back to article Microsoft Surface ad targets preppy, Glee-watching youngsters

Is it an Apple advert, a commercial for insurance, or an episode of Glee? No, it’s the first Surface commercial from Microsoft. Hot on the heels of Microsoft’s Windows 8 ad – which seemed to bury the tablet and emphasise the traditional PC – Microsoft's latest ad flogs its own hardware: the Windows 8-based Surface. The ad is …

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  1. Peter Simpson 1

    All that's missing

    is the Bollywood sound track.

    //wonder how long it will last in the market?

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: All that's missing

      I propose a new reg unit of redundancy speed to replace the venerable "Osbourne"

      I was going to suggest the "WebOS" but I think Win8 (also known as WinCE-ME) might beat HP's best efforts

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: All that's missing

      must be the same team that made the windows 7 launch party videos.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Kids

      Won't be pestering their parents, incidentally those with the money, for a surface, they'll want the mini ipad.

      "Wrong age group, wrong time, wrong product!" Buy your discounted surface at the £1 shop now.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Re: All that's missing

      //wonder how long it will last in the market?

      Zune lasted a couple years

      Kin lasted a couple months

      You do the math

  2. hplasm
    Windows

    So-

    Does it actually DO anything?

    Doesn't look like it.

    1. yossarianuk

      Re: So-

      Yes - just like Windows its got nice shiny buttons.

      Oh you mean to actually do something useful... Stick with Linux.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: So-

        @Yossarianuk - that was a poor troll, even for you.

      2. MIc

        Re: So-

        HHAHHAHAHA "Stick with Linux" right... Because recompiling a blueTooth drive is a good use of time.

    2. n4blue

      Re: So-

      "Does it actually DO anything?"

      Of course not. It's intended to compete with the iPad.

    3. mafoo
      Devil

      Re: So-

      It makes you shell out another $120 if you want to buy the keyboard cover ($100 if you get it with the device at time of order)

      So i guess it provides enlightenment... of the wallet.

  3. TeeCee Gold badge
    Meh

    The point is..........what?

    "The important details of battery life and price have not been revealed."

    So this is all fur coat and no knickers then?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The point is..........what?

      Slow news day

    2. Chris 3

      Re: The point is..........what?

      You say that as if it is a bad thing.

    3. RICHTO
      Mushroom

      Re: The point is..........what?

      The pricing has. A bit cheaper than the iPad. Not bad considering it has a more powerful / more secure OS, includes a copy of Office and it is widescreen format.

      1. h4rm0ny

        Re: The point is..........what?

        Okay, I'll bite - how is WinRT more secure than iOS? It isn't even out yet which makes it a little unfair to start comparing.

        1. pepper

          Re: The point is..........what?

          And how is the Ipad not a widescreen? Looks pretty wide to me...

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Widescreen

            Doh, the iPAd is a standard 4:3 screen whilst everything else out there is wide 16:9. I actually prefer the 4:3 format because I use portrait mostly, and that's the nearest to a sheet of A4 paper.

            16:9 portrait is more like legal / foolscap format, far too long for most uses. Pity that MS have not offered the 4:3 format because now I might have to go for an iPad which I really wanted to avoid doing!

            1. fishman

              Re: Widescreen

              <<Doh, the iPAd is a standard 4:3 screen whilst everything else out there is wide 16:9.>>

              The Google Nexus 7 is 16:10.

            2. pepper
              FAIL

              Re: Widescreen

              Aaaah indeed, I was wrong the Ipad isnt widescreen. I have been using 5:4 ratio for way to long(stepped of the 1024x768 resolution ages ago), so it looked widescreenish to me. I suppose I have been conditioned in a bad way.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          @h4rm0ny

          You *like* feeding the trolls, don't you!

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: @h4rm0ny

            "You *like* feeding the trolls, don't you!"

            With RICHTO it's more like shooting fish in a bucket !

          2. h4rm0ny

            Re: @h4rm0ny

            "You *like* feeding the trolls, don't you!"

