Getting some time with Surface in the UK had been a bit of a challenge.
Given that only those with money to buy one to try out, were getting to experience the device. After selling relatively few of them, Microsoft have decided to pass them in to retail chains outside of there own. A good idea considering they only have a retail presence in North America. This meant I got to see what all the other bloggers on the net were on about.
So what are my thoughts on the Microsoft Surface with Windows 8 RT? (rolls off the tongue that name. Microsoft naming always reminds me of this video.)
Firstly, lets be nice shall we and start with the good stuff. Read More »
In a two part review, I’ve decided to expand upon a question I was asked as when looking for the subject of my next FAQ. The question was, “Why is Windows so shit?”
The question came from a Mac convert. Someone I’ve known to use PCs very long time (like since they came out, long time), but has now moved to the Mac side of life. I did feel however, that with Windows 8 on the way that perhaps a chance should be given.
One of the first post on this website will was about how impressed I was with early versions of Windows 8. After using it through the release candidate versions I’ve come to a somewhat polarised view on Microsoft’s most important move ever.
A mess. The latest operating system that the majority of computers will be running. All new PCs from the hardware manufacturers will ship with it. It’s a big deal and it seems half baked.
Most of the computers in use in the world today run Microsoft’s Windows Operating System (OS). I won’t go in to the rise of computing and how this came to be over the late 80′s and the 90′s as that’s a long story. It’s safe to say though that if you have used a computer at any time chances are it was running Windows. The OS is everywhere, from homes and offices to window displays and nuclear submarines. Yes, no matter how many times you see action movies with the cool, sleek, well designed interfaces, they are just as much a fabrication as the rest of the props. The rusty and unsecure old Windows 2000 and Windows XP run the show.
So when the company that makes the OS that the world knows, it’s a big deal. A few years ago Microsoft released Windows 7 to atone for the sins of Windows Vista which had ruined Microsoft’s reputation. Many PC vendors offered to take new computers back from customers and put Windows XP on them.
Over a year ago, Microsoft announced that they were going to release a new OS that would be a huge shift for the company. Windows 8, the touch based future of the Microsoft Corporation. The past and the present for Apple and Google. Over the development time, the company kept an excruciatingly detailed blog, updating the world on their progress and issuing development builds. I was impressed. Many of us were. Were we more impressed out of state of desperation for something new and better? Probably.
Here we are with the released OS, so what have we been left with. (Said version of the final build received updates after it was released to the manufacturers, so customer will have updates to do the first time they use their new computers.)
Just because that’s a made up quote, doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Microsoft are going to bring forward the next phase of the Eco System War (Formally known on this site as the Tablet Eco System War) with the release of the Surface tablet. With pre-orders starting soon in the US, ready for the Windows 8 Launch next week.
The Microsoft hardware list is expanding in the war to be consumers access point of preference. No longer will it just be well made mice and a games console (that gets used for so much more), there will be own-brand computers. Pure devices, like the iPad is to Apple and the Nexus 7 is to Google. Heck, add to that list Amazon and it’s Kindle Fire should they decide to buy RIM and get their own OS.
Microsoft will move back in to manufacturing phones next year. I am correct to say ‘back in to’, as lest we forget the lessons from the Kin. Read More »
Nobody has mentioned yet who is making this damned thing! Mostly the discussions have been around the fact that there are two of these going to be in existence (forgetting the obvious colour options to come), the fact that one will be ARM and run Windows 8 RT (Real Tablets? Rocking Testosterone? Rampant Tripe? Really Terrible?) and the other will be a Pro model. It’s as if Microsoft have spent all their time on gadget blogs and thought “The fanboys all talk of wanting an iPad Pro. Why don’t we make a Windows 8 Surface Tablet Pro 2012 first!” Read More »
It’s a little self explanatory that I tend to be a ‘Mac Fanboy’ but has time has moved on I’ve come to think this term no longer rings wholly true. I think I may be a ‘Good Tech Fanboy’. That’s why iOS is such a nice thing to use, because it works and well.
Then we get a video like the one above. The new direction for Microsoft with the Windows 8 platform for next year. Microsoft are shying away from calling it Windows 8 as a product and i can see why. The influences here from Metro and WP7 are evident in the touch orientated future. Add in that this will be the first Windows to work on ARM architecture and you know why this will be landing on tablets.
I’m impressed. Seriously. Because it looks like Microsoft are progressing the same plan with Windows as Apple are with OS X – The amalgamation of their core OS, across multiple devices, sharing software interoperability and media. This is the future for mass market computing guys. Get comfy its looking good.
(And now we wait with baited breath till the 6th of June for Apple’s WWDC for iOS 5, OS X 10.7 Lion and iCloud)
Ohhhh this gets me thinking.