I reckon Microsoft would be happy if they could get 50 good applications too.
Even then, it’s not enough to have “good” apps. They need exclusive apps… and really, if you have an idea even remotely worth doing something with, why in your right mind would you choose Windows Store of all places to make it exclusive to? … which ultimately means apps aren’t enough. The platform is a failure. With the Surface they chose to consolidate Windows (desktop) and Windows Mobile while ignoring virtually all of the key strengths of the products they were bastardising (especially with RT). They’ve limited their niche to the kind of people who want to do more than they can with the currently popular idea of a ‘tablet’ but don’t want the power and versatility of a full-blown laptop. Had they gone down the road of Windows Mobile 7 with an optional but default app store instead of the almost complete re-imagining which was Windows Phone 7 (and 7.5, 8 etc) I imagine they would have built on the slice of the enterprise market they had with prior Windows Mobile instead of almost completely alienating the enterprise, continued to appeal to the hobbyist and amateur developer market (increasingly so with XNA – which they’ve also canned, another brainfart) and provided a convenient medium for accessing content for the average consumer. The pre-requisite of Zune to do anything useful reeks of all the fail of iTunes. Even though they’ve limited piracy, there’s virtually nothing in the store worth pirating anyway. Because no-one wants to use it, which means no-one wants to develop for it. I’d much rather target a platform with 60%-95% piracy rate (depending on who you believe) and a paying customer base of 100s of millions than a platform with 5-20% piracy rate (also depending on who you believe) but a single completely broken store with no quality control (even rewarding people for shit apps – “quantity over quality”) and a distinct minority customer base of whom the paying customers are an even more fragile minority. But why learn from the mistakes and failings of Windows Phone? Why not sink the tablet market as well, and do all we can to take down the desktop in general while we’re at it? </rant which started off as a one-liner but I get carried away so apologies for any beating of any dead horses and drawing of long bows> From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of Ian Thomas Sent: Tuesday, 24 September 2013 1:23 PM To: 'ozDotNet' Subject: RE: Mark II That’s the usual cynical review, but it did add a few things I didn’t know about the docking station, the ability to run 2 screens, extra USB ports (on the Pro2, one of them is USB 1.0 – really?), and the Power Cover is also usable on the Surface Mark I. The review leaves out extra RAM, card slot, cameras, size of the SSD, and some other minor details, in favour of emphasising that the Windows Store lags far behind the Apple and Google counterparts, with only 100K apps. Do a need a choice of a million or more? I reckon if I could get 50 good applications I would be quite happy. Also, iirc one was to be 5-point touch, the other 10-point; one has USB 2.0 the other USB 3.0 – I guess I need to search for some more complete information. Isn’t there a mini DisplayPort or HDMI? ________________________________ Ian Thomas Victoria Park, Western Australia From: ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com<mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com> [mailto:ozdotnet-boun...@ozdotnet.com] On Behalf Of mike smith Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2013 9:29 AM To: ozDotNet Subject: Mark II But will it be any better? http://www.gizmag.com/microsoft-surface-2-announcement/29147/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=f7e5da2030-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_65b67362bd-f7e5da2030-90318010 SSDD -- Meski http://courteous.ly/aAOZcv "Going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex. Sure, you'll get it, but it's going to be rough" - Adam Hills Click here<https://www.mailcontrol.com/sr/MZbqvYs5QwJvpeaetUwhCQ==> to report this email as spam. This message has been scanned for malware by Websense. www.websense.com
