3 reasons Microsoft's Surface is no joke

Fortune ^ | June 22, 2012 | Don Sears

[SmokingJoe]

Many have scoffed at the idea that Redmond's tablet will succeed. But there are three crucial reasons to take the effort seriously. By Don Sears

FORTUNE -- Do not underestimate Microsoft's Surface tablet move. Its gambit to design and build its own hardware is a bold play to develop a thriving ecosystem of new products. It is centered on Microsoft's dominant property: the operating system. Monday's flashy Surface launch may have felt like an Apple event with its bright, pastel-colored keyboard, slick introductory videos and breathless hyping from little-known engineers. But, in fact, Microsoft's play is anything but Apple-like. The company is clearly trying to make tablets into hybrid PC-mobile devices, something its California rival has said is a bad idea. We don't yet know all of Surface's details -- battery life, pricing, official release dates are all to-be-determined for instance. But here are three important reasons Microsoft's Surface is likely to be anything but dead on arrival:

Reason #1: Microsoft can build an ecosystem

Microsoft (MSFT) has had success in the consumer market with the Xbox and most recently with the Kinect motion-control devices. The Xbox has become a household name with major brand extensions as an entertainment device. Microsoft disrupted gaming, and it can disrupt hardware.

Microsoft has serious engineering chops. Josh Topolosky, Editor-in-Chief of The Verge and not exactly a fanboy, was blown away by a visit to Microsoft's R&D in 2011. He wrote of that visit: "[MS] showed me a project … which would allow you to create a virtual window from one room to another, utilizing a variety of display, motion sensing, and 3D technologies… dubbed … the 'magic wall.' It was nuts. It was awesome. It was ambitious. The whole time, all I could think was: where has Microsoft been hiding guys like this?"

[adorno]

So little you just had to post a vanity (vanity is evidently your true Forte) to demonstrate your superior technical knowledge.

Yes, it was a little problem, but, your puny brain wouldn't be able to understand it.

Why don't you be a good little boy and go out and play with traffic.

[adorno]

Once again you vociferously demonstrate that arrogance is all you’ve got under your big hat.

Is that what you call my superior intellect? ;)

But, face it, with your tiny brain, anybody else would seem to be arrogant to you.

Where are those screenshots, Wiley?

Why would I waste my time and skill in demoing or showing someone like you anything? I even offered to demo the system to you, if you would sign a non-disclosure agreement, but, you skipped over that one, didn't you?

BTW, did you find a 5 year old to explain the other comments I made in that other discussion about "my bank account is empty"? If you didn't find someone, perhaps I'll walk you through the comment and the context, so that, even you can understand what I posted. I'll even post the definitions of every word for you, cause, you have a very hard time following even the simplest of discussions.

So, why are you here? Is the Disney Channel having difficulties and they're off the air? You do know that Nickleodeon and the Cartoon Channel are also available, don't you?

[adorno]

Here's one of the big reasons why Apple will eventually fail:

http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-393073?tag=discussion-asset-thread

It's about an expensive and difficult to maintain product in Apple's walled-garden. People are getting wiser, and Apple won't be able to get away with their tactics/methods for much longer.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Yep, Apple has both Microsoft and Linux nipping at its heels.

Due to potential or real patent wars, however, I doubt Apple will die. I could well see Apple promoting a parallel Linux product, on the philosophy of if you can’t beat them, join them.

[OldEarlGray]

>>it was a little problem

 

But not so little your foolish Vanity couldn't compel you to publish it.

 

Help! ????? - not a valid win32 application
myself | myself

Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 3:25:03 PM by adorno

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1982166/posts

 

What happened to all those thousands of people you were going to employ in this vanity:

 

vanity
myself

Posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 2:54:57 PM by adorno

"However, if what I have in mind becomes successful..."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2112507/posts

 

...you posted in 2008?

 

Qack, Waddle - All Hat, nooo cattle.

