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Speaker 1: Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.

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Speaker 1: It's ready. Are you didn't touch with technology? With tech

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Speaker 1: Stuff from how stuff flix dot com. Hi, and welcome

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Speaker 1: again to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and

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Speaker 1: I am an editor at how Stuff works dot com.

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Speaker 1: Sitting across from me, as he's usual, it's senior writer

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Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, Chris, and guys. This is June

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Speaker 1: twenty two, which is a Friday. This is two thou twelve,

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Speaker 1: and the reason why I say the date is the

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Speaker 1: Monday of this week we heard an announcement from Microsoft

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Speaker 1: about an upcoming product that definitely made some waves in

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Speaker 1: the tech world. I saw some interest in places that

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Speaker 1: I didn't expect, uh, and it was the Microsoft Surface tablet. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the the Microsoft Surface up until a few days ago,

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Speaker 1: was a big table top touch screen device, a very

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Speaker 1: cool tabletop touch screen device. I'm priced out of the

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Speaker 1: market for most of us. It was really meant for

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Speaker 1: commercial uses, not for consumer uses. Yeah. Actually, it kind

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Speaker 1: of reminded me in a way of Veneva Bush's uh Memex.

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Speaker 1: This was of course envisioned in the nineteen forties as

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Speaker 1: um uh basically a desktop workstation that would allow you

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Speaker 1: to uh photograph different documents and use them on microfilm. Um.

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Speaker 1: And of course the lot of the computer and internet

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Speaker 1: engineers since then has sort of taken that as a

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Speaker 1: It ended up being a semi self fulfilling prophecy just

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Speaker 1: because people like the idea and he said, well, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it would be nice to have this. Well, the surface

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Speaker 1: was actually a desk itself in a way, a table

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Speaker 1: with a big touch screen surface, and you could have

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Speaker 1: different things on the screen and interact with it. You could,

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Speaker 1: you know, if you were using it in a work setting,

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Speaker 1: which it's not really designed to do, but you could

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Speaker 1: have all your documents in your desk, you know, on

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Speaker 1: the desktop literally and move things around. Very neat, but

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Speaker 1: very expensive. And uh uh yeah. But they they repurposed

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Speaker 1: the name. Yes, they changed the name of that device.

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Speaker 1: Uh pixel s right, that's the new name for what

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Speaker 1: was the surface and now the surface is a tablet.

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Speaker 1: And I've heard some people talk about how Microsoft is

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Speaker 1: aping Apple, which I think is completely off base for

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Speaker 1: multiple reasons. But we'll get into those and in order

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Speaker 1: to really understand where I'm coming from about how Microsoft

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Speaker 1: is not aping Apple, you have to kind of look

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Speaker 1: at Microsoft's history with the tablet, which has not been

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Speaker 1: a very smooth one. No, but it has been a

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Speaker 1: fairly long one, especially in tech terms. Yes, back in

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Speaker 1: Microsoft released a version of Windows called Windows for pen Computing.

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Speaker 1: And pen Computing was essentially the idea of using some

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Speaker 1: sort of interface that would require a stylus to input

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Speaker 1: data into a display. So it didn't necessarily mean it

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Speaker 1: would have to be in a tablet form factor. It

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Speaker 1: could be a screen on a wall, it could be

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Speaker 1: your laptop screen or or desktop screen. But the idea

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Speaker 1: was that there needed to be some form of support

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Speaker 1: for a different interface than just the keyboard and mouse. Uh. Now,

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Speaker 1: that product didn't really take off, and in fact, the

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Speaker 1: form factors didn't really take off outside of some niche markets.

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Speaker 1: And part of the problem is that building uh software

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Speaker 1: that can recognize handwriting is really really tricky, and in fact,

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Speaker 1: Apple had already tried it, yeah, with the Newton, the

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Speaker 1: Apple Newton, which was a message pad, Yes, a message pad.

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Speaker 1: It was sort of a PDA right UM a personal

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Speaker 1: digital assistant right not public display of affection right. A

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Speaker 1: p D a UM is basically a small handheld device um,

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Speaker 1: that you would use the stylist to interact with it

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Speaker 1: had a hum, it didn't have a the same kind

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Speaker 1: of touch screen we use now, right, it didn't. It

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Speaker 1: didn't necessarily allow you to use your fingers. You had

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Speaker 1: to use the stylus, right, um. And and basically what

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Speaker 1: it would do is I mean it was really at

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Speaker 1: the time designed to be a business tool. Yeah, for

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Speaker 1: the enterprise market. You would keep your calendar in there

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Speaker 1: and your your phone contacts and things. So it's a

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Speaker 1: smartphone without the phone, yeah, sort of more or less so.

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Speaker 1: But but Microsoft was not looking at creating devices or

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Speaker 1: marketing for devices that were, uh, this this kind of

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Speaker 1: tier of electronics below computers, right, because you could think

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Speaker 1: of a smartphone is like and a sub brand of computer,

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Speaker 1: but it it doesn't have the full process and capability

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Speaker 1: and uh, it's not as robust as a full computer

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Speaker 1: would be. Right. So Microsoft view was that, no, we

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Speaker 1: want to support devices that are essentially computers, just computers

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Speaker 1: that are in a different form factor than your big

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Speaker 1: desktop tower and display and keyboard and mouse. But again,

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Speaker 1: developing the software to try and support that was very

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Speaker 1: tricky and and it didn't really take off in the

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Speaker 1: early nineties, it just nothing really happened, and for a

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Speaker 1: while Microsoft kind of just put it on the back burner,

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Speaker 1: although Bill Gates was still who was the head of

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Speaker 1: Microsoft at the time, still very much determined to find

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Speaker 1: a way to make this work because he saw that

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Speaker 1: as the future of computing. He said that, you know,

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Speaker 1: eventually that the tablet form factor would actually outstrip other

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Speaker 1: fact versions of computers like laptops and desktops. So in

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Speaker 1: nineties seven, Microsoft hires a fellow named Dick Brass, who

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Speaker 1: was a guy who was involved in designing electronic dictionaries

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Speaker 1: in the eighties, and they hired him to kind of

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Speaker 1: spearhead this approach of trying to think about pen based

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Speaker 1: computing and and what would it take to make that successful.

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Speaker 1: So what Brass ended up doing was he ended up

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Speaker 1: working with a carpenter of all things, to put together

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Speaker 1: a rough looking model of what a tablet could look like.

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Speaker 1: And um, it was a wooden model, had a flat

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Speaker 1: base and a keyboard and a flat screen, and uh,

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Speaker 1: the screen could be separated from the keyboard. So this

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Speaker 1: was still a device that when it was put together,

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Speaker 1: would resemble a computer in some sense. But then you

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Speaker 1: could detach the screen and have that as a separate device,

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Speaker 1: which sounds very familiar. We've seen a lot of devices

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Speaker 1: over the last few years that have some sort of

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Speaker 1: laptop tablet hybrid approach. Right, See, that'll come into play later. Uh.

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Speaker 1: The so in in November of two thousand, we're skipping

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Speaker 1: a ad a little bit at the Comdex event. Now

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Speaker 1: Comdex is no longer a thing, yes, but at the

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Speaker 1: time it was a big computer trade show. Yeah, it

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Speaker 1: was the largest computer trade show in the world at

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Speaker 1: the time. Now uh c E s UH formerly known

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Speaker 1: as the Consumer Electronic Show, Yes, and still that's what

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Speaker 1: it stands for, but they want to be called C

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Speaker 1: E s UM. That's basically UM TVs UH, portable music players,

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Speaker 1: car stereos, stuff that you and I are going to

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Speaker 1: buy for uh daily everyday stuff. Yeah, there's also some

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Speaker 1: tablets and some phones and things. But really that's not

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Speaker 1: a whole lot of computers. I mean laptops. You see

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Speaker 1: a lot of laptops, like especially this last CS two

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Speaker 1: thousand twelve, that was when the Ultra books were really launched.

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Speaker 1: But in general it is not a computer showcase. No, no,

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Speaker 1: and neither is is E three the Electronics Entertainment XPO.

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Speaker 1: That's a video game showcase right right. Sometimes a hardware

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Speaker 1: showcase as well, but those are very specialized kinds of hardware. Right.

