7 ms·

I assumed that (not now, but in 5 years time), you'll bring your 7" or 10" tablet home, plug it into its dock (a-la laptop docks now), which will hook it up to

I assumed that (not now, but in 5 years time), you'll bring your 7" or 10" tablet home, plug it into its dock (a-la laptop docks now), which will hook it up to your full size mouse and keyboard, and your 27" high resolution monitor. It'll have enough processing power to do what most people need from a machine, and when you need to go out, you grab it out of its dock, and all your programs, files and settings are with you, running on their tablet-optimised version. This is the end game as I see it and I'm pretty convinced this is what Microsoft is planning for. If that's the way it goes, they have a huge head start over Apple who are insisting on keeping OSX and iOS separate.

mbreese 14y ago
This has already been tried by OQO in the early 2000's. Verdict was: it was a nice concept, but ultimately didn't work real well. The OXO ran a full copy of Wondows, so you theoretically had the same experience with the small built in screen and the full docked mode. Unfortunately, getting things switched from tablet to PC mode didn't seem to work real well. Ultimately, the tablet was too big and the docked PC was underpowered. If you want a dock able experience, I think we'll see something closer to the Linux transformer tablets. It is an ordinary tablet, but when plugged into a dock, the dock has a more powerful processor (and more energy hungry) and takes over. In this mode, the tablet isn't much more than an external hard drive. I think it was Lenovo that made these, but I can't remember.
cpeterso 14y ago
> you'll bring your 7" or 10" tablet home, plug it into its dock (a-la laptop docks now), which will hook it up to your full size mouse and keyboard, and your 27" high resolution monitor. Why stop there? The dock will probably have its own processor that can run the tablet apps faster, possibly enabling desktop features. Microsoft could really push this because they own the desktop market but have a weak toehold in the tablet market.
danieldk 14y ago
This is the end game as I see it and I'm pretty convinced this is what Microsoft is planning for. If that's the way it goes, they have a huge head start over Apple who are insisting on keeping OSX and iOS separate. I don't see much of an advantage for Microsoft here. Metro is another world than the traditional desktop, and Metro applications are only really fit for tablets and phones. So, a hybrid will probably keep a desktop/tablet UI separation. Since iOS and OS X build on the same technologies, Apple could, if they wanted to, release a hybrid system in no time. In fact, the iPhone/iPad simulator already uses Cocoa Touch on the same architecture and platform as OS X. Besides that, Apple has an App Store filled with tablet apps and desktop apps. Not just tablet apps.
josteink 14y ago
when you need to go out, you grab it out of its dock, and all your programs, files and settings are with you, running on their tablet-optimised version. This was what the future looked like 10 years ago until cloud-provided software and storage became an option. This was the videos Microsoft showed us and it all looked fantastic. Now I'm wondering why on earth would I lob files manually around? It's as old-fashioned as synching your phone via USB and iTunes. You did that 5 years ago. Not now. It's a stone-age solution created by stone-age approach to computing. We demand better now. Now I have one Google doc document, which is a live document. It's always the latest version, with all the latest collaborations, and I don't need to bring it with me. That's great. I don't know which documents I'll need. And you can't be realistically expected to bring them all with you always, just to be covered. The "future" you are painting sounds old fashioned and I don't want it. That is Microsoft's main problem now: Their future insist we should keep things which are obsolete (like local files) at all cost, and they are doing it to attempt to keep the relevance of their OS as it used to be. In services like Office 365 they are very explicit about not creating a "document", you are creating a ".docx-file". This is 100% orthogonal to the way they tried to do things on the desktop (hide the extensions at all cost, because they were "confusing"). Now they are back-pedalling hard. Now people must know that they are creating a MS Word file. In the cloud. As if that makes sense. They are either confused, conflicted, panicking, a mix of those, or just appearing to be entirely uncoordinated right now. Even as a .NET developer I am seriously starting to doubt Microsoft's future, at least as far as client-platforms go.
- zanny 14y ago
  "Now I'm wondering why on earth would I lob files manually around? It's as old-fashioned as synching your phone via USB and iTunes. You did that 5 years ago. Not now. It's a stone-age solution created by stone-age approach to computing. We demand better now." AT&T and Verizon's monopoly on wireless spectrum called, they want their $50 a gigabyte.
  - josteink 14y ago
    That's a US problem which the rest of the world is not constrained by. It's not going to stop technological progress. Especially not when wifi and wired internet is completely and utterly untouched by it. That's how 99.99% of the business market is deployed. And you have governments to regulate monopolies. Demand action from your government instead of complaining about it online. That has worked out pretty well for Europe.
gnaffle 14y ago
Like others have commented, Apple could release such a device in no time. You can already hook an iPad up to a monitor and keyboard, so Apple just needs to add the OSX desktop. Looking at the Windows 8 reception, I doubt they are going to do that.. What Apple is betting on (and what Microsoft is betting on as well with SkyDrive and unified sign-in) is program data and state being synced seamlessly through the cloud, so that you can have a stand-alone high-performance PC on your desktop (maybe like the iMac). If Microsoft is indeed betting on "all apps and documents localized on one device", they are betting on the past.
- lloeki 14y ago
  > You can already hook an iPad up to Hook? > a monitor AirPlay Mirror > and keyboard Bluetooth keyboard So (conceptually, because iOS doesn't allow keyboard-only navigation), you just tell it to zap on the biggie screen and drop it somewhere nearby, and start typing on the keyboard (hell, merely typing could make it zap to the screen, skipping the first step entirely). No cables, ma.
  - gnaffle 14y ago
    Absolutely, the only exception being that Airplay currently has a slight lag and doesn't support Retina displays.
ImprovedSilence 14y ago
>>"Apple who are insisting on keeping OSX and iOS separate." Is this the case? I see OSX and ios slowly merging into eachother. Just look at the launchpad screen or whatever it is in osx, it looks and swipes over just like an iPad, with all your apps right there. I would be very surprised if these worlds didn't converge.
astrodust 14y ago
Keeping them separate has meant that no compromises are required. The touch iOS interface can go in one direction, and OS X, still very much geared towards mouse-pointer and physical keyboard, can go in another. Microsoft, by trying to unify not only power-user desktops but casual tablet and even XBox and phone interfaces under a single banner is making something nobody wants. A unified experience is like one-size-fits-all underwear, not comfortable at all for anyone.

