Bill Gates thinks Windows tablets have a big chance against iPad & Android ones

[MoonlitSonata]

With the big mistake that is Windows 8, Microsoft really should be smart and give Office to iOS users.

 

[AQ_OC]

With the big mistake that is Windows 8, Microsoft really should be smart and give Office to iOS users.

Agreed! I want it free, and I want it now!

 

[KevinJS]

I think that if Win8 had been released by a different company, as an alternative to Windows, it would have bombed instantly. The default display is hideous, which is surely the most important factor in a GUI. As has already been pointed out, it is also completely no-intuitive, which wins it no friends. When I sit down in front of my Vista beast, I know what I'm doing, and I know how to get where I'm going and how to get back to where I was. Someone could install Win7 on my computer, and as far as operating the thing is concerned, I wouldn't notice. It is simply an improvement. Win8 is a radical departure from the Windows concept, and it's too much of a departure. Not only do I not know how to navigate around it, I find that I don't want to. Even if I manage to get to the familiar screen layout, that Start button is missing, and I can't deal with that. An OS has to be user friendly. It's not the be-all and end-all of a computer system. It's merely the starting point. MS seem to have lost sight of that.

We are only discussing Win8 as a viable OS because it's Windows, albeit in a strange form. And there is my tie-in to the actual debate. If the Surface had been released by any other company, it would never have been deemed worthy of consideration. OK, so it runs Office, and has a pretty keyboard, which you have to pay extra for. Its feature set, and price point, make it unworthy of consideration in the tablet market. Only the fact that it is manufactured by a company with whom we are all familiar gives it a voice.

If Ford started manufacturing high-end motorcycles, and proceeded to tell us that Harley Davidson, Ducati and Honda had been getting it wrong, we would laugh at them, no matter how many cars they had sold. The markets are not the same. Ford have no right to be considered as an expert voice in motorcycle manufacture, and Microsoft are in the same position in mobile computing, particularly in tablets.

 

[Richard Brown]

Kevin has summed up my concerns with Windows8 nicely.

I'm sticking to XP as the OS for my PC for as long as is humanly possible.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[Deleted member 247820]

With the big mistake that is Windows 8, Microsoft really should be smart and give Office to iOS users.

Hello Moonlight . . .

Just because you say it was a big mistake, does not make it a big mistake!
IMO it was not a big mistake!

 

[readyfreddie]

Bill Gates is out of touch. I can do spreadsheet and words documents on my Samsung galaxy slll mini already.

 

[AQ_OC]

Bill Gates is out of touch. I can do spreadsheet and words documents on my Samsung galaxy slll mini already.

Right...he assumes that business users use Office and thus want only Office....while that is still largely the case, as the days go on more and more people are finding non-MS solutions. This is why MS is fighting so hard with tablets...they want to offer business users Office with the idea that it will give them less reason to explore other solutions. But they were too out of it to recognize that people don't want a radically different UI with no obvious benefits...and no apparent logic in its use. It basically puts everyone on a huge learning curve...and frankly, people don't want more complexity, they want less.

 

[s2mikey]

Right...he assumes that business users use Office and thus want only Office....while that is still largely the case, as the days go on more and more people are finding non-MS solutions. This is why MS is fighting so hard with tablets...they want to offer business users Office with the idea that it will give them less reason to explore other solutions. But they were too out of it to recognize that people don't want a radically different UI with no obvious benefits...and no apparent logic in its use. It basically puts everyone on a huge learning curve...and frankly, people don't want more complexity, they want less.

Office has always the MS killer app but as you mentioned there are alternatives and people are finding them. For tablet users there are plenty of excellent choices. QuickOffice, pages, etc, etc. of course for serious calculations and tables you do need the full blown versions but that's not a large user base IMO, especially at the tablet level. Totally agree on the new UI that no one wanted or asked for. Windows 8 is ugly and irritating. It's fumbly, weird, and I ain't touching it with a ten foot stylus.

We are due very soon to replace our toshiba laptops and there is no way anything I buy will have windows 8 on it. Period.

 

[MoonlitSonata]

Hello Moonlight . . .

Just because you say it was a big mistake, does not make it a big mistake!
IMO it was not a big mistake!

Have you actually looked at it and tried to use it? It's awful.

 

[Richard Brown]

Right...he assumes that business users use Office and thus want only Office....while that is still largely the case, as the days go on more and more people are finding non-MS solutions. This is why MS is fighting so hard with tablets...they want to offer business users Office with the idea that it will give them less reason to explore other solutions. But they were too out of it to recognize that people don't want a radically different UI with no obvious benefits...and no apparent logic in its use. It basically puts everyone on a huge learning curve...and frankly, people don't want more complexity, they want less.

I thought that, and still do to a certain extent, MS was trying for world monopoly with office app.ications. I remember how contenders, such as Lotus and WordPerfect (my secretary found WordPerfect superior to MSWord as it had a professional interface) were swept to one side. The free suite, open office, has kept going.

The discussions on this thread seem to indicate that MS still wants worldwide dominance / monopoly.

EDIT. It seems that Apple is giving MS a very good run for its money. I remember that designers, - architects and publishers much prefer Apple. The graphics interface and computing power are seen as the best around.

I'm by no means an expert in these matters - I'm acting more as the messenger.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[Deleted member 247820]

Have you actually looked at it and tried to use it? It's awful.

Hello Moon l . . .

Well just to satisfy you I have used W8 since it was first available for public trials.
Is that long enough?
I have installed it in several PCs for various happy people.
More to the point, have you read my post properly?
I said that just because YOU say a thing is no good does not mean it is no good!
What you mean is that, "in your opinion it is no good".
Again IMO it (W8) is good.

 

[Kaykaykay]

I give MS credit for trying and hope they will keep trying. I want all companies to keep reaching.

In that spirit, I think this is worth a read:

Did Steve Jobs Steal The iPad? Genius Inventor Alan Kay Reveals All

 

[Deleted member 247820]

I give MS credit for trying and hope they will keep trying. I want all companies to keep reaching.

In that spirit, I think this is worth a read:

Did Steve Jobs Steal The iPad? Genius Inventor Alan Kay Reveals All

HELLO K K . . .
A good read.
A bit like the car industry.
Everything new has already been invented!

 

[KevinJS]

I read it. My thought was that Leonardo da Vinci invented the helicopter. Apparently, his design would have flown, had it been possible to have built it.

Arthur C Clarke described the communications satellite so thoroughly that it could not be patented when it was eventually built.

There's nothing new under the sun.

 

[Kaykaykay]

HELLO K K . . .
A good read.
A bit like the car industry.
Everything new has already been invented!

Alan Kay is a class act. I wish people, especially younger generations, new about the continuum of learning, research and inventions. It might help to encourage contributions, to help people recognize that there is value beyond limelight and immediate rewards, and to know that contributions help build toward the future. While there are figures like Steve Jobs who deserve credit, it's important to recognize that without many others, he wouldn't have been able accomplish what he did. I say that because it might encourage younger generations to know that they also can contribute, too, and that it's OK to "fail," because trying and risking are in themselves worthwhile. And figures like Kay highlight highlight how there are rewards and great value in the work itself -- because external rewards and glory are great, but intrinsic value is what keeps inventors inventing.