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Speaker 1: You see computers there, but they're you know, specifically oriented

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Speaker 1: towards gaming purposes or showing off gaming stuff. You might

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Speaker 1: see video cards. You know, hey you got a new

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Speaker 1: graphics card. Uh. Was the boring part of computers? Well yeah,

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Speaker 1: kind of? I mean was It was really a geeky

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Speaker 1: year side of the industry, get right down to it,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of it was, you know, personal computers

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Speaker 1: meant for home business. I don't think personal computers for

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Speaker 1: all different applications. But really, I mean the the image

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Speaker 1: most people have as a bunch of a bunch of

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Speaker 1: guys wearing short sleeve button up shirts with ties, sitting

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Speaker 1: in a big auditorium and drooling over the latest specs

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Speaker 1: of the next next year's models of personal computers. Um,

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Speaker 1: which is an unfair characterization, but that's often what people

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Speaker 1: think about. So at the two thousand Condex event, which

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Speaker 1: took place in Lost Vegas, Bill Gates came out and

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Speaker 1: had a keynote speech. He actually said some really interesting

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Speaker 1: things in that speech some stuff that I think you

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Speaker 1: could almost say everything you said turned out to be wrong,

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Speaker 1: at least at least in the short term. Well, you know,

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Speaker 1: that's the trouble with being a visionary and and Bill

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Speaker 1: Gates and uh, you know many of his contemporaries are

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Speaker 1: and we're visionaries. Um, but you know, different people have

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Speaker 1: different visions, and that things in the market also has

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Speaker 1: a saying this of course, right, and sometimes the future

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Speaker 1: turns out differently than the way you expect. And he said,

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Speaker 1: for example, that the browser is dead. Yeah, he said,

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Speaker 1: the browser era is over in two thousand, which you know,

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Speaker 1: when you think about it kind of died for a while.

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Speaker 1: It did, it did, and that and that was just

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Speaker 1: before the dot com bubble bursts too, so there was

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Speaker 1: some there were danger on the horizon already, but that

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Speaker 1: was pre web two point out right. But the browser

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Speaker 1: obviously is not dead. He also thought that people would

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Speaker 1: not want this sort of shared computing experience, the idea

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Speaker 1: of having uh, your computer essentially be a dumb terminal

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Speaker 1: attached to some sort of smarter computer device that would

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Speaker 1: do processing and storage. Well, it turns out cloud computing

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Speaker 1: has really taken off and so that's essentially what he

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Speaker 1: was talking about was cloud computing. It was just before

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Speaker 1: people were referring to it as cloud computing. I think

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Speaker 1: of it more as the old time share. Well, yeah,

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Speaker 1: the timeshare model and the the the dumb terminals that

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Speaker 1: you would see in college campuses where you had a

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Speaker 1: mainframe and you would connect to the main frame. Uh,

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Speaker 1: people at the time did want desktop computers. You wanted

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Speaker 1: to be able to operate your computer where you were

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Speaker 1: in your house instead of having to go to a

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Speaker 1: computer lab and work on the mainframe. Right. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: and it's it's funny to say that because, um, now

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Speaker 1: in retrospect, it looks I mean, we're I feel like

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Speaker 1: we're kind of teasing Bill Gates, because a lot of

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Speaker 1: the things he said, you know, turned out to be

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Speaker 1: sort of semi false at the time. In the context,

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Speaker 1: what he said sort of came to pass, and then

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Speaker 1: it reinvented itself in a different way. And there were

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Speaker 1: a lot of limitations on on the world when Bill

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Speaker 1: Gates made these these predictions. For instance, we didn't have

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Speaker 1: the broadband connections that we have now, so so having

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Speaker 1: a cloud computing infrastructure back in two thousand was not

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Speaker 1: a reasonable expectation. It wasn't feasible because you couldn't be

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Speaker 1: You wouldn't be able to access the data you would

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Speaker 1: need in a timely manner. It would take so long

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Speaker 1: to transfer the data that it would negate the the

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Speaker 1: benefits of having off site storage and all that kind

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Speaker 1: of stuff. So at the time his predictions made perfect sense.

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Speaker 1: But he also predicted that the tablet PC was going

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Speaker 1: to be huge, that this was going to be the

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Speaker 1: next revolution in UH in in computers and UH. Microsoft

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Speaker 1: software architect Bert Keeley came out and he specifically talked

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Speaker 1: about the tablet PC at that event. UM Now, the

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Speaker 1: information he gave was that the device would weigh less

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Speaker 1: than three pounds, and that would run Windows based software applications,

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Speaker 1: and you would use the stylus to make notes on

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Speaker 1: images and office documents which would then get incorporated into

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Speaker 1: UH files. So that let's say that you're looking at

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Speaker 1: a picture of something. Let's say that you're working with

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Speaker 1: an advertiser, for example, on an AD, and the advertiser

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Speaker 1: sends you a mock up of what the ad is

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Speaker 1: going to look like. You can make digital notes on

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Speaker 1: the ad using this tablet device and send it back

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Speaker 1: and say like, all right, you know this the product

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Speaker 1: isn't featured prominently enough for whatever you know, or or

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Speaker 1: I don't like the color of this this background because

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Speaker 1: it's it's masking the product. That sort of stuff. Um,

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Speaker 1: that was kind of the idea. And beyond just those

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Speaker 1: those use cases as well. I mean pretty much anytime

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Speaker 1: you could think of needing to make a note on

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Speaker 1: a digital file, that's when it would come into play, right, Um,

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Speaker 1: But it was just an announcement and a demonstration of

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Speaker 1: the prototype. There was no product to show off yet.

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Speaker 1: In two thousand one at Comdex, Compact came out and

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Speaker 1: showed off a prototype tablet PC running Windows and at

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Speaker 1: that time Gates then predicted that within five years, tablets

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Speaker 1: would be the most popular form factor of computers sold

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Speaker 1: on the market. And here's where I'm gonna take a

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Speaker 1: little break here. So we've already talked about how Microsoft's

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Speaker 1: got a long history and tablets. That doesn't have anything

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Speaker 1: to do with the iPad. Right, here's where I am

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Speaker 1: going to mention the iPad, Because even though the iPad

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Speaker 1: doesn't come out for another nine years, you know, we

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Speaker 1: see the iPad unveiled in UM Steve Jobs decided to

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Speaker 1: approach the iPad in a fundamentally different way than the

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Speaker 1: way Gates was looking at the tablet PC, and that

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Speaker 1: Gates was looking at a way to create create a

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Speaker 1: computer that was in the form factor of a tablet.

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Speaker 1: Jobs was looking at building up a smartphone like device

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Speaker 1: or iPod like device into the tablet form factor. He

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Speaker 1: was looking at scaling up smartphones, not scaling down computers,

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Speaker 1: and in fact, that was jobs main point. He said

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Speaker 1: that his competitors were all trying to make computers into

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Speaker 1: tablets and that that was the wrong approach and that

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Speaker 1: it would not succeed. Well, this is kind of what

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Speaker 1: Jobs was talking about. Microsoft has a history of trying

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Speaker 1: to make computers fit into the tablet form factor, and

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Speaker 1: historically they have not met with very much success. And

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Speaker 1: this compact prototype was one of the first ones that

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Speaker 1: sort of showed off what a Windows based tablet would

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Speaker 1: be capable of doing. But it ultimately did not really

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Speaker 1: make a huge impact, and again Gates's prediction about tablets

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Speaker 1: being really popular would ultimately be true. It was from

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Speaker 1: a completely different approach than the one Microsoft was making.

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Speaker 1: So moving ahead, So November seven, two the tablet PC

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Speaker 1: gets unveiled by Gates, who says he has anticipated this

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Speaker 1: moment for many, many years. And uh, they talk about

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Speaker 1: how they're going to be seven different computer makers that

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Speaker 1: will create tablets that run Windows software. So this is

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Speaker 1: not a Microsoft machine. It's Microsoft supporting the tablet form

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Speaker 1: factor by building an operating system specifically designed for that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was the Windows XP Tablet PC edition. That's exactly right. Um, yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's it's exactly the way that Apple doesn't do it. Um,

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Speaker 1: you know that people talk about that. Uh you know

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Speaker 1: how Apple is a closed system because it manufactures both

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Speaker 1: the hardware and writes the software for it. So uh,

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Speaker 1: you know they do both sides of that equation. Microsoft

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Speaker 1: offt um keeping ourselves in this timeframe. Microsoft doesn't make hardware.

