I'd highly recommend this book:
Because you'll need it to master the interface.
Posted on 10/26/2012 6:12:33 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Microsoft and its allies need to generate excitement for the Surface tablets and other computers running the company’s dramatically revamped Windows 8 operating system. Nothing builds buzz like long lines, of course, and on that score, the first day of Windows 8 was a mixed bag.
Overnight, Microsoft opened a large retail store in New York’s Times Square focused on the company’s Surface tablet. While the lineup didn’t build early, once nightfall hit, there was a big crush of people entering the store, and curious onlookers, after 9:30 p.m., just after store employees held a loud pep talk behind the store’s still-shrouded exterior. (Your Digits blogger couldn’t quite make out what they chanted, but it sounded like, “Sur-face.”)
Friday, the Times Square store — like all Times Square retail shops — drew brisk traffic, though as colleague Tom Gara wrote on the Corporate Intelligence blog, the retail staff had a tough time explaining the intricacies of the PC-plus-tablet. (Or, if you believe Apple CEO Tim Cook, a flying and floating car.)
In the Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Md., a new Microsoft kiosk opened Friday morning, in an area that previously was a seating area for Caribou Coffee. The marketing manager for the mall said the Microsoft kiosk had a line as the mall opened at 10 a.m., but she said there was “not a humongous crowd there.” The Microsoft store manager, she said, reported being consistently busy, with shoppers “approaching the kiosk from every direction.”
At a newly opened Microsoft retail store in the Stonebriar Centre Mall in Frisco, Texas, a mall official said there were about 60 people in line when the store opened at 10 a.m. People who answered the phones for Microsoft stores in several states said there was sufficient inventory of Surface tablets.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
A bad economy doesn’t help neither does the fact Apple users are buying into the Apple Lifestyle as much as the product.
I also think that Windows 8 might be hurt from the fact that Windows 7 is actually pretty good
/johnny
I played with a touchscreen Windows 8 laptop for twenty minutes at Costco and quite enjoyed the experience. It was fairly intuitive, and I liked having all the info right there on the display. This is strictly from a casual user’s perspective though, and my last great infatuation was with webOS, so take it with a grain of salt....
I HATE Windows 8.
Bought a new PC that Windoze 8.
Having a terrible time with it.
Should be “that came with windows 8”
Sorry!
I admit that I often don’t pay close attention to the evening news, but I could swear they said the Surface wasn’t shipping with Win8, but with Windows RT.
I haven’t paid much attention to this particular gadget. Is RT the same as Win 8?
windows 8 with the 90’s aol-style menu screen? no thanky.
What “Apple” lifestyle would that be?
I love my iPhone and my iPad. Still use my Win7 PC’s to get real work done. Siemens NX 8.5 doesn’t run on iOS.
Surface run Windows RT, which a slimmed down version of Windows 8. It runs on less expensive ARM chips (which is what all iPad and Android tablets use). ARM chips are what gives it killer battery life as well.
The trade off with RT is that you can’t load all your old programs on it. Legacy apps don’t work unless they are ported to the RT platform. To soften that blow Microsoft includes a free copy of Office which runs on RT on every surface.
Surface Pro which will come right after Christmas runs full Windows 8. It will cost more, have lessor battery life than RT, but is effectively a full blown PC in tablet form
Ditto. I use Windows 7, Service Pack 1, and I'm very happy with it. Also, I don't need Metro on my laptop.
I can just feel the excitement in the air.
Funny, Microsoft is resorting to temporary retail setups like those seasonal Halloween or Christmas decoration places that pop up this time of year in vacant storefronts on the third floor of the mall. Resorting to this to generate “buzz,” apparently.
Apple was forced into retail because very few retailers would carry them, and those that did were staffed with Windows PC partisans who would disable Macs, botch demos and put Apple in the back corner of the store, in a very unkempt area. Intentionally.
So, Apple went into retail. Because they had no choice. This they did so well, with such style, inventiveness and customer orientation, that it became something of a phenom. It generated buzz. They took a bad situation and came out smelling like a rose.
I don’t think hastily assembled seasonal stores in abandoned retail space is quite going to impart the same impression.
Why the urgency? Earlier this week I read that nunerous sources online were sold out of this product very quickly. Could it be another attempt at creating “buzz” that isn’t really all that indicative of a tual consumer retail demand? I suspect so.
That excitement in the air seems to be more like whiff of flop sweat on the breeze.
I'd highly recommend this book:
Because you'll need it to master the interface.
I will say that the Surface looks really well made and contains some novel engineering. The OS is a big leap; how do you get new, young customers without alienating your old ones? This is very, very tricky for any company.
Well, Apple has actually done Microsoft a favor introducing the world to touch based OS. If Microsoft had tried this 4 years ago they would have been crucified.
The hardware is top notch. The fact it has a USB port is a revolution. Connect any USB devices without having to pay an Apple tax for a custom cable or adapter.
Could be that people who want Windows 8 can buy it online without getting anywhere a store.
Thanks for the info on RT.
It’s hard to keep up these days!
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