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It really doesn't matter how well Surface RT does. Windows 8, even if it's another Vista, will sell a stupendous number. This will cause a tide a W8 apps that w

It really doesn't matter how well Surface RT does. Windows 8, even if it's another Vista, will sell a stupendous number. This will cause a tide a W8 apps that will be RT compatible, dramatically raising its viability. RT sucks now because it's a V1 and because Surface Pro's not out yet. When Surface Pro gets penetration RT's time will come. It's classic microsoft, to translate their monopoly in PC OS into tablet marketshare.

SoftwareMaven 14y ago
I'm not convinced Surface Pro is going to be a hit. I think it will be too close to "laptop" to convince people to purchase it over an ultrabook. With its Intel processor, it will be faster, but heavier, hotter and will likely have worse battery life. I think the decision process will then be "is the touch screen and a little less weight worth giving up the performance of a real laptop?" And (as much as I love my tablet), I think the answer to that won't be a resounding "yes".
- Breakthrough 14y ago
  Do you honestly think one of the largest players in this market (and arguably, the smartest) would release a tablet that's heavier, hotter, and with worse battery life than an Ultrabook? Have you even looked at the specifications of the Surface Pro? Microsoft knows exactly what they're doing. And I agree, due to it's similarity to a conventional laptop, they won't sell as much as they could. That being said, the Surface Pro is a bad-ass piece of machinery, and probably going to be hard to beat any time soon. Aside from those points, I agree with what you said. From my perspective though, who in their right mind wouldn't want a tablet with a dual-core hyperthreaded Core i5 with 4GB of RAM and a beautiful 1080p screen?
  - nilsbunger 14y ago
    I think the patent post probably meant hotter with worse battery life than other tablets. I would want a tablet with a core i5, 4gb ram and a 1080 screen, IF it still feels light, runs cool, and battery lasts as long as an iPad.
    - KaoruAoiShiho 14y ago
      No way the battery's going to last as long as an iPad...
  - nxn 14y ago
    Do you honestly think one of the largest players in this market (and arguably, the smartest) would release a tablet that's heavier, hotter, and with worse battery life than an Ultrabook? How exactly do you figure that Microsoft is one of the largest players in the tablet market? PC market, yes, but they're a late new comer to the modern tablet world. Now as far as asking whether they would release a tablet that runs hot and has poor battery life -- I don't know, would they release a tablet that suffers from 5+ second delays while typing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTtf_BgFS08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTtf_BgFS08 ?
  - SoftwareMaven 14y ago
    I see the confusion. When I said heavier, hotter, and worse battery life, I meant as compared to the current Surface. I would expect Surface Pro to land somewhere right in the middle of Surface and an ultrabook. People already ask the question, "Is a tablet worth the tradeoff?" In this case, the positives will be less than they are now.
- JL2010 14y ago
  I'd have to agree with this assessment. I'm not sure where they got the idea from that people actually want to do work on these machines. I actually like the surface with metro UI purely as a tablet - the snap in keyboard is super convenient but I struggle to think of enough use cases where I would have it snapped in for more than 5 minutes - let alone fire up word or excel.
jgon 14y ago
Yeah, this looks to be the most probable course of action to me, and the doom and gloom that is raining down from the rafters seems a little premature. In the same way that Vista was a disaster due to its changes and incompatibilities, Windows 8 is a version 1. And in the same way that, by the time Windows 7 had come out, the industry had adapted, new drivers had been written, C# was a standard, etc, etc, when Windows 9 comes out 2-3 years from now RT apps will be widespread, Windows tablet hardware will be a couple of generations refined, and Office will probably work with Metro. And there will be glowing reviews talking about what an achievement Windows 9 is, how it is the best OS Microsoft has released in years, and how it completely wipes out the colossal disappointment that was Windows 8, ignoring of course that Windows 8 like Vista before it provided the foundation upon which the new system is built. Will Microsoft be around forever? Who knows, but a company this large, only a few years removed from the success that was Windows 7, is going to get at least a few more kicks at the can.
- contextfree 14y ago
  also: people will have come to terms with the new UI, and touchscreens will be standard on laptops
- MBCook 14y ago
  The question is: by the time they get version 2 out, will the rest of the industry have moved on? If they miss an inflection point, they could be in deep trouble.
  - nxn 14y ago
    If Windows 8 flops the most likely outcome will be people just staying on whatever version of Windows they have now. That's pretty much what happened when Vista flopped. And honestly, seeing as how Windows 7 only overtook XP in terms of popularity around September of this year (despite being a hit), there seems to be no real rush in the industry for OS upgrades to begin with.
    - MBCook 14y ago

