

Last night's Microsoft Surface(Tablet) Keynote (Full MP4 Video) - kyriakos
http://cdn-smooth.ms-studiosmedia.com/news/mp4_mq/06182012_Surface_750k.mp4

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jiggy2011
I like the subtle dig at apple when they are talking about the antenna "no
matter how you hold it".

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minhajuddin
"The keyboard can measure the exact force exerted" We can finally have games
which understand urgency :)

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jiggy2011
This could help the dire state of driving games on the PC. To play a driving
game properly you need at least a joypad (or ideally a dedicated wheel). Of
course most people's PCs only have a keyboard and a mouse.

This is because you need to be able to give gradual controls for things like
steering and throttle. A keyboard that solves this problem would be great.

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minhajuddin
Force exertion can really be another neat signal, We can probably make the
confirmation boxes go away if delete is pressed with a lot of force.

This is really something which we expect out of natural input devices. I can't
count the instances where I used to press the keys harder in fighting games
just to hit the other person harder.

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jiggy2011
That is true, but I guess it would need to be calibrated on a per person
basis. I know people who really give their keyboards a thumping just in the
normal process of typing.

I'm really looking forward to the next generation of keyboards , with things
like dynamic displays on the keys (so that it shows application specific
function labels on the keys themselves) and also this.

I have heard many people say that the keyboard is dead, which I don't believe
for a second but it is certainly high time that it evolved.

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leothekim
"You can use all the applications that you're familiar with." (19:58)

Hm. Are applications sandboxed? That is, do I have to worry about running
antivirus software on the device?

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rkwz
It's not needed in WinRT mode, because WinRT apps can be installed from
marketplace. You might wanna install AV for desktop mode though (in case of
Win8Pro version).

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moystard
Thank you for the link. Was eager to watch the announcement as the videos
available on the web don't tell much and does not show somebody interacting
with the tablet.

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nopal
Just a thought on the presentation itself -- they seem to be relying on a
teleprompter too much. Either that, or the prompter is located in a really bad
spot.

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kyriakos
how do you think this affects the OEM's that will release Windows 8 tablets
and ultrabooks? is this considered competition or a 'paradigm' like google's
nexus?

personally I was planning to buy a Windows 8 tablet (x86 one) and even after
last night's presentation i'm still considering Acer Iconia W700

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technoslut
Well some reports yesterday considered this as sort of a reference design but
MS showed how good they can be at hardware. I can't imagine anyone not wanting
to choose the Surface first over an OEM unless it's due to price.

I think it also shows the internal conflict of MS. Ballmer spoke of the
integration between hardware and software much like Apple has done. We may be
seeing the beginning of the end of the OEM on a large level such as a Dell and
HP.

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jiggy2011
One thing I noticed here. I'd actually like to have on of these but I'm not
too psyched about running Windows on it.

Is it possible that MS is in fact better at hardware than they are at
software? MS mice have certainly been popular over the years, also see the
Xbox 360 control pad which beats any other pad I have ever used.

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Achshar
Isn't there any YouTube link? Or Vimeo? The file is downloading very slowly
for me. Not even enough to stream.

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gsteinb88
A search for 'surface keynote' yields, as the top hit,
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCmudUDv3GA>

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dsirijus
"Whoops".

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InclinedPlane
From this it seems pretty certain that the resolution of at least the pro
version is 1080p (25:58). And the strong implication is that the RT version is
1366x768, which works out to 208 ppi for the pro version and 148 ppi for the
regular version.

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dsirijus
I wasn't watching it really carefully, but wasn't it that they just specified
that the output of HDMI and DVI can handle those?

I'm at ~30 min still though.

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InclinedPlane
He says "the apps that I've been showing you, they look really great in the
native resolution of the screen, the 1080 resolution", that's very
unambiguous.

Also, they refer to the resolution as "HD" and "Full HD", which is also a
rather unambiguous description of 720p and 1080p.

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plainOldText
lol. Typical Microsoft. In the middle of the presentation the "surface" stops
working. The the guy swaps it with another to continue the show. Its around
minute 14. Fail.

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bostonpete
Isn't that sort of hiccup par for the course at these sorts of events? I
assume the best you can hope for is to handle them gracefully when they arise.

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thomholwerda
I was about to say. Stuff like this happens to the best of us. Look at any
Apple press event and you'll see several machines lined up - and in fact, Jobs
has had his hiccups as well during keynotes.

If this is regarded as a "fail", than the OP clearly has never held any
serious presentation that involved hardware and software.

