5 ms·

Mary J Foley (Microsoft blogger) buys an iPad

11 points by Flemlord 16y ago

jmount 16y ago
Kind of sad that the blogger has no idea (not even some vapor ware hints) if there any interesting Windows 7 tablets on the horizon. Looks like Apple is getting almost a 2 year head start in this market (through no virtue of their own).
- dieterrams 16y ago
  The iPad caused companies like HP to rethink their tablet strategy, which set them back in terms of release date and OS of choice. In general, I think it's unlikely Windows 7 will gain much adoption as a tablet OS, since it's not designed for touch. Some evolution of Windows Phone 7 is more likely.
  - jmount 16y ago
    The operating system has turned out to be so irrelevant for a pad. I love my iPad, but all I want from it is to surf and play movies. The shoe-horned iPhone os is crap (not as appropriate as it is on the phone and certainly not the full OSX experience).
    - cschep 16y ago
      I think crap is stretching it a bit, but I do think the iOS 4 release on iPad will be a very important update.
      - jmount 16y ago
        It is only opinion. But no user visible file system, can't share documents between apps, no ability to have different users or even different set of Safari bookmarks on the same iPad, no ability to wirelessly sync, stupid screen of icons launch metaphor and more. Understand, I own one and love it (I think the pad form-factor is in fact game changing)- but the iPad is really a strange device.
    - dieterrams 16y ago
      I agree it's basically shoehorned. Springboard in particular isn't optimized for the form factor. But iOS makes for a very energy efficient OS with excellent touch UI conventions and a great app ecosystem. That alone makes it the best tablet UI to date. I think they'll make better use of the form factor over time.
- gthank 16y ago
  If Apple can design, build, debug, manufacturer, and market a tablet 2 years faster than any of their competitors, how is that NOT a credit to them?
  - jmount 16y ago
    Good point. I didn't write that well. What I meant to get at is if HP or Microsoft (or one of the many others) would just get something (anything) out that could web surf and play movies they would have a shot in the market. Instead they switched OS mid-stream, cancelled most known prototypes and bet on flash.
ergo98 16y ago
Am I interpreting correctly when I say that she is a blogger that happens to specialize in Microsoft? If so, big deal: She knows how to get the hits. At first read I thought it was saying she was a paid evangelist for Microsoft.
- bradleyland 16y ago
  Based on most of her writing, you couldn't be criticized for thinking she was a paid Microsoft evangelist. Outside of Paul Thurrott, she's probably the best candidate for a Microsoft-oriented equivalent of John Gruber.
  - gizmomagico 16y ago
    Oh please. Gruber isn't a blind fanboy. Daniel Eran Dilger, on the other hand, while really insightful, can't seem to find anything wrong with anything Apple does.
    - ergo98 16y ago
      >Gruber isn't a blind fanboy. Just my personal opinion, but I find Gruber to be far worse than a blind fanboy: He just comes across as someone who raised their flag and damnit, he's sticking with it hell or high water, like some small town sports fan railing to anyone who'll listen why their chosen team is the best and everyone else is second rate. Over and over again. Where he takes on anything other than the official corporate line of Apple he does so only under incredible duress, when he's the only one against an industry and his fanaticism is too obvious. He made a jibe recently about how he'll be getting a big payola check from Cupertino for all of his defenses of Apple lately: Honestly, I would think 100x more of the guy if he did. Just went there for a moment to see the first item is "Android 2.2 Handily Beats iOS4 in JavaScript Benchmarks". Great, even handed, right? Yet in true Gruber style he adds "which isn’t possible under iOS 4.0 because of a security feature where once a page in memory is marked writeable, it can never be made executable. It’s a nice security feature, but one that comes at the expense of significant potential performance gains.". Android makes very heavy use of the NX bit as well. Only, just like with iOS, they can and do circumvent that when the need arises. Saying that iOS can't do this is utterly asinine. And you can be sure that iOS will do this, it's just that web performance hasn't been a top priority for the platform. The next n-stories are all pretty much the same thing -- Apple is maligned and unfairly trodden upon. Android is stinky poo-poo, and on and on. It's unpalatable to all but the faithful.
KC8ZKF 16y ago
I think it is interesting that she equates buying a product to joining a community.

