microsoft announces new tablet

[polaris20]

The iPAD is slick, but I don't need a $600 portable movie player, book reader and web-browser. I need a tablet to do all of that, plus allow me to get some work done on it. I need it to run Word and Excel, plus I need to be able to offload and back up files from my cameras when I'm out in the field. That's the iPAD's weakness, and finally Microsoft is addressing it.

It's a damn good thing then that the iPad does more than just play movies, display books, and have a web browser. I'm also glad that I can edit Word and Excel docs whenever I want, and backup my digital camera files.

I try to take all those people on the Internet claiming that they use their iPad all the time seriously but I just can't. I know at least 10 people that own iPads. Of those, not one uses it on a daily basis. Not a single one. All of them claimed to have used it often for the first week and then the use tapered off until it was sitting in a corner gathering dust. Anectodal evidence and all that, I know - but it can't just be my social circle. Android tablets are also incredibly useless but they don't have an apple drawing on their backplate.

More anecdotal evidence: we've got about 50 of them deployed at my company so far, and they're used daily, and for work purposes. They're great devices. When coupled with decent software (QuickOffice, Evernote, Dropbox, Citrix XenApp, etc.) they're incredibly useful due to capability, size, and weight.

Surface Pro seems destined to change that. (full) FL Studio on a decent tab? I'll take it! Kontakt and Absynth and all the stuff I'm using for music production? Yes, please. Movies on a plane too? Why, yes, that's a bonus. But please, don't give me a device with watered-down music apps that's essentially made for content consumption. I won't take that. Even if millions of people before me did.

Whatever works for you, I guess. But I certainly don't want an application designed to be used with a keyboard and mouse on a capacitive, touch-enabled screen. Anyone who's ever used a Windows 7 tablet knows that.

[SadPuppyBlues]

If iPads were being sold by any other company than Apple (we all know they hype Apple can create) they would be a huge disaster.

Haha, yes.

[SadPuppyBlues]

Whatever works for you, I guess. But I certainly don't want an application designed to be used with a keyboard and mouse on a capacitive, touch-enabled screen. Anyone who's ever used a Windows 7 tablet knows that.

So you don't think FL's clip matrix thing was about getting some tablet action?

I thought it was pretty transparent. I'm gonna buy FL when decent tablets come out, when FL really ports to Metro, and when Ableton takes too long. That's what I see happening.

[TristezaOrange]

The iPAD is slick, but I don't need a $600 portable movie player, book reader and web-browser. I need a tablet to do all of that, plus allow me to get some work done on it. I need it to run Word and Excel, plus I need to be able to offload and back up files from my cameras when I'm out in the field. That's the iPAD's weakness, and finally Microsoft is addressing it.

It's a damn good thing then that the iPad does more than just play movies, display books, and have a web browser. I'm also glad that I can edit Word and Excel docs whenever I want, and backup my digital camera files.

But see, that's the thing: can't you do all of the above more productively with a, say, MacBook Air? Or any other light/slim laptop?

I try to take all those people on the Internet claiming that they use their iPad all the time seriously but I just can't. I know at least 10 people that own iPads. Of those, not one uses it on a daily basis. Not a single one. All of them claimed to have used it often for the first week and then the use tapered off until it was sitting in a corner gathering dust. Anectodal evidence and all that, I know - but it can't just be my social circle. Android tablets are also incredibly useless but they don't have an apple drawing on their backplate.

More anecdotal evidence: we've got about 50 of them deployed at my company so far, and they're used daily, and for work purposes. They're great devices. When coupled with decent software (QuickOffice, Evernote, Dropbox, Citrix XenApp, etc.) they're incredibly useful due to capability, size, and weight.

See, I don't doubt for a second that what you're saying is true. But I also know this: if I was given a tool I didn't know I needed before and told to use it, I would most probably find a need/use for it eventually. QuickOffice sucks IMHO. But it's better than no-Office any day, right? Dropbox? Nice tool but it's not tablet-specific. Also, document/spreadsheet editing on a touchscreen? I'd rather eat nails dipped in chilli sauce and then sh*t them out.

Anyway, my take on it is this: other than browsing in the toiler or watching films lying on my back (which I regularly do on my smartphone without fear of carpel tunnel syndrome) I can't think of a single thing that a tablet does better than a laptop/ultrabook. Or a smartphone, for certain functions. But as always YMMV.

