It could certainly be designed to work with both, albeit not optimally, which is the key for sales success.
Microsoft Surface Tablet announced
- Thread starter Windu
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Does Windows not function without a touch screen. I said improved productivity, not the only way to be productive. Windows 8 is really smart in incorporating both mouse and finger gestures, making both fine to use. Id even say that once you get used to it, the metro menu allows for faster working with kb/mouse than the old menu.. That includes the use of metro apps. The ability to do both with roughly equal strength is in essence the power of Win8. But only using one doesnt take away much from the experience (although desktop with only touchscreen is still imprecise, but you wont have that in RT anyway)
As for developers: its Microsoft, their development tools are arguably the best in the world. Im sure most developers will have very little problems with incorporating the structure of both input devices..
Complex Shadow
Cudi Lame
October, most likely, unless if by "Windows 8 release" Microsoft really meant the RTM release.
planar1280
Banned
you do know Angry Birds is a copy of a flash based PC game right?
The RT version? What does it offer that the iPad doesn't?
http://www.seattlepi.com/business/a...ms-for-productivity-3642007.php#ixzz1yFI214FL
Analysts...smh. Are people confused about how Skype will work on this thing? And until Kinect can be integrated, who cares.
Analysts...smh. Are people confused about how Skype will work on this thing? And until Kinect can be integrated, who cares.
DonasaurusRex
Online Ho Champ
hmmm seems tempting.
Windows desktop: great with kb/mouse, crap with touch.
Windows metro: great with touch, not crap but simply unimpressive with kb/mouse.
Office, mouse support, microSD + USB storage, proper file management, etc. I think I've already been over this a couple of times.
edit: and micro HDMI.
True multitasking is the biggest functional difference in my eyes.
Remember that Draw Something became big on Facebook, on primarily non-touch devices and http://www.physicsgames.net/ is full of games which Angry Birds eventually copied. They're not rubbish with kb/mouse. They work well. We've had them for years upon years. They're just better with touch.
That's what I was implying
Side by side multi-tasking, better interface, USB, Office...
If you compare Windows RT to others mobile OSs, it's still better tham most things on the market.
True multitasking? In windows rt? You're mistaken.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
That likely won't be an advantage by the time this thing is out.
if not the ipad it is definitely a challenger to android tablets (of which I am the owner of one)
there is no way MS releases office for ios before this
there is no way MS releases office for ios before this
Not really.
I don't think anyone disagrees with that.
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
usb?
also, it offers an alternative to apple systems. Which some people still want.
also a stylus
Dual tasking perhaps could be a better description.
Valkyr Junkie
Member
Right, but according to MS it will be released within a month window (RT coming in October, Office for iOS coming November 10th).
Depends, as RT includes the full version of desktop Office. I'm not sure how fully-featured the iPad version would be.
This is incorrect as far as I can tell...Draw something cannot be played on facebook on a browser, it only integrates with FB and played on touch devices. At least I wasn't able to find the FB page to play it when I looked right now.
Only the Surface Pro has stylus support, not the Surface.
http://www.facebook.com/playdrawsomething/app_203351739677351
How?
Also shorter battery life, a loud fan (the RT has a fan like the pro version?), worse display (is it OLED at least?), less applications, more weight. Did i miss anything?
It doesn't have a stylus, although I'm sure someone will make a Windows RT tablet with a stylus if not MS.
Have you actually USED metro? Cause I have and I am claiming that I loose no productivity on Metro with KB/Mouse compared to old desktop or old start menu for that matter. BOTH work fine and BOTH strengthen each other, but NEITHER excludes the other. Its really well executed in a way that you dont notice until you start using it.
Also: I think you should take into account the way tablets are used while being held in hand (ie, you're not going to do highly complex photoshop stuff or write a large program requiring the management of a dozen classes) so lightweight and small size are valuable then, whereas when you are at home and want to actualy do that photoshop stuff, you're likely placing your tablet in a docked position. Its the same device in both cases, but used very differently, with different requirements of input and fidelity. The strength of Windows 8 (tablet) can be that it caters to both of those use cases simultaneously.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
Didn't microsoft release microsoft word for iPad or am I remembering something wrong?
Link doesn't work for me, I click play now and nothing happens. I think they turned it off, but that's not the point, is it?
I also thought Draw Something exploded only after it was ported to touch devices, no?
My personal disappointment is with the aspect ratio.
I hate that the main orientation is landscape
planar1280
Banned
i think we can all agree if this thing sells like I think it will, it is something that will give a kick to Apple's backside to deliver something bigger than what they did from iPad 2 to iPad 3. I think we can all agree the screen is amazing and its my primary device, but there needs to be more innovation in the next iteration
You can run two programs side by side on the screen at the same time.
