

Microsoft fails to pacify PC vendors about Surface tablets - Toshio
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120830PD211.html

======
brudgers
The article fails to mention that HP and Dell haven't exactly been setting the
world on fire with sales of Android tablets nor has anyone else other than
Amazon. HP lost their shirt on their last foray into slates.

The only business model which seems to work well currently in the slate market
is to make money on software and services, not the hardware (e.g. Apple and
Amazon).

Microsoft is clearly in a position to use that model. HP and Dell aren't.
Furthermore, low hardware margins will make it difficult for those companies
to create quality consumer hardware for an untested market.

~~~
czr80
"The only business model which seems to work well currently in the slate
market is to make money on software and services, not the hardware (e.g. Apple
and Amazon)."

Huh? Apple makes tons of money on the hardware and a (relatively) small amount
on software and services. Amazon is trying to buy share with cheap hardware
and eventually make money off associated services, but it's too early to say
that this is really working well as a model.

~~~
brudgers
Your point about Apple is correct (I was editing on my phone).

On the other hand, Amazon has a proven track record with the Kindle line. Fire
is not their entry into the slate segment.

------
damian2000
Microsoft seriously needs to get some new acronyms ... WinRT (Windows Runtime)
is the name of the new SDK that all new Windows 8 (Metro apps) use. Whereas
Windows RT is the name of the Windows 8 OS running on ARM.

WinRT: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Runtime> WindowsRT:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_RT>

~~~
cargo8
Why is that entirely unreasonable? WindowsRT only metro apps so it kind of
fits, no?

~~~
damian2000
Naming an OS after an SDK seems wrong to me... ;-) sort of like if they called
it Windows COM+ or Windows .NET

~~~
saurik
I take it you don't remember Windows .NET Server 2003? ;P

(The .NET moniker actually got attached to so many things that there was
supposedly a serious memo sent internally asking other departments at
Microsoft to make the point that .NET wasn't just a buzzword, it was a
meaningful brand for a specific product.)

~~~
damian2000
Yeah I vaguely remember that one with some hilarity. ;-) I posted a blog post
about the topic recently actually ... "Why was .NET called .NET?" ...
[http://www.dodgycoder.net/2012/05/why-was-net-called-
net.htm...](http://www.dodgycoder.net/2012/05/why-was-net-called-net.html)

------
JoelSutherland
Why would they build a Windows RT tablet? Intel now makes
price/performance/power-competitive x86 chips that can run full Windows.

Microsoft only made Windows RT as a hedge against another Intel mobile failure
and as a way to push developers to make WinRT apps.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
> Intel now makes price/performance/power-competitive x86 chips that can run
> full Windows.

They do? Where's the evidence?

~~~
JoelSutherland
Intel Medfield idles at 2.6 Watts and peaks at 3.7 Watts. The Windows 8
tablets will be using its successor, Clover Trail. there are roughly 40
tablets that will launch with it.

Intel isn't efficient enough for phones (see the comment below about the 1W
tdp ARM SoCs) but they are efficient enough for tablets. Every report
indicates they are price competitive as well.

Additionally, Clover Trail is being printed at 32nm vs. Krait's 28nm. It was
just announced that Intel is going to bump up their timeline and move their
Atom SoCs to 22nm next year.

It's not like Intel is destroying ARM by any means. They are barely keeping
up. But that's HUGE on Windows where you have decades of legacy x86 apps that
you might want to run.

~~~
MatthewPhillips
This is all Intel vaporware. Until they release something with comparable
battery life to ARM chips, Microsoft would have to be insane not to choose
ARM.

------
recoiledsnake
So instead of trying to outrun the Surface, they're just folding? And then do
what? Their Android tablets have been a failure. Are they going to make their
own tablet OS? Good luck with that, the shittiest software in history has been
made by OEMs. Ever see the crap they build and bundle with Windows? The
crashing and bloatware make the machine unusable. WebOS was quite decent
though(though it was made by the old Palm rather than HP), but we all know
where it ended up.

Why don't they take it as a challenge to improve their Windows RT offerings
instead of churning out the same crap from the same ODMs that everyone else is
using? Their profit may be squeezed by license costs, but surely there's a
place for a truly innovative product? Surface runs the exact same Windows RT
that the OEMs can use. MS is not stacking the deck regarding the software.

~~~
velodrome
The OEMs are lazy and risk adverse. They just want to sell their hardware. I
don't understand why the OEMs don't see the long term picture. Would they
rather have a totally dominant Apple where they have no chance of selling
their product? They should take the opportunity to learn from Microsoft's
example and help push the platform forward with great hardware devices - by
taking risks. The more they give way to Microsoft, the more more they will
cripple their own business. The same can be said about Google-Motorola
situation.

OEMs should focus on what they are good at. Making hardware.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
OEMs are run by managers, rated on meeting their this-quarter projections.
Exactly the guys that don't want risk.

