Man--you almost feel bad for Microsoft, whose underwhelming tablet presentation by Steve Ballmer at CES was so disappointing that their stock dropped afterwards.
Despite the presence of three different flavors--e-reader, large-screen e-reader, and multimedia versions--the devices are essentially just computers with no keyboards, completely absent of the innovative twist or new service design people are expecting Apple's tablet to come with.
This almost takes pressure off of Apple for their forecasted January 27th tablet announcement; Microsoft has, well, lowered the bar.
via pc world
This runs Windows, unmodified. That UI blows hard for a tablet form factor. Basically, this has everything wrong with it that every previous slate style Tablet PC had wrong with it, plus it lacks a stylus for fine controls, so you're bound to fumble with it. Remember this much: IxD is everything and raw specs are nothing. (Not that these particular slates are bound to be particularly powerful anyway, given its form factor and that Windows 7 is capable of running even on netbooks.) Just because Amazon has a Kindle app for Windows doesn't automatically validate the platform on that particular form factor.
The single biggest flaw with Tablet PCs is the software. The hardware, while never particularly great, was always generally passable. All Microsoft ever did was take the full version of Windows and toss in a handful of features that would enable stylus control. They didn't make a new OS based on the Windows kernel suited for the job, and the closest thing to a specialized interface they ever had was for the doomed UMPC form factor, which was nothing but an app running on top of vanilla Windows. More than that, it also precluded developers from making full use of the form factor too, as every pen-enabled app that ever came out amounted to little more than a standard old Windows app with some number of pen controls. To my knowledge, only Alias attempted something even approaching a tablet-optimized program with SketchBook Pro, and even that fell somewhat short.
Apple, on the other hand, is expected to ship its rumored tablet with a new fork of OS X, designed specifically to take advantage of that form factor, as well as provide the foundation for press and publishers to release richly enhanced digital versions of their print content, certainly many steps above what the Kindle is capable of. It's also very likely this tablet will be backed by an app store similar to the one available on the iPhone OS, complete with tools for developers to easily make apps with appropriate UIs. In other words, it'll most likely get everything right that UMPCs and slate Tablet PCs have been getting wrong over and over and over again.
Balmer is a tool, and they should get someone else to present. I'm sure there are some charismatic folks hiding in the microsoft compound somewhere. Maybe. And like the above two said, it's a windows 7 demo, not a hardware demo.
As for the tablet itself, I kind of like it. I'm hoping for a generation of what are essentially touch screen netbooks. That would mean price is important, and too many innovations make things too expensive to fall in to that category. Note that Asus, Acer, Dell, and HP are all making a killing selling $200-$500 netbooks, while Sony is having a hard time turning out feature rich and powerful $1000 versions.
People don't want to bring a full featured desktop with a built in screen with them anymore (well, some do. But it's not so much with the kids these days). They want a cheap, light, sturdy, internet capable device that has enough battery to last through the day's activities. They want an iphone with a big screen for a few hundred shells. Apple would do well to cater to this market.
"the devices are essentially just computers with no keyboards, completely absent of the innovative twist or new service design people are expecting Apple's tablet to come with." -- so, what are you looking for? It runs windows 7 (so it must have at least, specs), runs a kindle software and looks about the right size. the border is disappointing but other than that, it sounds good.
Steve Ballmer never implied any ownership of those tablets. The tablets belong to Microsoft's OEM partners and are branded as such. Microsoft is utilizing them to showcase how flexible their platform is. "Microsoft's tablet" is terribly misleading.
That said, Steve Ballmer is a terrible presenter. I think they should start using Johnny Chung Lee.
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This runs Windows, unmodified. That UI blows hard for a tablet form factor. Basically, this has everything wrong with it that every previous slate style Tablet PC had wrong with it, plus it lacks a stylus for fine controls, so you're bound to fumble with it. Remember this much: IxD is everything and raw specs are nothing. (Not that these particular slates are bound to be particularly powerful anyway, given its form factor and that Windows 7 is capable of running even on netbooks.) Just because Amazon has a Kindle app for Windows doesn't automatically validate the platform on that particular form factor.
The single biggest flaw with Tablet PCs is the software. The hardware, while never particularly great, was always generally passable. All Microsoft ever did was take the full version of Windows and toss in a handful of features that would enable stylus control. They didn't make a new OS based on the Windows kernel suited for the job, and the closest thing to a specialized interface they ever had was for the doomed UMPC form factor, which was nothing but an app running on top of vanilla Windows. More than that, it also precluded developers from making full use of the form factor too, as every pen-enabled app that ever came out amounted to little more than a standard old Windows app with some number of pen controls. To my knowledge, only Alias attempted something even approaching a tablet-optimized program with SketchBook Pro, and even that fell somewhat short.
Apple, on the other hand, is expected to ship its rumored tablet with a new fork of OS X, designed specifically to take advantage of that form factor, as well as provide the foundation for press and publishers to release richly enhanced digital versions of their print content, certainly many steps above what the Kindle is capable of. It's also very likely this tablet will be backed by an app store similar to the one available on the iPhone OS, complete with tools for developers to easily make apps with appropriate UIs. In other words, it'll most likely get everything right that UMPCs and slate Tablet PCs have been getting wrong over and over and over again.
As for the tablet itself, I kind of like it. I'm hoping for a generation of what are essentially touch screen netbooks. That would mean price is important, and too many innovations make things too expensive to fall in to that category. Note that Asus, Acer, Dell, and HP are all making a killing selling $200-$500 netbooks, while Sony is having a hard time turning out feature rich and powerful $1000 versions.
People don't want to bring a full featured desktop with a built in screen with them anymore (well, some do. But it's not so much with the kids these days). They want a cheap, light, sturdy, internet capable device that has enough battery to last through the day's activities. They want an iphone with a big screen for a few hundred shells. Apple would do well to cater to this market.
That said, Steve Ballmer is a terrible presenter. I think they should start using Johnny Chung Lee.