so, Tablets or Pads

[iSimba]

Weird stuff like what?

[JamesSavik]

Weird stuff like what?

 

programming switches and routers. It takes a hard serial connection. Most people aren't talking to devices like that.

[iSimba]

Well that was a lot more mundane and boring then I was hoping for...

[hh5]

naaa more mundane is sending a video msg via morse code thru a serial port  

programming switches and routers. It takes a hard serial connection. Most people aren't talking to devices like that.

Edited April 4, 2013 by hh5

[hh5]

IDC blames Win8 for the imploding pc market

Its a no brainier that changing\removing a familiar interface would spark a decrease in sales or upgrades.
Its sheer MSFT arrogance and laziness to not keep the product appeal to it long standing customers.

Linux allows customers to use the interfaces of choice ... MSFT resisted that experience.
Its clear that some of the customers are seeking alternatives to bring back the old interface.

Office2013 also contributed to the declines. They sort of killed some of the features people love in Office2003 to Office2007\2010 in favor of the new WPF practices while trying to push people to the subscription sales model. Some people are trying to stay in their respective office versions because changing to a new version would cost them more to update their macros, upgrade add-ins, upgrade to Win8. It becomes two fold in annoying customers to learn a new interface while losing features that gave them a certain kind of productivity.

I looked at an old product ... the commodore amiga ... they tried to bring back that 1985 OS.
The company folded as the pc dominated the market. Since then the OS went into three directions Unixish, fan supported, re-invent.
Last year they came out with the Amiga Mini ... using Core i7, 16GB of RAM and a Blu-ray drive ... running on the knoppix\linux os

The OS resembles very little of the old OS. It had a hefty price tag of $2500 vs Mac Mini in a similar config cost $1,317.00

Even bringing down the price by $500 didn't attract customers.

The people who loved the orig OS is still trying to keep it alive. They was never upgraded the OS ... it still looks like that OS from 1985 running on MC68000 type processor or Emulation for $30

The Commodore website is down so I must presume they folded again while the die hard fans thrive.

Sure there are other factors to the PC Implosion ... Its the era that people have choice to choose their computing n media needs.
But the industry got to realize that not many can afford to buy every gadget (laptop, Tablet, smartphone, smartTV, etc)
All these products happen to be in the similar price range (expensive)

In the old days a PC had an average cost of 3250 + tv 750 + cell 100 = 4,100
now its laptop 750 + smartphone 750 + smartTv 750 + Tablet 750 + Security 100 + Misc 1000 = 4,100

There is only so much you can extract from the domestic market.
Companies are force to compete for new market like Asian and South American Markets, new territories that they think will be their new pot of gold.
But its not easy as we can see how tough these new areas are just by observing how Apple and other foreign companies are doing.

The last part to affect the market is economics ... imagine 20million people can barely afford a gadget ... thats billions of dollars of lost revenue.
Can we say that the companies are expecting to make up the difference on those that can afford?

lol, the DVD and Video Store markets are imploding or imploded ... because of the change of the sales model of video n rentals.
Yes, OnDemand sure did change those worlds ... soon we won't need a DVD ... perhaps soon we won't need a hard drive ... all on the cloud.

 

Windows 8 Partially Responsible for PC Implosion: IDC
“At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market,”

Edited April 19, 2013 by hh5

[Gene Splicer PHD]

At the consumer level, Windows 8 isn't selling because people aren't buying PCs. People aren't buying PCs because they're buying tablets instead. Apple is finding OS 10.8 adoption to be quite slow, as well, and they're hit harder because in order to sell the OS, they have to sell the hardware, too.

 

At the corporate level, many companies find it much cheaper to install Windows 7 on their old hardware (where it runs just fine on 3-5 year old machines) rather than buying new PCs. If they can get a year or two out of a simple OS upgrade rather than new hardware, it's a no brainer decision if you've got 2,000 PCs that can run just fine at $90 per license rather than replacing the boxes for $400.

 

Corporate sales are where MS makes most of its money. Not consumer, "Home Edition" PCs. Corporate customers do not upgrade quickly. Many are still moving from XP to 7 (and they're only doing that because support for XP is now officially ended). Windows 8 is not even a glimmer of a thought for them, not for another two years at least.