[LoFREEQ_Recordings]

The iPAD is slick, but I don't need a $600 portable movie player, book reader and web-browser. I need a tablet to do all of that, plus allow me to get some work done on it. I need it to run Word and Excel, plus I need to be able to offload and back up files from my cameras when I'm out in the field. That's the iPAD's weakness, and finally Microsoft is addressing it.

It's a damn good thing then that the iPad does more than just play movies, display books, and have a web browser. I'm also glad that I can edit Word and Excel docs whenever I want, and backup my digital camera files.

But see, that's the thing: can't you do all of the above more productively with a, say, MacBook Air? Or any other light/slim laptop?

Yup, in essence I'm hoping that Surface will end up being the love child of the iPAD and that underpowered netbook I've been using up until now.

[chj]

Looks promising. Just one question, where do you put the keyboard when you just want to go pure tablet mode? Does it fold up flush to the back or something?

[Shy]

<random made-up price> is the same cost of a laptop with better features and running the same OS.

Except IT HAS NO TOUCH SCREEN, so it's hardly even comparable.

As far as I'm concerned, a tablet is good mainly for things that benefit from the use of the touch interface. I'd rather use a desktop or laptop computer for stuff like "office software", internet browsing, relay chat or VOIP, audio and video playback, etc. etc., and a tablet for stuff that isn't even possible without a touch screen interface, like multi-touch virtual MIDI CC-controlling faders, or Wacom-level graphic editing, which is still not possible on general-purpose tablets because of lack of pressure-sensitivity.

[egbert]

As for the $83 figure; that's what I heard on a podcast today. But that could be just further speculation.
EDIT
Ah, here you go:
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/13 ... from-apple

OK - the game is afoot! Perhaps MS want first shot at the market with their Surface stuff. Still n'all - that pricing strategy is quite amazing.

On the dual boot: this is dual boot but not as we know it. Did you check out the large Asus Win8 tablet/all in one on show a week or so back. It looks like an all in one with an 18.4" full HD screen but, blow me down if you can't pluck it off its stand and it is a wireless screen or a jumbo tablet with multi-touch and Android. The Tranformer AiO can switch either by a button press in the stand or automatically between the two modes (on the fly) and the journo says it has a remote control for Win 8 which runs on Android. Park it back in the stand and it reinstates your Win 8 (x86) session.

[egbert]

@Tristeza Orange - on iPad utility. I am pretty much with you - I much prefer a larger screen and keyboard input. I do however encounter people for whom the iPad is a bit of a godsend. I know a gigging musician who plays keys (hammond and pianos mostly). He gets around on a pushbike. He has iRealBook and other music chart programs loaded on the thing and has it in a leather bound folder and uses it for his tune charts - he has literally thousands of charts on it. I saw him take a request the other day and pull down a new chart for the tune off the net and after a few muttered instructions to the bass player he proceeded to count in the band (!). He also has some basic keys instruments in the iPad itself which - so he says - with MIDI input and audio out let him play some gigs just off the iPad as chart and sound source. Now this guy puts the thing on the music rest on on an upright piano or a Hammond. I guess the Surface could stand on lots of things or be used the same way. Whether the very useful software this guy uses will be ported from the iOS environment anytime soon is quite another matter.

[UltraJv]

@Tristeza Orange - on iPad utility. I am pretty much with you - I much prefer a larger screen and keyboard input. I do however encounter people for whom the iPad is a bit of a godsend. I know a gigging musician who plays keys (hammond and pianos mostly). He gets around on a pushbike. He has iRealBook and other music chart programs loaded on the thing and has it in a leather bound folder and uses it for his tune charts - he has literally thousands of charts on it. I saw him take a request the other day and pull down a new chart for the tune off the net and after a few muttered instructions to the bass player he proceeded to count in the band (!). He also has some basic keys instruments in the iPad itself which - so he says - with MIDI input and audio out let him play some gigs just off the iPad as chart and sound source. Now this guy puts the thing on the music rest on on an upright piano or a Hammond. I guess the Surface could stand on lots of things or be used the same way. Whether the very useful software this guy uses will be ported from the iOS environment anytime soon is quite another matter.

Nice app. Most people use songbooks for this though. No batteries, no connectivity problems, excellent portability and display. Minimal cost for each band member. No midi of course but you cant have it all

[polaris20]

The iPAD is slick, but I don't need a $600 portable movie player, book reader and web-browser. I need a tablet to do all of that, plus allow me to get some work done on it. I need it to run Word and Excel, plus I need to be able to offload and back up files from my cameras when I'm out in the field. That's the iPAD's weakness, and finally Microsoft is addressing it.

