Microsoft: That $900m Surface write-down is smarting Microsoft will today kick-start commercial channel sales of the little loved Surface RT and Pro, as our sources predicted, but the move is being pushed through ten months later than it should have been. Redmond has already paid the price for its stubbornness: selling the device direct and latterly through a handful of …
@AC: See that's the point, you DON'T install CAD on iPad or Nexus. You install it on the device where you can actually perform some work, hopefully with a 22"+ screen as well. You use iPad or Nexus to entertain yourself, read, view guitar tabs, have it as a juke-box, etc. You don't mix tablets and PC's for doing the same on both.
Why not? My T731 is both a powerful (if heavy) tablet pc and a full-powered workstation. If I want 2x24 inch - dock the unit and go. If I want a tablet - eject from dock and go. And in the rare case I need a notebook - take out of sleeve, swivel screen and go.
Other units use different concepts (sliders and a USB-3 dock, fixed docks you put the tablet in etc) but they all work nicely. In some cases even for CAD.
Btw: CAD and other design jobs and WACOM systems are not that uncommon. Granted, external units (Cintiq or Bamboo) but not uncommon
@mmeier
No, not tested CAD. Just general usage and programming, the disgusting metro, switching back and forth, even Skype not working properly although MS owns it, strange new gestures and ridiculous navigation. It's like MS wanted to bring the worst of two worlds together (tablet + workstation). I returned the device, and so did my buddy.
Well, my usage option is different, use it since last year on tablet pc, convertibles, desktops. Love it, works stable, fast and mature unlike Android (Note 10.1 - gone thanks to eBay) Quite a few customers and family use it "as is". Like it as well
But even if you insist on "the ways of grandpa Xeros" where is the problem. Win7 is an option on the T-Series. Not as good as 8 but still head and shoulder over the toy breeds
EDA is far better on Linux.(Or any other UNIX that is supported)
I know a fair few places who have spent huge amounts of money trying to switch to Windows (Sometimes even more than once) and then switched back because of how much of a pita it is to have it working in a manner that is the same across a few different workstations.
(Cadence uses the registry for everything in Windows. And when a configuration error is likely to cost a minimum of £100,000 then it is not worth messing).
Specially as most of it is sh and csh scripts on the others so easy to deal with.
This post has been deleted by its author
Especially not when you glue both feet to the back of your head.
Is it just me (it may be :-)) that finds it odd that a company would spend a fortune on advertising that could have been used to bring down the price of the product rather than a modest budget and let word of mouth do the work.
Rt was dead in the water, not because it's bad but because it slaughtered the only outright reason to use windows (compatible software) on a tablet. They should have done surface pro only and knocked the price down a lot. If they wanted a tablet os what was the harm in using windows phone os instead? Why three os's, you already bodged a tablet interface onto the desktop os and started from scratch on the phone os so both would work well with touch. I really just don't get the thinking. Just being an option isn't enough these days, ios and android are pretty strong contenders, to get market share you have to compete on price and bring some serious features. I'm not anti ms, I just think they missed it entirely.
Just because more people are selling a pile of dogs poo doesn't mean more will buy it.
MS made 2 mistakes, one was not putting these out to more retail outlets etc from the start, but the biggest and still biggest mistake is the price, if they want these to sale they must at least be at cost price with free windows for a period to get people to buy. They are not as bad as many who have never held one think but for the price I would go for a good laptop and a good tablet instead of the pro.....
Looking at the classical 4P's of marketing, they have quite a bit wrong:
Product (ignore the OS, that's a different argument) - is confused. Is it a tablet, an ultrabook, or a laptop replacement? The two models confuse consumers further. It's trying to be all things to all men, so nobody knows if they need/want it or not.
Price - waaay to expensive for a tablet, too expensive for an underpowered laptop. This is driven by the above
Promotion - Despite the spend I see little of it, but anecdotes are not evidence. MS is confused, is it promoting Windows or the Hardware? So the promotion fails as it's too removed to make sense to consumers.
Place - distribution is discussed in the article.
Given it's the marketing guy in charge, you'd think they could get the basics right wouldn't you?
" they made a big song and dance (almost literally for generous definitions of "dance") out of the fact Angry Birds: Star Wars is on Windows 8. "
" Win8 or Win/RT? "
And right there is the problem with Windows 8. Three different versions, bodged to look the same, and utter shite communication about which can do what, run what, or even how they interact with each other.
No wonder the 'consumers' are staying away in droves.
I'm not joking. I wouldn't use it unless someone was paying me.
Come to think of it, that pretty much describes all of my relationships with Microsoft products. If I had any viable choices, I would be strongly biased against Microsoft, but in every case I can think of, there was no choice. Microsoft's software was just there and I was being paid to deal with it.
This post has been deleted by its author
This post has been deleted by its author
I am a cheap bastard, so the only phone I use is company provided blackberry. Works fine for what I use it for. For work, it's calls and email, for personal, it's calls from wife, emails from wife (grocery lists), and endomondo to track my exercise.
As far as RT tablets for work, it really doesn't matter as any remote access is done through Citrix, so the only thing running on the device is the Citrix receiver.
