back to article Microsoft's Surface Pro team takes on Reddit to finesse fondleslab

In a canny PR move, the team behind the Surface Pro has hosted a discussion on the internet forum Reddit to answer questions about Microsoft's latest fondleslab. These kinds of online forum discussions are risky, since they can't be tightly controlled. President Obama's attempt came across as slick, while others have been …

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  1. stucs201

    Other operating systems

    Does that include Windows 7 or XP? Or does that run into driver problems?

    Interesting they mention Mac OS. I wonder if this is speculative, or if it means Microsoft have actually already tested its suitability as a hackintosh.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Other operating systems

      > I wonder if this is speculative, or if it means Microsoft have actually already tested its suitability as a hackintosh.

      It was engineers talking, wasn't it? I don't it MS's corporate policy to promote the probably illegitimate use of a rival's OS on their machine. Still, it might have provided them with some task-for-task energy consumption benchmarks against OSX on the MS same hardware.

    2. Vic

      Re: Other operating systems

      > Interesting they mention Mac OS.

      Very interesting.

      OSX is specifically only licenced for use on Apple hardware; building a hackintosh is actually unlawful[1].

      So are Microsoft inciting users to breach copyright?

      Vic.

      [1] Not that Apple are going to care about the odd one here and there, of course, but they have form in tackling commercial operations getting OSX onto non-Apple hardware.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    >This enabled them to bring the response time of touch controls down from 100ms to below 12ms

    12ms is around what iDevices have had since the first iPhone, and what Android has only achieved with its recent Jelly Bean version. It makes a noticeable difference in music-creation applications. It's good to see that MS have been paying attention.

    1. MIc

      Can you cite a source?

      I haven't heard response times for iDevices quoted before. Do you have a link to a credible source?

      1. ThomH

        Re: Can you cite a source? (@Mic)

        I think the poster may be confusing refresh times and touch response times — the iPhone display has run with hardware acceleration and a 60Hz response rate since day one whereas the Android OS didn't mandate a GPU at first and versions prior to 3.0 did all drawing and updating, including scrolling, on the CPU.

        There's definitely some response lag on iOS devices; I couldn't tell you exactly what it is but it's easy enough to discern if you try dragging or scrolling. Just watch exactly what you put your finger down on, then move it quickly and watch whatever is trying to track your finger always be a few milliseconds behind. It subjectively feels like a lot less than 100ms but is definitely more than a frame, and clearly more than the 1ms Microsoft has demonstrated in the lab. I guess 12ms likely buys you a single frame of lag, which it definitely feels like iOS is doing worse than.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Eadon - In all seriousness, I am genuinely concerned for you. I really do worry about your mental health.

    Its simply not healthy or normal to spend what must be a major part of your day posting vitriolic comments on the Register ranting about Microsoft. Microsoft are just a company. Apple are just a company. They both exist to sell stuff. They both just make stuff - no one has died. To spend most of your waking time ranting about widget A being better than gadget B simply isn't normal. Theres wars, famine, death, opression and lots of of heinous things in this world to get this worked up about - but a new computer???

    Maybe go out for a walk? Spend some time in the park, find some hobbies or intersts outside IT. Broaden your horizons. You really do come across as someone in dire need of an intervention. Again, this is not a dig or an insult, I just really worry that you'll become the focus of an el reg news article after having done a Mark Chapman, putting six bullets into Blamers back straight after asking him to sign a Microsoft surface.

    Please ,for your own sake - get help.

    1. This post has been deleted by its author

  4. hopelessness
    Thumb Down

    Re

    Aston Martin has 4 wheels and an engine -> So does a Lada

    BMW makes high-mid range repmobiles -> So does Audi.

    OMG ASTON COPIED LADA AUDI COPIED BMW

    Get real, these are companies all competing in the same sector; they are allowed to make similar products!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Re

      But apple are allowed to be 'inspired' by other products (I had a phone that I could load MP3's onto long before the iPod/iPhone, Siemens SL45 anyone?) but anyone looking at an iProduct and thinking 'thats a nice feature' will have the iAttackLawyers set on them. iNnovation ? Nein Danke.

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