 

 

[OldEarlGray]

Why are your bank accounts empty?

[adorno]

Why are your bank accounts empty?

Why is your head empty?

But, apparently, you still haven't found somebody with a brain to explain that post of mine to you. Look, if a 5 year old is not available, perhaps you can take your question to a local zoo, and ask to borrow a monkey to explain it to you.

[adorno]

Do you recall what happened in 2008? Of course not, since you would need a brain to recall and understand what happened in 2008. (Hint: “it’s the economy, stupid!”) (Another hint: “a Marxist was elected president”) (Still another hint: congress was controlled by democrats, in both houses).

Is that too much for you to understand?

Like a lot of people who are in business, or contemplating going into business, this is not the right time to launch, not for the last 4 years. The business would get killed almost as soon as it got started.

Also, like I mentioned, the system would involve getting several patents for the features within it, and that could go into way over $100,000, and, I don’t dare spend that kind of money right now. I am not Microsoft nor Apple nor Google.

But, like I stated earlier, I can demo the system, to anyone that is willing to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and would be willing to post a fee (kind of like a bond) for the privilege. I don’t want to risk years of work on a demo and on someone as hostile as you appear to be. It would be like trusting Ahmadinejad with U.S. government secrets.

But, the question remains: Isn’t the Disney Channel working for you?

[antiRepublicrat]

It's about an expensive and difficult to maintain product in Apple's walled-garden. People are getting wiser, and Apple won't be able to get away with their tactics/methods for much longer.

Despite this bitching by lovers of other companies, it turns out those companies are following Apple: phones without SD card slots or removable batteries for example, and downloads from that company's store. You can't make devices this small with this much power and still make them easily hackable.

And despite this bitching, Apple still commands the #1 consumer satisfaction spot for the latest in eight consecutive years, far ahead of the nearest competitor. Apple makes their customers happy. Those customers buy more Apple products, and tell their friends how happy they are with the products. That is why they won't fail.

A friend asked me to go with him to Best Buy to replace his dead PC the other day. I thought a switch to Mac would be a stretch for him, so he'd probably be more comfortable sticking with a PC. He has never owned an Apple product. I took him straight to the mid-range PCs and explained what could be a good replacement. He decided the all-in-one configuration was best for him (he wants simple, but doesn't want a laptop), but he was worried about their construction. So I took him by the iMacs to show him a reference point for solid construction (the rest are cheap plastic) and started to take him back to the PCs to pick one.

Too late. He was hooked, I couldn't drag him back to the PCs. Instantly, the quality did it, he felt all the others were cheaply made and had dull screens. Ten minutes playing with it and he was comfortable enough with the OS to buy one, regardless of only having ever used Windows. He spent more than he'd planned, and I kept mentioning that was a lot of money, but he felt it was well worth it. After all, that's how much his PC had cost him in 2005.

Quality: Another reason why Apple pushes so much product.

[antiRepublicrat]

Why would Apple downgrade to Linux when they’re already using BSD?

[antiRepublicrat]

Also, like I mentioned, the system would involve getting several patents for the features within it, and that could go into way over $100,000

Oh great, software and business process patents, which represent most of what's wrong and broken with our current system. "Hey, I have a great business idea" should not be patentable just because you do it on a computer instead of in your head.

[OldEarlGray]

Do you recall what happened in 2008?

 

Yes, you posted this vanity:

 

Help! ????? - not a valid win32 application
myself | myself

Posted on Friday, March 07, 2008 3:25:03 PM by adorno 

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1982166/posts

(Was it Bush's fault your 'puter got infected?)

And this one:

vanity
myself

Posted on Wednesday, October 22, 2008 2:54:57 PM by adorno

"However, if what I have in mind becomes successful..."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2112507/posts

 

So evidently you were already preemptively making excuses for your failure already back on 10-22-2008.  

 

" I might decide to start that business outside of the U.S. "

 

Good riddance.  Why haven't you?