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Speaker 1: They make software, lots of different software, and they work

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Speaker 1: with many, many different hardware partners to build the machines

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Speaker 1: that run the operating system. And as a matter of fact,

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Speaker 1: this uh Windows XP Tablet PC edition was only available

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Speaker 1: to O E. M's original equipment manufacturers. So if you

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Speaker 1: were Compact or HP or you know one of the

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Speaker 1: other manufacturers that was was working with them, you could

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Speaker 1: buy this software and preinstalled on the tablets. You wouldn't

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Speaker 1: be able to find it on the shelf at shelf

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Speaker 1: at your local computer store. Hey, they still had computer

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Speaker 1: stores back then. Yep, and and uh. There were some

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Speaker 1: other things that really set this apart from what the

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Speaker 1: you know, the tablets that would come down the line

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Speaker 1: several years later. One is that a lot of the

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Speaker 1: tablets quote unquote tablets that came out in two thousand

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Speaker 1: three was when they really started hitting store shelves. All

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Speaker 1: those tablets were really hybrids. They were laptop hybrids. So

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Speaker 1: you had the kind that would either have a screen

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Speaker 1: that would swivel and then fold back down over the keyboard,

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Speaker 1: so you would have a really thick tablet because there

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Speaker 1: would be a keyboard section folded underneath. It's basically, uh,

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Speaker 1: the same form factor as a laptop with a closed case.

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Speaker 1: You know, it's it's just got the screen flipped around

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Speaker 1: and closed exactly. Or you would have the other type

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Speaker 1: of hybrid where you could detach the screen from the

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Speaker 1: base of the keyboard and it would just become its

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Speaker 1: own little computing device with a touch screen interface, again

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Speaker 1: mostly using stylus, not necessarily using your fingers. Um Gates

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Speaker 1: was very uh optimistic about the chances of this in

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Speaker 1: the market. He thought that at least half a million

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Speaker 1: would sell in the first year, and they'd spent around

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Speaker 1: four hundred million dollars on the technology to develop the

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Speaker 1: tablet PC operating system and to support that form factor. Um.

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Speaker 1: The manufacturers that were included in that list of seven,

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Speaker 1: among them were HP, Samsung, Tshiba, and a ser But

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Speaker 1: there were a couple of notable missing persons on that list,

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Speaker 1: the two being really Dell and IBM, huge names and computers,

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Speaker 1: especially at this time in the early two thousand's personal computers. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so back in the early two thousand's, these two companies

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Speaker 1: famous for making computers, we're kind of holding back in

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Speaker 1: order to see if the tablet form factor truly would succeed,

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Speaker 1: because there was a lot of skepticism in the market.

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Speaker 1: I mean, there's a lot of optimism on one side,

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Speaker 1: but there were some companies saying, you know, this is

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Speaker 1: really risky. Do we really want to pour millions of

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Speaker 1: dollars in research and development and production to build something

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Speaker 1: that we are not convinced people want yet, And so

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Speaker 1: they decided to wait. And also these devices they ranged

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Speaker 1: in price between around eighteen hundred dollars. They were computers exactly.

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Speaker 1: They were full price computers. They weren't a tablet in

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Speaker 1: the sense that we think of today, where they're running

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Speaker 1: on lower power processors and using specialized operating systems. These

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Speaker 1: were Windows computers in a form factor of a tablet.

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Speaker 1: So the tablets had problems. They their screen resolution wasn't

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Speaker 1: the best, they tended to have really short battery life,

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Speaker 1: and the handwriting software, recognition software had lots of problems.

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Speaker 1: In fact, they had a lot of problems during the

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Speaker 1: development phase. I read one story about how they back

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Speaker 1: at Microsoft, while they were developing the tablet pcos, they

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Speaker 1: had an entire team switch from laptops to tablet PCs

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Speaker 1: to really test them and see what's going on and

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Speaker 1: see if they could do their work on a day

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Speaker 1: to day basis using them. And they found that whenever

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Speaker 1: they were making notes on a digital file, if they

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Speaker 1: had to make multiple notes, often the tablet PC operating

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Speaker 1: system wasn't really sure where those notes should go and

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Speaker 1: sometimes would combine them to make nonsensical sentences. It was

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Speaker 1: combining different notes into a run on sentence that has

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Speaker 1: no real meaning, like a bunch of sentence fragments just

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Speaker 1: crammed together. So they actually removed that feature before shipping

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Speaker 1: it because they realized that that would do more harm

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Speaker 1: than good. In fact, Apple had seen very similar problems

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Speaker 1: when they developed the Newton a decade earlier, so it

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Speaker 1: wasn't unique to Microsoft to have these problems. Um. But

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Speaker 1: another problem was that the adaptation of the operating system

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Speaker 1: and more more importantly, the applications that rested on top

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Speaker 1: of the operating system, they didn't really work so well

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Speaker 1: with a touch screen user interface. They you know, it

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Speaker 1: was it was trying to put software that was meant

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Speaker 1: to be used with a keyboard and mouse and put

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Speaker 1: it into a different form factor with a different user

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Speaker 1: interface without allowing for that difference. So a lot of

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Speaker 1: the applications were not intuitive, some of them were downright

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Speaker 1: unusable because they just weren't designed for that kind of interface.

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Speaker 1: So you had a product that had a lot of

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Speaker 1: horsepower to it, especially compared to you know, the computers

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Speaker 1: of the day. It was fairly equivalent to them, but

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Speaker 1: it just the software couldn't match up to the hardware

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Speaker 1: because the user interface wasn't there. So you would have

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Speaker 1: a big, heavy, expensive piece of electronics that couldn't do

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Speaker 1: what you needed it to do. That seems like a

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Speaker 1: waste of money, It does seem like that. Around that

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Speaker 1: same time, Microsoft also partnered with Fujitsu and view Sonic

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Speaker 1: to create smart displays. These were displays that linked to

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Speaker 1: a PC through WiFi. So you would still have a

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Speaker 1: home base PC and this device would hook to it.

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Speaker 1: You would have a smart touch you know, display case

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Speaker 1: where you could use it as if it were a tablet,

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Speaker 1: the processing being handled by the computer that it's hooked

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Speaker 1: to through WiFi. But these were still pretty expensive, like

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Speaker 1: around a thousand dollars or more, and it didn't really succeed,

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Speaker 1: so Microsoft ended up killing that project within about a

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Speaker 1: year of its starting. Then there was a Project Origami, Yes,

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Speaker 1: Project Origami, Yeah, that was for handheld PCs and touch

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Speaker 1: screen interfaces. Yeah, exactly, Uh, including the ultramobile PCs. Do

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Speaker 1: you remember that term? Yes? I do. It's not one

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Speaker 1: you run into very much anymore, but yeah, ultramobile PCs

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Speaker 1: that that was sort of the predecessor to both tablets

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Speaker 1: and netbooks, um, but in a way also a predecessor

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Speaker 1: to ultra books. Uh. They still had a lot of problems,

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Speaker 1: mostly because again the operating system wasn't fully optimized for

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Speaker 1: a touch screen interface, and also they tended to have

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Speaker 1: really lousy battery life. UM, not not a great experience.

