The decision not to buy a copy of Windows 8 was more
practical rather than a criticism. I am
simply going to wait a month and let other people test all the compatibility issues
first. I want to make sure my video card
drivers will work and most of my important software will too. While playing with Windows 8 in the store on
a laptop I felt that I could get used to the interface and it will be an OK operating
system. For people with a regular
keyboard and mouse desktop setup it will be a little frustrating at first but
they will get used to it eventually.
Whether it will really be an improvement over Windows 7 or just be a change
for the sake of “reselling to people what they already have” remains to be
seen. While using the laptop with
Windows 8 I didn't have a “wow” moment where I found something I really
liked. When I first walked into the
store I was able to get to a laptop first and that was probably why. No one else seemed to be fixated in amazement
over Windows 8.
I was able to finally make my way to one of the Surface tablets. People were buying the Surface and seemed
happy with their purchase. After sitting
with one for a while I wanted one too but decided to put off my purchase. I liked the fact that the Surface had a copy
of Microsoft Office 2010 on it. All the Office
menu choices and features seemed to be there.
The one thing that was not a good experience was that all the different Office
menu choices were on tabs but they were extremely small and hard to access with
the touch screen. I felt much more
comfortable using the touch-pad mouse pointer to select the different
choices. One of the first things I
noticed was that I was interacting with this tablet like a laptop. I was using the keyboard and built in touch-pad instead of using the touch screen. The
Touch covers on the Surface are great. I
was able to touch type fast and accurately and the touch-pad was accurate and
easy to use. The Touch cover is
something I believe is a must buy when buying a Surface tablet, although it
will run you another hundred dollars if you buy it at the time of purchase. When I went in to properties to see how much
storage was being used I was surprised that the Surface tablet was loaded with
twenty gigabytes of software. I think I will
need the large sixty four gigabyte model to really enjoy my purchase. This left me with a price that was now
climbing to seven hundred dollars! I
liked the fact that I could run two programs side by side at the same time, the
Touch cover was great, and Microsoft Office 2010 was available for compatibility
with work files but that price was just too close to being like a laptop. What I was getting was a very light weight laptop
experience at a premium price. It would
be interesting to benchmark a comparably priced laptop with a full version of
Windows 8 and compare the experience.
Microsoft I think has missed the point with both Windows 8
and the Surface tablet with Windows 8 RT.
Like many other people I feel Windows 8 is a tablet interface crammed
into a desktop operating system. After
taking a look at the Surface with Windows 8 RT I feel like Microsoft crammed a
laptop into a tablet. I think Microsoft is
struggling to find where it should be in today’s market. Right now I own an iPad 2 and a desktop with
Windows 7 and I don’t have the money for these interesting but expensive
hybrids that Microsoft is trying to sell.
In technology the most important feature is price. If you can’t afford it then it doesn't exist. I think the economy is still
weak, people are trying to pay down their credit cards and they already own equivalent
technology. I would recommend the
Surface to any business traveler that needed one device that was light instead
of carrying a laptop and a tablet and would be willing to make compromises in a
full featured laptop experience. The
Microsoft store was not carrying any tablets that were running a full version
of Windows 8. If the Windows 8 RT
tablets were that expensive the full Windows 8 versions will really be out of
my price range as well as other people. The
last point that I want to make about using a tablet instead of a laptop is that
a tablet is not a laptop. Would you pay
seven hundred dollars for a laptop with limited storage, memory and processing
power? Laptops are expensive but buying
a “laptop” that has half the resources for equivalent prices only makes sense
if weight is the deciding factor.
There are many trends in the tablet word. Apple is trying to wow consumers with better
screens. Most Android tablet
manufactures are trying to wow consumers with how powerful their processor is
or how much storage you get with their tablets. I think the Amazon Kindle Fire
line of tablets is going in the right direction. They may be lacking is some features but they
have the most important feature which is a low price. Microsoft has come to the party late and needs
to compete with price. People at this
point either have a tablet or they don’t.
If they have a tablet then why should they switch to your product when
they already have something that is equivalent?
If they don’t have a tablet I am willing to bet that it is the high
price of tablets that are keeping them on the sidelines. Windows 8 for the desktop faces a similar situation. Why should someone switch to Windows 8 when
Windows 7 works just fine? What does
Windows 8 bring to the party that is different from Windows 7 (or Windows XP
for that matter) and justifies people spending more money? I love technology and all the new shiny
gadgets that are continually being offered.
The one thing that stops me from buying them is my budget. Value is always what makes the sale for
me.
If Microsoft lowers the price of the Surface to around three
hundred dollars they will sell. If
Microsoft and its other partners who will offer tablets keep the price over
five hundred dollars then it can only hope for a slow adoption by
consumers. One market that might put
them over the top is if they offer deep discounts to businesses who will buy
tablets in bulk. If Microsoft can sell
the business community on Windows RT tablets, like the Slate, that might be what
brings consumers away from the other tablet options in time. Similarly if Windows 8 doesn't get widespread
and quick adoption by businesses then it will have to pin its hopes on Windows 9
(?). I want to buy a Slate but I will
wait a while for the product to mature or when prices go down. Windows 8 will find its way on to my hard
drive because I need to keep up with technology for my studies. Time and sales will tell if Microsoft has a
hit on its hands.
