Who Dropped The Ball Worse? Microsoft or the OEMs? | Hacker News Reader

Who Dropped The Ball Worse? Microsoft or the OEMs?

blog.travisbloom.me

9 pointsTBloom7 comments

Isn't it pretty obvious what happened?

Microsoft built an OS for hybrid devices. ARM chips can't run legacy apps so Windows RT is DOA. Intel didn't have low-power, high performance chips ready for launch. So there are no good Windows 8 devices out yet.

We'll know a lot more about Windows 8 in a few months as some non-crippled hybrids are released. It's hard to judge Windows 8 on bad hardware. Microsoft should have held off on the release.

My wife wanted and picked up a Lenovo Yoga (i5 processor, 4gb RAM, ssd) for Christmas, and though it takes some getting used to, I'm starting to like the thing. I'll also point out that around the holidays it was sold out at every best buy (we had to order it).

What does that have to do with all the other x86 devices from the other OEM's? Are you saying most PC customers were waiting for a $1,000 device from Microsoft?

No matter how you look at it, Windows 8 should've given a boost to PC sales, even if only for a short while after the launch. But it didn't. I think that implies it's Windows 8's fault, as PC sales were already falling, and Windows 8 did nothing to improve that situation. In fact it may have accelerated the decline.

Surface criticism is off, IMHO. It was never positioned as a laptop replacement, but rather as a tablet that has some add-ons that make its usage easier in some scenarios (hands-free watching videos, video conferencing, text processing). Sure, kickstand is limited as opposed to a laptop latch, but it's there "for free", doesn't add any bulk and doesn't require user to carry an additional stand. Same goes for keyboard. Watch some of The Verge videos where hosts use iPad with a third-party stand and a separate keyboard - I for one would be annoyed having to carry them separately. Surface pieces them together without adding any bulk. Does device have flaws? Sure it does, but the way they solved an issue with getting certain things done isn't one of them.

I agree with you. The Surface is, theoretically, the perfect device in the Pro version. A tablet when I want to be mobile and browse the web, a laptop when I want to do a lot of typing and a desktop when I want to do work. I no longer have to decide between a MBP or an iPad. I can have both on one device. That sounds brilliant to me.

The execution... Well, I can't comment because I haven't played with a Surface in person yet. Win8 + Metro is a POS though.

This sucks. The Yoga, a touch screen laptop you can bend backwards, is exactly what I want, if only it worked.

The customer, obviously, for not Binging the power of Snapping to the Windows 8 Style that enables You Unlimited.

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