[Macworld]

Post your comments for Looking at Microsoft's Surface from an iPad perspective here

[FlopTech]

The market most threatened by Surface is the Ultrabook niche. In fact, it could completely kill the Ultrabook Initiative. (If the keyboard-case is actually usable, and if Windows 8 on the Surface Pro is actually competitive with the legacy desktop Windows 8 build, etc.)

[demani]

They definitely do target different markets, but I must say the i5 model is beyond intriguing-it has some fantastic potential, and I really look forward to trying one out.

And the Touch cover is a fantastic solution-just enough to make it more viable than a touchscreen, but not so bulky or heavy that it is a decision point-just get it if you think you _might_ need to do some typing.

And yes, I love my iPad 3. The only disappointment from the Surface is the screen resolution-but maybe Surface2 will rectify that.

[JamieJamison]

This isn't a competitor to the iPad as much as it is a competitor to the MacBook Air. As far as apps go you're making the same fallacious argument that Microsoft enthusiasts used to make when they'd talk about how many apps were available for Windows compared to the Macintosh. Yes, it was true that there were more apps available for Windows than there were for the Mac, but a lot of them were crap or just duplicated functionality of other apps. Yes, there are 225,000 third party applications available through iTunes, but a lot of those apps are crap or just copy the functionality of other apps and many of them don't take advantage of the increased screen size and/or resolution available on the iPad. Microsoft can catch up to Apple very quickly if they are willing to spend some money by identifying the top 1,000 apps in the iTunes app store and then offering the developers of those apps free SDKs for Windows 8 and free Surface tablets for testing. If they really wanted to catch up with Apple they could also offer better terms than Apple is by offering to charge only 15 percent for apps sold through their app store instead of the 30 percent that Apple charges.

[jbwales]

Kickstand and Keyboard gives it the functionality of a laptop. Err, not quite. Unlike a laptop you will not be able to use it effectively on your lap!

[mblaydoe]

I agree that the Surface will negatively impact the non-iPads and so-called "Ultrabooks" rather than Apple iPads or MacBooks. Price point will decide whether this becomes an XBox or a Zune. XBox, prior to Kinect only made headway because of a heavy MS subsidy. Will MS be taking a loss on Surface?

Now if MS had build Kinect into Surface, or can figure out how to, they might really have something to brag about and a true differentiator that might come close to one-upping the iPad, but it looks like they missed that one so far.

[aestival]

My iPad has USB and HDMI ports, just rolled into the single catch-all 30-pin port. USB's included and HDMI requires an adapter. I don't have any need for a card reader, but last I heard there was an adapter for that as well. Perhaps Microsoft has misunderstood the point of having a tablet rather than a laptop or a desktop?

[pcharles]

Its an interesting idea, but you have to wonder why they would announce it six months ahead of a potential ship date. If Windows 8 slips just one month, so does this device, and then you are in to the iPad refresh cycle!

What I find interesting is the idea that this is a "work" tablet. I have used Windows on my iPad and this tablet will have the same basic problems once you start using Office, unless they create a touch enabled version. Without a touch enabled version of Office it is hard to see it working well on a tablet unless they integrate a trackpad in to the cover. Now, once you get to trackpad in the cover status, why not just buy an ultrabook?

[Stewsburntmonkey]

JamieJamison, on 19 June 2012 - 10:31 AM, said:

This isn't a competitor to the iPad as much as it is a competitor to the MacBook Air. As far as apps go you're making the same fallacious argument that Microsoft enthusiasts used to make when they'd talk about how many apps were available for Windows compared to the Macintosh. Yes, it was true that there were more apps available for Windows than there were for the Mac, but a lot of them were crap or just duplicated functionality of other apps. Yes, there are 225,000 third party applications available through iTunes, but a lot of those apps are crap or just copy the functionality of other apps and many of them don't take advantage of the increased screen size and/or resolution available on the iPad. Microsoft can catch up to Apple very quickly if they are willing to spend some money by identifying the top 1,000 apps in the iTunes app store and then offering the developers of those apps free SDKs for Windows 8 and free Surface tablets for testing. If they really wanted to catch up with Apple they could also offer better terms than Apple is by offering to charge only 15 percent for apps sold through their app store instead of the 30 percent that Apple charges.

While there are a lot of bad apps on the App Store there are a huge number of very high quality apps. One thing that I've definitely come to appreciate about the Apple application ecosystem is the general availability of high quality applications at reasonable prices. This is something I've not see anyone else come close to duplicating. By way of example, I'm using a PC at work now and finding good web development tools (text editor, SFTP client, SSH application, etc.) is incredibly hard (if not impossible in some cases. On Macs and iOS devices there are an multiple great applications in each category.

So while I think the total number of apps is largely irrelevant, the number of high quality apps does matter and I don't know that Microsoft has a good strategy for tackling that challenge.

[nmpike]

You know... windows 8 looks REALLY slick (we have the betas of it)... and Microsoft could have kicked ass with a tablet.. but wow.... who the hell do they have working on their designs?

Their OS has a lot of potential, but:

1) that surface tablet is UGLY! Square, metallic (black).. looks sort of prison grade.
2) they are back to their confusing ways... Surface RT, Surface Pro... ??? Sounds like Windows home, professional, ultimate all over again.

They have blown it once again!!! And I was actually looking forward to it! As for now, I load Windows 8 in parallels, and I can swipe metro left and right on my MBPro and it works great... do not understand at all who is designing hardware there... its awful!!!

[deemery]

from http://tech.fortune....12/06/19/apple/ (Jay Jamison):
" Part of this challenge is due to the fragmentation of Android App Stores, form factors, and even different OS versions running on devices. "

It will be very interesting to see if Microsoft has learned this lesson. Otherwise, Windows 8 tablets may have the same problem!

Even on NPR this morning, there was a discussion of whether the MS Tablet is an affront/challenge to Microsoft's hardware partners (and the partnership/division of responsibilities.)

My $.02 on the WinTablet:
1. Looks like a very effective copy of what Apple's done, i.e. there's nothing here -substantially different- than an iPad. The keyboard option is particulary interesting but not revolutionary.

2. But it's just an announcement. When was the last time Apple announced a hardware product that wasn't available for the masses to order that day, with bulk product shipping within a week or so???

3. Ballmer will never have the stage presence of Steve Jobs (even without chairs...)

[GadgetDon]

I think the stylus handling is a real innovation. There ARE things that a stylus does better - drawing, handwriting, marking up. The failure is when a stylus is required to do anything on the device.

The downside of a stylus on an iPad is that a hand resting on the surface is registered as a touch so you must keep your hand raised. The surface senses the stylus in use and disables touch. So you shift between drawing/writing with the stylus and using the multitouch, whichever handles the task best.

[Stewsburntmonkey]

The two things I like are the use of the stylus and cursor built-in to the OS and hardware. I think iOS could use better support for styluses (you can use styluses, but they piggyback off the multitouch system) and some programs would be much more viable if there was the ability to connect a bluetooth mouse and have a screen cursor. I think it would have to be more or less an application specific thing and trying to do it elegantly would be tough, but Apple should be able to work through all the issues and do it right. I'm not convinced Microsoft will do it full justice. Microsoft has traditionally placed more value in having a workable solution rather than a simple or elegant one (which is what Apple strives for).

[SamiNegmAwad]

It's all about Office. The IOS Version of Pages and Keynote is not what a Business user needs. For ma this is the biegest drawback from my ipad. I'd love to do my work mobile but for most things the iPad Office Apps are insufficient.