It's a damn good thing then that the iPad does more than just play movies, display books, and have a web browser. I'm also glad that I can edit Word and Excel docs whenever I want, and backup my digital camera files.

But see, that's the thing: can't you do all of the above more productively with a, say, MacBook Air? Or any other light/slim laptop?

I try to take all those people on the Internet claiming that they use their iPad all the time seriously but I just can't. I know at least 10 people that own iPads. Of those, not one uses it on a daily basis. Not a single one. All of them claimed to have used it often for the first week and then the use tapered off until it was sitting in a corner gathering dust. Anectodal evidence and all that, I know - but it can't just be my social circle. Android tablets are also incredibly useless but they don't have an apple drawing on their backplate.

More anecdotal evidence: we've got about 50 of them deployed at my company so far, and they're used daily, and for work purposes. They're great devices. When coupled with decent software (QuickOffice, Evernote, Dropbox, Citrix XenApp, etc.) they're incredibly useful due to capability, size, and weight.

See, I don't doubt for a second that what you're saying is true. But I also know this: if I was given a tool I didn't know I needed before and told to use it, I would most probably find a need/use for it eventually. QuickOffice sucks IMHO. But it's better than no-Office any day, right? Dropbox? Nice tool but it's not tablet-specific. Also, document/spreadsheet editing on a touchscreen? I'd rather eat nails dipped in chilli sauce and then sh*t them out.

Anyway, my take on it is this: other than browsing in the toiler or watching films lying on my back (which I regularly do on my smartphone without fear of carpel tunnel syndrome) I can't think of a single thing that a tablet does better than a laptop/ultrabook. Or a smartphone, for certain functions. But as always YMMV.

Yeah, my mileage does vary. As I've said countless times before, there's no laptop that's 1.5 pounds and has 10+ hours of battery life, and can be carried around for hours at a time entering data. That's what we use it for, and even a MacBook Air (at double the price, btw) would be tedious, due to the form factor.

As for me, I've got a MBP and an iPad, and it's a lot nicer traveling with just the iPad. I've got RDP, SSH, and VNC to get into servers on it, QuickOffice and Citrix for Office docs (soon to be regular MS Office), and remote support tools. Sure I can do everything on an MBA that I can the iPad. But why would I want to have my regular MBP for $2200, and then another laptop for at least $1000, when I can just use the iPad? When I travel, I don't have to take it out at TSA, which is also nice. If you don't think they're a necessity, that's fine. They're probably not. But for a lot of people, they're nice to have. If your original metric for success were your ten friends, Apple wouldn't continue to sell millions of iPads with every release. Amazon wouldn't be selling Fires by the truckload. MS wouldn't be announcing the Surface, in either RT or x86 form. Everyone would be content with small and light laptops.

Clearly the public wanted something other than the netbooks though, which were/are underpowered for the OSes they run, with shitty keyboards and poor battery life in comparison to tablets.

[egbert]

Most people use songbooks for this though. No batteries, no connectivity problems, excellent portability and display. Minimal cost for each band member. No midi of course but you cant have it all

I have a sagging shelf at home with ~ ten volumes of Realbook (various keys, various volumes). I still don't have anywhere near what this guy has in his 560g package. The range of tunes is way wider too and the cost is negligible. He plays with horns (bari, tenor and trumpet) and says you can print out versions in all needed keys and have them emailed to your band members to print out. No photocopying or scanning needed, no postage. Then there's the fact that you can find things instantly. I hate the wasted time and effort involved searching hard-copy anything - dictionaries and phonebooks etc - when in seconds with a computer I can type in my search and see the answer almost immediately.

[TristezaOrange]

Yeah, my mileage does vary. As I've said countless times before, there's no laptop that's 1.5 pounds and has 10+ hours of battery life, and can be carried around for hours at a time entering data. That's what we use it for, and even a MacBook Air (at double the price, btw) would be tedious, due to the form factor.

As for me, I've got a MBP and an iPad, and it's a lot nicer traveling with just the iPad. I've got RDP, SSH, and VNC to get into servers on it, QuickOffice and Citrix for Office docs (soon to be regular MS Office), and remote support tools. Sure I can do everything on an MBA that I can the iPad. But why would I want to have my regular MBP for $2200, and then another laptop for at least $1000, when I can just use the iPad? When I travel, I don't have to take it out at TSA, which is also nice. If you don't think they're a necessity, that's fine. They're probably not. But for a lot of people, they're nice to have. If your original metric for success were your ten friends, Apple wouldn't continue to sell millions of iPads with every release. Amazon wouldn't be selling Fires by the truckload. MS wouldn't be announcing the Surface, in either RT or x86 form. Everyone would be content with small and light laptops.