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Speaker 1: Now that's not to say that these devices didn't work

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Speaker 1: and that people didn't use them. Um. There were a

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Speaker 1: couple uh industries really that took to them medical industry medicular, Yes,

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Speaker 1: the medical industry, um followed their own advice and took

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Speaker 1: two tablets and called Microsoft in the morning. Yeah, no,

385
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Speaker 1: but they did. And I actually still see that at

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Speaker 1: some of the doctor's offices that I've been to in

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00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:41,159
Speaker 1: the past few years, they're still using, um, the traditional

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Speaker 1: you know, Microsoft tablet design. I mean, it's very useful

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Speaker 1: for that kind of thing, especially because um they're using

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Speaker 1: the same software uh to register and track patient records

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Speaker 1: that they would use on a desktop computer or laptop

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Speaker 1: computer typically, So it's very compatible with that, and it

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Speaker 1: has been very efficient for that. And it's good because

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Speaker 1: they can carry this around in the tablet form factor,

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Speaker 1: so they can carry it under their arm, uh you know,

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Speaker 1: drop it down where they can make notes and they

397
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Speaker 1: can talk to you and and and take notes on

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00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,520
Speaker 1: this on this tablet device, but UM they had a

399
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Speaker 1: specific need to have something like that, So I think

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Speaker 1: that's one of the reasons why it um it took

401
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Speaker 1: off in that particular market. Sure, yeah, and for home

402
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 1: users not not like that. That's one of the things

403
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:35,200
Speaker 1: that Microsoft has always pushed is the idea that these

404
00:24:35,359 --> 00:24:38,639
Speaker 1: are devices that can run the applications you're used to

405
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Speaker 1: on your computer, things that that the other form of tablet,

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Speaker 1: Apple's version of tablet can't do because the upbrake system

407
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:49,159
Speaker 1: isn't robust enough to support all the features and functions

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Speaker 1: of the software. So for example, they're specifically one note

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Speaker 1: which is part of the Microsoft Office Suite for Windows UM,

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Speaker 1: this Note taking software, which I like very much actually UM,

411
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Speaker 1: and they made sure that that was that in particular,

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Speaker 1: in addition to the Office applications or Office compatibility, they

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Speaker 1: made sure that was available for the tablets. So you

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Speaker 1: can see where Microsoft is coming from. It's just again

415
00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:19,119
Speaker 1: they've had this these difficulties, and some of it is

416
00:25:19,160 --> 00:25:22,960
Speaker 1: beyond their control because again there they're creating the software

417
00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:26,639
Speaker 1: and the hardware is being designed by other companies. That

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Speaker 1: doesn't excuse the problems with how the software isn't fully

419
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Speaker 1: optimized for touch screens. Obviously that's something that's very important.

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Speaker 1: And again Apple got that they designed their interface with

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Speaker 1: touch screen from the ground up. They didn't try and

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Speaker 1: scale something down and then adapted for touch screens. So

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Speaker 1: it's a different philosophy. That doesn't mean that Microsoft's approach

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00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:53,160
Speaker 1: won't ultimately work. It's just that they've had a really long, hard,

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Speaker 1: uh journey and it's not over yet. Because we haven't

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Speaker 1: talked about the two things that came out in two

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Speaker 1: thousand eight. We mentioned one of them because we mentioned

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Speaker 1: Project Surface, which was the table top device you were

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00:26:06,359 --> 00:26:11,000
Speaker 1: talking about. Surface used cameras inside the device pointed up

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Speaker 1: at the screen in order to detect where touches were

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Speaker 1: being placed upon the screen surface. It could do multiple

432
00:26:18,359 --> 00:26:21,200
Speaker 1: touches at once, so you could have um several people

433
00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:23,240
Speaker 1: all playing on a surface at the same time, and

434
00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:25,760
Speaker 1: it could track all those movements. It also meant that

435
00:26:25,800 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: you could do something like take a piece of paper

436
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,560
Speaker 1: with something written on it, place it face down on

437
00:26:31,600 --> 00:26:35,119
Speaker 1: the surface, and copy it to the surface, so suddenly

438
00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:37,760
Speaker 1: you have a digital copy of the physical document you

439
00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:39,560
Speaker 1: had in your hands. And it's because there were these

440
00:26:39,640 --> 00:26:43,440
Speaker 1: cameras underneath that could look up and and see what

441
00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:49,719
Speaker 1: was being pressed against the surfaces. Surface would have been yep.

442
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:52,280
Speaker 1: So I was pretty cool. But the other thing that

443
00:26:53,480 --> 00:26:56,679
Speaker 1: the other project that we became aware of in two

444
00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,600
Speaker 1: thousand and eight, really in two thousand nine was Project

445
00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:03,919
Speaker 1: Curve Ear. Yes, this was an internal project of Microsoft,

446
00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 1: and it was led by a couple of different people,

447
00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: one of whom was uh, someone who came from the

448
00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:13,720
Speaker 1: Xbox division of Microsoft, a division that did really really

449
00:27:13,800 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: well in the sense that it went into a uh

450
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:20,520
Speaker 1: an industry that already had some dominating companies and it

451
00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 1: mostly mainly Sony and Nintendo and created carved out of

452
00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,920
Speaker 1: space and was very successful in that space, at least

453
00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,919
Speaker 1: especially in the United States by creating the Xbox. If

454
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,440
Speaker 1: you think about it, it's uh. It also provided a

455
00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 1: valuable lesson for Microsoft. And I've never seen this written down.

456
00:27:37,160 --> 00:27:40,600
Speaker 1: It just occurred to me. Um. Up until this point,

457
00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:45,000
Speaker 1: Microsoft didn't make hardware, but the Xbox showed him that

458
00:27:45,160 --> 00:27:48,720
Speaker 1: they could, and it probably you know, again, again, I've

459
00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:50,879
Speaker 1: never seen anybody say this or hurt anybody say this,

460
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:52,880
Speaker 1: but I would imagine that probably gave him a little

461
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,679
Speaker 1: bit of confidence to say, hey, you know, we can

462
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,159
Speaker 1: do this, we can be a hardware company too. And

463
00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,919
Speaker 1: also keep in mind the iPad had yet to debut.

464
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,600
Speaker 1: The iPad doesn't debut till so at the same time

465
00:28:04,640 --> 00:28:06,480
Speaker 1: that we know Apple is working, or at least we

466
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:10,119
Speaker 1: suspect Apples working on a tablet, we also hear about

467
00:28:10,240 --> 00:28:13,560
Speaker 1: this Microsoft project. And the thing that said the Courier

468
00:28:13,640 --> 00:28:16,639
Speaker 1: apart was that it was a two panel tablet. It

469
00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 1: was hinged in the middle, and it had two displays,

470
00:28:20,720 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 1: so it's like a booklet or a bigger version of

471
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,080
Speaker 1: the Nintendo DS form factor where you had two screens

472
00:28:28,119 --> 00:28:30,359
Speaker 1: when you open it up. And there were videos that

473
00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:34,760
Speaker 1: leaked on the web that had showed the Courier's concept

474
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:37,800
Speaker 1: where you would be able to make notes and read

475
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,920
Speaker 1: the information and create content, and so it was all

476
00:28:40,960 --> 00:28:45,600
Speaker 1: about content creation, not just content consumption. And it seemed

477
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 1: to have a customized operating system based upon the videos

478
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 1: that or at least it would have a customized operating

479
00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:55,360
Speaker 1: system because the videos were all pretty much prototype, concept

480
00:28:55,800 --> 00:29:00,640
Speaker 1: level stuff. It wasn't necessarily a working model, and so

481
00:29:00,880 --> 00:29:03,680
Speaker 1: there was a lot of interest in this among geek

482
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:08,320
Speaker 1: circles anyway, but in Microsoft killed off that project and

483
00:29:08,440 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 1: part of that might have been that the approach to

484
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,880
Speaker 1: the Courier was closer to what Apple was doing. It

485
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:19,480
Speaker 1: was more about taking a simpler computing device and giving

486
00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:23,880
Speaker 1: it some interesting features and functions rather than trying to

487
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:27,280
Speaker 1: take a computer and put it into a tablet form factor.

488
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:32,160
Speaker 1: And ultimately, I think Microsoft decided that that the Courier

489
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,800
Speaker 1: did not really reflect what Microsoft is as a company.

490
00:29:35,920 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 1: And it also didn't support two of Microsoft's flagship software

491
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:49,120
Speaker 1: UH products being Windows and the Office Suite. So since,

492
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:52,239
Speaker 1: you know, since it didn't do that, Microsoft like, why

493
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 1: would we produce a product that doesn't support our other

494
00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,600
Speaker 1: products that are the foundation of our company. And ultimately

495
00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:03,240
Speaker 1: the cur you'r died UH. And in two thousand nine,

496
00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:08,200
Speaker 1: Microsoft officially ended support for Windows for tablet PC. It's UM.

497
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:10,960
Speaker 1: I think that actually this might be a good time

498
00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:13,320
Speaker 1: to mention UH something that we haven't before. And this

499
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:18,360
Speaker 1: dates back again has its roots in in years before UM.

500
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:22,480
Speaker 1: Microsoft did, however, make a an operating system for PDAs

501
00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,040
Speaker 1: called Pocket pc UM and it was a very successful

502
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:30,000
Speaker 1: competitor to the Palm uh P d A s, which

503
00:30:30,040 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: were immensely popular with enterprise, but they were they were

504
00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:37,160
Speaker 1: both aimed at business customers and then you know, it

505
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 1: did the same kinds of things. But as the uh

506
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,480
Speaker 1: first with the Trio and some of the other smartphones,

507
00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:49,560
Speaker 1: um Windows uh well Pocket PC became Windows Mobile, it

508
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:52,800
Speaker 1: migrated over to smartphones and that was the operating system.

