11-23-2012, 01:25 PM
I really do think the Surface is going to crash and burn. It reminds me of the RIM Playbook and the HP Touchpad...positive reviews for the hardware, but middling to bad reviews for the software, and (most importantly) very limited app stores. Microsoft obviously had a much bigger marketing budget, and from the blanket coverage we're seeing on TV and online, it's spending every penny. And I expect their 2.0 version to be a lot better. But I don't think it's going to do well at all in the first year. I also think a lot of the devices that get bought will get returned. Windows 8 in general is going to struggle.
The thing Microsoft never solved is software bloat. Compare a 32GB Window Surface to a 32GB iPad. The 32GB Surface actually only has 16GB useable after taking into account the OS, built in app, and recovery tools. The 32GB iPad has 29GB free. That's a huge difference. And this isn't even full Windows, its just Windows RT, the one that won't run regular Windows apps. I'd personally be pretty pissed if I bought a 32GB tablet and then found it was really only half of that.
I'd put the tablet rankings like this (for holiday sales):
Ipad 4 - Best hardware, best design, joint best (arguably) software, best app ecosystem, best performance, good multimedia content, (perceived) poor pricing
Amazon Fire - Decent hardware, poor design, medium software, poor to medium app ecosystem, poor to medium performance, good multimedia, best pricing
Ipad Mini - Decent hardware, best design, joint best (arguably) software, best app ecosystem, very good performance, good multimedia content, (perceived) poor pricing
Google Nexus - Good hardware, good design, joint best (arguably) software, medium app ecosystem (for tablets), good performance, decent multimedia, second best pricing
Microsoft Surface - Very good hardware, very good design, (perceived) bad software, worst app ecosystem (for tablets), good performance, decent multimedia, (perceived) poor pricing
Samsung tablets - Good hardware, medium design, good software, medium app ecosystem (for tablets), decent performance, decent multimedia, medium to poor pricing
The thing Microsoft never solved is software bloat. Compare a 32GB Window Surface to a 32GB iPad. The 32GB Surface actually only has 16GB useable after taking into account the OS, built in app, and recovery tools. The 32GB iPad has 29GB free. That's a huge difference. And this isn't even full Windows, its just Windows RT, the one that won't run regular Windows apps. I'd personally be pretty pissed if I bought a 32GB tablet and then found it was really only half of that.
I'd put the tablet rankings like this (for holiday sales):
Ipad 4 - Best hardware, best design, joint best (arguably) software, best app ecosystem, best performance, good multimedia content, (perceived) poor pricing
Amazon Fire - Decent hardware, poor design, medium software, poor to medium app ecosystem, poor to medium performance, good multimedia, best pricing
Ipad Mini - Decent hardware, best design, joint best (arguably) software, best app ecosystem, very good performance, good multimedia content, (perceived) poor pricing
Google Nexus - Good hardware, good design, joint best (arguably) software, medium app ecosystem (for tablets), good performance, decent multimedia, second best pricing
Microsoft Surface - Very good hardware, very good design, (perceived) bad software, worst app ecosystem (for tablets), good performance, decent multimedia, (perceived) poor pricing
Samsung tablets - Good hardware, medium design, good software, medium app ecosystem (for tablets), decent performance, decent multimedia, medium to poor pricing
Ex SWG, L2, CoH, Wow, and War
Currently PvPing in the stock market
Currently PvPing in the stock market