 

Office 2013 is not being adopted in corporate environments because unless you need cloud based/collaborative computing, there's no need. It doesn't offer anything to a corporate client that Office 2010, or for that matter Office 2007, already has. For single computers/small offices that use Office365 for collaboration, 2013 is a great office suite. Not so much if you don't need those features.

And, I run Office 2013 under Windows 7. The difference in the user interface - it's look and feel - makes it look like utter crap in a Windows 7 environment. Corporate types don't like an ugly splotch of a flat interface in the middle of their Aero Glass environments. It's just butt ugly. and without the visual cues that Windows 8 has, is actually harder to navigate because the interface is so...flat.

 

Windows 8 is quite clearly a consumer level OS. It's not targeted, at all, at corporate environments. 

 

Windows 8 on tablets is pretty sweet. It's also by its nature a limited market. It's limited by processor, screen resolution, and market share. Android/Apple have the tablet market tied up pretty well. Windows 8 adoption on tablets will be at least a couple of years in picking up steam. If the product lasts that long. MS may well kill it off.

 

Windows 8 is part of a product roadmap, one that's probably looking 5 years out. It's got a clear goal - consumer based tablet/touch based devices, and getting in on a market that has quite clearly shifted away from desktop PCs. Corporate Windows 8 sales are really, really backburnered from a marketing perspective. I have an MS partnership, one that gives me access to sales brochures and marketing materials. The focus for 8 is not, by any stretch, the enterprise market. It's all about tablets, and touch, and small business sales. That means the next OS WILL have an enterprise focus, and that's where MS will focus next.

 

Windows 9 will be the sweet spot on the roadmap. That's where MS will pull its head out of its ass about corporate sales, and where 8 will be tweaked to return the desktop and start menu (the hooks are already there, deep in the code, for Blue/aka Windows 8.1).

 

It'd be really nice to think that MS is dead, dead dead because Office 2013 and Windows 8 are sucky. But they really do have a product roadmap, and when I look at those products from the enterprise side, rather than the consumer sales side, it's a pretty clear one.

Edited April 19, 2013 by Gene Splicer PHD

[hh5]

Win 9 Leaked ... the desktop will vanish ... it means get use to the New Start than trying to keep Win7 Start menu

 

 

 

They finally implemented Tile Grouping that should have been released in Win8 in the first place which kinda mimics Android

 

Here are the screen shots

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/24/4141290/windows-blue-screenshots

 

 

Desktop fans, be worried: Leaked Windows Blue code hints that when Microsoft gets around to building Windows 9, there's a chance it may kill the Desktop entirely.

 

Windows Blue is the code name for what will likely be an update to Windows 8, which many people are saying will be available some time later this year, possibly as early as late this summer. It apparently will include updates not just for Windows 8, but for Windows RT as well.

 

Leaked screenshots show the ability to use smaller tiles on the Start screen, several new apps, new navigation gestures, a new Snap View that lets you easily place two Windows 8 apps side by side on the screen, and a new version of Internet Explorer 11.

 

Paul Thurrot, who has gotten his hands on the code, offers the best in-depth examination of Windows Blue. What's most intriguing about his walk-through is the hint that Windows Blue is a transition between a Windows 8 with a Desktop, and a Windows 9 without one. He finds that many settings that you could previously only get to in the Desktop Control Panel have been moved to the Windows 8 settings screen:

 

"All the action in this build is in PC settings, and if you were looking for any further proof the desktop being eased out going forward, look no further than this. As noted in the previous report, there are a ton of new settings in there now, including many items that were previously only available in the desktop-based Control Panel interface. This is clearly an indication of how we get from here (Windows 8) to there (Windows 9, with potentially no desktop)."

 

I think he's right that there's a reasonable chance that Microsoft will finally get around to killing the Desktop in Windows 9. With Windows 8, Microsoft did its best to make the Desktop at best an afterthought, relegating it to a tile on the Start screen. Windows 8 has been built for touch and the horizontal orientation of a tablet, and the Desktop has no place in that world.

 

Microsoft hopes that by forcing people to use the Start screen and native Windows 8 apps, it familiarize people with using the interface that is also used on Windows 8 tablets and smartphones. And that, the company believes, will spur sales of its tablets and smartphones. That hasn't happened yet, but clearly Microsoft hopes that long-term exposure over several years will do the trick. Doing away with the Desktop entirely would force those who now use the Desktop to use the Start screen instead, and get them used to the new Windows look.

