Hooray, the new ZunePad is here. Admittedly, it's been a long time since I've tried a Windows system. So I can't speak with authority. And yes, reinventions of oneself can succeed someimes.
But why does it seem like Microsoft still doesn't get it?
From a distance, Windows 8 looks like eye-candy snap-fitted on top of clunk. It is as unintegrated and unwelcoming to the user as a fashion catalog is to a man looking for some bathroom reading, with any temporary allure quickly succumbing to the question: Why does anybody waste time looking at this stuff?
P.S. Is it my imagination or are the dimensions on that tablet really strange?
I too, was intrigued by the concept (in theory)
I tried the beta preview.
This is my take as a fan of both companies products over the years.
While Microsoft is trying to mix the tablet and full computer experience into one machine.... They kind of failed because it's still 2 very seperate interfaces that hardly share data in the seamless way apple does. :(
Apple saw this years ago.
They are using cloud servers to push all (or most) of your data, apps & settings to both the mobile devices (iPod, iPad, iPhone) and Mac computers (maybe the apple TV too)
So saving your browsing tabs, history, opening your calendar, contact list, reading a book etc. is synced across all devices including the page you read most recently. In real life, I believe this will prove to be a much better experience for the user.
They didn't invent this idea. I don't know who did, but I saw this with the amazon kindle ebook software many years ago. I had the program and all of my books on a 2 computers and an iphone app. It would 'remember' what page I stopped reading my book on so I could continue on a different device. (a lot like multi room DVRs do with TV & Movies)
This gives you a choice to access your data on a full computer and a mobile device.
Considering the windows touch interface (Metro) is designed to save batteries and work with an on screen keyboard and no mouse but has no flash capability... You'll be forced to use the mouse driven full version of windows for some websites anyway, negating to full bennefit of the Tablets small size, light weight and ease of transport......
At that point rather than a bulky windows 8 touch creen laptop, I'd prefer a Mac Book Air. Almost anything I do on my iPad, I can finish on a Mac and vice versa.
If I wanted to use regular windows without a mouse, I'll just log into the Microsoft 'on live' app that lets you remotely rent a pc work station on your iPad using a broadband connection.
Madhatter61 - 12 years ago
What is Microsoft plus who's hardware going to bring to the party. Change for change sake does not make for progress. Apple's success is a combination of many issues ... Apps are huge, 400 million customers in iTunes trusting with their credit cards for easy purchase. Office is a great combo, but there is a lot more to the appeal of iPad than word processing, spreadsheets and presentation. Apple has all that is necessary in Pages, etc. Siri is a biggie ... AirPlay is a biggie ... high resolution display is huge. What is Microsoft really offering. We'll just have to wait and see. Vista was a joke. 10 hours plus for battery life is really important. I could go on, but that's a good starter
Jim Frost - 12 years ago
Win8 x86 tablets will price themsleves out of the market completely, there's just no getting away from the fact that full-blown Windows needs a lot of fairly expensive hardware.
WinRT tablets can't be any cheaper than the Android guys are managing, even if WinRT comes in as light as Android (might or might not - to run Office it's got to have some baggage). But WinRT's big problem is going to be a mear total lack of applications.
I don't see either of those making a near-term impact on Apple's market. Worse, consumers are starting to abandon Windows for the cheaper ARM stuff ... most of the major PC vendors are blaming the iPad for depressed laptop sales, for instance.
I see the strong possibility that Microsoft loses a big fraction of the consumer market, a lot of income, over the next several years. And Win8 won't sell worth a damn to businesses that are just now starting to move to Win7. Maybe WinRT can pull a rabbit out of a hat. Maybe Intel can manage to make chipsets powerful enough to run Win8 x86 and yet cheap enough to compete with ARM. Both seem like long shots, though.
Sorry Microsoft, you're no longer relevant.
Hooray, the new ZunePad is here. Admittedly, it's been a long time since I've tried a Windows system. So I can't speak with authority. And yes, reinventions of oneself can succeed someimes.
But why does it seem like Microsoft still doesn't get it?
From a distance, Windows 8 looks like eye-candy snap-fitted on top of clunk. It is as unintegrated and unwelcoming to the user as a fashion catalog is to a man looking for some bathroom reading, with any temporary allure quickly succumbing to the question: Why does anybody waste time looking at this stuff?
P.S. Is it my imagination or are the dimensions on that tablet really strange?
I too, was intrigued by the concept (in theory)
I tried the beta preview.
This is my take as a fan of both companies products over the years.
While Microsoft is trying to mix the tablet and full computer experience into one machine.... They kind of failed because it's still 2 very seperate interfaces that hardly share data in the seamless way apple does. :(
Apple saw this years ago.
They are using cloud servers to push all (or most) of your data, apps & settings to both the mobile devices (iPod, iPad, iPhone) and Mac computers (maybe the apple TV too)
So saving your browsing tabs, history, opening your calendar, contact list, reading a book etc. is synced across all devices including the page you read most recently. In real life, I believe this will prove to be a much better experience for the user.
They didn't invent this idea. I don't know who did, but I saw this with the amazon kindle ebook software many years ago. I had the program and all of my books on a 2 computers and an iphone app. It would 'remember' what page I stopped reading my book on so I could continue on a different device. (a lot like multi room DVRs do with TV & Movies)
This gives you a choice to access your data on a full computer and a mobile device.
Considering the windows touch interface (Metro) is designed to save batteries and work with an on screen keyboard and no mouse but has no flash capability... You'll be forced to use the mouse driven full version of windows for some websites anyway, negating to full bennefit of the Tablets small size, light weight and ease of transport......
At that point rather than a bulky windows 8 touch creen laptop, I'd prefer a Mac Book Air. Almost anything I do on my iPad, I can finish on a Mac and vice versa.
If I wanted to use regular windows without a mouse, I'll just log into the Microsoft 'on live' app that lets you remotely rent a pc work station on your iPad using a broadband connection.
What is Microsoft plus who's hardware going to bring to the party. Change for change sake does not make for progress. Apple's success is a combination of many issues ... Apps are huge, 400 million customers in iTunes trusting with their credit cards for easy purchase. Office is a great combo, but there is a lot more to the appeal of iPad than word processing, spreadsheets and presentation. Apple has all that is necessary in Pages, etc. Siri is a biggie ... AirPlay is a biggie ... high resolution display is huge. What is Microsoft really offering. We'll just have to wait and see. Vista was a joke. 10 hours plus for battery life is really important. I could go on, but that's a good starter
Win8 x86 tablets will price themsleves out of the market completely, there's just no getting away from the fact that full-blown Windows needs a lot of fairly expensive hardware.
WinRT tablets can't be any cheaper than the Android guys are managing, even if WinRT comes in as light as Android (might or might not - to run Office it's got to have some baggage). But WinRT's big problem is going to be a mear total lack of applications.
I don't see either of those making a near-term impact on Apple's market. Worse, consumers are starting to abandon Windows for the cheaper ARM stuff ... most of the major PC vendors are blaming the iPad for depressed laptop sales, for instance.
I see the strong possibility that Microsoft loses a big fraction of the consumer market, a lot of income, over the next several years. And Win8 won't sell worth a damn to businesses that are just now starting to move to Win7. Maybe WinRT can pull a rabbit out of a hat. Maybe Intel can manage to make chipsets powerful enough to run Win8 x86 and yet cheap enough to compete with ARM. Both seem like long shots, though.