Microsoft Feels "Urgency" for Tablets

[Win7User512]

REDMOND, Wash. (CNNMoney.com) -- Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said Thursday that the software giant is urgently working with its partners to unveil a host of tablet computers running Windows 7, to compete with Apple's fast-selling iPad.
At a meeting with financial analysts on Thursday, Ballmer outlined the company's strategy to catch up to Apple and Google in the consumer space. He said Apple is doing an "interesting" job with the iPad and has "sold certainly more than I'd like them to sell." As a result, Ballmer said his company's "job one urgency" is bringing Windows-based tablet computers to the market.

Article

Seems to me that MS is playing catch-up too often these days.

 

[noobvious]

This is a flawed strategy on their part, I think. The iFad doesn't run on Snow Leopard, it runs on the iPhone OS....so why the insistence that a MS tablet run on Windows 7?

The iFad is an over-sized iPod Touch with a couple other tweaks(over-simplifying, I know)....so why doesn't MS take the same approach with the Zune HD as a base to work from?

Their approach reminds me why common sense is an oxymoron.

 

[Petey7]

If they include USB ports, flash, and multitasking, it will be 20x better than the iPad.

 

[logicearth]

Seems to me that MS is playing catch-up too often these days.

Not really. Microsoft had tablet PCs for years.

 

[Win7User512]

Seems to me that MS is playing catch-up too often these days.

Not really. Microsoft had tablet PCs for years.

Windows has been on tablets, but they aren't the "hit" that iPad has been.

Areas MS still tops:
OS (Windows)
Office productivity (Office)
Development tools (visual studio, .NET)

Areas Apple has:
Phones
MP3 players
(now) tablets

 

[whs]

If they include USB ports, flash, and multitasking, it will be 20x better than the iPad.

Absolutely true. The Apple thingy is an expensive paper weight in my book. The full blown version costs over $1000 in Europe. At the end, MS will not play catch-up but come out with something that people can make use of - I hope at least.

 

[Win7User512]

If they include USB ports, flash, and multitasking, it will be 20x better than the iPad.

Absolutely true. The Apple thingy is an expensive paper weight in my book. The full blown version costs over $1000 in Europe. At the end, MS will not play catch-up but come out with something that people can make use of - I hope at least.

I hope the same. I'd like to see MS jump into more areas successfully. Really hoping they do well with Win Phone 7 too.

 

[Petey7]

I remember a apple fan boy telling me it didn't have USB ports because they were outdated....

 

[pparks1]

Seems to me that MS is playing catch-up too often these days.

Well, to be fair...that's kinda nothing new.

1). Pop-up blocker integrated in their browser came after others
2). Tabbed browsing in their browser came after
3). The Xbox came after Nintendo and Sony
4). The Zune came after the iPod, and many other vendors
5). Bing came after Google.


The list kinda goes on and on.

 

[Win7User512]

I remember a apple fan boy telling me it didn't have USB ports because they were outdated....

LOL. Now if he said USB 1.1, he'd be correct. I'm still waiting to use my USB 3.0 ports...

 

[Petey7]

I remember a apple fan boy telling me it didn't have USB ports because they were outdated....

LOL. Now if he said USB 1.1, he'd be correct. I'm still waiting to use my USB 3.0 ports...

No, he meant USB 3.0.

 

[Lordbob75]

I would love to see MS come out with a Tabled VERSION of Windows 7, and take a leaf out of Android and Apple's books on the design of the GUI.

~Lordbob

 

[Night Hawk]

Windows 7 Tablets: Just Say No, Microsoft

July 30, 2010 5:25 PM

Windows 7 Tablets: Just Say No, Microsoft

By Jeff Bertolucci, PC World

Microsoft is busy at work on a new tablet computer design, a product that may arrive from one or more of its hardware partners in "not a heck of a long time," CEO Steve Ballmer told analysts on Thursday.

With the early success of the Apple iPad--more than 3 million sales and counting--and a batch of Android tablets scheduled to arrive by the end of the year, Microsoft is coming to the party late. True, Redmond has toyed with tablet PCs for years, including long-forgotten experiments such as the Toshiba Portege M205-S810 laptop/slate hybrid, but it's still a no-show in the iPad era. This will soon change, however.

Desktop to Tablet

Unfortunately, Microsoft plans to retrofit Windows 7 to run on slates. While Win 7 is a fine operating system for conventional PCs, it was never designed for touch input, a shortcoming that makes it inherently clunky for the new breed of touchscreen tablets.

To be fair, Windows 7 does include Windows Touch, an interface overlay that allows you to use multitouch finger gestures--the flicks and taps familiar to smartphone users--on a Win 7 tablet. But touch input isn't a particularly efficient way to navigate the Windows UI, which was designed for mice and keyboards.

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[logicearth]

it was never designed for touch input, a shortcoming that makes it inherently clunky for the new breed of touchscreen tablets.

That is completely false and bogus.

