

With Surface tanking, Microsoft digs faster - srathi
http://semiaccurate.com/2012/12/19/with-surface-tanking-microsoft-digs-faster/

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pc86
Is there not a single unbiased sentence in this article?

I'm no fan of the Surface or Windows 8, but this is just ridiculous.

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Svip
I agree; it seems incredibly biased. But then again, all the positive reviews
following the release of Windows 8 and the Surface sure struck me as odd.

In any case; I am not sure there are any unbiased articles in the tale of
Windows 8.

For what it's worth, the article does have some facts in it (you just have to
read through all the clutter of Microsoft bashing), that OEMs are not happy
about the Surface and that certainly not going to be pleased by Microsoft's
decision to sell it outside of their own stores and website.

~~~
xradionut
"In any case; I am not sure there are any unbiased articles in the tale of
Windows 8."

It's hard to dig the facts out of the machine. I was sitting in a Windows
8/Azure presentation last week and ask the Microsoft presenter several
uncomfortable questions that he didn't want to answer. :(

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phaet0n
I'am actually interested in deploying on Azure. If you don't mind me asking,
what uncomfortable questions were you asking?

The only serious problem I have with Microsoft, and it is really quite a
serious problem, is that you have no idea how committed they are to any of
their technologies and once you've been bitten the n'th time, for n >> 0, you
just desperately want to be in control of you own stack, and so you own
destiny.

Technology wise Azure is quite MS-agnostic, and that's the smartest thing they
could have ever done with it. That said, their documentation has move from
being developer-friendly to being a collection of marketing-friendly bullet
points intended for pointy-haired bosses to inflict on their dev teams.

Still, xradionut, would love to hear the uncomfortable questions you posed.
They'd help me decide if there's more than the devil in the lack of
architectural details.

~~~
xradionut
I questioned their commitment to Python since there have been some commitment
questions raised about IronPython, SilverLight and such. There were bugs and a
"alpha" quality to the management tools that were demoed. The presenter wasn't
skilled with Node.js and replicated a SQL statement with 50 lines of code. I
felt like there's a "Me Too" attitude with Microsoft and they are struggling
to figure out how to deal with OSS.

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planetjones
Terribly biased article = Zero Credibility.

Example? "painfully awful reviews of a product no one wants".

A quick Google and it's clear this is nonsense.

That said I won't be buying a Surface, because I'm perfectly happy with the
iPad and iPhone and iMac set-up I have. A few years ago I would never have
said I would have all Apple products, but seeing Windows 8 on the desktop
convinced me to make the switch.

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xradionut
So here's the list of folks that Microsoft has pissed off this year: OEMs,
developers with yet another wave of API changes and such, CIOs with increased
licensing costs and power users with Windows 8. (Not to mention shareholders,
employees, etc...) Starting to look like an HP sized problem...

Even some of my hardcore Redmond loving co-workers have been playing with
Linux and we have discuss the possibility of utilizing some of the nifty
Python/C data tools that have matured over the last decade for analysis and
ETL.

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Irregardless
Why was this suddenly pulled from the front page? It's one of the first
accurate posts I've seen about the Surface on HN.

~~~
Toshio
There are at least a dozen Redmond fanbois on HN who are more than happy to
flag any article that doesn't speak well of microsoft.

And they raise hell about why their favorite ms-praising article was flagged
to death.

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mtgx
"Our contacts with OEMs say that it really was that bad, the depths of their
hatred for Redmond right now is truly unprecedented, and all are hard at work
on a Plan B that is Microsoft free."

Let's hope that means more Ubuntu/Linux laptops in the near future, and
laptops that are actually $100 cheaper than their Windows counterparts, not
$300 more expensive, like that Dell one.

~~~
m_st
I'm pretty sure they'd like to use Android everywhere. Given that it has
already so many apps and customers know the name. Additionally the OEMs get a
lot more freedom than what they have with Windows, yet won't feel as lost as
with any Linux distribution.

~~~
AnthonyMouse
It seems like what Canonical ought to do is release an "Android Distribution"
which happens to include the GNU userland, but also runs all the Android apps.

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netpenthe
i'm still thinking the Surface Pro has a chance to replace my laptop or at
least act as a backup.

what is the downside to this? i can't see any....

