One Million Surface's Sold - Good Or Not?

ohgood

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I believe his pitch is, if you actually do real work with a tablet, and that real work involves the office suite, the surface is for you.

My kid has to use an iPad for her highschool - the school issued every kid one. It's working out OK - mostly due to one app that does a good job of allowing markup of PDF files, and by using a stylus. She hates writing on the iPad, even with a bluetooth keyboard. Could the surface do that? Yes, with ease.

I use my surface for 6+ hours daily at work (haven't undocked my laptop since I got the surface, no more laptops at meetings) and then for a couple hours at home. Never did that with an android tablet, or an iPad.

I understand different tools for different environments. Ya, a laptop or ultra/slate does great for meetings, that is its place. My point was the poster above was using the "ipad is just a toy" kind of sales pitch.

People -like- toys.

I don't believe telling people "this is a serious work machine!" is something that will turn hearts and minds. I see "surface has office" mentioned a lot too. Great. The school/companies pcs have office. The library has office. My old desktop hasss office. That's not really a eye opening WOW thing for people.

The surface keyboard TECHNOLOGY and sensitivity is wow. The display toughness technology is wow. The body is wow. The arm arch is wow. But office ?

I hope one person will put down the fanflag and see what I mean. Jusssst one.
 

Dave Blake

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I understand different tools for different environments. Ya, a laptop or ultra/slate does great for meetings, that is its place. My point was the poster above was using the "ipad is just a toy" kind of sales pitch.

People -like- toys.

I don't believe telling people "this is a serious work machine!" is something that will turn hearts and minds. I see "surface has office" mentioned a lot too. Great. The school/companies pcs have office. The library has office. My old desktop hasss office. That's not really a eye opening WOW thing for people.

The surface keyboard TECHNOLOGY and sensitivity is wow. The display toughness technology is wow. The body is wow. The arm arch is wow. But office ?

I hope one person will put down the fanflag and see what I mean. Jusssst one.


Wow I bet you didn't think it would be me... I agree Windows RT needs something more to beat the iPad. Price point would be a good start. We can do more with WRT that is a fact but it has yet to be properly utilized. How will Microsoft proceed is a million sold enough to invest the talent in growing the OS? How committed is Microsoft to getting this done. A nice port of Halo even the original would go a long way. I think it will get a little more interesting when the Surface Pro hits I will like to see if that surge pushes Microsoft to do more with RT or less. Only time will tell.
 

conanheath

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I think MS is marketing the RT wrong. I know they want the hip crowd on board, but the whole point of Win8 is for the masses and emerging markets. It is a way to "dumb it down" and make windows appealing to computer illiterate people. I could set my RT in front on my grandmother, show her a few things, and she would be fine operating device and getting what she needs out of it, with no prior computer experience. The reason tablets are replacing computers is because 70% or so of consumers don't need anything more than internet access. I read blogs with power users complaining about W8. Its not for that minority. It is for the casual users or new users. The RT is the perfect device for the casual users with just enough to keep most power users satisfied. My dad can find a virus or lock up a computer without even trying. He has no problem with RT and I don't have to worry about him tinkering and causing problems. I got the RT at launch and just recently picked up laptop with W8. The transition has been a breeze because of my time with RT. I also like that I can have the same app running on my computer and my RT.

I'm not really concerned with how many RTs are sold. MS will sell them and people will buy them once MS figures out a way to market the devices to the people who will love the OS. They really need to be going after the elderly and casual users. That is where they can sell very well. They also need to drop the price to appeal to that group. RT is not a full laptop replacement and may never be. But it can perform every function the casual users will need in a computer and k.i.s.s.
 

shn'g

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I understand different tools for different environments. Ya, a laptop or ultra/slate does great for meetings, that is its place. My point was the poster above was using the "ipad is just a toy" kind of sales pitch. People -like- toys. I don't believe telling people "this is a serious work machine!" is something that will turn hearts and minds. I see "surface has office" mentioned a lot too. Great. The school/companies pcs have office. The library has office. My old desktop hasss office. That's not really a eye opening WOW thing for people. The surface keyboard TECHNOLOGY and sensitivity is wow. The display toughness technology is wow. The body is wow. The arm arch is wow. But office ? I hope one person will put down the fanflag and see what I mean. Jusssst one.
For me office was one of the biggest selling features. Have you tried apples so called office tools? They are garbage and when someone sends you even a written document what is it usually in? Office! I don't get why you want us to put down the fanflag. It's just what we like and are used to just like all the apple fanboys love to show off the amount and quality of their apps. Does iPad have office? No.. Then it is a compelling feature
 

