Microsoft has Windows Mobile 6.x (on the way out) Windows Phone 7, Windows Embedded Standard 7, Windows Embedded Compact 7 and then Windows 7 for tablet PCs and netbooks. What this bevy of systems is missing is a coherent answer for the tablet form factor. Windows Embedded Compact 7, which is the OS aimed at the mobile sector, isn’t yet released, and when it is, it won’t have a uniform UI, but will depend on hardware vendors to customize. It’s an appealing strategy from the vendors point of view, I guess because they get to differentiate their products from their competitors, but it’s not a recipe for success.All this iPad hype in the media is getting a little tiresome, I know. And even if slate-type computers haven’t even really penetrated the computing mainstream yet, the reason why bloggers and tech media commentators can’t shut up about it is that a lot of people think that the foundation is being laid for a big transformation. The release of the iPad marked the true beginning of the post-PC era, and even if Apple ultimately fails to dominate the segment, we’re all very keen to see who (if anyone) ultimately will, and it’s especially interesting to see whether Microsoft will miss it completely.
Of course, Microsoft missed the internet completely, then dusted itself off, pulled out its bag of tricks, and made a good attempt at dominating it wholesale. We’re all lucky that Microsoft ultimately failed to dominate, and now is pretty much forced to be a good netizen on our (the users’) terms.
But as the ZDNet article concludes, I think it’s clear to say that Apple is going to dominate the tablet market for a while, with Google free to give make a big push with all the non-Apple hardware vendors. Microsoft? I tend to think they won’t let themselves botch this one like they botched the smartphone market. But they’ll have to make up for Apple’s huge head start.
And will never become as popular as some seem to think.
Sure some will keep using it. But for most people i bet it will start collecting dust real quick when the newness of it wears of.
So i don’t think Microsoft has much to worry about from that front.
Edited 2010-06-20 04:51 UTC
I don’t think it is totally true. Computer will change. Before (90’s-2005), we had 3 form factor:
-Laptop
-Desktop
-Mainframe/cluster
Three years later, we had five:
-Laptop/NoteBook/TabletPC
-Desktop
-Mainframe/cluster
-NetBook
-SmartPhone
Now, seven:
” ”
-Tablet
-Connected game consoles
It is not going to end. Printer will start having real GUI, HDTV/3DTV will become closer to a computer (HTPC have never been a mainstream form factor). Then “niche” devices will start to show up for particular uses. There is some WindowsCE micro computer since a decade, but now, with augmented reality and location aware smart devices, we will enter a new era. The childrens of the Microsoft Surface or Steven Spilberg Minority report like GUI may become an afordable reality. Who know!
Those devices wont use Windows or a floating windows based GUI. They need a true flexible embedded OS. So even if tablet die, the gap wont disappear.
What is a “connected” game console, and why doesn’t a console count as a computer form if the are not “connected”?
Personally I only agree with the Smartphone as a new form. I netbook really is just a smaller laptop. Really, it is , sorry
I can remember people always wanted the biggest laptop, until marketing told them smaller was better.
…And I think a tablet is just a Smartphone without the ability to call conviently…but that might just be me.
Edited 2010-06-20 11:23 UTC
When a game console is not connected to the Network, it can only play games, DVD and Music CD. When it is, it become a terminal to consume media and even produce some. Modern console (PS3 and 360) offer access to popular online services, distributions platform (app store) and a bridge between your “central computer” and your TV. Just like the iPad.
Mainframe/cluster??
So what the heck is the standard x86 1U server? I wouldn’t call it a mainframe or a cluster, and its sales absolutely dwarf the other two.
I don’t think you should be in charge of defining computer categories.
A more correct statement would be the one many industry analysts have made, and has been backed up in the stock price valuations of Microsoft vs Apple: While Microsoft earns significant revenue in its established products ( x86 operating systems, Office productivity software), its ability to effectively enter in new growing markets appears to be limited. Apple and Google’s growth is more highly expected than Microsoft’s. If you feel strongly otherwise, then a Microsoft Stock purchase would be a wise idea.
Oh man, the market does not work like that. Nobody buy MSFT or AAPL for dividends, that would be overpriced. If you buy MSFT or AAPL stocks, that is because you want to sell fast. In other words, you think the stock price will rise in the coming years, not that they will make more money. You think people will buy that stock.
I didn’t say anything about dividends. There stock prices are based on future growth potential. You never buy stock because you think it will rise, you buy it due to the underlying reasons that will raise the stock price: future growth.
What I meant to say is that even if you think future growth is bright you should not buy this stock if you think people won’t buy it. In other words, you buy this stock because you think the trend will be about buying this stock. Stock price is all about rumors and spotty news, has nothing to do with value or growth anymore.
