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Opinion: Microsoft Surface - The Good, the Ugly and the Unknown

By

On June 20, 2012, 12:25 PM

Out of nowhere, Microsoft had an announcement to make. Nothing concrete leaked ahead of the event except that it would be tablet-related. Everybody was skeptical, myself included.

The presentation began and it seemed like more of the same. Don't call it a tablet -- it's the new "Surface"… boring. It's thin, but not much more than existing tablets. It has a kickstand... umm ok. A magnetic cover -- yeah, we’ve seen that somewhere before. Oh, and it doubles as a super-thin keyboard. Wait, what?

That's how the announcement went. Microsoft nailed it. The company used secrecy to build hype, a favorite tactic of Apple, and ultimately managed to surprise most onlookers. At least on paper, Surface tablets seem great. Here are some deeper thoughts on what Microsoft has done right so far and the challenges ahead.

Read the complete article.

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User Comments: 30

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  1. @mario

    I think the uniqueness of keyboard design/materials means it may take some time getting used to, even for an experienced pro, so instead of getting some bad press due to shortage of time for such demo they opted to restrict keyboard access.

    @Julio

    On the back stabbing issue, I think MS is telling its OEM partners that they need to wake up and stop producing 'generic' notebooks/tabs/pcs year after year (with some small tweaks) and lots of crapware on them, ruining the user experience. So IMHO MS is showing them how to be more creative as making another copycat of iPad is just not feasible.

    Yeah I have to agree with you on that to a degree and I think that's what Google's doing with Nexus devices always the first to run new Android updates to latest version. Any manufacturer or carrier can do the same thing by giving their customers the out of box Android experience, but few are willing to just leave a good thing alone!

  2. I don't understand why people say that this is going to be the best tablet because it will "have windows 8". Has everybody forgotten that you can put widows on an iPad? I have it on my iPad 3 and it works great. I mean I don't use it that often because there is nothing I could or would need to do on the windows side that I couldn't do on the iOS side, but when I do randomly decide to boot up windows it works great.

    Are you out of your mind? There is no way you have Windows running on an ARM device, because the RT version has only been preliminarily released to developers. Therefore YOU nor any other ordinary mortals can even get Windows 8 RT (ARM) Edition!

    Just get over your 'Teh Apple is teh gOd brainwashed disorder!

  3. In the "The Ugly" section you forgot to add:

    another 16:9 tablet

    useless in portrait mode

    useless in landscape mode

  4. <windozefanboibash>

    Agree, is sad? How sad? This sad and more?

    Windows 95 Launch, People Wait in Lines, Windows 95 Plagued with Driver Problems

    http://www.conceivablytech.com/?p=2400

    Remember people getting excited about Windows ME (miserable edition) but apparently no line waiting recorded, chock one up for joe consumer!

    People wait in line for Microsoft Vista (Zune for Desktop?, "MS Windows Fail Professional"

    http://scoble.it/LJw3wl

    (photo) People wait in line to by a Windows 7 Mobile Phones at 3am ("MS Mobile Fail"

    http://bit.ly/LJwMxJ

    (photo) And the first guy to make that mistake! (doh!)

    http://thenextweb.com/?p=197429

    (photo) People wait in line for Microsoft Windows 7 (photo - dork alert!, MS Vista with coat nu paint)

    http://www.mobiletechworld.com/?p=3828

    People line up for Microsoft Store opening? not interested in Microsoft tho? just want swag

    http://bit.ly/LJx9Iq

    And you can bet they will wait in line for the MS HP Slate PC 2.0, er the MS Surface?

    Signed,

    Microsoft Bob (going Metro of course)

    [video embed]

    </windozefanboibash>

  5. "Whether you like it or not, tons of people have been waiting for a fully functional desktop OS in this form factor"

    Dell Latitude ST Atom Z670, comes with a full version of Windows 7 pro.

    I think "ton's" of people need to get out more.

    I'm a patient man though, I'll wait til we get closer to a release date and we get more details on this thing before I start saying It's the "ipad killer" or "It's going the way of Microsoft bob and the Zune".

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