

Why is Microsoft scared of Chromebooks? - greatquux
http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/12/6/5181974/why-is-microsoft-scared-of-chromebooks

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ansible
Microsoft ought to be doing something similar to a Chromebook that more
tightly integrates with Office 365. Have it come with a 3 year subscription,
and also put in a decent amount of SkyDrive storage. That might be a winner
with businesses, many of whom could use a decent low-administrative-overhead
alternative to issuing employees traditional laptops.

All that might be at odds with their current Surface Pro strategy though.

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dragonwriter
> Microsoft ought to be doing something similar to a Chromebook that more
> tightly integrates with Office 365.

Isn't that pretty much the concept of Windows 8.1 and the devices that include
it -- integrates with Microsoft online accounts (like Chrome with Google
accounts), defaults to storing documents in SkyDrive unless you override a
default installation option, has an online app store which supports apps that
are essentially web apps with some proprietary platform-specific APIs (HTML+JS
Windows apps, like HTML+JS Chrome apps) and also those using other, less
standard (for web client) technologies (C#/C++ Windows apps, like PNaCl Chrome
apps), and main end-user and developer apps -- e.g., not just Office, but
also, e.g., VS 2013, including the Express Editions, are bundled with online
subscription services tied back to Microsoft Accounts.

With Win 8, they even tried, on the low-end, to offer lower-end, more
Chromebook-priced machines that would cut the Windows desktop legacy that is
outside of this strategy with WinRT, but so far that's been a failure -- but
not because they didn't _try_.

> All that might be at odds with their current Surface Pro strategy though.

Doesn't seem to; the Surface Pro subsumes the strategy and extends it by
moving offering a premium form factor (tablet convertible), but they've got
plenty of hardware partners offering more basic, lower-priced options. They're
still mostly priced more than the lowest-end Chromebooks.

