Microsoft's new tablet: the great copier surfaces again

FOX News Network, LLC. ^ | June 19, 2012 | John R. Quain

[trekdown]

... The market may not need a Windows tablet, but Microsoft desperately does. The company has been steadily -- some might say, inexorably -- falling behind in the new era of computing, the era in which the ability to easily access information is more important than the operating system or computing device we use to do it. Microsoft still hasn't understood this, failing to become a significant force in smartphones or tablets, mainly because it's working from an outdated model of being the Great Copier. Microsoft has always mimicked other technologies, from graphical interfaces to Web browsing to financial software. In some cases, it did improve upon what it copied, but in general the company's approach worked because it was based on an artificial monopoly...

[AnotherUnixGeek]

mainly because it's working from an outdated model of being the Great Copier.

Funny, I remember handheld devices running MS operating systems back when Steve Jobs was still running NeXT.

[Ingtar]

This is not Microsoft’s first foray into tablets. At least one other predeated Apple. It will be amusing to see what happens now that the hardware has caught up. The proposed Microsoft version has the processing power to run circles around the others. That doesn’t mean they will implement it well, but it will push the envelope again.

[gunsequalfreedom]

Window CE was a very stable and functional operating system. While my new phone does all of what my handheld PDA did and much more, my Jornada 680 was a very valuable and reliable tool.

It had a 9 hour battery life and an extra battery the size of a magic marker gave you another 9 hours back up. The flash memory operating system was fast, booted instantly. Contained the standard Office programs, had a built in fax machine and could browse the internet.

What it had that I wish my phone had was a stylus for typing. It is much preferred to my fat fingers on an onscreen keyboard, and so was the 70% sized keyboard that came with the Jornada.

Best of all, its screen was big enough to read and you could still slip it in your inside coat pocket.

[rlmorel]

You just gotta feel bad for this guy doing the Surface demo...

[tallyhoe]

You know what else? Microsoft made xerox operating system work for the Apple Computer systems! Then they made it work for other computer systems!

[trekdown]

>Funny, I remember handheld devices running MS operating systems back when Steve Jobs was still running NeXT.

Are you really compare "handheld devices running MS operating systems" and NeXT?

If so it looks like you have forgotten something, because NeXT was an iconic brand. After all, a NeXT Computer was used by Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau at CERN to develop the world's first web server software, CERN HTTPd, and also used to write the first web browser, WorldWideWeb. This workstation became the world's first web server on the Internet.

[Pontiac]

Ping

[itsahoot]

Let the games begin <|;-)=-

[Pontiac]

Microsoft still hasn't understood this, failing to become a significant force in smartphones or tablets, mainly because it's working from an outdated model of being the Great Copier. Microsoft has always mimicked other technologies, from graphical interfaces to Web browsing to financial software. In some cases, it did improve upon what it copied, but in general the company's approach worked because it was based on an artificial monopoly...

The author is too kind. Microsoft blatantly violated patents and copyrights and most of the time got away with it.

If Microsoft couldn’t get away with stealing the technology they would bully companies into licensing the technology by threatening to end cooperation and developer agreements.

[MrEdd]

Shh. You’ll upset the cultists.

[Woodman]

FWIW the system looked to still be responsive. The screen was responding to the demonstrators touch. Either he was not facile at using the interface, or the sensitivity was set way off from what he was use to.

[Erik Latranyi]

The author is clearly an Apple fanboy.

Everything cited is thereby tainted.

[Erik Latranyi]

Is your point that Apple has never had a stutter or problem with one of their devices?

[Azeem]

The Great Copier....that would be Xerox, the true innovators of home computers. Apple would know all about their designs.

[Leto]

Jobs had a vision of computers for consumers that other companies have been years behind. The only big innovation they missed early on was the importance of the web browser interface.

Xerox coulda sholda owned the PC market was ignored the Star because they were a copier company.

The problem with the MS tablet is that they are really pushing the keyboard. The whole idea of the IPad is that it is a tablet with a touch interface IOS is very well thought out and intuitive.

Why get a Surface when an Ultrabook is so much more functional for running PC apps?

My Experience with Windows 7 has been very good and with some of the new all in ones (Dell and Visio) there is little to miss relative to an IMac. The Ultrabooks give the form factor of an Airbook.

MS should just build a great tablet rather than a kludge.

The similarity between the Win 8 interface (haven’t used the beta) and the XBox 360 is not encouraging. Win 7 is very nice why mess it up?

[rlmorel]

That wasn’t really the point. The point was this poor guy was on stage with no clothes, and was clearly feeling it.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Are you really compare "handheld devices running MS operating systems" and NeXT?

No, I'm pointing out that Microsoft didn't in any way "copy" Apple in recognizing the value of handheld devices and developing software to power them. That was, after all, the substance of the sentence I quoted in my response. Some journalists seem to think that Apple invented handheld smart devices and that's ridiculous.

And yeah, I realize the worth of NeXT - I used to own one of their boxes.

[trekdown]

Got you. Thanks for clarification. I was just a bit surprised that "UnixGeek" did not know the real value of NeXT   :)

Steve Jobs did not invent personal computing, but Apple created the first personal computer and ...the PC market. He did not invent Windows, but he was very impressed when he saw it's basic concept at the Xerox Alto... and he was the first to bring it to the PC market. He did invent mobile computing, but ... etc. Every time Microsoft was following him.

It seems to me that author recalled all this events when he wrote that "Microsoft's new tablet: the great copier surfaces again"