Surface Sales Terrible

[IndyColtsFan]

LOL, look at the delusional comments from "Aaronzand" on this article. Unfortunately for him, IDC made no such claims that support his argument and in fact, show Surface continuing to get destroyed this year.

I think all of us saw this disaster coming when Surface RT was announced and pricing was made available for it and the Surface Pro. Their only hope is hitting a home run with Windows Blue and drastically cutting the prices of their tablets.

 

[sequoia464]

I don't really see why people struggle with Windows 8. At least after using it a little while. I was really skeptical of it at first too, but I spent some time with it and realized it's actually really nice.
.

I agree, especially with a tablet. I have a HP Envy X2, a couple of android machines, and the wife has an IPad, I by far prefer W8.

 

[Red Storm]

I agree, especially with a tablet. I have a HP Envy X2, a couple of android machines, and the wife has an IPad, I by far prefer W8.

It depends. On a desktop Windows 8 is annoying. On a tablet/phone I prefer Android's customizable setup over iOS or W8.

 

[StrangerGuy]

I don't really see why people struggle with Windows 8.

I don't understand that bit at all. People aren't in the business of running OSes in traditional PCs, they are in the business of running their apps to do something they want. When the OS is screwing over the latter for solely for sake of UI change it only means the OS is terrible.

 

[Ravynmagi]

I don't understand that bit at all. People aren't in the business of running OSes in traditional PCs, they are in the business of running their apps to do something they want. When the OS is screwing over the latter for solely for sake of UI change it only means the OS is terrible.

Windows 8 didn't change the UI just to piss everyone off. There are good reasons for the change. The OS is evolving to support a newer form factors that people are using their computers as, tablets and touch screens. Microsoft couldn't just stand by the sidelines and watch mobile platforms continue to take over.

Once I got over the big change and realized that I don't have to use the Start screen at all on my desktop, I found the change doesn't get in my way at all. I still have all my applications pinned to the task bar or desktop as before, I can access and run everything like I did on Windows 7.

 

[Red Storm]

Windows 8 didn't change the UI just to piss everyone off. There are good reasons for the change. The OS is evolving to support a newer form factors that people are using their computers as, tablets and touch screens. Microsoft couldn't just stand by the sidelines and watch mobile platforms continue to take over.

Once I got over the big change and realized that I don't have to use the Start screen at all on my desktop, I found the change doesn't get in my way at all. I still have all my applications pinned to the task bar or desktop as before, I can access and run everything like I did on Windows 7.

The problem is they forced the change onto laptops and desktops that don't utilize touch interface. When you yourself say you don't use the Start screen at all on your desktop that shows you how stupid it was to force it onto all versions of Windows.

Microsoft's biggest problem getting into mobile is Windows. People (a lot of them anyway) don't want Windows on their phone or tablet.

 

[Ravynmagi]

The problem is they forced the change onto laptops and desktops that don't utilize touch interface. When you yourself say you don't use the Start screen at all on your desktop that shows you how stupid it was to force it onto all versions of Windows.

Microsoft's biggest problem getting into mobile is Windows. People (a lot of them anyway) don't want Windows on their phone or tablet.

I guess I just see it differently. It's there for people that need it on touch devices and it gets out of the way for people that don't need it with mice and keyboards. Seems good to me.

Yes, Microsoft has had a terrible time in the mobile market. I think Windows 8 is Microsoft's attempt to force their way in by leveraging their desktop monopoly. Windows 8 will eventually be on hundreds of millions of computers over the world. That is a huge presence for it's Windows Store apps (or whatever they are calling it) and hopefully that'll help them catch up to iOS and Android in quality apps sooner than later.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I guess I just see it differently. It's there for people that need it on touch devices and it gets out of the way for people that don't need it with mice and keyboards. Seems good to me.

Yes, Microsoft has had a terrible time in the mobile market. I think Windows 8 is Microsoft's attempt to force their way in by leveraging their desktop monopoly. Windows 8 will eventually be on hundreds of millions of computers over the world. That is a huge presence for it's Windows Store apps (or whatever they are calling it) and hopefully that'll help them catch up to iOS and Android in quality apps sooner than later.

How easy is MS making it to develop apps that run on both RT and x86? Something like Java- compile once and run on both?

 

[lkailburn]

How easy is MS making it to develop apps that run on both RT and x86? Something like Java- compile once and run on both?

Forget where i read it but i thought it was something like over 80% of the coding would be identical for RT and 8.

Btw i just ordered my 128 Pro. It arrives tomorrow. can't wait!

-Luke

 

[sequoia464]

It depends. On a desktop Windows 8 is annoying. On a tablet/phone I prefer Android's customizable setup over iOS or W8.

I know what you you're saying, I enjoy those aspects on my android tablets and phone as well - but from an efficiency standpoint, for me, and I'm without a doubt in the minority here, I like my windows phone more than the android.