Laura Knotek

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For me office was one of the biggest selling features. Have you tried apples so called office tools? They are garbage and when someone sends you even a written document what is it usually in? Office! I don't get why you want us to put down the fanflag. It's just what we like and are used to just like all the apple fanboys love to show off the amount and quality of their apps. Does iPad have office? No.. Then it is a compelling feature
I think the point several posters are trying to make is that "average Joe" or "average Jane" who is not using a device for school or business isn't that interested in Office. Those folks probably are more interested in gaming, watching movies, social media, web browsing.

How often does one use Office other than for homework or business work? I have Office 2010 Professional, since I got it for $99 when I was a student. The only thing I still use regularly is Outlook. I'll use Word, Excel and PowerPoint occasionally. I never used Access or Publisher.

I agree with Dave that RT needs more games. There are a lot more iOS/Android games right now, but if RT got the Xbox game titles that would be a huge selling point.
 

ohgood

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For me office was one of the biggest selling features. Have you tried apples so called office tools? They are garbage and when someone sends you even a written document what is it usually in? Office! I don't get why you want us to put down the fanflag. It's just what we like and are used to just like all the apple fanboys love to show off the amount and quality of their apps. Does iPad have office? No.. Then it is a compelling feature

No, I haven't used "iworks" or whatever its called. Written documents usually come in a pdf, or ppt, or doc/odf (I think those are the extensions). What its best to open with is ..... whatever is on the machine. Maybe its an android tablet, or an ipad, or a surface (alphabetical). People open it, edit/view it, and move on. I've never once seen someone laughing, or excitedly gathering friends around a doc on any one suite, because "its awesomely superior to x application on abc platform!".

Office, office365, gdocs, open office, neooffice, whatever. It opens files, and allows people to edit them. If you ( or millions like you ) like it, that's great. Nooooothing wrong with it.

The poster above me got it.
 

shn'g

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No, I haven't used "iworks" or whatever its called. Written documents usually come in a pdf, or ppt, or doc/odf (I think those are the extensions). What its best to open with is ..... whatever is on the machine. Maybe its an android tablet, or an ipad, or a surface (alphabetical). People open it, edit/view it, and move on. I've never once seen someone laughing, or excitedly gathering friends around a doc on any one suite, because "its awesomely superior to x application on abc platform!".

Office, office365, gdocs, open office, neooffice, whatever. It opens files, and allows people to edit them. If you ( or millions like you ) like it, that's great. Nooooothing wrong with it.

The poster above me got it.

Haha no I get it.
 

crystal_planet

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" Microsoft has only sold one million Surface RT devices since the tablet was released last October, according to UBS analyst Brent Thill. "

So, its not real numbers.

Good God, what is with your unhealthy obsession with numbers? Why don't you petition Microsoft for it's sales hard data, then go into the box stores and demand to see theirs, then go to all the carriers and do the same? It will provide you with a nice hobby, feed your ocd and most importantly, keep you off this site for a while.
 

ohgood

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Good God, what is with your unhealthy obsession with numbers? Why don't you petition Microsoft for it's sales hard data, then go into the box stores and demand to see theirs, then go to all the carriers and do the same? It will provide you with a nice hobby, feed your ocd and most importantly, keep you off this site for a while.

there are relevant and topical discussions happening. :)
 

adesonic

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Personally, I could not give a monkeys how many have sold, fact is, I have one, it does what I want it to do when I want it to do it, it will suit my needs for the next 2 or 3 years, at which point I will sell it and get something else. Tech journalists have a general downer on Microsoft so I tend to ignore them anyway and pick what I feel will meet my needs most, right now that is Windows RT for my mobile needs, windows 8 for my desktop and windows phone for my smart phone. I like the end to end integration I get with that. I have tried Ipads, Motorola Xoom, nexus 7, android phones, but for me MS products do the business, that may change in the future but right now that is where I am at!
 

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