SoftwareMaven 14y ago

I'm not convinced Surface Pro is going to be a hit. I think it will be too close to "laptop" to convince people to purchase it over an ultrabook. With its Intel processor, it will be faster, but heavier, hotter and will likely have worse battery life. I think the decision process will then be "is the touch screen and a little less weight worth giving up the performance of a real laptop?" And (as much as I love my tablet), I think the answer to that won't be a resounding "yes".

Breakthrough 14y ago
Do you honestly think one of the largest players in this market (and arguably, the smartest) would release a tablet that's heavier, hotter, and with worse battery life than an Ultrabook? Have you even looked at the specifications of the Surface Pro? Microsoft knows exactly what they're doing. And I agree, due to it's similarity to a conventional laptop, they won't sell as much as they could. That being said, the Surface Pro is a bad-ass piece of machinery, and probably going to be hard to beat any time soon. Aside from those points, I agree with what you said. From my perspective though, who in their right mind wouldn't want a tablet with a dual-core hyperthreaded Core i5 with 4GB of RAM and a beautiful 1080p screen?
- nilsbunger 14y ago
  I think the patent post probably meant hotter with worse battery life than other tablets. I would want a tablet with a core i5, 4gb ram and a 1080 screen, IF it still feels light, runs cool, and battery lasts as long as an iPad.
  - KaoruAoiShiho 14y ago
    No way the battery's going to last as long as an iPad...
- nxn 14y ago
  Do you honestly think one of the largest players in this market (and arguably, the smartest) would release a tablet that's heavier, hotter, and with worse battery life than an Ultrabook? How exactly do you figure that Microsoft is one of the largest players in the tablet market? PC market, yes, but they're a late new comer to the modern tablet world. Now as far as asking whether they would release a tablet that runs hot and has poor battery life -- I don't know, would they release a tablet that suffers from 5+ second delays while typing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTtf_BgFS08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTtf_BgFS08 ?
- SoftwareMaven 14y ago
  I see the confusion. When I said heavier, hotter, and worse battery life, I meant as compared to the current Surface. I would expect Surface Pro to land somewhere right in the middle of Surface and an ultrabook. People already ask the question, "Is a tablet worth the tradeoff?" In this case, the positives will be less than they are now.
JL2010 14y ago
I'd have to agree with this assessment. I'm not sure where they got the idea from that people actually want to do work on these machines. I actually like the surface with metro UI purely as a tablet - the snap in keyboard is super convenient but I struggle to think of enough use cases where I would have it snapped in for more than 5 minutes - let alone fire up word or excel.

jgon 14y ago

Yeah, this looks to be the most probable course of action to me, and the doom and gloom that is raining down from the rafters seems a little premature. In the same way that Vista was a disaster due to its changes and incompatibilities, Windows 8 is a version 1. And in the same way that, by the time Windows 7 had come out, the industry had adapted, new drivers had been written, C# was a standard, etc, etc, when Windows 9 comes out 2-3 years from now RT apps will be widespread, Windows tablet hardware will be a couple of generations refined, and Office will probably work with Metro. And there will be glowing reviews talking about what an achievement Windows 9 is, how it is the best OS Microsoft has released in years, and how it completely wipes out the colossal disappointment that was Windows 8, ignoring of course that Windows 8 like Vista before it provided the foundation upon which the new system is built. Will Microsoft be around forever? Who knows, but a company this large, only a few years removed from the success that was Windows 7, is going to get at least a few more kicks at the can.

contextfree 14y ago
also: people will have come to terms with the new UI, and touchscreens will be standard on laptops
MBCook 14y ago
The question is: by the time they get version 2 out, will the rest of the industry have moved on? If they miss an inflection point, they could be in deep trouble.
- nxn 14y ago
  If Windows 8 flops the most likely outcome will be people just staying on whatever version of Windows they have now. That's pretty much what happened when Vista flopped. And honestly, seeing as how Windows 7 only overtook XP in terms of popularity around September of this year (despite being a hit), there seems to be no real rush in the industry for OS upgrades to begin with.
  - MBCook 14y ago