Clearly the public wanted something other than the netbooks though, which were/are underpowered for the OSes they run, with shitty keyboards and poor battery life in comparison to tablets.

Wow, OK, don't rupture a vein there. I don't know why you even bothered replying to me since everything you've written is right there in my post:

1. I never doubted that you were telling the truth about them being useful to you and your company

2. I mentioned that I know that what happens within my circle of ten friends is anecdotal evidence.

3. I certainly agree with you that they are not necessary

4. I don't doubt for a second that you can create scenarios where iPads can be useful. I also don't doubt for a second that there has to be a scenario where a 1-inch screen walkie-talkie/laser pointer/thermometer can be useful and that there will be a person there to defend its existence.

I won't look at sales numbers as a compelling reason for the existence of something. Nobody needs Luis Vuitton bags but I bet that they sell by the truckload.

[TristezaOrange]

@Tristeza Orange - on iPad utility. I am pretty much with you - I much prefer a larger screen and keyboard input. I do however encounter people for whom the iPad is a bit of a godsend. I know a gigging musician who plays keys (hammond and pianos mostly). He gets around on a pushbike. He has iRealBook and other music chart programs loaded on the thing and has it in a leather bound folder and uses it for his tune charts - he has literally thousands of charts on it. I saw him take a request the other day and pull down a new chart for the tune off the net and after a few muttered instructions to the bass player he proceeded to count in the band (!). He also has some basic keys instruments in the iPad itself which - so he says - with MIDI input and audio out let him play some gigs just off the iPad as chart and sound source. Now this guy puts the thing on the music rest on on an upright piano or a Hammond. I guess the Surface could stand on lots of things or be used the same way. Whether the very useful software this guy uses will be ported from the iOS environment anytime soon is quite another matter.

That sounds like another scenario where an iPad can be useful.

[polaris20]

Yeah, my mileage does vary. As I've said countless times before, there's no laptop that's 1.5 pounds and has 10+ hours of battery life, and can be carried around for hours at a time entering data. That's what we use it for, and even a MacBook Air (at double the price, btw) would be tedious, due to the form factor.

As for me, I've got a MBP and an iPad, and it's a lot nicer traveling with just the iPad. I've got RDP, SSH, and VNC to get into servers on it, QuickOffice and Citrix for Office docs (soon to be regular MS Office), and remote support tools. Sure I can do everything on an MBA that I can the iPad. But why would I want to have my regular MBP for $2200, and then another laptop for at least $1000, when I can just use the iPad? When I travel, I don't have to take it out at TSA, which is also nice. If you don't think they're a necessity, that's fine. They're probably not. But for a lot of people, they're nice to have. If your original metric for success were your ten friends, Apple wouldn't continue to sell millions of iPads with every release. Amazon wouldn't be selling Fires by the truckload. MS wouldn't be announcing the Surface, in either RT or x86 form. Everyone would be content with small and light laptops.

Clearly the public wanted something other than the netbooks though, which were/are underpowered for the OSes they run, with shitty keyboards and poor battery life in comparison to tablets.

Wow, OK, don't rupture a vein there. I don't know why you even bothered replying to me since everything you've written is right there in my post:

1. I never doubted that you were telling the truth about them being useful to you and your company

2. I mentioned that I know that what happens within my circle of ten friends is anecdotal evidence.

3. I certainly agree with you that they are not necessary

4. I don't doubt for a second that you can create scenarios where iPads can be useful. I also don't doubt for a second that there has to be a scenario where a 1-inch screen walkie-talkie/laser pointer/thermometer can be useful and that there will be a person there to defend its existence.

I won't look at sales numbers as a compelling reason for the existence of something. Nobody needs Luis Vuitton bags but I bet that they sell by the truckload.

Not rupturing a vein, just stating my reason for the device. Sales numbers are a very compelling reason for the existence of something. If you build it, they will come. Supply and demand, and all.

Some Apple nutjobs would probably have you believe the iPad has changed the world. It hasn't. But it's made it a bit more entertaining on the go, as well as providing quite a bit of utility for a lot of folks.

Some people are very content with a small laptop and a smart phone. Nothing wrong with that.