I completely disagree. If that’s what you truly believe then you would buy stock every time you got a hot penny stock spam email.
Eh, I wouldn’t be so sure. I got to borrow one for a few days, and during the short time I had it, I became a big fan of tablets. Why? Because it’s a lot easier to hold one while sitting back on the couch or lying in bed and using one finger to operate, instead of a tiny cell phone screen, or having a laptop/netbook in your lap, trying to navigate with a shitty trackpad. Some say it’s just a big iPod touch, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; my 50″ HDTV is just a bigger version of my 15″ portable HD LCD TV, but sometimes bigger really is better
Granted, it’s more limited in its functionality than a laptop, but definitely has its uses. Ultimately, I decided to pass on it, because I can’t stand iTunes and the iPad depends on it, but I’m looking forward to a decent Android tablet being released.
Depending on your definition of decent, this could be used with Android:
http://www.asustablet.com/
Most Windows Phone 7 apps should be much better suited for tablets than the iPhone apps were. Just show the several screens at once.
The OS is not the main obstacle here, but rather making the default apps (home, gallery, office, music, ect) optimized for the “tablet experience”.
Microsoft are very late in the game, their top priority is getting Windows Phone 7 out and then catching up to the competition in features. Only after this happens – they will focus on tablets too.
“The release of the iPad marked the true beginning of the post-PC era”
No, just no. We have had cell phones and tablets before the iPad and they didn’t kill the PC. Archos tablets are popular in France and they didn’t kill the PC.
I was just about to say the same thing. Anytime anything different comes out in the PIM/Phone/Tablet/Laptop/Ultralight/Netbook/Nettop/Palmtop etc. market, it is hailed as the last nail in the coffin for the PC.
I’m just looking around my office, and I’m staring at about 20ish people using PCs. Admittedly I work for a dev house, so maybe we’re not typical, but I’m willing to bet most offices look pretty much the same.
Ditto for people I know with regards to the home “computer” (whatever that may be). Most people I know either have a PC, or they have a laptop that they use like a PC. By that I mean that they have an external keyboard, mouse and screen, and the laptop is just posing. At the end of the day, it never moves and it’s just a PC.
If you’re just casually surfing the web (learning some wrong and/or useless facts on wikipedia if you’re like me) in front of the telly, the the iPad’s probably OK. But if you want to get stuck in and deal with some bulk email, or do some serious flight-booking research, then it’s down with the iPad and time to make the trek into the other room, and get on your PC.
I just can’t see that changing any time soon.
Anytime you see something similar to:
just replace “iPad” with “thin client”.
s/killer/competitor.
Well sed.
“Microsoft has Windows Mobile 6.x (on the way out) Windows Phone 7, Windows Embedded Standard 7, Windows Embedded Compact 7 and then Windows 7 for tablet PCs and netbooks.”
Bloody Hell Ballmer. You rag on Google for not being able to make up their minds because they have Android and ChromeOS. What I’ve copied above in this little rant is some small fraction of the clusterfuck your company is shovelling out the door.
Too busy adding words to the names of things while chopping every feature you think ought not belong on a given device to put out anything the vast majority of people might actually want.
You’re right, it is a clusterf–k. Consider: Windows Embedded Compact supports ARM and x86. But on x86 it competes with *real* Windows, and since there’s not very many apps targeted at it and hardly any built-in functionality, it’s obvious which choice consumers will prefer. Sure, it could be a nice base platform for ARM that OEMs can customize–but if the OEM is going to go to all that effort it seems silly not to just start with something like MeeGo or Android instead, both of which have more functionality built in and more apps available. So yeah, Microsoft is throwing stuff at the wall to see what will stick (they do have enough money floating around after all), but it seems pretty obvious to me that Windows Embedded Compact will not.
On the other hand Windows Embedded Standard is an OS with a point. According to Wikipedia, the 2011 version will have a Vista/7 base replete with Aero and all the .NET magic, and yet come in at just 400MB. That’s really what should be getting installed on netbooks, and I suspect the reason it’s not is largely a matter of marketing. Message to MS: Scrap the Windows 7 Starter crap and rename WES2011 “Windows 7 Lite” or “Windows 7 Custom” or something. I garantee it will be a success in no time.
Edited 2010-06-20 22:18 UTC
WTF, why did the GP get to say “clusterf–k” properly but not me??? f–king censorship.
EDIT: Apparently it only censors if you edit after posting. Keep that in mind next time you want to get explicit I guess…
Edited 2010-06-20 22:21 UTC
If MS want to get anywhere in this market, they need to get out of the mindset of trying to force windows everywhere…
Windows is a desktop OS and was always designed that way, it makes a very poor server os and the interface is extremely poor for any device not controlled with a mouse and a keyboard.
