Microsoft Surface

umm that all they've done is move the tech behind the magic from the keyboard part of a laptop to the screen part of a laptop?

Erm, you can turn things around and some things things look similar? No idea - probably something to do with internets.

  On 6/21/2012 at 8:38 AM, zazen said:

  On 6/20/2012 at 8:17 PM, chenGOD said:

  On 6/20/2012 at 7:38 PM, o00o said:

 

lol

 

Clever graphic, but what criticism or point is it trying to make?

You can't buy it now. The keynote was a disaster:

[media=]

Just jump in quickly:

min 13:35 FAIL

min 14:07 FAIL

min 18:45 FAIL

min 19:47 FAIL

min 24:05 FAIL

Its the same iSlate in a new box that was to kill the iPad years ago:

I think there are some good ideas in there

A nicely designed kickstand makes sense.

A magnetic cover with a keyboard in it is a genius idea (and tricky to engineer) and if Apple had done it first everyone would be hailing their genius and calling it the end of the laptop etc.

Getting an Ivy Bridge architecture with x86 into a decent sized tablet and making it work is tricky. Their cooling system idea is good.

I can get behind Microsoft snark most times, but if you always snark even when there's potentially good stuff, then the snark starts to lose its potency. Save your snark for when they really balls it up. As the Dalai Lama once said.

  On 6/20/2012 at 7:15 PM, goDel said:

It has ...euh.. internet explorer..

 

LOL

 

 

[media=]

[/media]

He had to grab another one? What a fucking disaster.

They should have eliminated the keyboard, it's a waste of space. There is no possible ergonomy in keys that are 0.1mm in depth. Why do a half-assed job? A real one or none.

  On 6/22/2012 at 12:03 AM, zazen said:

I think there are some good ideas in there

 

A nicely designed kickstand makes sense.

 

A magnetic cover with a keyboard in it is a genius idea (and tricky to engineer) and if Apple had done it first everyone would be hailing their genius and calling it the end of the laptop etc.

 

Getting an Ivy Bridge architecture with x86 into a decent sized tablet and making it work is tricky. Their cooling system idea is good.

 

I can get behind Microsoft snark most times, but if you always snark even when there's potentially good stuff, then the snark starts to lose its potency. Save your snark for when they really balls it up. As the Dalai Lama once said.

this.

  On 6/22/2012 at 1:06 AM, auxien said:

  On 6/22/2012 at 12:03 AM, zazen said:

I think there are some good ideas in there

 

A nicely designed kickstand makes sense.

 

A magnetic cover with a keyboard in it is a genius idea (and tricky to engineer) and if Apple had done it first everyone would be hailing their genius and calling it the end of the laptop etc.

 

Getting an Ivy Bridge architecture with x86 into a decent sized tablet and making it work is tricky. Their cooling system idea is good.

 

I can get behind Microsoft snark most times, but if you always snark even when there's potentially good stuff, then the snark starts to lose its potency. Save your snark for when they really balls it up. As the Dalai Lama once said.

 

this.

  On 6/22/2012 at 12:52 AM, Philip Glass said:

They should have eliminated the keyboard, it's a waste of space. There is no possible ergonomy in keys that are 0.1mm in depth. Why do a half-assed job? A real one or none.

this

I agree that surface has some potential. But there's a couple of huge red lights when during the presentation a huge point is being made about perfection being a culture and what not (sounds like microsofts late response to the early nineties interview with steve jobs about microsoft having no sense of culture?). And in that same presentation quite a number things just go wrong in a painful way.

Way to go perfection.

I fear these good ideas will get overshadowed by the old microsoft culture of throwing as much as possible inside a box. Things went wrong, IMO, because they've tried to achieve too much in the available time. And the end result may be a product with a number of good ideas which just don't quite work as perfectly as proposed.

Perfect ideas, poor execution.

I love the amount of mac laptops in the audience of the presentation

  On 6/22/2012 at 12:52 AM, Philip Glass said:

They should have eliminated the keyboard, it's a waste of space. There is no possible ergonomy in keys that are 0.1mm in depth. Why do a half-assed job? A real one or none.

They have one.

Anyway, I think this looks like a great product, if it works properly. The keynote has me worried that is not the case.

  On 6/22/2012 at 10:44 AM, modey said:

I love the amount of mac laptops in the audience of the presentation

yes, and all the blabbering about software and hardware being tightly developed together, I can't think of one computer company which has ever done that before, can you?

  On 6/22/2012 at 12:03 AM, zazen said:

I think there are some good ideas in there

 

A nicely designed kickstand makes sense.

 

A magnetic cover with a keyboard in it is a genius idea (and tricky to engineer) and if Apple had done it first everyone would be hailing their genius and calling it the end of the laptop etc.

 

Getting an Ivy Bridge architecture with x86 into a decent sized tablet and making it work is tricky. Their cooling system idea is good.