509
00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:56,480
Speaker 1: And of course we we now have Windows Mobile eight um.

510
00:30:56,760 --> 00:30:58,680
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean they were they were starting to

511
00:30:58,800 --> 00:31:02,920
Speaker 1: use uh you touchscreen devices, making the software for other

512
00:31:03,000 --> 00:31:06,600
Speaker 1: companies to use on their phones, so that you know,

513
00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 1: they are working on software that will do that will

514
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:13,440
Speaker 1: operate a device like a tablet what we think of

515
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:16,920
Speaker 1: now as a tablet, um, but it wasn't on what

516
00:31:17,120 --> 00:31:20,280
Speaker 1: they were creating as their tablet products. So the surface,

517
00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sorry, the courier is probably using something

518
00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:26,600
Speaker 1: along more along lines and Windows Mobile as it's operating

519
00:31:26,680 --> 00:31:31,080
Speaker 1: system than it would be a more fully developed, fully functional,

520
00:31:31,520 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 1: went traditional Windows computer operating system. And part of the

521
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:39,200
Speaker 1: reason for that is that going with the smartphone model,

522
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:44,160
Speaker 1: smartphones and mobile devices tend to use lower power processors

523
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:48,320
Speaker 1: than a computer does. They use like arm based processors,

524
00:31:48,600 --> 00:31:50,400
Speaker 1: and that's done for a couple of reasons. That they're

525
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 1: smaller and they are more energy efficient, so that means

526
00:31:53,000 --> 00:31:55,920
Speaker 1: you have a longer battery life, and they're cooler in

527
00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,719
Speaker 1: a lot of cases to um, which is important when

528
00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:00,400
Speaker 1: you have a device that doesn't necessary really have an

529
00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:02,760
Speaker 1: internal fan, Yes, especially if you're going to put it

530
00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:08,880
Speaker 1: in your pocket. So, uh, for the Microsoft, for Microsoft

531
00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:12,320
Speaker 1: Windows to run, it really needs a pretty beefy processor.

532
00:32:12,840 --> 00:32:15,440
Speaker 1: You know, it can't be it can't just it can't

533
00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:19,000
Speaker 1: just be you know, a little dinky process here. So

534
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:22,080
Speaker 1: you know, there were some tough choices for Microsoft to

535
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,400
Speaker 1: make in order to pursue this. So moving on in

536
00:32:26,160 --> 00:32:30,640
Speaker 1: Balmber was at CS and he showed off the Steve Balmer.

537
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,160
Speaker 1: Uh sorry, I just I think of him as the

538
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:38,040
Speaker 1: bomber Um. He showed off the HP Slate tablet at

539
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:41,760
Speaker 1: Windows at CES it was running Windows seven, so again

540
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 1: you know, moving away from the Windows XP tablet PC

541
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:49,160
Speaker 1: stuff into Windows seven. But another problem, Windows seven not

542
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:53,560
Speaker 1: optimized for touch screens. So there were several tablets that

543
00:32:53,640 --> 00:32:55,720
Speaker 1: came out that ran on Windows seven. They did not

544
00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:58,040
Speaker 1: do very well because a lot of the reviews said,

545
00:32:59,280 --> 00:33:02,120
Speaker 1: this still is not a very satisfactory experience when you're

546
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,720
Speaker 1: using a touch screen interface. It's just it wasn't made

547
00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,280
Speaker 1: for that. And there and it shows yeah, I mean

548
00:33:07,360 --> 00:33:12,000
Speaker 1: you you it has clarified. It has touch screen functionality,

549
00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:15,520
Speaker 1: but it wasn't optimized, right, It wasn't designed for a

550
00:33:15,600 --> 00:33:20,200
Speaker 1: touch screen. It was designed for a traditional computer. And

551
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:23,640
Speaker 1: while it had elements of touch screen interface design in it,

552
00:33:23,800 --> 00:33:26,840
Speaker 1: it wasn't that wasn't the primary purpose. There were people

553
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 1: making touch screen PCs all in ones. I remember HP

554
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:33,800
Speaker 1: had a line. It was very much the same style

555
00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:37,320
Speaker 1: of computer as uh the imax of now where you

556
00:33:37,440 --> 00:33:39,960
Speaker 1: have everything baked into a basically looks like a big

557
00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:44,200
Speaker 1: monitor with a keyboard. You know, no no side computer,

558
00:33:44,760 --> 00:33:47,320
Speaker 1: you know, our tower computer. It's all built into that.

559
00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:49,040
Speaker 1: And it said you know, hey, you can use this

560
00:33:49,120 --> 00:33:51,200
Speaker 1: as a touch screen, and yes you you could, but

561
00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:54,720
Speaker 1: it it didn't have things like the pinch to zoom

562
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:57,960
Speaker 1: and the swiping and the the same kinds of effects.

563
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:02,600
Speaker 1: So things that built in really intuitive little gesture commands

564
00:34:02,640 --> 00:34:04,560
Speaker 1: and things just weren't part of it. And that was

565
00:34:04,600 --> 00:34:09,279
Speaker 1: a problem. Well, now we're up to and Microsoft has

566
00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:13,120
Speaker 1: introduced the surface tablets, which are going to run two

567
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,400
Speaker 1: different versions of Windows. There's two two main categories of

568
00:34:16,480 --> 00:34:20,360
Speaker 1: these tablets. There's the Windows r T version and Windows

569
00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:23,200
Speaker 1: RT is again an O E M version of Windows

570
00:34:23,320 --> 00:34:27,279
Speaker 1: just as tablet the tablet PC Windows XP was um,

571
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:33,399
Speaker 1: it's optimized for more mobile processors. So again that now

572
00:34:33,480 --> 00:34:36,239
Speaker 1: we're looking more like the the Apple tablet in the

573
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:39,520
Speaker 1: sense that it's going to be on ARM based processors,

574
00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:46,399
Speaker 1: so lower power, more efficient, cooler, but less um less

575
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:52,239
Speaker 1: capable of running really chunky programs. Right, So that's one version.

576
00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,480
Speaker 1: It's the consumer model Windows are T version. Then you

577
00:34:55,560 --> 00:34:57,759
Speaker 1: have the Windows eight pro version, which will come out

578
00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:00,120
Speaker 1: about three months after the debut of the Windows our

579
00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:02,920
Speaker 1: T version. According to Microsoft, now this one is going

580
00:35:02,960 --> 00:35:08,160
Speaker 1: to be having It will have an Intel Core processor, uh,

581
00:35:08,239 --> 00:35:10,680
Speaker 1: and it will run Windows eight Pro on it, so

582
00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:14,560
Speaker 1: it will have a more fully fledged operating system. And

583
00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:19,480
Speaker 1: Windows eight was an operating system designed with touch screen

584
00:35:19,600 --> 00:35:23,080
Speaker 1: in mind, at least as far as the metro design

585
00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,520
Speaker 1: of Windows eight goes. Because there's there's different model modes

586
00:35:26,640 --> 00:35:30,000
Speaker 1: of Windows eight, but one of them was specifically designed

587
00:35:30,080 --> 00:35:33,120
Speaker 1: with touch screens in mind. And when it first premiered,

588
00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:35,920
Speaker 1: Microsoft didn't show it off on a tablet. They were

589
00:35:35,960 --> 00:35:38,200
Speaker 1: showing it off on computers, and people were thinking, well,

590
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:40,600
Speaker 1: does this mean Microsoft working on a tablet or they're

591
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:45,040
Speaker 1: working with other manufacturers for tablets, and as it turns out,

592
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,719
Speaker 1: Microsoft was making a tablet. You might ask yourself, well,

593
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:51,080
Speaker 1: why is Microsoft doing that now instead of partnering with

594
00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:55,600
Speaker 1: the manufacturers that does for computers and other devices, And

595
00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,719
Speaker 1: they're possible months of possible reasons. One of them might

596
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:02,240
Speaker 1: be that Microsoft wants to make sure that a tablet

597
00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:06,360
Speaker 1: is made quote unquote the right way. Yes, Microsoft is

598
00:36:06,480 --> 00:36:09,399
Speaker 1: making a tablet. Why are they making a tablet? Thank