 

All this assumes that by the time Windows 9 hits, Office will be available as a Windows 8 native app. The newest version of Office is a Desktop application, but it very much looks like a native Windows 8 app. So I would expect that the version of Office after that will be Windows 8 (or Windows 9) optimized.

 

 

 

[iSimba]

I disagree with the thought that Microsoft made a blunder by removing the old interface.

 

To keep growing, companies need to change. There are only a few companies that are successful while offering the exact same product year after year. Just look at car companies - they change the car every single year because otherwise their sales would drop.

 

The new interface might have been a mistake, but they needed to change to SOMETHING.

[Gene Splicer PHD]

I disagree with the thought that Microsoft made a blunder by removing the old interface.

 

To keep growing, companies need to change. There are only a few companies that are successful while offering the exact same product year after year. Just look at car companies - they change the car every single year because otherwise their sales would drop.

 

The new interface might have been a mistake, but they needed to change to SOMETHING.

 

And yet, car companies don't change cars that much. They change the styling, sure, but you can't really change a car, can you? I mean, there's always a steering wheel. There are windshields, and windshield wipers. Turn signals, and the turn signal stalk. PRNDL. You can change the way a car looks and behaves to a degree, but you can't change the driver's seat very much without making it not-a-car, right?

 

The Modern interface works well for consumers. It really does. I can embrace it - as much as I dislike it - for the right audience. That audience is not, by any stretch, the corporate/enterprise world. 

 

Change IS good for computers when you want to sell a lot of them, and get people upgrading and adopting new things. Corporate environments don't work that way. They just don't. 

 

hh5: Thurrot is a known Microsoft shill with a strong bent toward pronouncing controversial views that are geared toward getting page views for his articles. He's got a good in at Microsoft - primarily their marketing department. Any "leaks" have been carefully provided for him. Just consider the source there.

 

So I predict that there will be two distinct versions of Windows 9 - one geared for corporate, and one geared for consumers, especially if they uphold the "no desktop" paradigm. It's necessary, and will continue to be necessary, in a corporate environment. If Windows 9 is truly only going to have the Modern interface, MS will lose a very large part of their market, and I just don't see that happening.

[hh5]

Car companies make major changes the look and everything else every couple of years

Through that period they make incremental tweaks each year ... until people are tired of the look

They put out new feature adds, corrections in design, recalls ... to attract new customers ... to save reputation among existing customer base

 

MSFT needs to make their new interface better and usable ... they just really put Win8 out because its almost usable.

Its very noticeable after trying to make practical use that Win8 can upset people more than amaze them.

lol the ones that don't have touch screens ... its a no brainer that they should have eased shoving touch on a non touch system.

People can't get a good trade in value for their old machines to buy a new one like you can do with cars

Expensive gadgets lock you in more than it does with a car with the high depreciation

ie: A 1200 retail sells a year later for 800 and then that customer buys it ... its worth 160 dollars for trade in the next day (640 lost)

     When new 1200 may trade in 240 dollars  ... so its a lost of 960 or 640 dollars if you decide to trade in sometime after the return period.

     If you bought an extended warranty the store might credit you towards a new computer buy .

Consumers don't have business budgets to replace equipment so readily ... to buy it saving up, sacrificing something, or buy on credit.

There are some business that don't expect to buy new equipment for a period of time. They time it with the tax deductions they take for business equipment. It sort of explains why new equipment purchases occur every 3 or 5 years ... it sort of timed with MSFT new releases.

 

There are instances that the new interface creates more work than reduces work just because of their own stubbornness.

Have you noticed the demos given by Balmer and Jobs?

There where times that the product failed to work ... They had to demo a certain way to make it appear it works for you.

lol, Win8 demo had blatant boo boo that you can see the demo-er was embarrassed about 

Jobs had them too with Macintosh ... Gates had it too 

 

Samsung demo this year ... their demo of Galaxy Note 8 ... was perfectly executed ... every sell point they demo worked

I not read any bad reviews as of yet ... yes give it time the good n bad will come out

 

MSFT roadmap is really a long grocery\wish list ... what make able now and what takes time comes later

Year by year some items are add, changed, done, deleted, or put off for another version depending upon the needs of their customers and what defect issues they have to tackle.

