6 ms·

Windows 8 tablet freezes in Microsoft keynote demo

28 points by fvbock 15y ago

Radzell 15y ago
Lol, maybe Microsoft hasn't changed. I like windows on desktop, but I love android on tablet. I guess I'll sticking with android for now.
- freehunter 15y ago
  Android never freezes or crashes. Come to think of it, neither does iOS or OSX, or Linux. Oh wait, almost all software crashes.
  - twargoth 15y ago
    No iOS product would crap itself like that during a keynote demo. Sure, I've had them panic and reboot on me in real world use, but Apple takes the time to make sure the demo runs smoothly. When you can't or don't make your demo run smoothly during a high visibility presentation, it makes you look careless, either in the development of your product or of your demo. In either case, it reeks of incompetence. This might not be a justified impression (accidents happen), but that's how life is.
    - nkassis 15y ago
      Apple doesn't make a habit of demoing products still in development. In there case when things crash (as they've done in the past) they don't really have a good excuse when that code will get released in a few days. Microsoft isn't done they have until October minus 1 month for manufacturing to go.
    - dangrossman 15y ago
      No iOS product comes close to the complexity of a Microsoft Dynamics product either, nor are developers at Apple expected to develop and demo such complex products on pre-beta operating systems created by a different group.
      - rbanffy 15y ago
        Wasn't it just a user interface for Dynamics running somewhere else?
      - twargoth 15y ago
        You're right about apple developers not being expected to demo apps on pre-beta software. Because doing that makes your software look shitty. Don't do that. Or script out the demo really carefully. PR exists to make the products look good.
    - timothya 15y ago
      Problems during the iPhone 4 keynote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qivCeSIaKA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qivCeSIaKA Other Apple keynote bloopers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCZgqoQSGu4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCZgqoQSGu4 Software is buggy sometimes, that's just life, and Apple is not immune to it. The best a company can do is have a backup system that they can quickly switch to so they can continue the demo.
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
firefoxman1 15y ago
Has anyone figured out why exactly Microsoft makes such buggy software? Is it a company culture thing?
- freehunter 15y ago
  Massive company. Massive software projects. Massive amount of end users. Massive amount of use cases for their software. Time restrictions on their development. The wording you used makes it sound like they make buggy software on purpose, which makes no sense.
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    > they make buggy software on purpose Actually, they do. Microsoft could spend more time and resources debugging it, or limit the number of use cases it addresses, make it simpler, support less hardware... Obviously, they chose more functionality for the end user, a broader selection of supported hardware and shorter time to market. That comes with a price. It's always a compromise. "Done is better than perfect" And, to be fair, it could also be a hardware problem. You know, hardware has bugs too.
    - freehunter 15y ago
      The difference is between "creating bugs" and "accepting bugs". Shipping buggy code is different than creating buggy code on purpose.
      - rbanffy 15y ago
        All the bugs in my code are there because I wrote them. Of course, I didn't mean to, but, nevertheless, it's not like they appeared spontaneously.
  - firefoxman1 15y ago
    Oh, sorry. Yeah I meant why they end up producing buggy software when competitors like Apple have proven it's possible to both ship and make stable software. And Apple does both hardware and software.
jaems33 15y ago
"Luckily, there was a second tablet available on stage that was working, so the changes for the hypothetical app were successfully written to the pretend database, and all was well." That's not luck. I would think that a backup is almost always a must for any presentation.
conradfr 15y ago
Classic Microsoft :)
ArthurLozinski 15y ago
"We're essentially enabling you to break the electronic concrete of the past and move your business to the future, by connecting your people, by enabling your people to communicate and collaborate in real time, and by taking all the wealth of communication, collaboration, and social networking opportunities, and apply those into very specific business scenarios." Now that sounds good! What would be even better, is if you build the whole thing on web-standards ;-)
sigvef 15y ago
"Windows 8, which Microsoft touts as the first operating system to run across multiple devices" Doesn't Linux already do this? Or does it not count, as it is only a kernel?
- nkassis 15y ago
  I mean what about previous versions of windows? They ran on tablets and desktops. If you mean non-x86 than windows NT initially was going to target MIPS and later became a x86 first(I believe they still released the MIPS version too).
  - dagw 15y ago
    Windows NT 3 could run on (some) MIPS, Alpha and PPC hardware in addition to x86. NT 4 was also ported PPC, but support was soon dropped and only the x86 and Alpha versions got any updates or support. There was even a release candidate of Windows 2000 for Alpha (I think I still have CD somewhere), but it never got a final release.
- freehunter 15y ago
  It's marketing speak, and no one of importance to Microsoft is going to call them on it. I would imagine their line of thinking would be Ubuntu doesn't ship on tablets or phones. OSX doesn't ship on tablets or phones. What they run are stripped down and re-imagined versions of the parent OS. Approval of the magnitude of this claim is up to the reader.
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    Still, Linux runs on just about everything between a 68000 and an IBM mainframe. As does NetBSD. I find the propensity to lie disturbing.
    - freehunter 15y ago
      This could get into deep discussions about what is an OS (versus a kernel), what constitutes the "same" OS (versus a modified version of the OS) and even what can be put in the same class as Windows. I think what Microsoft is getting at is, OSX and Ubuntu don't run the same code on their mobile devices. Windows 8 will. It's marketing, and NetBSD doesn't even cross their mind.
ugh 15y ago
So, uhm, I’m not a fan of Windows 8, but why exactly is this in any way a big deal? It's not finished. It will break. You have a backup device (or two) ready when you present it in front of a crowd. Apple does it (I remember keynotes where they had to switch to their backup Mac), Microsoft does it, everyone does it.
- mitchty 15y ago
  I'm an Apple fan, and I agree, stuff breaks. This is a non-news story.