I'd definitely have a Surface Pro if they were cheaper, but I just couldn't bring myself to be in the same vicinity as the current generation of Surface RTs. One of the big issues of the RT is that it doesn't run desktop apps while simultaneously giving you a desktop, thus falsely raising your expectations until you realise that the desktop is there only to serve Office, it has no other use.
Ditch the RT but keep going with the Pro, It'd be nice to pick up a Gen 1 in a year or two for a knock down price.
I think the RT would have more success if it wasn't called Windows RT. When you think of Windows, you think of a start menu and multiple windows open. And why choose RT? I know it stands for runtime, but does the target audience know that and know why Microsoft chose that? Does Microsoft know why they choose RT? The whole world isn't a tablet. Leave the tablet UI on a tablet and give it a different name. You could have called it Tiles. Like the original Windows name, it well describes what is going on. Or even Windows Tablet. Something, anything other than Windows RT would have been better.
I wish Microsoft would do two things..
1. Stop selling Windows 8 RT tablets; the reason they didn't sell well was they were no good. It also adds a layer of confusion when purchasing. Drop them, they didn't work, it just confuses the market.
2. Redesign/Update the Pro with the new Intel Haswell chipset which I believe draws less power and runs cooler than Ivy Bridge.
I know people who like the ideal of the surface pro but are put off by the fact this newer & better chip set is out there (or will be soon) . They would rather wait for that than buy early and end up with an out of date piece of kit. Who can blame them when the tablet is more expensive than the most expensive I-Pad?
My guess is the S/P2 (Haswell) is just around the corner, likely October. That fits nicely with the US "return to school" actions with reduced S/P1s.
OTOH comparing a touchy-toy with attitude (iThingy) with a Wacom equiped Ultrabook (S/P) is like comparing Trabant 501 with a Ford Galaxy.
The Trabant is a piece of plastic crap (Hey, just like most Androids) while the Ford is a sturdy, useable vehicle (like Windows tablet pc)
I take the Ford and run over the Trabbi. Heck, some Win8 tablet pc can emulate a Fragmentdroid or (in theory due to lack of OS image) iThingy with a single core. Running in powersafe mode. While doing Word on the other half of the core.
This post has been deleted by its author
The Andriods and Apple and Kindle are in Tesco.
Where are the supermarkets on the list? If they are only aiming at offices they have missed the point. Ordinary office users are not going to use a Tablet at a desk all day. Screen too small. Also loads of other issues.
The BYOD stuff is chosen and paid for by the employee, rarely from anyone on that list and is usually in addition to the Business supplied kit. Are call centres going to buy Surface RT or Pro?
I agree that Microsoft are targeting the wrong market. I also agree that Windows RT is wrong. The actual model they are trying to adopt is one of the reasons why even Apple are losing out in a number of markets to Android - the system lockdown.
It doesn't have to be that way. Consider that we Brits were behind the ARM and we Brits had an OS that was just as open as Windows - these days even more so.
The overall problem as I see it is the same one that has been responsible for the death of a number of other ideas, companies and so forth. In effect, the Surface is no longer a computer that you buy then run anything that you ant to. It's a piece of licenced kit which you no longer really own as it requires increasing amounts of interfacing with a company that attempts to control what you do and where. Microsoft aren't alone in this; just look at Google or Apple. When people realise this, they back away as it smacks too much of corporate big brother. It isn't just the machine, it's the whole ethos; cloud computing, internet connection reliance and so on.
To be honest, I think that Microsoft do get it. But then I'm a cynic.
The problem with Microsoft's entire product line right now is that they insist on selling an "experience" when what people want is "software." They're still pushing this really hard even in their advertisements -- "one experience across all devices." Well guess what Stevie -- no one wants that! We want a touch-optimized OS on our phones and tablets, and a mouse-optimized OS on our desktops/laptops.
Vista 8 and Vista 8.1 will continue to FAIL until Microsoft begins delivering something usable.
To my mind, the Surface RT notion of tablet/netbook is good. I'd have bought one last Autumn despite the limited app store if the hardware had been comparable to iPad or the price competitive.
However despite the lower res screen, poor rear facing camera, slower CPU/SoC some geniuses at Redmond decided it was ok to price the device the same as iPad all the same. Then to add insult to injury, sell the keyboard cover thats essential to make the most of the device at a massive profit. I'm guessing this nonsense was rationalized by the delusion that an expensive inferior product can be sold if theres a big marketing budget.
This seems to be a major problem at Microsoft - corporate politics means the marketing people need to spend large advertising budgets and something as simple as making a product people want to buy at a modest margin just doesn't fit the egos and careers of those involved. Contrast with Nexus 7 from Google, a 2012 success that helped establish Android tablets as serious Apple competitors yet done on a much smaller budget than Surface.
The price is almost ok now but the hardware is obsolete, pity the poor ignorant student who buys one before the new academic year. The new Nexus 7 is available. Apple are leaking specs of the new iPad models. What are Microsoft doing? Frantically trying to sell the old Surface RT stockpile at a discount before they announce the new models.
As a software developer who works with the Microsoft dev. stack and who likes the way Surface delivers a hybrid format for tablets, that Microsoft have screwed up to such a degree that people like me are so negative about the Surface RT is quite an accomplishment!
Fun in a cruel sort of way to see if the shambles continues with the new Surface models or if I'll be tempted to move some effort away from Android next year.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