            I am genuinely interested in anything to do with OS security. It overlaps with areas I've been developing in. If RICHTO is simply saying that WinRT is more secure than iOS because it is brand new, then they are probably right but it's not very intersting nor something to WinRT's credit. If they have something interesting to say about the design, I am curious. It should certainly be much more secure than Win7 which is already very good. But I don't know much about iOS.

            1. RICHTO
              Mushroom

              Re: @h4rm0ny

              See Secunia.org. All Apple OSs are terrible for security - IOS is on over 300 known vulnerabilities, and OS-X on over 1700! About the only thing in the world worse than that is enterprise Linux distributions...

        3. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

          Re: The point is..........what?

          > how is WinRT more secure than iOS

          By limiting connectivity to VMSNET running over Token ring the potential for virus infection has been greatly reduced.

          In addition, binaries will not only have to be signed but they can only be installed by typing them in from listings printed in the back of magazines.

          The use of weak passwords have been prevented by the removal of 'p' 'a' 's' 'w' 'o' 'r' and 'd' keys from the keyboard

        4. RICHTO
          Mushroom

          Re: The point is..........what?

          Well IOS is on well over 300 known vulnerabilites, Windows Phone OS is on zero after 2 years....

      2. Richard Plinston

        Re: The point is..........what?

        > includes a copy of Office

        The Surface RT includes a 'preview' (ie it doesn't work yet - update in March or so) of 'Home and Student'. This cannot be used by businesses.

        """Office Home and Student 2010 is licensed only for "non-commercial use for members of your household." """

        http://www.zdnet.com/businesses-cant-use-office-on-windows-rt-tablets-7000005882/

        > it is widescreen format.

        The keyboard must be attached along the bottom where the connector is, this makes it difficult to use in portrait mode. The widescreen make portrait mode ugly as well and less than useful for reading or entering documents.

    4. Shaun 1

      Re: The point is..........what?

      BATTERY | Up to 8 hours mixed activity • 7-15 days idle life

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: The point is..........what?

        Why, if you've gone and bought one of these things would you not use it for a week? Or isn't it really that good?

    5. mafoo
      Megaphone

      Re: The point is..........what?

      It was briefly leaked on their store

      $500 for the 32Gb model

      $600 for the 32Gb model with keyboard case

      $700 for the 64Gb model with keyboard case

      $120 for the keyboard case on its own (ouch)

      Delivery on 26 Oct for pre orders.

  4. Chris Wilson
    FAIL

    So sounds like it doesn't actually do anything.

    Love that at the end they just send you to microsoft.com where Surface's only presence on the front page is a tiny little one word "Surface" link at the very bottom right.

    Lame.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Tut tut

    Doesn't do anything!?

    It clicks, you can dance to Tween Wave with it, you can swipe, and it might help gramps get laid (potential Cialis, Viagra substitute?).

    Looks pretty magical to me!

    /sarc

  6. dotslash

    $499

    starting at $499 apparently: http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-surface-price-revealed-starts-at-499

    If that does translate to ~£300 (~£350 with touch cover thingymebob), might be worth a consideration...

    1. Big_Ted
      FAIL

      Re: $499

      Actually at todays rate thats £310, add VAT and its £372.

      With cover its £372 plus vat = £446

      Thats new iPad price range for the crippled version that will only run apps and MS office and not all your games etc that you currently run.

      Can't see it selling for that price......

      1. A Butler

        Re: $499

        " only run apps and MS office" that's the big beach head Microsoft have against the iPad.

        They get the touch versions of Word and Excel bang on, they are on a winner because everyone still wants to use Word for docs and Excel for spreadsheets. All other office packages are 2nd rate...

        Can see this giving Apple are right kick in the you know where?

      2. RICHTO
        Mushroom

        Re: $499

        I can. A secure OS + Office is a big winner imo. Plus that's list pricing and will no doubt be discounted...

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Worth an immediate consideration?

