I don't see Continuum as game changer, what is the practical use of Continuum?

[Marko Marjanovic]

Re: I don't see "Continuum" as game changer

Just to say my phone is stronger then my pc, and it's 2015. My 1520 is already used like pc..i put everything i had on hard drive in it, music, movies, pictures.even files because i do have office..and pc is used for what? Lisening music while i'm home.
I just need monitor with wifi/bluethoot and that's it.

 

[Tepid]

There is so much short sightedness in this thread it is astounding.

Continuum DOES have a place, and WILL be useful for many many things and many many people.

At a family gathering,, "Hey, I'll be right back"
Go to the car, grab a light BT Keyboard and Mouse
Come back in, sit at the coffee table and Cast to the TV (which so happens to have an xBox hooked to it)
Done.
"Check out our recent vacation"
YEEEAAAAA!!!!

I think it is beyond many of you and your capabilities to truly understand the whole concept behind unification of Apps and Hardware.
there are so many many things that I think many of you just cannot wrap your heads around it at all.

Android may have some nifty apps, etc., iPhones crap is still far too expensive for what it offers, which is extremely little by comparison to what Surface/WP/PC can do.
It still amazes me the partisan bias that is so ingrained in the iDroids that they fail to see just how limited they really are.
Just how out of date and old their concepts are, they have not innovated anything in how many years? It's always the same garbage on newer hardware and it's still crap.

Best scene ever...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5dpBpaFiMo

 

[Dadstar0410]

Re: I don't see "Continuum" as game changer

I love the idea of Continuum. I find it to be the future of computing and will put MS ahead of the curve in technological innovations. However, it will not be perfect from the start because in order for this to be perfect, the Windows Phone would have to be everything your PC was. That means a hardcore GPU and at least 256GB SSD, which has (as far as I know) not been shrunk down to a small enough size to fit in a phone.

The point is convenience. So think a Raspberry Pi-like Windows 10 Mobile device.

Imagine that: A flagship Raspberry Pi Windows 10 Mobile device capable of Continuum. I know they can do it: They are the masters of portable computers!!

 

[FinancialP]

There is so much short sightedness in this thread it is astounding.

Continuum DOES have a place, and WILL be useful for many many things and many many people.

At a family gathering,, "Hey, I'll be right back"
Go to the car, grab a light BT Keyboard and Mouse
Come back in, sit at the coffee table and Cast to the TV (which so happens to have an xBox hooked to it)
Done.
"Check out our recent vacation"
YEEEAAAAA!!!!

I think it is beyond many of you and your capabilities to truly understand the whole concept behind unification of Apps and Hardware.
there are so many many things that I think many of you just cannot wrap your heads around it at all.

Android may have some nifty apps, etc., iPhones crap is still far too expensive for what it offers, which is extremely little by comparison to what Surface/WP/PC can do.
It still amazes me the partisan bias that is so ingrained in the iDroids that they fail to see just how limited they really are.
Just how out of date and old their concepts are, they have not innovated anything in how many years? It's always the same garbage on newer hardware and it's still crap.

Best scene ever...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5dpBpaFiMo

Are you serious? Honest question. Many people?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Ten Four]

Like many new ideas and products it is hard to predict from our perspective whether or not something becomes a major hit and part of our lives in such a way that we say something like, "Can you remember what it was like before Continuum?" I think there are good arguments to be made on both sides, but my current position is that widespread adoption by enterprises is iffy. I can just picture the security/IT people thinking about the implications of someone carrying their work computer around in their back pocket while they're out bar hopping after work! And someone else nailed it earlier when they said what road warrior in their right mind is going to arrive at an important client with just their phone in the hope that the available monitors, keyboards, mice, etc. are all compatible and working properly? Just won't happen. You still need the laptop when on the road because at night you're going to want to polish the presentation and are you sure that the Super 8 motel is going to have a working monitor, keyboard, and mouse for every business person? So if you are carrying the laptop anyway, with far vaster capabilities than any phone, why not use it? You already see this problem with tablets--it's a waste of time and effort carrying the tablet because you still need the keyboard, so you might as well just carry the laptop. I just think these sorts of physical limitations are going to diminish all the excitement.

 

[theefman]

There is so much short sightedness in this thread it is astounding.

Continuum DOES have a place, and WILL be useful for many many things and many many people.

