, no availability, no processor speed) that it remains something of an enigma. On the other hand, the tablet (which, depending on how you look at it, may be a full-blown tablet or a hybrid tablet PC) is no reference design. This is not the pad Microsoft wants its partners to build.

The partners are, at least in this instance, out of the picture.

This Is the Windows 8 Tablet

Lenovo, Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Toshiba and others will surely deliver dozens of Windows 8-based devices this year. Many will sport Intel CPUs. Some, like Asus and Lenovo, are planning tablets and convertibles. These may or may not be well-received. This is no longer Microsoft’s problem.

Or is it?

What, for example, does Microsoft say about Windows tablet design now? Can it point to anything but its own Surface tablet as the epitome of Windows 8 design? Not likely. And what about that very smart cover with the built-in touch or tactile keyboard (take your pick)? Microsoft won’t license that design to its partners. So it’s inevitable that Windows RT partners will always have second best covers.

(Excerpt) Read more at mashable.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Technical
KEYWORDS: ipad; microsoft; microsoftsurface; microsofttablet; surface; surfacetablet; tablet; windows8
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Hands-On With Microsoft Surface Tablet for Windows RT

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/hands-on-with-microsoft-surface-tablet-for-windows-rt/

Why Microsoft's Surface Tablet Shames the PC Industry

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-19/why-microsofts-surface-tablet-should-shame-the-pc-industry

1 posted on 06/19/2012 8:02:37 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: SmokingJoe
With its new Surface Tablet, Microsoft didn’t just break the mold. It smashed it into a million little pieces, chucked them all into the furnace and set the temperature to obliterate. There really is no precedent for what Microsoft did this week. What was once recognizable is gone. The expected is no more. There are no rules, only supply and the possibility of demand.

Hyperbole much?

2 posted on 06/19/2012 8:07:50 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1246 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Obama is not a Big Brother [he's a Big Sissy...])
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To: SmokingJoe

Can it make a hoagie?


3 posted on 06/19/2012 8:08:08 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: SmokingJoe

Looks pretty cool and has received some great reviews. I have a buddy high up the food chain @ Microsoft who says availability won’t be until October.


4 posted on 06/19/2012 8:14:00 PM PDT by capydick (''Life's tough.......it's even tougher if you're stupid.'')
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To: SmokingJoe

Gee, another Microsoft device that will need security upgrades every two days, not to mention the OS will be outdated every year requiring a total upgrade ... another Microsoft money sinkhole.


5 posted on 06/19/2012 8:15:42 PM PDT by doc1019 (Voting for the better of two evils is still voting for evil.)
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To: capydick
I have a buddy high up the food chain @ Microsoft who says availability won’t be until October

Sounds about right. Apparently, it will only be available in the physical Microsoft stores or online:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/en_US/home

It would seem Microsoft doesn't want to upset their PC partners too much by offering the Surface Tablet for sale in normal retail outlets.

6 posted on 06/19/2012 8:19:07 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: null and void

If it’s as Buggy and unreliable as MS based PCs, it won’t hold a candle to the Apple IPAD.


7 posted on 06/19/2012 8:21:09 PM PDT by libstripper
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Interesting hardware, but very hard to evaluate until its cost, speed and battery life are known.


8 posted on 06/19/2012 8:21:09 PM PDT by D-fendr (Deus non alligatur sacramentis sed nos alligamur.)
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To: null and void

gimmne one of whatever he’s having!


9 posted on 06/19/2012 8:22:20 PM PDT by bigbob
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To: doc1019
Gee, another Microsoft device that will need security upgrades every two days

Gee, another very predictable mindless Applebot screech. So what's new?
another Microsoft device that will need security upgrades every two days” huh?
Say, how many “security updates” have the Microsoft devices like the Microsoft computer mouse or keyboard or the XBOX 360 ever had(bear in mind that Microsoft has been one of the top computer mouse makers on the planet for DECADES).

10 posted on 06/19/2012 8:25:38 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: SmokingJoe

Contrarian view: Early Facebook investors don’t like it = buy MS stock!


11 posted on 06/19/2012 8:27:11 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong!)
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To: doc1019; SmokingJoe

I think doc hit a nerve...


12 posted on 06/19/2012 8:27:43 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1246 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Obama is not a Big Brother [he's a Big Sissy...])
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To: SmokingJoe

It looks interesting, but their big mistake is releasing it with Windows 8. By now, most people just assume W8 will be unusable on release and are planning to wait for the next release, so they probably won’t be in a hurry to rush out and buy this. If that causes poor sales, is MS willing to wait it out until they can put out a W9 tablet?


13 posted on 06/19/2012 8:28:51 PM PDT by Boogieman
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To: libstripper
If it’s as Buggy and unreliable as MS based PCs, it won’t hold a candle to the Apple IPAD

You wish.
Say, what's an iPad? A women's sanitary product? :)

14 posted on 06/19/2012 8:29:33 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: Boogieman
It looks interesting, but their big mistake is releasing it with Windows 8”

Naaaaah.
That's the best decision they have ever taken about a Microsoft tablet.

By now, most people just assume W8 will be unusable on release and are planning to wait for the next release, so they probably won’t be in a hurry to rush out and buy this”

Chuckle!
Keep kidding yourself.

15 posted on 06/19/2012 8:33:15 PM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: Boogieman

No need to wait for Windows9. W8 SP2 should suffice.


16 posted on 06/19/2012 8:33:29 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1246 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Obama is not a Big Brother [he's a Big Sissy...])
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To: SmokingJoe

Looking forward to owning one upon release. I have an iPad 1 and I’m ready to get free of the Mac way, but really like a tablet.


17 posted on 06/19/2012 8:42:14 PM PDT by SoDak
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To: SmokingJoe

First of all, I am talking to you from a windows infected Gateway computer. I have been a user of windows since day one (window 3.00). I am just so darn tired of Microsoft’s penchant for giving us an incomplete and virus susceptible OS.

I would move on to Apple computers, just can’t afford them. I would rather stick with cheap windows compatible computers and be frustrated with the constant security updates and yearly upgrades to the next version of windows.

With all the resources of Microsoft, you would expect better.


18 posted on 06/19/2012 8:42:14 PM PDT by doc1019 (Voting for the better of two evils is still voting for evil.)
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To: SmokingJoe

C’mon mac versus pc wars don’t even make sense if you really know what you’re doing.

BSOD (OSX) is great for certain important things. .NET is amazing for certain things. Linux is critical for certain things, traditional UNIX is too, and same for Spark and SunOS, oh even good ‘ol OS/2 Warp.....If you truly know what you are doing you would use a mix of the above or all of them to make a perfect system, depending on the function (in what I define perfect is a machine capable of doing anything at all asked of it, period).

I have a killer gaming/video/audio PC hand built that would knock most people’s socks off. I also have a Macbook Air (it runs Win7 and OSX) and an Iphone 4, I also have 3 linux partitions (Each different distros according to funtion). I have a few OSX and Win Server virtual machines. Each does one thing to complement them all.


19 posted on 06/19/2012 8:44:03 PM PDT by Individual Rights in NJ (Infidel Inside)
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To: null and void

Everyone assumes that if you criticize Microsoft you are a users of Apple products ... not necessary true. I just want Microsoft to get right.


20 posted on 06/19/2012 8:45:54 PM PDT by doc1019 (Voting for the better of two evils is still voting for evil.)
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