The OS is released with minimal defects and known defects because the company needs to release it sooner to be able to deduct all that R&D earlier on their books than later. Its only the customer that will be happy or suffer with the features. Not knowing that the OS was really a alpha\beta. The wiser customer who are smart to wait a year to escape the defects or even smarter to skip the entire release (ie: Vista)

 

MSFT should have been smart about how to release their product ... that it cater to the existing base with no touch and cater to the new customers who will use the touch enabled devices and non-touch ... but no ... they cause a furry of discontent

 

Look at apple's release of iPhone5, iMaps big release mistake came with a huge number of customer complaints. There are customers waiting for a power fix for their iPhone4 and 4S and it never came. iPhone5 doesn't address it and they didn't release a fix for the 4 and 4S. Cook appologized and in that letter it revealed that they blocked Google Maps from the phone and now are unblocking it. Really that be a great Google lawsuit for now allowing in the first place the choice of using Google Maps or iMaps or whatever they want on their phone.

 

I guess there is agreement ... the road will be bumpy for MSFT and Apple and they will make it bumpy for their adversaries 

All companies will play chess in business ... lol maybe more like JR Ewing ... a real battle waged in the industry

The hedgers love it because it allows them to gamble to make a profit which ever way it goes.

 

People will go to the products that fits their needs if they're available ... tablets being popular ... only shows that not all people need powerful computers, They want whats portable and Jobs was smart to know when that time has come whereas MSFT didn't. Apple did have Einstein and it failed just like HP iPaq ... I am not sure where Jobs was when it happen ... I think he was with Pixar maybe

 

I disagree with the thought that Microsoft made a blunder by removing the old interface.

 

To keep growing, companies need to change. There are only a few companies that are successful while offering the exact same product year after year. Just look at car companies - they change the car every single year because otherwise their sales would drop.

 

The new interface might have been a mistake, but they needed to change to SOMETHING.

[hh5]

I would not pat MSFT on the back for a good job well done

 

IDC rep interviewed with Bloomberg today ... even he sent strong suggestions to MSFT regarding the interface  ... in-spite of MSFT good financial report ... he pointed out the in question ... that Win 8 didn't do well ... there are people n business that downgraded to Win7

 

If some business do embraces Win9 then great its only a year or two after Win8 boo boo and after 8.1 release but not all business will adopt it ... some will wait to see if it is safe. We will hear how they comment if Win8 or Win9 is at all like a Vista rally ...

 

We will wonder how MSFT will be doing ... they did have at least two upper level employees that left the company since the Win8 release.

 

 

It proves the rule of thumb ... to not upgrade on dot zero major version releases ... Win 9.0 ... it may trigger an additional wait time  before acceptance.  when something like 9.3 is released business will test if the OS is stable enough to start spending their budget on ... or if management deems the feature is needed above the risks they will get in exchange

 

Partly I see why your confident MSFT will succeed ... its because they can't afford the major mistake like Vista ... the shift in hw n OS ... make it touchy state of affairs for their business ... losing reoccurring income ... and a loyal customer base

 

Apple n Samsung or Linux doesn't mind Surface over pricing or MI boo boo ... they love to receive new loyal customers to their fold.

 

Yeah I did hear or experience that Apple OS users don't upgrade or update their OS too readily ... I did witness my nephew getting help with Apple Support to guide him thru some updates to fix a problem ... when his mother found out ... lol she told him that she could have helped him with his laptop problems ... I guess this is why I like MSFT updates more than Apple or Linux ... 

 

MSFT will probably need to slice up that road map that will allow it to compete with Apple and Samsung regarding yearly or bi-annual releases.Perhaps this will be the time where RT n Pro will go their separate paths a little bit as each satisfies different needs.

 

Bloomberg mentioned MSFT intends to go into the smaller device markets by upgrading their MI with smaller Tiles and other adjustments for a smaller screen. Its really spelling out that they lock themselves into the 10in size in order to put out Win 8 (beta). As long as MSFT is committed to be in the device\tablet market then this 0.9 version should look great when they get to 4.2 as android is at now or iOS 5 ... without disappoint their customers ... then success is on the way

 

I don't recall Apple or Android upsetting customers like Win8 did ... I did notice Apple n Jobs hated Android like they hated IBM.