      The hardware looks interesting, but no thanks. Call me lazy, but I'll wait for someone else to do the hard work in figuring out how to install Linux first.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: $499

      Probably not, as that would be the ghetto "RT" version, running on ARM, with a limited software base. The pro might be good, if you can crowbar a third party OS on there.

      1. dotslash
        Stop

        Re: $499

        it's at 479 euro now for the basic model in Germany.

        More than £400 for the basic model and for the keyboard, that's not an easy sell for me

        1. dotslash

          Re: $499

          sorry for double post.

          especially with the lumia 920 coming out which is a much more exciting prospect with it's camera

    4. Mike Judge
      Stop

      £450 for the one one that only runs applets

      No thanks....

  7. HMB

    Quite Exciting

    I like it! I hope the x86 / x64 version won't be crazy money as I'd love one as a laptop. It sounds like it will do as a laptop and a tablet. That's pretty cool to me.

    How often do you get high quality IPS screens on laptops? I don't want to have to buy an Apple just to get a decent laptop screen.

    1. frank ly

      Re: Quite Exciting

      Try an Asus Transformer (among others). There's a shed load of free and cheap apps for it.

      Then again, if you want a proper Windows experience........

      1. Mike Judge

        £450 for the one one that only runs applets

        Not proper windows of course. This is the Windows rt version that only runs simple applets.

    2. Mr. Nobby
      Thumb Up

      Re: Quite Exciting

      I normally use linux on my laptop but if the Surface Pro is in my price range when it comes to upgrading... well goodbye linux laptop.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Quite Exciting

        The Surface Pro has a lot of non-standard hardware. Unless you're a real masochist and willing to reverse-engineer the Win8 device drivers, you'd better wait for somebody to hack the hardware interfaces -- otherwise you'll brick your shiny new tablet as soon as you install Linux on it.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In short, He imagines everyone has one, but the reality is, it's just him.

    Sounds like that's the way it's actually going to play out....

  9. ruwilis
    FAIL

    So who does apple market to?

    Preschoolers? (Cue apple commercial lullaby background theme and slow soft soothing commentary.)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      Re: So who does apple market to?

      Do you still need to ask? Baristas, of course!

  10. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Naff advert

    Just watched it with the sound off (I'm in work...) so I've no idea if anything is said on it, but the message seems to be "Screen! Clip-on keyboard! Flap! Dancing kids! Body popping! Nice pensioners!" I'm a bit confused.

    In other news I'm reverting my laptop to Windows 7 next week. I've tried Windows 8 for the last month and I can't stand it any more.

    1. pepper

      Re: Naff advert

      I watched it with the commercial with the sound on and am just as bewildered. I have no idea what the point is, just that people do silly things with a tablet instead of using it?

  11. Piro Silver badge

    What did I watch?

    That told me nothing about the machine at all. Pathetic.

    1. Captain DaFt

      Re: What did I watch?

      Really! Looking at that ad, it might as well be advertising an add on keyboard for an iPad!

  12. Mike Brown

    2 different O/S's is going to kill this.

    What does RT stand for anyway? Really Terrible?

    1. Richard Plinston

      > What does RT stand for anyway? Really Terrible?

      The XT in 'IBM PC XT' stood for eXtra Technology, The 'IBM AT' was Advanced Technology', so perhaps RT is Reduced Technology.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    See, I quite liked the look of the Surface Pro..

    But this wince-inducingly awkward, saccharine nonsense just put me off it somewhat.

    Also, protip- snapping hinged devices shut with one hand like that tends to shorten their lifespan somewhat, as does being a toothache-inducingly smug dance bellend who needs killed. And breeeathe.

    God, I thought the Apple (Gapple?) adverts were irritating. This takes it to whole new levels.

    "Y’all, think on

    While you’re capturing the zeitgeist

    They’re widening the motorway"

    1. David Webb

      Re: See, I quite liked the look of the Surface Pro..

      It's not hinged, it's magnetic......