mbreese 14y ago

This has already been tried by OQO in the early 2000's. Verdict was: it was a nice concept, but ultimately didn't work real well. The OXO ran a full copy of Wondows, so you theoretically had the same experience with the small built in screen and the full docked mode. Unfortunately, getting things switched from tablet to PC mode didn't seem to work real well. Ultimately, the tablet was too big and the docked PC was underpowered. If you want a dock able experience, I think we'll see something closer to the Linux transformer tablets. It is an ordinary tablet, but when plugged into a dock, the dock has a more powerful processor (and more energy hungry) and takes over. In this mode, the tablet isn't much more than an external hard drive. I think it was Lenovo that made these, but I can't remember.

cpeterso 14y ago

> you'll bring your 7" or 10" tablet home, plug it into its dock (a-la laptop docks now), which will hook it up to your full size mouse and keyboard, and your 27" high resolution monitor. Why stop there? The dock will probably have its own processor that can run the tablet apps faster, possibly enabling desktop features. Microsoft could really push this because they own the desktop market but have a weak toehold in the tablet market.

danieldk 14y ago

This is the end game as I see it and I'm pretty convinced this is what Microsoft is planning for. If that's the way it goes, they have a huge head start over Apple who are insisting on keeping OSX and iOS separate. I don't see much of an advantage for Microsoft here. Metro is another world than the traditional desktop, and Metro applications are only really fit for tablets and phones. So, a hybrid will probably keep a desktop/tablet UI separation. Since iOS and OS X build on the same technologies, Apple could, if they wanted to, release a hybrid system in no time. In fact, the iPhone/iPad simulator already uses Cocoa Touch on the same architecture and platform as OS X. Besides that, Apple has an App Store filled with tablet apps and desktop apps. Not just tablet apps.