Apple have the right idea, the iphone os shares a kernel with desktop osx (windows mobile doesn’t share a kernel at all) but the interface is completely different and is actually designed for use with a touchscreen.
It makes a poor server OS? Stuck in 1998?
No he’s stuck in 2010. Windows make a crappy server OS.
What exactly makes it crappy? The fact that it isn’t Nix based?
Seems to work fine for some pretty large companies
http://www.windowsitpro.com/article/systems-administrator/iis-owns-…
But yea keep being dismissive of it, just like how Sun was with Linux.
Yeah, as much as I do not like it. Windows is a decent server OS. It works. I’ll never use it on purpose, because I prefer the Unix methodology and do not like being held to a single vendor for any software. But you can’t say that for some uses for some people it works.
NT almost killed Unix servers in the 90’s. I would argue, that Window’s success contributed a large part to Linux’s later success. Only once the Unix community realized how much fragmentation, non portability, and exorbitant costs for the OS were leading to the desecration of the platform, did they really turn to the then under performing Linux to beef it up.
Have you ever used IIS seriously? You can say all you want about Fortune 500, IIS is still pure crap. The only thing good about it is that it is point and click so features are easily discoverable. It makes it usable by noob admins who don’t know much about web servers. Problem is that beyond ASP and pure HTML it sucks. Everybody use Apache because it is flexible, versatile, fast and robust and you don’t need RDP to administer. RDP is hell.
Edited 2010-06-21 05:41 UTC
Never heard thing called IIS Manager, I bet news don’t travel to troll caves anymore. By pure HTML you mean static sites? Seriously what business uses those? Whole point of good website is to have dynamic content.
I’m using it everyday. I have to maintain legacy ASP applications that were written in 2000 with SQL server and all the crap. We even do PHP with isapi crap. I also maintain AIX and linux/apache/tomcat servers.
IIS manager is pure crap. It is only graphical, so you can access it only from RDP or VNC, which is a security hole by itself. Replicating the configuration is impossible. You have to change configuration on prod, and it often breaks. I’m not even talking about the licensing hell. It is pure crap I say.
Serious business don’t use IIS.
Edited 2010-06-21 12:04 UTC
So you are basing your opinion of IIS on version 5? Are you kidding me?
RDP is an encrypted connection, just because it is graphical at both ends does not mean it is a security hole.
I already provided a link that showed how most Fortune 1000 companies use IIS, and yet you now claim that serious businesses don’t use it.
What’s it like being that deluded? You should listen to your Unix betters here, like Bill.
We have upgraded our servers since then, 2 times and let me say that it is a pain to upgrade Windows and IIS, not to mention SQL server. You have to replicate all that configuration by hand on the stupid GUI. You can’t f–king just port your configuration files like on a normal server.
The whole graphical desktop is a security hole. It is prone to bugs, memory leaks and crashes. And on Windows GUI crash means reboot. You never reboot a linux or AIX server, even after applying security patches. Windows servers need reboot quite often just because a security hole has been found in a GUI component.
That does not say why they use it. Most probably because of legacy I would say and being a fortune 1000 does not mean you are serious. The biggest businesses are usually the ones with the most legacy applications. BTW, your link is from 2003 and is about IIS 5.
Edited 2010-06-21 21:29 UTC
to kill? Claiming it’s the king of the hill, only a couple of months into it’s lifecycle, is jumping the gun a little, don’t you think? It’s one tablet, that does things a little differently, but still has yet to have a home, and really do anything better than anyone else, or even the ipod touch for that matter.
I think it is cool and yet simultaneous wish it death. It has less to do with market share and more to do with the fact that when Apple says jump everyone else follows. Let me elaborate:
When the iPhone came out, all the other smartphone makers jumped on the capacitive, keyboard-free bandwagon. Nowadays it’s hard to get a smartphone in any other form factor. That sucks, particularly the lack of keyboard. I hate soft-keyboards, whether “magically” enhanced by Apple or not.
Same with the iPad: Now all the great netbook makers are, instead of coming out with innovative netbook ideas, channeling all their energies into creating iPad clones–keyboardless and capacitive. The capacitive aspect is especially annoying because it almost always means lack of stylus input–which is a crying shame on a device of that form factor.
Unfortunately, the manufacturers let style trump substance, a game Apple always wins–so the copycat manufacturers are really just shooting themselves in the foot. If they were to offer something with distinct advantages over the iPhone, while still maintaining a high degree of style, fit and finish, they would have a lot more takers.
A few trailblazers like Asus offer netbooks with multitouch and stylus support, and I applaud them. Unfortunately though their current line suffers from Windows 7 slowness and mediocre build quality, which has limited its uptake. But at least they keep innovating instead of just copying others.