599
00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:12,840
Speaker 1: you Captain Kirk. The Captain Kirk is climbing the mountain

600
00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:16,880
Speaker 1: and look it up on YouTube. So the the the

601
00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:19,759
Speaker 1: question would be I think the answer here is that

602
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:23,759
Speaker 1: Microsoft wants to design a tablet around that that really

603
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,200
Speaker 1: takes advantage of this operating system. They know what the

604
00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:28,160
Speaker 1: operating system can do, They've got the people who can

605
00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 1: build the tablet itself. They want to be able to

606
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:33,759
Speaker 1: do this to show off the operating system, and it's

607
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:37,400
Speaker 1: not necessarily going to be a line of products that

608
00:36:37,440 --> 00:36:40,680
Speaker 1: will continue forever into the future. It may even be

609
00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,880
Speaker 1: that these two models are the only two Microsoft ever produces,

610
00:36:43,960 --> 00:36:46,680
Speaker 1: and that they let everyone else build tablets from here

611
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:49,000
Speaker 1: on out. I don't know that Microsoft wants to get

612
00:36:49,040 --> 00:36:54,000
Speaker 1: into the manufacturing business. That has been rumored. In fact, um,

613
00:36:54,440 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 1: some of that has been going along in the the

614
00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:01,279
Speaker 1: tech media in the past few days since the announcement

615
00:37:01,400 --> 00:37:04,120
Speaker 1: is that uh uh, that's one of the things is

616
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:07,320
Speaker 1: that maybe Microsoft is doing this as a a proof

617
00:37:07,360 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 1: of concept and they will get in but not uh

618
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,280
Speaker 1: jump into the market completely. And once they have proven

619
00:37:13,320 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 1: that this is a thing and then it will work,

620
00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:19,520
Speaker 1: they will let everyone else take the lead. Because, um,

621
00:37:20,440 --> 00:37:25,160
Speaker 1: as with Google's acquisition of Motor Motor Rolla Mobility, if

622
00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 1: Google gets into the hardware business, everybody said, well, wait,

623
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:32,279
Speaker 1: they're gonna be competing with all these other hardware manufacturers

624
00:37:32,320 --> 00:37:34,279
Speaker 1: that they have been working with. Well, Microsoft is going

625
00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:37,640
Speaker 1: to be in the same type of vote, competing with

626
00:37:37,719 --> 00:37:40,560
Speaker 1: their partners. So um, you know, there are people who

627
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,880
Speaker 1: who really do believe that that is they're they're showing

628
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:48,080
Speaker 1: it off. But of course, as Apple has proven uh

629
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,240
Speaker 1: time and time again, Yes, a closed system is closed,

630
00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:56,880
Speaker 1: but the manufacturer has much more control over the environment

631
00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,200
Speaker 1: when the system is closed, because they can make it

632
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:01,560
Speaker 1: work exact actually the way they think it should work,

633
00:38:01,600 --> 00:38:05,520
Speaker 1: and they don't necessarily include anything else that wasn't intended

634
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,279
Speaker 1: for example, again with the Google Android platform, if you

635
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:12,800
Speaker 1: buy a Google Android device with only a few exceptions,

636
00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,440
Speaker 1: you're going to get extra stuff that you do not

637
00:38:15,760 --> 00:38:19,960
Speaker 1: necessarily want or need. Uh. Some of those things don't

638
00:38:20,080 --> 00:38:22,719
Speaker 1: make sense if you catch my dress. Some of those

639
00:38:22,719 --> 00:38:27,720
Speaker 1: things are impossible to remove without without your rooting your device.

640
00:38:28,160 --> 00:38:31,120
Speaker 1: So you know, this is one way to get around

641
00:38:31,160 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 1: that as well. Now we don't know if it's going

642
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:36,040
Speaker 1: to succeed, we'll have to wait. But still, really a

643
00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:39,239
Speaker 1: computer that's been put into the tablet form factor, it's

644
00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,840
Speaker 1: it's again that philosophy is building scaling down as opposed

645
00:38:42,840 --> 00:38:47,560
Speaker 1: to scaling up some other lower powered electronic device. Um.

646
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:50,920
Speaker 1: The other big thing that I saw everyone going gaga

647
00:38:50,960 --> 00:38:54,200
Speaker 1: about is the cover for the surface. Ah. Yes, Now

648
00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:57,360
Speaker 1: it is very much like the smart cover introduced with

649
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:01,480
Speaker 1: the iPad too, because it has a magnetic uh clasp

650
00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:05,680
Speaker 1: on it so that when you you cover your surface tablet,

651
00:39:05,760 --> 00:39:08,480
Speaker 1: it will the magnets will snap to the the case

652
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:11,279
Speaker 1: of the device and it will hold it closed. Yeah.

653
00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:14,880
Speaker 1: But it also has a keyboard built into it, and

654
00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:16,680
Speaker 1: there are two different types of the keyboard. There's a

655
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:20,400
Speaker 1: pressure sensitive keyboard where the keys are not raised or anything,

656
00:39:20,480 --> 00:39:23,920
Speaker 1: but you can you know, designated certain keys, and then

657
00:39:23,960 --> 00:39:26,719
Speaker 1: there's actually a click keyboard where they're the keys are

658
00:39:26,840 --> 00:39:29,799
Speaker 1: raised slightly so it's more like a touch keyboard. Um.

659
00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:35,400
Speaker 1: And also they work uh uh, they have a variety

660
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,799
Speaker 1: of colors. They work on Bluetooth to connect to the device. Um,

661
00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:42,759
Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting. They also the surface itself has

662
00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:44,759
Speaker 1: a little kickstand in the back of it that you

663
00:39:44,840 --> 00:39:48,040
Speaker 1: can flip out so it stands up like a laptop

664
00:39:48,120 --> 00:39:49,960
Speaker 1: screen would. In fact, a lot of people have said

665
00:39:49,960 --> 00:39:53,120
Speaker 1: that this is really just another version of the laptop

666
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:56,040
Speaker 1: tablet hybrid. It's just that this is one that is

667
00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:59,400
Speaker 1: closer to the tablet side than the laptop side. And

668
00:39:59,600 --> 00:40:01,920
Speaker 1: I don't that Microsoft would argue that because they really

669
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:05,360
Speaker 1: want you to think of it as a PC. And

670
00:40:05,480 --> 00:40:09,080
Speaker 1: the Microsoft presentation where they unveiled this, they referred to

671
00:40:09,160 --> 00:40:13,560
Speaker 1: it as a PC repeatedly. Yeah, which is exactly in

672
00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:18,359
Speaker 1: line with their their previous tablet effort and exactly an

673
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:22,000
Speaker 1: opposite alignment of Apple's approach, where Apple was jobs would

674
00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:23,880
Speaker 1: say this is not a PC, this is a this

675
00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:28,000
Speaker 1: is a tablet. It's for the post PC environment, right right,

676
00:40:28,080 --> 00:40:31,560
Speaker 1: where whereas uh, the iPad, and it has been criticized

677
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:34,839
Speaker 1: more times than I can account, certainly by people who

678
00:40:34,880 --> 00:40:38,360
Speaker 1: say it's a consumption device. It is a consumption device

679
00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:41,960
Speaker 1: that people began writing productivity software for. It's sort of

680
00:40:42,000 --> 00:40:46,200
Speaker 1: one people's hearts and minds by being a consumption device

681
00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:50,480
Speaker 1: primarily at first, but it is shown also well, the

682
00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:53,080
Speaker 1: software developers have shown that you can use it for

683
00:40:53,760 --> 00:40:57,719
Speaker 1: productivity and creativity and creation as well. And and Microsoft

684
00:40:57,840 --> 00:41:00,400
Speaker 1: isn't approaching it as a h well, this is a

685
00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:03,920
Speaker 1: scaled down productivity device that you can also use to

686
00:41:04,080 --> 00:41:07,279
Speaker 1: consume with. So it's it's really I mean that both

687
00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,960
Speaker 1: devices will do both, but it's two different and different

688
00:41:10,000 --> 00:41:13,719
Speaker 1: approaches to the same converging point, right, because that's why

689
00:41:13,840 --> 00:41:15,719
Speaker 1: this is all about his convergence, because you know, you

690
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:17,759
Speaker 1: can't go an entire episode without me saying the word.