josteink 14y ago

when you need to go out, you grab it out of its dock, and all your programs, files and settings are with you, running on their tablet-optimised version. This was what the future looked like 10 years ago until cloud-provided software and storage became an option. This was the videos Microsoft showed us and it all looked fantastic. Now I'm wondering why on earth would I lob files manually around? It's as old-fashioned as synching your phone via USB and iTunes. You did that 5 years ago. Not now. It's a stone-age solution created by stone-age approach to computing. We demand better now. Now I have one Google doc document, which is a live document. It's always the latest version, with all the latest collaborations, and I don't need to bring it with me. That's great. I don't know which documents I'll need. And you can't be realistically expected to bring them all with you always, just to be covered. The "future" you are painting sounds old fashioned and I don't want it. That is Microsoft's main problem now: Their future insist we should keep things which are obsolete (like local files) at all cost, and they are doing it to attempt to keep the relevance of their OS as it used to be. In services like Office 365 they are very explicit about not creating a "document", you are creating a ".docx-file". This is 100% orthogonal to the way they tried to do things on the desktop (hide the extensions at all cost, because they were "confusing"). Now they are back-pedalling hard. Now people must know that they are creating a MS Word file. In the cloud. As if that makes sense. They are either confused, conflicted, panicking, a mix of those, or just appearing to be entirely uncoordinated right now. Even as a .NET developer I am seriously starting to doubt Microsoft's future, at least as far as client-platforms go.

zanny 14y ago
"Now I'm wondering why on earth would I lob files manually around? It's as old-fashioned as synching your phone via USB and iTunes. You did that 5 years ago. Not now. It's a stone-age solution created by stone-age approach to computing. We demand better now." AT&T and Verizon's monopoly on wireless spectrum called, they want their $50 a gigabyte.
- josteink 14y ago
  That's a US problem which the rest of the world is not constrained by. It's not going to stop technological progress. Especially not when wifi and wired internet is completely and utterly untouched by it. That's how 99.99% of the business market is deployed. And you have governments to regulate monopolies. Demand action from your government instead of complaining about it online. That has worked out pretty well for Europe.

gnaffle 14y ago

Like others have commented, Apple could release such a device in no time. You can already hook an iPad up to a monitor and keyboard, so Apple just needs to add the OSX desktop. Looking at the Windows 8 reception, I doubt they are going to do that.. What Apple is betting on (and what Microsoft is betting on as well with SkyDrive and unified sign-in) is program data and state being synced seamlessly through the cloud, so that you can have a stand-alone high-performance PC on your desktop (maybe like the iMac). If Microsoft is indeed betting on "all apps and documents localized on one device", they are betting on the past.

lloeki 14y ago
> You can already hook an iPad up to Hook? > a monitor AirPlay Mirror > and keyboard Bluetooth keyboard So (conceptually, because iOS doesn't allow keyboard-only navigation), you just tell it to zap on the biggie screen and drop it somewhere nearby, and start typing on the keyboard (hell, merely typing could make it zap to the screen, skipping the first step entirely). No cables, ma.
- gnaffle 14y ago
  Absolutely, the only exception being that Airplay currently has a slight lag and doesn't support Retina displays.

ImprovedSilence 14y ago

>>"Apple who are insisting on keeping OSX and iOS separate." Is this the case? I see OSX and ios slowly merging into eachother. Just look at the launchpad screen or whatever it is in osx, it looks and swipes over just like an iPad, with all your apps right there. I would be very surprised if these worlds didn't converge.

astrodust 14y ago

Keeping them separate has meant that no compromises are required. The touch iOS interface can go in one direction, and OS X, still very much geared towards mouse-pointer and physical keyboard, can go in another. Microsoft, by trying to unify not only power-user desktops but casual tablet and even XBox and phone interfaces under a single banner is making something nobody wants. A unified experience is like one-size-fits-all underwear, not comfortable at all for anyone.