JORMBO
Darkness no more
You aren't going to want a tablet. I love my iPad and use it for everything, but I still have a laptop hooked up to a big monitor I use for image editing.
radioheadrule83
Banned
This hardware addresses that issue on both fronts.
Windows Desktop only appears on the Surface Pro, anyone who cares about their legacy applications would get that. With the keyboard cover they get a trackpad, and they can plug in a mouse via USB. They can still do all the awesome touch screen stuff, but they can work with their legacy applications like they would on a normal laptop.
The WOA / RT tablet is purely about the Metro experience, but that's not a negative. Everything made for Metro (on both x86/RT editions of Windows 8) will work on the Surface RT, and it'll work great. The RT runtime environment will be targetted by developers of most apps because the potential audience is huge, the variance in input method is not going to be a problem for most apps -- its going to be a line or two of code, an extra function - to differentiate between touch panel input and mouse input. There'll be great integration into the Metro UI that will make a lot of people prefer these apps to their legacy equivalents. Win RT will be perfectly good for the casual user, and the Surface RT comes bundled with a touch friendly version of the Microsoft Office suite, etc.
Both can use added peripherals, external storage, USB printers, straight out of the box. Both will be suitable for a given audience at different price points. They are equally valid value propositions imo, and they're going to do very well with this.
FieryBalrog
Member
Yes, most people don't do work on their computers. Or content generation of any kind. Or content organization of any kind. Or PC gaming. No one uses task-switching, like pulling up their calendar while editing a document. No one edits documents in the first place. No one works on spreadsheets or uses photoshop or creates powerpoints. No one organizes files or photo albums.
...ding ding ding.
The Surface is fanless.
We don't all agree that this will sell like you think it will, though. Assuming I think you think what I think you think is what you think.
It doesn't have a fan, niether you nor I know anything about the battery life and less applications is a matter of time when we're dealing with an iteration of something as big a Windows.
The fact you can't do something as elementary as jot down notes with an iPad makes it a joke. The iPad is a success in spite of itself because of cultish marketing. I say that as a person who's owned and sold iPads twice and still has three Macs and an iPhone. Not a "hater" or whatever you would instinctively try to dismiss me as being.
That's not true multitasking. True multitasking is Android, where apps aren't suspended in the background.
Am I the only one that thinks that this makes the Ipad look like a toy? It's potentially the best tablet by far. Gone are those restrictions that irritate me and it's open enough to actually have a practical workflow on a tablet. Having to do something practical on an Ipad is horrible. Getting any files on or of the ipad is a joke and support for different kinds of file types is a joke too. This thing would be perfect for taking notes and actually practical to transfering and sending files because of the USB port.
And to those saying that you also have a keyboard on the Ipad. Yeah you are right. There is. But it's only an alternative to the onscreen keyboard. It doesn't transform the thing into an actual useable laptop. My 300 dollar netbook is more practical then an Ipad. If surface runs CS5 and Office and it offers the simplicity of browsing the web and using apps to in my livingroom while I'm watching TV or when I'm on the train. Then this thing will be perfect for me.
To me the Ipad simply isn't a PC replacement at all. It's something to fuck around with in your livingroom and check the web ( if the site doesn't run on flash ) and do some other minor multimedia stuff. While with surface I wouldn't need anything else because it would do anything I would need a computer like device for.
And to those saying that you also have a keyboard on the Ipad. Yeah you are right. There is. But it's only an alternative to the onscreen keyboard. It doesn't transform the thing into an actual useable laptop. My 300 dollar netbook is more practical then an Ipad. If surface runs CS5 and Office and it offers the simplicity of browsing the web and using apps to in my livingroom while I'm watching TV or when I'm on the train. Then this thing will be perfect for me.
To me the Ipad simply isn't a PC replacement at all. It's something to fuck around with in your livingroom and check the web ( if the site doesn't run on flash ) and do some other minor multimedia stuff. While with surface I wouldn't need anything else because it would do anything I would need a computer like device for.
I can do all this right now on my iPad. iPhoto on iPad is fantastic.
EDIT: not full photoshop, but everything else.
Kung Fu Jedi
Member
Windows? For iPad? Surely you jest.
It is? i thought someone said this thing had a fan making a bunch of noise, might be mistaken tho.
Also... how do you run an i5 (pro version) in such a small enclosure without a fan? The ARM RT tablet i can believe running "fanless".
radioheadrule83
Banned
I don't believe we know anything about cooling. The RT may not need significant cooling at all, and Microsoft have specifically said that the Pro has a great battery and doesn't have a hovercraft fan... vents != a loud fan. It's their own cleartype HD display behind GorillaGlass 2.0. The pro version is slightly heavier, but way more functional than both the RT and any iPad.
Antiwhippy
the holder of the trombone
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