At a family gathering,, "Hey, I'll be right back"
Go to the car, grab a light BT Keyboard and Mouse
Come back in, sit at the coffee table and Cast to the TV (which so happens to have an xBox hooked to it)
Done.
"Check out our recent vacation"
YEEEAAAAA!!!!

I think it is beyond many of you and your capabilities to truly understand the whole concept behind unification of Apps and Hardware.
there are so many many things that I think many of you just cannot wrap your heads around it at all.

Sure, everybody just happens to have a bt keyboard and mouse hanging in the car. Pretty much demonstrates the niche nature of this, plus you can already stream photos to an Xbox or any other dlna device, no need to wait for Microsoft's magical solution. Its only the inability to properly multitask on a smartphone that makes this seem different

 

[astondg]

Re: I don't see "Continuum" as game changer

Is continuum on mobile supposed to be a game changer? Genuine question, I haven't kept up with the MS press.

I think that continuum on a 2-in-1 device like a surface is awesome. A lot of discussion around Windows 8 focused on the disconnect between desktop and Modern and this goes a long way to bridging that divide visually. I also mainly use my surface either docked or as a tablet so I'm really looking forward to continuum to help me transition between these two states.

I thought that they had announced out for mobile more because they could, they already built it for the purpose above, rather than as a change changing feature. But, as I said, I haven't kept up with the marketing.

 

[Yazen]

Re: I don't see "Continuum" as game changer

Is continuum on mobile supposed to be a game changer? Genuine question, I haven't kept up with the MS press.

I think that continuum on a 2-in-1 device like a surface is awesome. A lot of discussion around Windows 8 focused on the disconnect between desktop and Modern and this goes a long way to bridging that divide visually. I also mainly use my surface either docked or as a tablet so I'm really looking forward to continuum to help me transition between these two states.

I thought that they had announced out for mobile more because they could, they already built it for the purpose above, rather than as a change changing feature. But, as I said, I haven't kept up with the marketing.

Technically speaking, yes. Continuum is about interfacing with our devices differently using familiar design patterns. Meaning *I* could work with my phone like I do with my desktop. This simply is not available on other platforms, so technically it is a game changer.

Realistically speaking it is not.

The hardware requirements exist only in the higher end Qualcomm SoCs, so it's not as though Continuum will be a boon to emerging markets (despite claims made).

Desktop computing requires relatively powerful hardware, and similarly flexible software. Neither are provided by phone hardware or WinRT. This is not to say that Continuum is useless, rather that phones will not replace desktops for the majority that need them. (Think back to cost as well)

Continuum is not the future of computing. The future of computing requires a Continuum. Polymorphism is a pretty good solution, especially when it utilizes existing components.

A completely new and more intuitive way of computing would be a game changer. HoloLens may just be it

 

[wokaz80]

the thing is, people use PC/laptop for productivity. you cannot write pile of codes with just a phone (even if you can) because that'll be too slow and unproductive. that's why people still use PC or at least a laptop. maybe it's true in terms of hardware power, it's just matter of time before laptop can rival high end PC/laptop, but the argument here is still valid -> why use continuum from phone when you can just use your laptop or desktop instead? After all if you want to "work" from your continuum you would still need a keyboard and monitor, thus you still need those PC-related hardware. Just skip those extra keyboard/monitor and use a laptop instead. Newest laptops are much lighter and smaller than 5 years ago so people wont get bothered bringing it anywhere.

I still see this as a gimmick, much like face recognition login feature.

 

[onlysublime]

The practical use is this... A lot of people are growing up with ONLY a mobile device. The mobile device is their computer. This bears out in the statistics. For these people, it might be more practical to outfit their phone rather than buy a laptop.

If you come from the Windows age, it seems unfathomable to have the phone as the primary computing device but this is becoming increasingly so. Just like people refused to see that some people primarily use a tablet over a PC. You listen to Leo Laporte and he was pushing for people who owned Windows XP to migrate to an iPad. Because people still using Windows XP machines aren't the type to need much from a machine. Every time someone complains about their old PC, he tells them to buy an iPad.

If you're a power user, Continuum isn't so useful. But if your a person who reaches for the phone first and foremost, Continuum is...

 

[OSean]

Re: I don't see "Continuum" as game changer

Eventually, the processors that continuum is being developed on now will be used in low end Lumia phones. These low end Lumia phones will end up in the hands of those people in developing countries who will find that they just purchased a device that obviates the need to buy other devices that they don't have the money to purchase.