I have a windows phone for my business and an android that I use for the bat-line. I really like some of the aspects of the android phone (the voice to text is great)- but I still tend to gravitate to the Windows phone. The wife says something about teaching an old dog new tricks?? Not sure what she means by that.

 

[finbarqs]

I played starcraft on my surface 128, but the screen was too small... Anyways, I just couldn't justify the dust collector of $1k...

 

[dagamer34]

How easy is MS making it to develop apps that run on both RT and x86? Something like Java- compile once and run on both?

The apps are 99.9% identical. For your average app, a developer will never use an API that Windows RT doesn't have in Metro that Windows 8 does.

 

[poofyhairguy]

The apps are 99.9% identical. For your average app, a developer will never use an API that Windows RT doesn't have in Metro that Windows 8 does.

Is there any hope for pre-Windows 8 apps being just a recompile away from working? Like .Net stuff?

 

[Zaap]

Can't say I'm surprised. MS's pipe dreams aren't quite lining up with the realities of actual users' needs. Color me shocked.

 

[Ravynmagi]

Is there any hope for pre-Windows 8 apps being just a recompile away from working? Like .Net stuff?

Yeah.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2092348

 

[poofyhairguy]

Yeah.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2092348

Oh cool.

 

[sm625]

For $1000, microsoft should have had a true heterogenous design that could switch seamlessly between two processors depending on task. 90% of the time you'd be running on an atom with the ivy bridge power gated. And when the added power was needed, it should instantly power up and start crunching in a totally transparent way. (And of course you could control when the big chip runs, for example whenever it is plugged in.)

And it should have been passively cooled.

Those two features are the only way to justify that kind of pricing.

 

[poofyhairguy]

For $1000, microsoft should have had a true heterogenous design that could switch seamlessly between two processors depending on task. 90% of the time you'd be running on an atom with the ivy bridge power gated. And when the added power was needed, it should instantly power up and start crunching in a totally transparent way. (And of course you could control when the big chip runs, for example whenever it is plugged in.)

And it should have been passively cooled.

Those two features are the only way to justify that kind of pricing.

Intel Big.little.

 

[dagamer34]

For $1000, microsoft should have had a true heterogenous design that could switch seamlessly between two processors depending on task. 90% of the time you'd be running on an atom with the ivy bridge power gated. And when the added power was needed, it should instantly power up and start crunching in a totally transparent way. (And of course you could control when the big chip runs, for example whenever it is plugged in.)

And it should have been passively cooled.

Those two features are the only way to justify that kind of pricing.

Would Microsoft be the one designing this magical hardware? It makes no sense to do what you described, Haswell is a far better solution.

 

[Ravynmagi]

An Ivy Bridge/Atom dual chip tablet sounds cool to me since unfortunately there is no single chip right now that has great performance and great battery life. But I'm pretty sure that is far outside Microsoft's area of expertise.

 

[Imaginer]

An Ivy Bridge/Atom dual chip tablet sounds cool to me since unfortunately there is no single chip right now that has great performance and great battery life. But I'm pretty sure that is far outside Microsoft's area of expertise.

Have you looked inside the Surface Pro? I think they have a design team on the Surface and Surface Pro that is expert enough to design hardware.

Problem is, real estate and intended size of the device and the bus. Maybe a larger tablet can accomodate the extra chip and routing, but consider that they intentionally made the innards of the Surface Pro symmetrical as much as they can

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/12/4086434/microsoft-surface-concepts-prototypes-photos

While fitting it in a 10 inch space. The thing they could have done is offer 128GB and 256GB from the start. But that will also scream from people about more cost.

 

[poofyhairguy]

An Ivy Bridge/Atom dual chip tablet sounds cool to me since unfortunately there is no single chip right now that has great performance and great battery life. But I'm pretty sure that is far outside Microsoft's area of expertise.

Think of a device like an Asus Transformer. In the tablet part is an Atom CPU, and when its in "tablet mode" it uses Metro.

Then you put it in the dock, which has an i5 built in, and it goes into "normal Windows mode."

 

[Imaginer]

Think of a device like an Asus Transformer. In the tablet part is an Atom CPU, and when its in "tablet mode" it uses Metro.

Then you put it in the dock, which has an i5 built in, and it goes into "normal Windows mode."

Problem with that, is sometimes in tablet only mode, I would like the i5 power too.

However, I would like a keyboard dock to have extra GPU capability and battery.

 

[aceO07]

While fitting it in a 10 inch space. The thing they could have done is offer 128GB and 256GB from the start. But that will also scream from people about more cost.

I think they should have expanded their target audience to include people with higher requirements. 256GB storage and 8-16GB RAM would have sold me as long as the price was under $1500..

 

[Munky]

I'm still on the fence about getting the Surface Pro. It would be more tempting if the keyboard dock was included in the pricing. Pretty sure the next tablet I buy will be running Windows x86, but I'm curious what AMD tablets will be available in the future. I don't necessarily need a tablet to run Crysis, but running Photoshop, a non-mobile browser, and remote desktop are high on my priorities.