

Windows 8 Shoehorns Touch Into Desktops And Laptops: This Won’t End Well - joe_the_user
http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/11/microsofts-windows-8-shoehorns-touch-into-desktops-and-laptops-this-wont-end-well/

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corporalagumbo
Stupid. Why would anyone complain about this? Windows 8 is a flexible platform
which lets OEMs experiment with many different new hardware forms. It's the
Cambrian explosion of the PC. Consumer selection will sort out the gems from
the duds. And the next gen will be better.

Microsoft has laid a great foundation for an extremely diverse ecosystem.
Apple-esque one-device-to-rule-them allism is so 2007. As someone painfully
typing this out on an iPad (a platform which laughably does not support split
window multi-tasking or variable thumb keyboard sizes and layouts) I can
personally cannot wait to switch to a truly modern ecosystem.

No wonder Tim Cook is so eager to laugh it off.

~~~
joe_the_user
You can get a keyboard for your iPad, why didn't you have one?

Probably because most users settle for the default configuration of their
machines, just like OEMs only barely change what MS hands them.

That is, someone has to design the whole functioning of the system and OEMs
don't have a good track record.

~~~
corporalagumbo
Haha I do have a keyboard for it. I haven't been satisfied with it - both with
the keyboard itself (a Belkin model which suffers from lag and a clunky and
heavy velcro-attachment slipcase system) and with the lack of integration with
the OS.

Specifically, the keyboard is okay for typing text into a single text-box, but
little else. You cannot navigate the OS with the keyboard - for example if you
press the return to Springboard button (in the function row) you then have to
swipe through the app trays and select an app with your fingers. In apps the
situation is little better - in the Facebook app, for instance, you can't send
a message by pressing Return, you have to touch the Send key.

Simply put, keyboard support in iOS is clearly a distant afterthought. Maybe
with one of Logitech's nicer keyboard/case solutions, you could use it okay to
fire off an email. But it's never going to be a machine you would want to do
any sort of real work on. I like browsing the web, but as soon as I want to do
any typing, forget it, I'm better off going back to my desktop. With W8
Microsoft appears to have put keyboard integration at the heart of the OS from
day one - an attitude which hopefully trickles down to individual app
developers. Not only that, but mouse and trackpad support is also fully baked-
in (not to mention stylus support). And Microsoft seems to have a much
superior focus on actual ergonoics and usability - eg their variable thumb
keyboard sizing (try typing on an ipad with the thumb keyboard in the
horizontal orientation - then try it with a case or smart case on for extra
pain).

If Acer's Iconia w510 had stylus support for instance, I think you would have
a device with class-beating flexibility, portability and productivity. Its
already pretty close.