Saying that desktop computing requires relatively powerful hardware is the type of 'first world' mentality that doesn't allow one to see the benefit of Continuum.

First of all, computing (whether it is desktop or mobile) is task based and not hardware based. The average consumer is unconcerned about protein folding or machine learning. Those are tasks that demand powerful hardware. Most people want to know the weather forecast, how their sports team is doing, if their best friend has tried to contact them and what is happening in the world around them. These are tasks well within the reach of even low end smartphones.

There are occasions when a phone is not the best format for every given task. In many cases, those tasks simply require a more suitable screen and/or input device. As long as someone with a Continuum enabled phone has access to a better screen and input device their phone is usually still suitable to the task they want to do.

People are expecting Continuum to revolutionize computing when that isn't the point.

Continuum is about democratizing the way people compute.

 

[Major Plonquer]

Everyone seems to be thinking about Continuum in the framework of what we have today and not thinking it through. It's not a product. It's not a feature of a product either. It is truly a game changer - in business. It's a new business model.

In the beginning we had PCs. Companies like Apple and IBM pioneered the mass-market PC business. Microsoft and a few others sold them their software. Few remember that the first thing that appeared on an Apple II screen when you switched it on was "Copyright Microsoft 1976". Eventually companies cloned the hardware - first the Japanese (Futijsu, NEC), then the Americans (Dell, Compaq, HP) and eventually even the Chinese (Legend/Lenovo). Microsoft still provided all - except Apple - with their software. The competition from these clones drove margins down to near and sometimes below zero, killing innovation. Nobody could afford to innovate. The industry stagnated. Even Microsoft.

Next came the Internet which was and still is a game changer. The Internet brought new business models like advertising support that were exploited by companies like Google. But for advertising to work they needed to drive higher volumes. And they needed to build barriers to entry for what are still effectively very slim business models. Microsoft and others saw an opportunity and expanded their own business by moving onto their territory (e.g. Bing) where they continue to nibble away at Google's market. Microsoft can do this thanks to the income they derive from their software cash-cows Office and Windows.

Google responded to this challenge by undermining the intrinsic value of Microsoft's software. They gave software away for "free". On the outside it appeared free but really what they were doing was driving advertising numbers up. Google's software is nowhere near as good as Microsoft's but it's "free" - a hard price to compete against.

Meanwhile Apple stuck to their guns and kept their walled-garden model alive. They owned their own hardware - most of which they just bought from Asian vendors - and they developed their own, so-so software. They kept their margins high and they're now the world's biggest company by market cap. They too tried to muscle in on Google's advertising-driven model to which Google responded with "free" Android, making it possible for companies like Samsung to build smartphones without the cost of software development and attack Apple's high-margin model. With some success.

Over the past year, Microsoft has changed. They've recognized that there are only a small number of real and sustainable companies in the technology space. Apple leads in hardware revenues, Google in advertising revenues and Microsoft in software revenues. But Apple doesn't really build their own hardware - they buy off-the-shelf components and design them into an "Apple" product.

Apple are now hampered by their lack of software ability. The iPhone hasn't changed much since it was introduced and the iPad is just an iPhone in a bigger box. Apple couldn't develop their own Cloud - they use Azure and Amazon for iCloud.

Google can't develop software. Everything they've shipped since they developed Search has been acquired. And most of it looks more like class project software than professional product software. They can't do hardware either, preferring to farm it out to ODMs.

Meanwhile Microsoft has woken up. They can do software. Azure, Cortana, Windows 10, Office and several others are all heading in the right direction. Microsoft bought Nokia and now they can do hardware. Their phones are excellent even though not (yet) mass accepted. Surface is top notch. HoloLens is the most innovative thing I've seen in years. Microsoft can also do new business models. Office 365 and Windows as a Service suggest this. Bing shows that they can keep Google from running away with the advertising market.

So how does Continuum play in this scenario? Simple. Continuum does to hardware what Google tried to do to software. It crushes its value. It moves the focus away from the device onto the task. The HoloLens guy said it perfectly - it's not the device that's mobile, it's you. So with Continuum Microsoft can move into controlling the three most important business models in the tech sector - hardware, which is being reduced in value, alternative business models in which they're growing and software where they're rapidly returning to a position of dominance.

As someone recently said, "when did Apple become the boring company"? So far this year they've introduced a digital watch. What has Google done recently? Nothing. The steady stream of new and innovative products, software and business models coming out of Microsoft this year have been impressive. And Continuum is an integral part of that. But it's not a product. It's a business model.