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: See, I quite liked the look of the Surface Pro..

        Not quite, it's a magnetically-attached hinge, I think? I could be wrong.

        The point is, smacking things together like that tends to screw up hardware- I had a boss who used to do that with laptops, PDAs, whatever, and they always died surprisingly quickly.

        (Beware the promotional use cases syndrome, like Steve Jobs pulling a Nano out of his pocket.. You know, the one where they failed to read the manufacturer's guidelines for coating the polycarbonate they used to cover the screen.. so you couldn't put it in your pocket. Just because the manufacturer implies that you can do it doesn't mean that they're not full of shit)

  14. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    Aha.

    Sexualisation of schoolgirls... Sir Jimmy Savile would approve, apparently.

    1. Spoonsinger
      Coat

      Re: Aha.

      "Sexualisation of schoolgirls... Sir Jimmy Savile would approve, apparently."

      You mean screwing people over with dodgy shenanigans for years while being backed by a compliant media. Umm. No IT company to see here.

    2. h4rm0ny

      Re: Aha.

      If a group of pre-pubescent schoolgirls dressed normally briefly dancing in a completely ordinary way (they're just doing gangsta poses and stomping - hardly Beyonce wiggling) seems sexual to you, you have a sick mind.

      1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

        Re: Aha. @h4rm0ny

        A group of pre-pubescent schoolgirls are doing *gangsta* poses and it's normal for you? Talking about sickness of mind....

  15. Not also known as SC
    FAIL

    That advert would be reason enough not to buy a Surface.

  16. amanfromarse

    MS have always done shit ads, but..

    Apple's marketing department must be absolutely pissing themselves.

    1. Steve Todd
      Stop

      Re: MS have always done shit ads, but..

      Laughing? Apple's adds always focus on what the device can do for you. This told me nothing other than it has a detachable keyboard and a kickstand.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: MS have always done shit ads, but..

      Yep, it really does feel like an attempt to do that breezy, preppy nonchalance* of Apple ads, and just comes off s creepy and trying too hard.. too loud, too bright, too busy. Developers, developers, developers...

      *Which I also hate, I get the same urge to burn the building down as is caused by Gap ads. Fuckers.

  17. Nu11u5
    Meh

    I was more excited..

    when the Microsoft Surface was a digital coffee table.

    Which is to say, "not much".

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wonder..

    .. just how long shooting this ad must have taken, given the propensity of new Microsoft kit to follow Murphy's law and bluescreen when in focus.

    Maybe this ad is more "freeze frame" than originally intended :)

  19. Ramiro
    WTF?

    Is this russian product?

    Why "Surface this", "Surface that", and not "The Surface blah blah blah" ?

    Sounds like fake russian villain accent.

    Genuine question, I'm not a native english speaker.

  20. MIc

    I'm getting one.

    Maybe two. I've used an RT and they are nice.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    you knew the trolls were waiting

    You knew that even before MS announced pricing that the trolls on here had their stock answer sat in a drafts folder...

  22. Mark 110

    Hmmm. Its a nice shape. I think it will sell. iPads do and it looks better. It needs some software though.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    £510 for the WindowsRT gimped version, with the keyboard.

    Man is this going to flop badlly.

    £400 for the gimped tablet that runs something called Windows, but won't run Windows apps. (or £450 if you want 64GB model)

    £110 extra for the keyboard case.

    What nutter is going to pay that? How much is the real one that does run Windows apps going to cost? You thought Windows Phone flopped badly, you ain't seen nothing yet.....

    How much is the real Surface that runs proper windows applciations going to cost when it arrives next year? £900+?

    Source: http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/microsoft-surface-uk-pricing-revealed-1104812

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wow... so they decided Mazdas absolutely atrocious dancing cars adverts were the benchmark to go for?

  25. Goat Jam
    Windows

    OMG. So many targets

    So little punching time.

    Those angry dancing schoolgirls were particularly annoying.

    Or maybe it's just me?

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