Edited 2010-06-20 22:38 UTC
because Asus never copies anyone. Asus actually doesn’t have a strategy which you seem to think, they just make average products and target every single market that they can.
they’re just like Dell at the end of the day, they’d rather focus on market share than make a few great products.
Like just about every computer manufacturer in the market. The opposite of average is specialized, in the computer world, and it does not sell that well…
Asus DO make great product. The Eeepc 701 was absolutely unbreakable in SSD version and had an excellent battery life for its times. My N61JV is one of the most well-engineered piece of tech I’ve ever handled. The thing is, it is a hardware company. And hence it’s not good at making software…
Edited 2010-06-21 18:48 UTC
Innovation requires R&D. R&D requires a lot of money. Why not learn from the lessons learned by others?
You think the soft keyboards are a “style” thing? You’re crazy. Most likely it’s a cost issue related to manufacturing. Capacitive touchscreens are most likely expensive, and so are the keyboards. Physical keyboards add cost and add a potential point of failure. The smartphone market is hyper-competitive, and cost IS an issue. They probably chose to include one or the other (cap. touchscreen or keyboard), but I doubt it was a style issue.
When have netbooks ever been “innovative”? Again I think you’re crazy. A miniature laptop is still just a laptop. Hell, Toshiba built their Libretto LAPTOP ages ago. This “netbook” thing was just a marketing ploy by Asus to sell their EEE’s.
Dell had a Latitude XT laptop a few years back… multitouch and stylus support. The Asus “netbooks” are just smaller versions of that.
I have yet to see any true innovation from any netbook manufacturer. Apple did a lot of the heavy lifting and came out with a great solution; why wouldn’t the others take advantage?
I agree with you, in that, a competitor to Apple needs to produce a device that does not just give you the “Me Too” features, but truly innovates, and brings something new to the party.
For all the shininess and “Wow” factor, I’m sure there are must-have features that a competitor such as Google, or a hardware competitor like HTC can design into their product line. And I don’t mean a forward facing camera. I don’t think Apple thought of everything when it comes to the ipad.
What an understatement!
In a year’s time since it’s first release and estimate 12+ million units sold you’ll be rethinking your jumping the gun comment.
Hell, iPhone 4 will sell 2 to 3 times as many as the iPhone 3GS sold.
I just want to know where Microsoft comes up with these names? For that matter, why does it need so many subtle variations of essentially the same thing? No wonder Microsoft has lost its touch (pun intended!)
Well, It doesn’t matter what Microsoft calls it is still Windows Mobile and that sucks. I have a PDA with win mobile 5 and it’s the most unusable POS I have ever encountered. Tomtom works on it but the rest of the included software is not worth it.
Microsoft does not need to kill the iPad, Apple is doing it since they released the information about the new iPhone 4.
So, now we know that the iPad is missing quite a few features, like no 6-axis, no camera, no retina display on a massive 9.7″ screen, 256Mb of memory (iPhone 4 is getting 512Mb for better multitasking), and we still don’t know if all the features of iOS 4 are going to be supported by the iPad.
So, Apple did a good job of laughing at the first gen buyers.
Don’t they always? It’s either that or they make sure recoup their R&D investment in the first 6 months – 1 year. This alone would keep me from buying any Apple product in the first year of its release.
The iPad lack handwritten character recognition, therefore it IS incomplete itself. Additionally I’d much prefer a stylus based interface to getting the screen grubby all of the time, requiring nearly CONSTANT cleaning, plus Apple’s dubious approach to battery replacement which is a deal breaker on ALL Apple products for me even though I could disassemble their devices myself and effect a replacement many users cannot.
For me too. I have two batteries for my current phone; although I rarely need to use the spare one, I hate it when I can’t use the phone because of the battery.
How have they even justified that approach?
I see one use for these tablets for me, one alluded to above: as an Internet-surfing, light-email-reading, maybe home-theater-controlling device. If I travel, I’m either going to want the full power of a real laptop, or the portability of my smartphone.
And for couch-only use, $500 is too much money. (And Apple’s onerous policies too limiting as well.)
The first thing that came to my mind, even before reading the first sentence entirely was: “why does Microsoft need so many variations over its phone OS?”
“Over its” is intentional as I think they should have only one such OS, concentrate on it and make it the best the myriads of minds working there can come up with.
Anyone remembers the number of Vista editions? I had a major frustration this week-end when I discovered that even the Home Premium edition won’t let me add a user to the boinc_users group because the plugin that would have allowed me to do so “cannot start on this edition of windows”. Dumb restrictions!
Apparently, simple things take longer to reach a brain when the individual is named “Microsoft”.
Well that’s the beginning.There is a lot to go for tablet gadgets.
HP,MICROSOFT,APPLES,GOOGLE, will come uot to be big players in the future.Ipad will still remain unbeatable for the present.But soon the technology is goin to enter a new world all over.Watch Out!