 

[Yazen]

the thing is, people use PC/laptop for productivity. you cannot write pile of codes with just a phone (even if you can) because that'll be too slow and unproductive. that's why people still use PC or at least a laptop. maybe it's true in terms of hardware power, it's just matter of time before laptop can rival high end PC/laptop, but the argument here is still valid -> why use continuum from phone when you can just use your laptop or desktop instead? After all if you want to "work" from your continuum you would still need a keyboard and monitor, thus you still need those PC-related hardware. Just skip those extra keyboard/monitor and use a laptop instead. Newest laptops are much lighter and smaller than 5 years ago so people wont get bothered bringing it anywhere.

I still see this as a gimmick, much like face recognition login feature.

So if I said the camera on your phone is a gimmick would you agree with me?

I still carry around a dslr, mp3 player, and my wrist watch despite owning a Lumia 1520. It would seem that most people tend to think the Lumia 1520 would replace all three...

Why aren't you carrying around a Nikon? Why don't you listen to music on your Walkman? Not everyone needs or wants specialized tools.

When the simultaneous concurrent display feature trickles into the lower end Qualcomm SoCs more Lumias will support Continuum...

 

[Omar9399]

So if I said the camera on your phone is a gimmick would you agree with me?

I still carry around a dslr, mp3 player, and my wrist watch despite owning a Lumia 1520. It would seem that most people tend to think the Lumia 1520 would replace all three...

Why aren't you carrying around a Nikon? Why don't you listen to music on your Walkman? Not everyone needs or wants specialized tools.

When the simultaneous concurrent display feature trickles into the lower end Qualcomm SoCs more Lumias will support Continuum...

The thing is if I have to carry only 1520 to get the camera job done it was acceptable, but instead of just carrying the 1520 if I MUST have to carry 18-36mm lens + tripod +external Flash that would be a problem.
that is what exactly how continuum is.

 

[Omar9399]

Re: I don't see "Continuum" as game changer

Technically speaking, yes. Continuum is about interfacing with our devices differently using familiar design patterns. Meaning *I* could work with my phone like I do with my desktop. This simply is not available on other platforms, so technically it is a game changer.

Ubuntu has this feature way back so this is not new and nor its discovered by Microsoft.

 

[Ordeith]

Re: I don't see "Continuum" as game changer

Ubuntu has this feature way back so this is not new and nor its discovered by Microsoft.

Ubuntu's feature still doesn't work well or correctly. They just can't seem to execute.

 

[Omar9399]

Ubuntu's feature still doesn't work well or correctly. They just can't seem to execute.

My point is this was already there Microsoft is just making it more polish

 

[Ordeith]

My point is this was already there Microsoft is just making it more polish

If by polish you mean functional...

 

[djarchow]

At that time laptop will be even more powerful.

Actually it probably won't be that much more powerful. Advances in the latest chipsets from Intel, AMD etc have been mostly focused on reducing power consumption as well as improving onboard graphics.Sure a 2014 Haswell I7 has some better performance numbers than a 2009 Bloomfield i7 but the dramatic shift is in the power usage. Even now not much of the typical software a user runs on a desktop doesn't need an I7 and with much of the current focus on mobile/lightweight software development that trend is likely to continue.

I don't see Continuum being all that useful in the next year or so, just like I don't see Google's Chromebook or push to run Android apps on a PC being all that useful now. But companies like MS, Google, etc. can't just think about what is practical now, it is all about positioning for the future. Device convergence is coming. I think that in the future most people in the world will not own multiple devices, but instead will have multiple ways to interact with their one device: be it stand alone on the train to work, hooked up to multiple monitors,a keyboard etc. in the office, connected to your car on the drive home, or connected to your smart home the instant you walk in the door of your house.

I don't know how successful Microsoft will be at convincing people that they are the platform of the future, but I certainly understand their reason for trying.

 

[Canjok]

At current state, Continuum looks useless. But you have to consider, that Microsoft is trying to get all the important programms/tasks done by Apps. As the mobile computing gets rapidly more powerful year to year, many things a normal consumer needs could be done with a smartphone. Just think of the "mini PCs". Why bother with them in the future if your smartphone will be capable to fulfill your needs and you would carry it around anyways?

That's just to name one of different reasons. You should try to focus on the future not only the moment.

greetz, Canjok