11 points by Flemlord 16y ago

Kind of sad that the blogger has no idea (not even some vapor ware hints) if there any interesting Windows 7 tablets on the horizon. Looks like Apple is getting almost a 2 year head start in this market (through no virtue of their own).

dieterrams 16y ago
The iPad caused companies like HP to rethink their tablet strategy, which set them back in terms of release date and OS of choice. In general, I think it's unlikely Windows 7 will gain much adoption as a tablet OS, since it's not designed for touch. Some evolution of Windows Phone 7 is more likely.
- jmount 16y ago
  The operating system has turned out to be so irrelevant for a pad. I love my iPad, but all I want from it is to surf and play movies. The shoe-horned iPhone os is crap (not as appropriate as it is on the phone and certainly not the full OSX experience).
  - cschep 16y ago
    I think crap is stretching it a bit, but I do think the iOS 4 release on iPad will be a very important update.
    - jmount 16y ago
      It is only opinion. But no user visible file system, can't share documents between apps, no ability to have different users or even different set of Safari bookmarks on the same iPad, no ability to wirelessly sync, stupid screen of icons launch metaphor and more. Understand, I own one and love it (I think the pad form-factor is in fact game changing)- but the iPad is really a strange device.
  - dieterrams 16y ago
    I agree it's basically shoehorned. Springboard in particular isn't optimized for the form factor. But iOS makes for a very energy efficient OS with excellent touch UI conventions and a great app ecosystem. That alone makes it the best tablet UI to date. I think they'll make better use of the form factor over time.
gthank 16y ago
If Apple can design, build, debug, manufacturer, and market a tablet 2 years faster than any of their competitors, how is that NOT a credit to them?
- jmount 16y ago
  Good point. I didn't write that well. What I meant to get at is if HP or Microsoft (or one of the many others) would just get something (anything) out that could web surf and play movies they would have a shot in the market. Instead they switched OS mid-stream, cancelled most known prototypes and bet on flash.

ergo98 16y ago

Am I interpreting correctly when I say that she is a blogger that happens to specialize in Microsoft? If so, big deal: She knows how to get the hits. At first read I thought it was saying she was a paid evangelist for Microsoft.

bradleyland 16y ago
Based on most of her writing, you couldn't be criticized for thinking she was a paid Microsoft evangelist. Outside of Paul Thurrott, she's probably the best candidate for a Microsoft-oriented equivalent of John Gruber.
- gizmomagico 16y ago
  Oh please. Gruber isn't a blind fanboy. Daniel Eran Dilger, on the other hand, while really insightful, can't seem to find anything wrong with anything Apple does.
  - ergo98 16y ago
    >Gruber isn't a blind fanboy. Just my personal opinion, but I find Gruber to be far worse than a blind fanboy: He just comes across as someone who raised their flag and damnit, he's sticking with it hell or high water, like some small town sports fan railing to anyone who'll listen why their chosen team is the best and everyone else is second rate. Over and over again. Where he takes on anything other than the official corporate line of Apple he does so only under incredible duress, when he's the only one against an industry and his fanaticism is too obvious. He made a jibe recently about how he'll be getting a big payola check from Cupertino for all of his defenses of Apple lately: Honestly, I would think 100x more of the guy if he did. Just went there for a moment to see the first item is "Android 2.2 Handily Beats iOS4 in JavaScript Benchmarks". Great, even handed, right? Yet in true Gruber style he adds "which isn’t possible under iOS 4.0 because of a security feature where once a page in memory is marked writeable, it can never be made executable. It’s a nice security feature, but one that comes at the expense of significant potential performance gains.". Android makes very heavy use of the NX bit as well. Only, just like with iOS, they can and do circumvent that when the need arises. Saying that iOS can't do this is utterly asinine. And you can be sure that iOS will do this, it's just that web performance hasn't been a top priority for the platform. The next n-stories are all pretty much the same thing -- Apple is maligned and unfairly trodden upon. Android is stinky poo-poo, and on and on. It's unpalatable to all but the faithful.

KC8ZKF 16y ago

I think it is interesting that she equates buying a product to joining a community.