 

[bobtran]

Way late.....even Kmart has an ipad clone available for $149. Not much but still an actual product.
Kmart Adds iPad-Like Android Tablet - 2010-07-30 19:09:55 | TWICE

All I can say is if Microsoft is going to get into this field it had better be D*** good and at a low, low price point otherwise its just another mega-million dollar failure.

I really, really want to believe that it will be a good must have product, but, as the owner of a new HTC touch pro2 windows mobile 6.5 phone that is NOT eligible to upgrade to windows phone 7 (still not commercially available I might add) I personally have my doubts. It's just about profits and not about the customer experience.

Come-on "Steven B".......surprise me, but, I bet you can't.





Edit: Wow- freaky when you post to one thread and it gets combined with another thread even as you post it......I've got a good case of whiplash now.

 

[Lordbob75]

July 30, 2010 5:25 PM

Windows 7 Tablets: Just Say No, Microsoft

By Jeff Bertolucci, PC World

Microsoft is busy at work on a new tablet computer design, a product that may arrive from one or more of its hardware partners in "not a heck of a long time," CEO Steve Ballmer told analysts on Thursday.

With the early success of the Apple iPad--more than 3 million sales and counting--and a batch of Android tablets scheduled to arrive by the end of the year, Microsoft is coming to the party late. True, Redmond has toyed with tablet PCs for years, including long-forgotten experiments such as the Toshiba Portege M205-S810 laptop/slate hybrid, but it's still a no-show in the iPad era. This will soon change, however.

Desktop to Tablet

Unfortunately, Microsoft plans to retrofit Windows 7 to run on slates. While Win 7 is a fine operating system for conventional PCs, it was never designed for touch input, a shortcoming that makes it inherently clunky for the new breed of touchscreen tablets.

To be fair, Windows 7 does include Windows Touch, an interface overlay that allows you to use multitouch finger gestures--the flicks and taps familiar to smartphone users--on a Win 7 tablet. But touch input isn't a particularly efficient way to navigate the Windows UI, which was designed for mice and keyboards.

More

Exactly my thinking on the OS choice.

PParks, the whole reason behind that thinking is that, whether it is designed for it or not, Windows 7 would NOT be touch friendly on a small screen!
As mentioned in the article, look at the small sized buttons, text links, etc.
That is the reason I would rather see an OS DESIGNED for a tablet, NOT A PC.

~Lordbob

 

[Night Hawk]

MS has has it's own Tablet PC editions for some time now. Touchscreen often depends on what a particular display supports especially if you follow some of the more recent tv shows where you see someone standing in front of a large projection screen when using that feature.

Cramped on a small screen you typically see the large square buttons displayed for menu options. The small keyboard buttons are not really any great deal larger then seen on most cell phones since everything has to be made compact. That's a large contrast between a 7.1" diagonal and a 19-24" desktop display not to mention applying touchscreen to a 40-50" lcd you mount on a wall.

The best term for the contrast would likely be "awkward" for TS in the present form of 7. 7 Tablet PC edition would be the thing needed and likely what MS is planning.

 

[cloud8521]

MS has has it's own Tablet PC editions for some time now. Touchscreen often depends on what a particular display supports especially if you follow some of the more recent tv shows where you see someone standing in front of a large projection screen when using that feature.

Cramped on a small screen you typically see the large square buttons displayed for menu options. The small keyboard buttons are not really any great deal larger then seen on most cell phones since everything has to be made compact. That's a large contrast between a 7.1" diagonal and a 19-24" desktop display not to mention applying touchscreen to a 40-50" lcd you mount on a wall.

The best term for the contrast would likely be "awkward" for TS in the present form of 7. 7 Tablet PC edition would be the thing needed and likely what MS is planning.

other settings help too

such as setting screen DPI, icon size

that sort of thing cant leave those out.

alot on windows 7 seems to me built for touch epecially the large setting for icons! those things are monstrous!

 

[Night Hawk]

They wanted them to stand out. You're not using a mouse cursor but physically touching the screen itself. Liken that to what you see with touchscreen ATM machines or when some store or bank clerk swings a rouchscreen at you for entering something as well as confirmation wih the yes and no icons.

All that was geared originally for the larger screen displays seen in your typical conference room setting. From there you step down to laptops and desktops with touch supported monitors and finally down to Tablet. I suspect you wouldn't see any many options for DPI, resolution, icon sizing on a Tablet edition since that is somewhat apart from your typical desktop edition which sees all sorts of environments and screen sizes.

 

[cloud8521]

They wanted them to stand out. You're not using a mouse cursor but physically touching the screen itself. Liken that to what you see with touchscreen ATM machines or when some store or bank clerk swings a rouchscreen at you for entering something as well as confirmation wih the yes and no icons.

All that was geared originally for the larger screen displays seen in your typical conference room setting. From there you step down to laptops and desktops with touch supported monitors and finally down to Tablet. I suspect you wouldn't see any many options for DPI, resolution, icon sizing on a Tablet edition since that is somewhat apart from your typical desktop edition which sees all sorts of environments and screen sizes.

well thats not what i really meant. but ya