 

 

hh5: Thurrot is a known Microsoft shill with a strong bent toward pronouncing controversial views that are geared toward getting page views for his articles. He's got a good in at Microsoft - primarily their marketing department. Any "leaks" have been carefully provided for him. Just consider the source there.

 

So I predict that there will be two distinct versions of Windows 9 - one geared for corporate, and one geared for consumers, especially if they uphold the "no desktop" paradigm. It's necessary, and will continue to be necessary, in a corporate environment. If Windows 9 is truly only going to have the Modern interface, MS will lose a very large part of their market, and I just don't see that happening.

Edited April 19, 2013 by hh5

[hh5]

interesting that linux = other 2.1%

When XP expires in 2014, Business n people may move off (XP)

this is probably when MSFT expects Win9 business adoption to happen

one wonders if competition will offer alternatives to xp expiration in the next year

there is no guarantee they all go to msft upgrade

 

I am surprise no one talks about Apple Servers?

 

msft encourage adoptions

* Educators Across the US Adopt Windows 8 to Help Make Students College-Ready and Career-Ready

  => an excuse for the higher tuition costs

* Microsoft cuts the price of Windows 8 and Office 2013 to overcome slow adoption

  ( lack of touch apps )

* Microsoft offering price breaks to coax small businesses to adopt Windows 8

 

how was apple lion os or linux os adoptions?

[hh5]

This weekend SamMobile received Samsung’s tablet plans for 2013.

 

 

Samsung Galaxy Tab DUOS 7.0

- 7.0” PLS LCD 600 x 1024

- 3 Megapixel (back)

- 2 Megapixel (front)

- Dual-core

- DUAL SIM

- Micro SD 32 GB

 

Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.0

- 8.0” AMOLED 1080p

- 5 Megapixel

- 2 Megapixel

- Quad-core A9 (Exynos 4412)

- Micro SD 64 GB

* Samsung need to solve AMOLED burning problem first.

 

Samsung Galaxy Tab 11

- 11” Super PLS TFT

- 8 Megapixel

- 2 Megapixel

- Dual-Core A15 (Exynos 5250)

- Micro SD 64 GB

 

NEXUS 11*

- 11” Super PLS TFT

- 8 Megapixel

- 2 Megapixel

- Octa-Core A15 / A7 (Exynos 5410)

- Micro SD 64 GB (Rumoured)

* Needs to get approvement from Google (Worlds first Octa-Core tablet)

 

 

 

[Thorn Wilde]

I'm definitely a laptop person. I can definitely get the appeal of a tablet, but in the end I like having a keyboard too much. My pretty little 11" MacBook Air is my best friend. It's light, I can bring it everywhere, and I can easily squeeze four to five hours of battery time out of it if I turn down the brightness and turn off the wifi (used to be longer, but I've had it for nearly two years), so it's absolutely perfect for taking with me to the library or a café and writing for a few hours without distractions. 

[Former Member]

As far as writing goes, I use my laptop almost exclusively.  I can plug away at my Google Nexus, but most of the time, it's too tedious, the keyboard on my tablet takes up half the screen and it's more difficult to type.  I have not been blessed wih tiny nimble fingers, so I fend it frustrating to type on my tablet.  That and the fact that I can't upload what I already have of my writing onto my tablet, or my preferred software.  But I would be lying to you if I told you that my tablet wasn't tied for first place for my best friend.  It's perfect for jotting down quick notes and inspiration and if push comes to shove, I can type on it if I need to get something down.  My lappie is essentially a monster and it's not particularly light, so carting it around is not my preferred method of doing something unless I have to.  My tab on the other hand is small, light, has excellent battery life, fits into my purse (which also isn't very big -- I never did get into those body bags women call purses), and it's a little easier on the eyes when it comes to reading.

[hh5]

I was excited on the thought of getting the nexus 7 2013 until the following review came up 

darn ... now I will wait till they fix it or see if apple matches with quality

lol, msft ... still over priced themselves 

 

Google acknowledges Nexus 7 tablet problems with GPS, multi-touch

Google says it's looking into to all of these matters, but right now it's unclear if the bugs are software- or hardware-related