

Ask HN: Why aren't people making tablets with normal OS? - digamber_kamat

Samsung Galaxy (and zillion others) run Android, iPad runs iOS and so one. RIM playbook alone seems to run a normal Linux operating system.<p>I would have loved to buy a tablet if it could run an operating system like Windows 7 or Ubuntu.<p>Processors are getting faster, hardware is cheaper then why the hell have something as tacky as Android on your device? Wouldnt a tablet shaped device with normal OS (may be with interface tuned for smaller screen) make more sense?
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marknutter
Normal OSes were designed with a mouse and keyboard in mind, which is a big
reason why Microsoft's original Tablet PC's were such a huge failure - they
tacked on some interface elements that were supposed to make it easy to
interact with a pen, but it was never more efficient than using the mouse and
keyboard. The reason they caught on this time around was because Apple
designed the tablet around the fact that multi-touch would be the only way
people would ever interact with it. Given that iPads are flying off the
shelves, you have your answer as to why tablets aren't getting normal OSes.

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jeffmould
There are Windows tablets running Windows 7 in fact. The problem isn't that
they don't make them, it is more that the media just covers the ones running
the "latest and greatest" OS, which at this point in time the ones getting the
most attention are Android and iOS. Mainly because of the competition between
the two and they tend to be a bigger user favorite over Windows.

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benologist
Tablets have been around with normal operating systems for years.

HP have the TX series which is pretty nice, I used to have one of them.

One big difference is they're stronger internals = heavier + less battery.