691
00:41:18,160 --> 00:41:21,799
Speaker 1: So that's a that's a that's an example there. Yeah,

692
00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,120
Speaker 1: and and you know, just so you guys know, I mean,

693
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:27,400
Speaker 1: there have been several tablets that have run on various

694
00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:30,680
Speaker 1: versions of Windows, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows seven

695
00:41:30,800 --> 00:41:34,399
Speaker 1: all had tablets. Uh, it's just they didn't do so well.

696
00:41:34,680 --> 00:41:37,080
Speaker 1: And so you know, in terms of sales in terms

697
00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:41,200
Speaker 1: of sales. UM, So we'll see if the Surface could

698
00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:44,399
Speaker 1: perhaps buck the trend. You know what. I think we're

699
00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:48,400
Speaker 1: actually getting to the point where people are curious about this.

700
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:51,000
Speaker 1: They really think, well, if Microsoft can make a truly

701
00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:56,120
Speaker 1: compelling product that can really run these rich applications that

702
00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:59,120
Speaker 1: are beyond the scope of something like an iPad or

703
00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:01,759
Speaker 1: an Android tablet, it perhaps there's a place for it.

704
00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:04,640
Speaker 1: And that might very well be instead of buying a laptop,

705
00:42:04,719 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 1: maybe I'd buy a surface next time because it has

706
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:09,920
Speaker 1: all the capability of a laptop but has the portability

707
00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:13,560
Speaker 1: and other functions of a tablet. Why would why not

708
00:42:13,719 --> 00:42:16,520
Speaker 1: get that? UM? I think it's really going to depend

709
00:42:16,560 --> 00:42:19,279
Speaker 1: heavily upon the price of the surface. We don't know

710
00:42:19,400 --> 00:42:21,880
Speaker 1: what that's going to be yet. We don't know exactly

711
00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,040
Speaker 1: what processors they're going to put in it, right, Yeah,

712
00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:26,040
Speaker 1: we don't have the specific details. We do know that

713
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:28,799
Speaker 1: the RT one will have an ARM based processor that's

714
00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,720
Speaker 1: what Windows RT was optimized for, and that the Windows

715
00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:34,560
Speaker 1: eight pro version will have some sort of x A

716
00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:38,200
Speaker 1: D six based processor, although and we don't know specifically

717
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,600
Speaker 1: which one it will be. UM, we know that there's

718
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,000
Speaker 1: going to be a couple of different flavors of each

719
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:47,960
Speaker 1: of these. You know, there's certain bubery don't have the

720
00:42:48,239 --> 00:42:50,520
Speaker 1: different levels of storage space, you know, thirty two gig

721
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:53,000
Speaker 1: versus sixty four gig versus twenty eight gig, that kind

722
00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:55,319
Speaker 1: of thing. But we don't really know what the price

723
00:42:55,440 --> 00:42:57,480
Speaker 1: ranges are going to be. It may very well be

724
00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:00,680
Speaker 1: that the Windows eight Pro one hundred twenty eight gig

725
00:43:00,880 --> 00:43:05,800
Speaker 1: version is that could that could happen. We don't know that.

726
00:43:06,040 --> 00:43:10,840
Speaker 1: That's the thing about a tablet, regardless of what system

727
00:43:11,000 --> 00:43:14,040
Speaker 1: it's running, you might say, is what you're giving up

728
00:43:14,400 --> 00:43:18,640
Speaker 1: to make it work and what price point you've got

729
00:43:18,800 --> 00:43:20,799
Speaker 1: to hit? So you know, you have to make sure

730
00:43:20,840 --> 00:43:22,799
Speaker 1: it's it's not going to run the battery down. You've

731
00:43:22,800 --> 00:43:24,279
Speaker 1: got to make sure that it's energy you know that

732
00:43:24,360 --> 00:43:27,200
Speaker 1: it's energy efficient, that it it looks nice even though

733
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:29,719
Speaker 1: it has a nice screen on it, and it's functional.

734
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:32,600
Speaker 1: But then you go, okay, well what software am I

735
00:43:32,600 --> 00:43:35,239
Speaker 1: gonna run? You know what, Obviously you're not going to

736
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:38,799
Speaker 1: be able to run something like a Final Cut Pro

737
00:43:39,120 --> 00:43:44,480
Speaker 1: on an iOS device or Adobe full version of Adobe

738
00:43:44,560 --> 00:43:50,239
Speaker 1: Photoshop CS on a surface because there are certain things

739
00:43:50,320 --> 00:43:52,319
Speaker 1: you need the screen space, you need. So what are

740
00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:53,960
Speaker 1: you going to give up? What are you gonna take out?

741
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:56,799
Speaker 1: What are you gonna put in? And that's that's really

742
00:43:56,880 --> 00:43:58,880
Speaker 1: what we're talking about when we're talking about the philosophy

743
00:43:58,960 --> 00:44:01,680
Speaker 1: that we're approaching it at Because, um, the forum factor

744
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:05,080
Speaker 1: has been established as a success. You know, it's it's

745
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:07,719
Speaker 1: a good These are good sizes for the device. Um.

746
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:09,239
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, you have the surface is

747
00:44:09,400 --> 00:44:13,360
Speaker 1: very similar in size to the iPads versus the the

748
00:44:13,800 --> 00:44:19,360
Speaker 1: Android tablets, which vary in size sixteen by nine screen size,

749
00:44:19,480 --> 00:44:21,920
Speaker 1: and you know they're smaller or bigger than you have

750
00:44:22,000 --> 00:44:27,280
Speaker 1: a tablets, the fablets, the fablets, the half phone half tablet.

751
00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:30,000
Speaker 1: I like saying that the Galaxy Note being one of

752
00:44:30,080 --> 00:44:33,120
Speaker 1: the first makes the term makes Jonathan squirms, So it's

753
00:44:33,200 --> 00:44:36,439
Speaker 1: not a big fan of the term fablet. I still

754
00:44:36,520 --> 00:44:38,560
Speaker 1: want a Galaxy Note, by the way, I don't own

755
00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:41,320
Speaker 1: one one, But I do think I do think that

756
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:45,400
Speaker 1: Microsoft has uh it's on the right track, definitely, And

757
00:44:45,480 --> 00:44:48,160
Speaker 1: if anybody can do this, it's going to be Microsoft.

758
00:44:49,080 --> 00:44:51,440
Speaker 1: You know. Obviously Google and Apple have already proven that

759
00:44:51,560 --> 00:44:53,920
Speaker 1: they can do this. But I can't think of anybody

760
00:44:53,960 --> 00:44:57,279
Speaker 1: else getting into the field. Uh and just when I go,

761
00:44:57,719 --> 00:45:04,200
Speaker 1: there's Paul, these guys. That's right, they still have o s.

762
00:45:05,360 --> 00:45:08,160
Speaker 1: I don't know that we'll ever. I mean, technically it's

763
00:45:08,200 --> 00:45:11,879
Speaker 1: not dead dead yet. Uh. Now it will, I think

764
00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:14,960
Speaker 1: depend very heavily on the price, because people now have

765
00:45:15,080 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 1: an expectation of how much tablet should cost, not thinking

766
00:45:18,239 --> 00:45:20,480
Speaker 1: this is don't think of it as a tablet, think

767
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:23,279
Speaker 1: of it as a PC. That's that's really hard because

768
00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:25,560
Speaker 1: now we've already established what a tablet is and what

769
00:45:25,719 --> 00:45:28,560
Speaker 1: it can do and what it cannot do. And perhaps

770
00:45:28,600 --> 00:45:30,160
Speaker 1: if you think of it, oh, well, this is a tablet,

771
00:45:30,239 --> 00:45:32,319
Speaker 1: it can just do more than this other tablets. Yeah,

772
00:45:32,320 --> 00:45:37,200
Speaker 1: but is more value. That's so I think it's really

773
00:45:37,239 --> 00:45:40,520
Speaker 1: gonna play down to how does Microsoft price it. Microsoft

774
00:45:40,640 --> 00:45:43,759
Speaker 1: could end up pricing it very very competitively, so that

775
00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:46,279
Speaker 1: they're essentially taking a loss in the hardware. But if

776
00:45:46,320 --> 00:45:49,200
Speaker 1: they do that, then they're shooting themselves in the foot

777
00:45:49,200 --> 00:45:51,480
Speaker 1: in another way, because they've set an expectation for all

778
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:54,840
Speaker 1: their partners, and then if their partners are forced to

779
00:45:54,960 --> 00:45:56,759
Speaker 1: sell at it, you know, it doesn't make sense for

780
00:45:56,840 --> 00:45:59,040
Speaker 1: the partners to sell at a huge loss. If that

781
00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:01,240
Speaker 1: if that's how they may their money is through the hardware,

782
00:46:01,360 --> 00:46:04,040
Speaker 1: which is already a very low margin area to make

783
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:08,000
Speaker 1: your money off of anyway. Um, so Microsoft has a

784
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:10,640
Speaker 1: very delicate balancing act. They can't price it so competitively

785
00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:14,120
Speaker 1: that they have knocked all their partners out of the market,

786
00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:18,200
Speaker 1: and they can't go too far over the established price

787
00:46:18,239 --> 00:46:21,160
Speaker 1: of tablets because then everyone's gonna balk at the expense.