28 points by fvbock 15y ago

Lol, maybe Microsoft hasn't changed. I like windows on desktop, but I love android on tablet. I guess I'll sticking with android for now.

freehunter 15y ago
Android never freezes or crashes. Come to think of it, neither does iOS or OSX, or Linux. Oh wait, almost all software crashes.
- twargoth 15y ago
  No iOS product would crap itself like that during a keynote demo. Sure, I've had them panic and reboot on me in real world use, but Apple takes the time to make sure the demo runs smoothly. When you can't or don't make your demo run smoothly during a high visibility presentation, it makes you look careless, either in the development of your product or of your demo. In either case, it reeks of incompetence. This might not be a justified impression (accidents happen), but that's how life is.
  - nkassis 15y ago
    Apple doesn't make a habit of demoing products still in development. In there case when things crash (as they've done in the past) they don't really have a good excuse when that code will get released in a few days. Microsoft isn't done they have until October minus 1 month for manufacturing to go.
  - dangrossman 15y ago
    No iOS product comes close to the complexity of a Microsoft Dynamics product either, nor are developers at Apple expected to develop and demo such complex products on pre-beta operating systems created by a different group.
    - rbanffy 15y ago
      Wasn't it just a user interface for Dynamics running somewhere else?
    - twargoth 15y ago
      You're right about apple developers not being expected to demo apps on pre-beta software. Because doing that makes your software look shitty. Don't do that. Or script out the demo really carefully. PR exists to make the products look good.
  - timothya 15y ago
    Problems during the iPhone 4 keynote: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qivCeSIaKA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qivCeSIaKA Other Apple keynote bloopers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCZgqoQSGu4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCZgqoQSGu4 Software is buggy sometimes, that's just life, and Apple is not immune to it. The best a company can do is have a backup system that they can quickly switch to so they can continue the demo.
  - deleted 15y ago
    [deleted]

firefoxman1 15y ago

Has anyone figured out why exactly Microsoft makes such buggy software? Is it a company culture thing?

freehunter 15y ago
Massive company. Massive software projects. Massive amount of end users. Massive amount of use cases for their software. Time restrictions on their development. The wording you used makes it sound like they make buggy software on purpose, which makes no sense.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  > they make buggy software on purpose Actually, they do. Microsoft could spend more time and resources debugging it, or limit the number of use cases it addresses, make it simpler, support less hardware... Obviously, they chose more functionality for the end user, a broader selection of supported hardware and shorter time to market. That comes with a price. It's always a compromise. "Done is better than perfect" And, to be fair, it could also be a hardware problem. You know, hardware has bugs too.
  - freehunter 15y ago
    The difference is between "creating bugs" and "accepting bugs". Shipping buggy code is different than creating buggy code on purpose.
    - rbanffy 15y ago
      All the bugs in my code are there because I wrote them. Of course, I didn't mean to, but, nevertheless, it's not like they appeared spontaneously.
- firefoxman1 15y ago
  Oh, sorry. Yeah I meant why they end up producing buggy software when competitors like Apple have proven it's possible to both ship and make stable software. And Apple does both hardware and software.

jaems33 15y ago

"Luckily, there was a second tablet available on stage that was working, so the changes for the hypothetical app were successfully written to the pretend database, and all was well." That's not luck. I would think that a backup is almost always a must for any presentation.

conradfr 15y ago

Classic Microsoft :)

ArthurLozinski 15y ago

"We're essentially enabling you to break the electronic concrete of the past and move your business to the future, by connecting your people, by enabling your people to communicate and collaborate in real time, and by taking all the wealth of communication, collaboration, and social networking opportunities, and apply those into very specific business scenarios." Now that sounds good! What would be even better, is if you build the whole thing on web-standards ;-)

sigvef 15y ago

"Windows 8, which Microsoft touts as the first operating system to run across multiple devices" Doesn't Linux already do this? Or does it not count, as it is only a kernel?

nkassis 15y ago
I mean what about previous versions of windows? They ran on tablets and desktops. If you mean non-x86 than windows NT initially was going to target MIPS and later became a x86 first(I believe they still released the MIPS version too).
- dagw 15y ago
  Windows NT 3 could run on (some) MIPS, Alpha and PPC hardware in addition to x86. NT 4 was also ported PPC, but support was soon dropped and only the x86 and Alpha versions got any updates or support. There was even a release candidate of Windows 2000 for Alpha (I think I still have CD somewhere), but it never got a final release.
freehunter 15y ago
It's marketing speak, and no one of importance to Microsoft is going to call them on it. I would imagine their line of thinking would be Ubuntu doesn't ship on tablets or phones. OSX doesn't ship on tablets or phones. What they run are stripped down and re-imagined versions of the parent OS. Approval of the magnitude of this claim is up to the reader.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  Still, Linux runs on just about everything between a 68000 and an IBM mainframe. As does NetBSD. I find the propensity to lie disturbing.
  - freehunter 15y ago
    This could get into deep discussions about what is an OS (versus a kernel), what constitutes the "same" OS (versus a modified version of the OS) and even what can be put in the same class as Windows. I think what Microsoft is getting at is, OSX and Ubuntu don't run the same code on their mobile devices. Windows 8 will. It's marketing, and NetBSD doesn't even cross their mind.

ugh 15y ago

So, uhm, I’m not a fan of Windows 8, but why exactly is this in any way a big deal? It's not finished. It will break. You have a backup device (or two) ready when you present it in front of a crowd. Apple does it (I remember keynotes where they had to switch to their backup Mac), Microsoft does it, everyone does it.

mitchty 15y ago
I'm an Apple fan, and I agree, stuff breaks. This is a non-news story.