 

Also, like I mentioned, the system would involve getting several patents

Tsk Tsk Wiley, that is a problem - given your empty bank accounts and all.  Have you thought about offering the ACME company a chance to invest in your super duper Google killer ---  perhaps they can find some gullible fool to buy what you're shoveling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d8ROhH3_vs

 

None of the plethora of American programmers I've worked with over the years have empty bank accounts. Maybe that's because, unlike you, their "current" projects actually get finished.

Beep Beep.

 

[OldEarlGray]

 

Remember when 'Microsoft Surface' was a bar table?

"[snip] The Surface 1.0 lived for three years before a new model took over in 2011: the Samsung SUR40. That next-gen model got a price cut, retailing at $8,400, and comes with improved specs like a 40-inch touchscreen.

But you won't find many traces of it left on Microsoft's website. Microsoft's Surface page is now a tablet brochure, with a teeny fine-print note at the bottom: "Looking for the Samsung SUR40 with Microsoft Pixelsense? Visit www.pixelsense.com."

http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/19/technology/microsoft-surface-table-pixelsense/index.htm

 

RE-Surfacing the Surface?

Thar she blows!

[OldEarlGray]

>>The business would get killed almost as soon as it got started

Meanwhile, in reality land:

https://www.facebook.com/home.php

Yeah, it’s run by liberal a$$holes - but even so it’s a self-evident LIVE example of how full of bovine excrement your whining vapor-piehole really is.

NO SALE.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Why would GM build both Chevrolets and Cadillacs?

[antiRepublicrat]

Why would GM build both Chevrolets and Cadillacs?

Market segmentation. Apple gains nothing by producing a Linux line since Apple is already using a certified UNIX platform. All it would do is over-complicate Apple's offerings and massively add to integration, testing and support costs. If Apple decided to segment in this manner, it would be easier and less costly to produce a down-market variant of the current BSD. Even Chevys and Caddies use a lot of the same parts, an Escalade basically being a Tahoe with a facelift.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Linux would cost very little to Apple, as most distros are already heavily adaptable schmoos — wherever Windows goes, and Apple hardware runs Windows, then so does Linux. And Apple would have to release next to nothing under the GPL, Apple’s user applications not counting as part of Linux any more than, say, an installation of Oracle would.

[adorno]

Facebook? Really???

You prove to be dumber by the post.

Facebook is a website started before 2008, and the economy was doing quite well when they launched.

Reality-land is more like what’s happening now, and since 2008, where people fear starting or expanding businesses.

So, your “real” world is really a world of fantasy, and, perhaps you have been watching too much of the Disney Channel. But, for the sake of the world, keep watching the Disney Channel, and stop annoying the adults.

[OldEarlGray]

"Back in March 2008, Facebook wasn't yet the most popular social network in the world yet. Now, it's crushing everybody. Look at the chart below (from a report on SharesPost): Facebook's popularity is simply on a different scale than its competition's."

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2010-04-08/tech/30052056_1_facebook-sharespost-popular-social-network

Stop whining and go build something, loser.  

 

 

 

[adorno]

Do you recall what happened in 2008?

Yes, you posted this vanity:

You must be the dopiest person I ever encountered anywhere.

Not even my cats are as dumb.

But, you must be the only one on the planet who's not aware of the economic downturn which caused so much harm, to individuals and to businesses and to governments all over the world. That would make for a very bad business environment in which to start a business.

And, you're still too brainless to understand my comment regarding "my empty bank account". Did you at least try to find a monkey to explain it to you?

And, starting a business outside the U.S. is a very viable, and perhaps very advisable option, since, most big corporations are doing exactly that, with many of their main operations taking place outside the U.S. Again, you're the only one not aware of the situation.

And, you again, as the dummy you have proven to be, would expect that, I would let anybody know the shape that my bank accounts are in. "Dumb and Dumber" was a movie about people like you, but, if there were to be a third person in that movie, your part would be "Dumbest".