 

I can get behind Microsoft snark most times, but if you always snark even when there's potentially good stuff, then the snark starts to lose its potency. Save your snark for when they really balls it up. As the Dalai Lama once said.

What, they didn't ball it up enough in that press conference? The dude had to get another model since the one he had crashed so badly.

This thing isn't fit to be a kickstand for an iPad.

  On 6/22/2012 at 5:41 AM, delet... said:

  On 6/22/2012 at 1:06 AM, auxien said:

  On 6/22/2012 at 12:03 AM, zazen said:

I think there are some good ideas in there

 

A nicely designed kickstand makes sense.

 

A magnetic cover with a keyboard in it is a genius idea (and tricky to engineer) and if Apple had done it first everyone would be hailing their genius and calling it the end of the laptop etc.

 

Getting an Ivy Bridge architecture with x86 into a decent sized tablet and making it work is tricky. Their cooling system idea is good.

 

I can get behind Microsoft snark most times, but if you always snark even when there's potentially good stuff, then the snark starts to lose its potency. Save your snark for when they really balls it up. As the Dalai Lama once said.

 

this.

How is snark not warranted when MS breathlessly introduces a product that has no set price, no set release date, and doesn't even function properly during the breathless keynote?

Release a finished, polished product and no snark will be warranted.

Christ, the UI looks laggy as shit even when the device appears to be functioning as intended.

A couple good ideas and a totally botched execution, as usual.

  On 6/22/2012 at 9:29 PM, baph said:

How is snark not warranted when MS breathlessly introduces a product that has no set price, no set release date, and doesn't even function properly during the breathless keynote?

 

Release a finished, polished product and no snark will be warranted.

 

Christ, the UI looks laggy as shit even when the device appears to be functioning as intended.

 

A couple good ideas and a totally botched execution, as usual.

it seems a logical conclusion that some people have a different point at which we think snark is warranted...it's almost as if people have different perspectives on things. fuckin' crazy, mate.

  On 6/19/2012 at 8:53 AM, ZiggomaticV17 said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpzu3HM2CIo&feature=player_embedded

 

Ufabulum?

When things crash during a demo, it can mean that the demo is too early, not that the product is bad.

(because all products are unstable at some point in their development)

I've heard that they rushed out this demo because Google are imminently going to unveil a tablet and so MS wanted to get there first. MS must have been working on this stuff for years, and decided it was better to demo now than wait till later. Hence no release date, costs etc (although they did say the ARM one would be coming out same time as Win8 and be roughly ipad-priced).

So, I'll vote guilty to them demoing too early (although they had their reasons) but not-guilty to the charge of crappy product.

Also, one thing this surface might do is really piss off their OEM partners.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/20/technology/microsoft-surface-hardware/index.htm

Zazen, the fact that they've been working on tablets for years (they're actually one of the first companies working on the tablet factor) and still can't show something beyond beta status speaks volumes. They might release some working product somewhere in the future, but the question is when and wether it will be too late. Odds are, they have to leave out functionality to have it fully working.

This might be MS's next Zune: in the end a good product, but too little too late.

doesn't look very good does it? as someone else said - typical microsoft trying to cram waaaay too much into a product. who the fuck needs an ivy bridge core i5 CPU in a tablet? i mean, sure, i guess there are one or two people that might need all that power for 3D design and the like, but the vast majority of people will never come close to needing that. also, if you're doing CPU intensive 3D shit or whatever, then 9 times out of ten you're going to be sitting at a desk on a desktop computer. obviously that's why they have 2 versions, but i don't get why they even need the "pro" version really - they're just trying to impress by putting the fastest processor possible into a device which doesn't require a super-fast processor. also the UI looks laggy as shit, even on the "pro" version (as somebody else already said) and generally the device seems to be beset with problems and bugs, which is also very typical of microsoft. you just know that if/when they actually release this thing, there is going to be a positive shitstorm of problems and returns and a whole load of bad press.

also, the whole presentation was very poor - like, in terms of the people speaking, their presentation skills, the setup, music etc. just looked really unprofessional and thrown together at the last minute - much like the surface i expect.

What BCM said, all of it.

Although I doubt Microsoft is making the right choices with their silly touch UI in Windows 8 there might be people interested in a touch device with an operating system that is not jailed like iOS or Android. Running actual programs instead of some low-footprint version lacking features.

Not that I'd ever want a touch device like this. Touchscreens for general computer use is not progress.

  Quote

Running actual programs instead of some low-footprint version lacking features.

totally, im beginning to get a bit of a chubby for the x86 version.

  Quote

who the fuck needs an ivy bridge core i5 CPU in a tablet?

everyone, it's the right step forward, it looks like an actual mobile desktop pc.

I'm still not convinced that people actually need tablets, they are mere toys really than tools. Looks like MS are trying to change that a bit by trying to combine desktop laptop and tablet, a bit like the asus transformer.