788
00:46:22,000 --> 00:46:25,200
Speaker 1: Plus uh. I think this is very important for Microsoft

789
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:30,239
Speaker 1: to try for one very important reason. Um, there has

790
00:46:30,320 --> 00:46:35,560
Speaker 1: been a halo effect on Mac sales from the success

791
00:46:35,800 --> 00:46:38,120
Speaker 1: of the iPhone and the iPad. Now, of course you're

792
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:41,759
Speaker 1: going to say that the Mac still trails Windows by

793
00:46:41,840 --> 00:46:45,719
Speaker 1: a huge margin. Yes, that's true, but there has been

794
00:46:45,760 --> 00:46:48,239
Speaker 1: an increase in Mac sales and they have been selling better.

795
00:46:48,640 --> 00:46:51,280
Speaker 1: Now there are rumors, of course that with the Chrome

796
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:57,680
Speaker 1: operating system, that Google could be getting into the desktop

797
00:46:57,760 --> 00:47:01,239
Speaker 1: market and and it I think it is important to

798
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,680
Speaker 1: for Microsoft to establish a beachhead in the tablet front

799
00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:08,160
Speaker 1: to keep people, to give them an option in to

800
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:11,719
Speaker 1: keep everybody in the Windows ecosystem as it is. Well,

801
00:47:12,239 --> 00:47:14,360
Speaker 1: I have to say Windows eight Mobile, you can have

802
00:47:15,040 --> 00:47:18,560
Speaker 1: you know, the Windows RTU tablet and you can have

803
00:47:18,719 --> 00:47:21,319
Speaker 1: your Windows eight desktop. I have to say that I'm

804
00:47:21,320 --> 00:47:23,800
Speaker 1: not surprised about the Halo effect thing, because you know,

805
00:47:23,960 --> 00:47:26,360
Speaker 1: as we all know, Bungee used to develop games just

806
00:47:26,600 --> 00:47:28,800
Speaker 1: for the Mac and that was where Marathon came out of,

807
00:47:28,960 --> 00:47:31,480
Speaker 1: and the Halo games are sort of a spinoff of Marathon,

808
00:47:31,600 --> 00:47:34,880
Speaker 1: and those went over into not that Halo effect. The

809
00:47:34,960 --> 00:47:38,799
Speaker 1: Halo effect actually refers to, hey, I like this, and well,

810
00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,040
Speaker 1: you know what, that looks very much like this. I

811
00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:44,200
Speaker 1: think I'd be comfortable trying it out. And yes, people

812
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:47,880
Speaker 1: who have been trying out uh, Macintosh computers, people who

813
00:47:47,960 --> 00:47:51,080
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily use them because they bought an iPhone or

814
00:47:51,080 --> 00:47:53,560
Speaker 1: an iPad and said, hey, you know, the operating system

815
00:47:53,560 --> 00:47:55,080
Speaker 1: looks pretty similar, I want to try it, and they

816
00:47:55,120 --> 00:47:57,719
Speaker 1: find out they worked very well together. Again, that's sort

817
00:47:57,760 --> 00:48:00,720
Speaker 1: of the benefit of the closed system. Just have a benefit,

818
00:48:01,280 --> 00:48:02,759
Speaker 1: have Halo on the mind because I get to play

819
00:48:02,800 --> 00:48:05,720
Speaker 1: Halo four in two weeks. Okay, all right, so I'm excited.

820
00:48:05,880 --> 00:48:09,799
Speaker 1: But well, that was the reason that Microsoft sold so well.

821
00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:13,919
Speaker 1: Office and Windows go so well together, and of course

822
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:17,960
Speaker 1: Internet Explorer as the browser. Um, you know, that was

823
00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:21,759
Speaker 1: the focus of the whole antitrust thing is it part

824
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:23,440
Speaker 1: of the operating system? Is it not part of the

825
00:48:23,480 --> 00:48:26,680
Speaker 1: operating system? Do people have a choice? But it makes

826
00:48:26,719 --> 00:48:29,759
Speaker 1: you wonder about the whole, like the any there's an

827
00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:33,360
Speaker 1: any trust thing brought up against Microsoft, but not brought

828
00:48:33,440 --> 00:48:38,920
Speaker 1: up against Apple and the iPad where Chess, Safari and anyway.

829
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:42,480
Speaker 1: So these things I think are being redefined. Yeah they are.

830
00:48:42,920 --> 00:48:46,000
Speaker 1: I agree they are being redefined. So we're going to

831
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:50,080
Speaker 1: wrap up this discussion on the history of Microsoft and

832
00:48:50,160 --> 00:48:52,799
Speaker 1: tablets and the discussion about the Surface, which I'm sure

833
00:48:52,840 --> 00:48:55,280
Speaker 1: we'll talk more about once it once it actually becomes

834
00:48:56,280 --> 00:48:59,920
Speaker 1: a real reality. It's a retail reality as opposed to

835
00:49:00,040 --> 00:49:02,160
Speaker 1: just the the versions that we've seen and where we

836
00:49:02,239 --> 00:49:04,640
Speaker 1: have more details and we can kind of I think

837
00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:06,440
Speaker 1: it will be fun to talk about it maybe a

838
00:49:06,560 --> 00:49:10,239
Speaker 1: year after the debut, to see what impact it had,

839
00:49:10,360 --> 00:49:13,040
Speaker 1: if any, on the industry as a whole. Well, that's

840
00:49:13,080 --> 00:49:15,400
Speaker 1: a that's a good point too, because as we know,

841
00:49:16,080 --> 00:49:22,480
Speaker 1: BlackBerry and Palms tablets lasted for a very very brief

842
00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:25,120
Speaker 1: period of time on store shelves. Yeah, I think the

843
00:49:25,239 --> 00:49:29,000
Speaker 1: Surface has a much better chance of making it long

844
00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:31,919
Speaker 1: term and being a real competitor to the iPad than

845
00:49:32,760 --> 00:49:36,640
Speaker 1: um those devices did, Yeah, I agree to. I think

846
00:49:36,640 --> 00:49:40,279
Speaker 1: they'll be around. Well, well, we'll see. I mean there

847
00:49:40,400 --> 00:49:43,080
Speaker 1: was a lot of initial excitement at the announcement at

848
00:49:43,080 --> 00:49:47,000
Speaker 1: any rate, so that hopefully will propel this. And competition

849
00:49:47,080 --> 00:49:49,439
Speaker 1: is always a good thing, So I want to see

850
00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:52,239
Speaker 1: this succeed, at least as far as it will make

851
00:49:52,480 --> 00:49:56,160
Speaker 1: other companies like Google and Apple and the various partners

852
00:49:56,360 --> 00:50:01,440
Speaker 1: really press to innovate and and continue to bring cool

853
00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:04,880
Speaker 1: features to consumers, so we'll all benefit in the end. Well,

854
00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:07,160
Speaker 1: that wraps up this discussion. Now. If you guys have

855
00:50:07,320 --> 00:50:10,200
Speaker 1: any suggestions for topics that we should cover in future

856
00:50:10,200 --> 00:50:12,440
Speaker 1: episodes of text Stuff, please let us know. You can

857
00:50:12,440 --> 00:50:15,319
Speaker 1: send us an email. Are and just tex stuff at

858
00:50:15,560 --> 00:50:18,279
Speaker 1: Discovery dot com or let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

859
00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:21,040
Speaker 1: Are handled there is tech stuff hs W and Chris

860
00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:25,080
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