Their latest Windows Phone got great reviews as far as I can tell
Positive Windows Phone reviews are almost universally courtesy of iPhone boosters, the general tone being some variation of "if for some unexplained reason the universe will not allow you to buy an iPhone, buy WP7." It's a rather transparent ploy at an "enemy of my enemy" play, and it yielded the expected sales results (if everyone who loves your device loves another device even more, only some massive supply chain issue stopping their sales could benefit you)
Personally I'd choose a Widows tablet over an iPad in a heartbeat, simply because all my computers are Windows.
I'm typing this on a Windows 7 PC, which I love. Most of my development is on Windows devices. Love Visual Studio.
For tablets I have an iPad 3rd gen and an ICS tablet. I have zero motivation for any of my Windows experiences to follow to the tablet form, and I cannot imagine a world where the legacy of Windows is any benefit at all. Which, of course, is why Microsoft is desperately trying to flip that around, forcing their tablet experience on the desktop, which may be the first time I seriously give OSX or Linux a shot on my desktops.
Lastly, never underestimate Microsoft (Tim Cook certainly isn't).
I don't underestimate Microsoft generally, but the Windows 8 Consumer Preview makes me think that I generally overestimate. That is an unmitigated disaster in the making. Though it's interesting that you made special note of Tim Cook when he just recently went out of his way to say that he feels no pressure from Microsoft.
Though it's interesting that you made special note of Tim Cook when he just recently went out of his way to say that he feels no pressure from Microsoft.
He also said that MS is not out of the smartphone /tablet race and that they "always get up and run" (horse analogy.) Apple, out of all companies, knows Microsoft really well. People and companies almost have to buy Windows and ...Office, not so with many other gadgets.
A lot of users have this automatic hate for MS based on Windows 3.1 or Vista but I'm still using XP and it works great. Imagine a full featured OS that works with printers made 15 years ago somewhere in Korea and I never paid a dime after the initial purchase. Kudos to MS for that, others would have tried to nickle and dime the users, but we still get updates ;). To put things in perspective, Roboform alone probably has cost me more over the same time.
I said I'd get a Windows tablet simply because I'd want it to be an extension of my desktop. It remains to be seen how they manage that with bookmarks, sync etc, but personally I'm amazed at Microsoft's strategy: they make so much cash that they can afford to plan long term. Also, with what I can see they don't really clone their competitors, they have their own way of doing things. I just got a top notch PC with Win 7, Office Starter, 8GB RAM +++ at under $500. If they can spark the same specs war with tablets then we're talking.
They are challenges but probably in 2-3 years $200-300 tablets will be very common, and that's great for the users, Apple or Microsoft fans. Competition is great.
Comments
Their latest Windows Phone got great reviews as far as I can tell
Positive Windows Phone reviews are almost universally courtesy of iPhone boosters, the general tone being some variation of "if for some unexplained reason the universe will not allow you to buy an iPhone, buy WP7." It's a rather transparent ploy at an "enemy of my enemy" play, and it yielded the expected sales results (if everyone who loves your device loves another device even more, only some massive supply chain issue stopping their sales could benefit you)
Personally I'd choose a Widows tablet over an iPad in a heartbeat, simply because all my computers are Windows.
I'm typing this on a Windows 7 PC, which I love. Most of my development is on Windows devices. Love Visual Studio.
For tablets I have an iPad 3rd gen and an ICS tablet. I have zero motivation for any of my Windows experiences to follow to the tablet form, and I cannot imagine a world where the legacy of Windows is any benefit at all. Which, of course, is why Microsoft is desperately trying to flip that around, forcing their tablet experience on the desktop, which may be the first time I seriously give OSX or Linux a shot on my desktops.
Lastly, never underestimate Microsoft (Tim Cook certainly isn't).
I don't underestimate Microsoft generally, but the Windows 8 Consumer Preview makes me think that I generally overestimate. That is an unmitigated disaster in the making. Though it's interesting that you made special note of Tim Cook when he just recently went out of his way to say that he feels no pressure from Microsoft.
Though it's interesting that you made special note of Tim Cook when he just recently went out of his way to say that he feels no pressure from Microsoft.
He also said that MS is not out of the smartphone /tablet race and that they "always get up and run" (horse analogy.) Apple, out of all companies, knows Microsoft really well. People and companies almost have to buy Windows and ...Office, not so with many other gadgets.
A lot of users have this automatic hate for MS based on Windows 3.1 or Vista but I'm still using XP and it works great. Imagine a full featured OS that works with printers made 15 years ago somewhere in Korea and I never paid a dime after the initial purchase. Kudos to MS for that, others would have tried to nickle and dime the users, but we still get updates ;). To put things in perspective, Roboform alone probably has cost me more over the same time.
I said I'd get a Windows tablet simply because I'd want it to be an extension of my desktop. It remains to be seen how they manage that with bookmarks, sync etc, but personally I'm amazed at Microsoft's strategy: they make so much cash that they can afford to plan long term. Also, with what I can see they don't really clone their competitors, they have their own way of doing things. I just got a top notch PC with Win 7, Office Starter, 8GB RAM +++ at under $500. If they can spark the same specs war with tablets then we're talking.
They are challenges but probably in 2-3 years $200-300 tablets will be very common, and that's great for the users, Apple or Microsoft fans. Competition is great.
I love Apple too by the way. (I hate copycats.)
I love Apple too by the way. (I hate copycats.)
I don't love Apple. I don't love Microsoft. I don't love Google.
And they're all "copycats".