Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 25th Jun 2012 08:50 UTC
The New York Times further fans the flames of the emerging uneasiness between Microsoft and its hardware partners. As the paper reports, Microsoft decided it needed to get into the hardware game (with Surface) after the utter failure of HP's Slate 500 Windows 7 tablet. "Microsoft worked with other hardware partners to devise products that would be competitive with the iPad, but it ran into disagreements over designs and prices. 'Faith had been lost' at Microsoft in its hardware partners, including by Steven Sinofsky, the powerful president of Microsoft's Windows division, according to [a] former Microsoft executive." The biggest news is not Surface itself. It's the changing industry it represents. Microsoft failed to deliver capable smartphone/tablet software, which pissed off OEMs, who, in turn, turned to Android (and webOS for HP) - which in turn pissed off Microsoft, leading to Surface. Had Microsoft gotten its act together sooner, we'd have had far better OEM products.
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RE: Its Microsoft's mess.
by Neolander on Mon 25th Jun 2012 12:04
in reply to "Its Microsoft's mess."
Member since:2010-03-08
Microsoft Surface makes sense because of reason #1. OEMs in general, even with perfect conditions, fucking suck.
But as you say yourself in the very same post...
(...) they've always been a vehicle for form factor diversity and reach.
The reality is that OEMs are often the least awful option. Limit yourself to one single OEM per OS, and what you get is Apple : Don't like virtual keyboards on 3.5" screens ? Don't like to have the Inquisition decide which software is best for you ? Don't like that you have to pay hundreds of dollars to replace a friggin' laptop battery ? The answer is always "get used to it". Only a healthy OEM ecosystem can allow users to get a reasonable level of hardware and software diversity.
RE[2]: Its Microsoft's mess.
by moondevil on Mon 25th Jun 2012 16:06
in reply to "RE: Its Microsoft's mess."
Member since:2005-07-08
Limit yourself to one single OEM per OS, and what you get is Apple
Not really, I remember there was lot of competition back in the 8/16bit days.
Hardware/OS vendor A screws you? Then move to other platform.
On the days most applications were coded in Assembly there was more portable content between systems than nowadays.
RE: Its Microsoft's mess.
by tanzam75 on Mon 25th Jun 2012 18:57
in reply to "Its Microsoft's mess."
Member since:2011-05-19
Exactly. These are two separate issues.
Certainly Microsoft deserves blame for the problems with Windows over the past decade -- and for dropping the ball on tablets.
But who should we blame for all those crappy notebook computers? The ones with preloaded crapware, awful drivers, terrible thermal design, strange BIOS defaults, crippled BIOSes (VT-X often locked out in the firmware), awful LCDs, barely-working touchpads, etc. etc. etc.?
It got to the point where Windows ran better on a Macbook Air using Boot Camp than it does on the majority of PCs! Boot Camp was a sideshow for Apple -- the drivers aren't exactly the most optimized -- but it also left you with a clean Windows install. That made it better than most OEM PCs.
Features
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/21/13 21:38 UTC
At an event earlier today, Microsoft unveiled the next Xbox - the third model, but confusingly named Xbox One. The big focus was TV, integrated Kinect, and all the other stuff we all expected to be forced down our throats. I think it took them 25 minutes to actually come to what should be the core of the story: gaming. Nothing groundbreaking in the gaming department, except for how Microsoft intends to handle the used games market and borrowing games from friends: pay up, buddy!
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/20/13 11:29 UTC
The day has finally come! Jolla has finally announced the launch device for its Sailfish operating system - and by god this is a looker. It's decidedly different from other phones out there, but it has good specifications and carries a relatively reasonably price tag - EUR 399, and it's up for pre-order today, shipping in the fourth quarter of this year.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/18/13 21:33 UTC
Why does Google get so much credit in the technology industry? Why, despite the company's many obvious failings, do many geeks and enthusiasts still hold a somewhat positive view on the all-knowing technology giant? A specific talk at Google I/O this week provides the answer.
Linked by David Adams on 05/16/13 4:23 UTC
OSNews is a sponsor of this year's O'Reilly OSCON in Portland, Oregon, USA. A lucky OSNews reader will win a free three-day pass, including two tutorials days. To win the pass, post a comment on this story saying something about Open Source Software or OSCON. We'll pick a winner at random next week. If you don't have an OSNews account, you may email us your entry. Part of the conference is the 9th annual Open Source Awards, and today the 16th is the deadline for nominations. If you'd like to nominate an outstanding open source contributor, do it here. Read on for more information about OSCON. Update: The 20% discount code for OSNews readers is "OSN."
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/11/13 21:41 UTC
"Windows is indeed slower than other operating systems in many scenarios, and the gap is worsening." That's one way to start an insider explanation of why Windows' performance isn't up to snuff. Written by someone who actually contributes code to the Windows NT kernel, the comment on Hacker News, later deleted but reposted with permission on Marc Bevand's blog, paints a very dreary picture of the state of Windows development. The root issue? Think of how Linux is developed, and you'll know the answer.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/08/13 14:22 UTC
This is one of those news items that's fun to write, fun to read, fun to comment on, and where no one will be able to say anything unkind. It's all just one big ball of awesome fluffiness. TuneTracker, the BeOS radio automation software, has just released something very special: TuneTracker System 5, the first version designed entirely and specifically for Haiku. In fact, it actually includes Haiku in the software package. Better yet, TuneTracker also unveiled several system-in-a-box products - which have Haiku and TuneTracker pre-installed.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 05/02/13 15:28 UTC
Exactly twenty years ago, a document was published that played a huge role in establishing the web as we know it today. Twenty years later, and this simple and straightforward document is proof of an irrefutable fact: while closed technologies can change markets, open technologies can change the world.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/29/13 21:06 UTC
Oh multitasking. That staple of computing that got thrown out the window with many modern smartphones. We got some rudimentary thing in its place - but even as multitasking on phone and tablets improves, its user-visible side remains cumbersome. Windows 8 has a neat implementation, and now it's time Android follows in it footsteps.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/24/13 22:24 UTC
They're here! Whether that excites you or not remains to be seen, but the Galaxy S4, which will most likely become the best selling Android smartphone of the year by a huge margin, has been reviewed by all the major sites, and there's lots of interesting conclusions in there - although I think most of you will get the gist.
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 04/18/13 11:21 UTC
Nokia has posted its quarterly results for the first quarter of 2013, and just like the quarters that came before, there's not a whole lot of good news in there. The rise in Lumia sales still can't even dream of making up for the sales drop in Symbian phones, and when broken down in versions, the sales figures for Windows Phone 8 Lumias in particular are very disappointing. In North America, Nokia is getting slaughtered.More Features »
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Member since:
2005-11-29
OEMs have always been terrible. Everyone knows that. They fucking suck at the job they do. But they've always been a vehicle for form factor diversity and reach.
Microsoft is wrong to blame them for a failed tablet when Windows 7 quite frankly wasn't up to the task of touch computing.
Those are two separate things. I think conflating the two is a mistake.
Microsoft Surface makes sense because of reason #1. OEMs in general, even with perfect conditions, fucking suck.