Why a Tablet?

[Tom]

[quote author=Bob Buchanan]... the first time I took my netbook to Denny's to use over a grand slam - I was the only person in that crowded restaurant with such a device. And though not self conscious about it, it was a bit distracting to be stared at so much.[/quote]

Reminds me of the time we stayed at a B&B in the UK some time in the 80's. The downstairs was a regular village pub and upstairs were all 6 guest rooms. The only phone jack in the building was behind the bar, and I'd pre-arranged with the landlord that I could use it as a condition of our stay. Popped the computer on the bar, plugged in a 50 foot length of phone cord and a BT/RJ phone adapter, and was online, albeit very slooow. I had an audience of pub regulars, pints of beer in hand looking over my shoulder, and they were able to read the stuff slowly scrolling across the screen. I don't think any of them had seen a computer before, and there were lots oohs and ahhs.

If I went to that same pub today, it would be filled with young folks, parents and grandparents, all using their smartphones and tablets  ;D

 

[mylo]

Windows 8 is MS's last grasp at the consumer market. And IMHO, it's going to be the coffin nail in that segment. They still have (and enjoy) a robust market share in the commercial space - and their backend webservice technologies are still a great alternative to linux/apache. If I worked for them, I'd let this consumer space go, and focus on commercial desktops, services, and the cloud (Azure) as the primary way they are going to make money in the next 10 years. They better hope that Windows 8 doesn't kill there corporate desktop business....


Mylo

 

[Bob Buchanan]

Windows 8 is MS's last grasp at the consumer market. And IMHO, it's going to be the coffin nail in that segment. They still have (and enjoy) a robust market share in the commercial space - and their backend webservice technologies are still a great alternative to linux/apache. If I worked for them, I'd let this consumer space go, and focus on commercial desktops, services, and the cloud (Azure) as the primary way they are going to make money in the next 10 years. They better hope that Windows 8 doesn't kill there corporate desktop business....

When I go into a major outlet such as Fry's, SAM's, Costco, Best Buy -- I see a sea of computer monitors with the Win8 apps home page beckoning comsumers - with the same interface seen across many of the tablets and netbooks. They have created the ability to saturate the new PC's market and that will keep them afloat. In the same stores, one has to ask, "Where's the Apple stuff?".

I'm used to it now on my laptop and can see the direction with their App Store app and all the fancy interactive stuff happening waiting to be clicked on. Again, those that have non-Apple desktops or laptops go to buy a new machine, it will have Win8 on it - so those millions not used yet to cloud sync of every piece of data from their smartphone to the largest desktop will most likely, IMO, succumb to the hype of MS market saturation. And all the third party cloud guys such as Dropbox and Memeo will suffer. Unless, of course, Win 8 turns out to be as bad as Vista. <g> So far from my laptop and from what I read, that isn't happening. Am sure Bill had some long talks with staff about Vista prior to the release of 8.

 

[Tom]

Sitting here at the hospital awaiting blood work. I look around and everyone has their eyes and thumbs on a smart phone  ;D

 

[Ned]

Windows 8 is just the latest in a long line of versions, and UI changes.  Every time there is a major change in the user interface the knee-jerk reaction is that "this is the end of Microsoft!".  A year later when the new version has saturated the market place, no one says a word, until the next major release.  This happened with Windows 95 (I want my DOS!), NT (why do I have to sign in?), Windows XP (what ugly colors).  The initial reaction of many industry pundits to Windows 8 was negative, as expected, but as they tried it out many have changed their opinion and are touting the advantages of the new interface, especially on a touch screen computer.  If you have to use Windows 8 on a non-touch screen, it can be made to look and behave just like Windows 7, and you still get all the under the hood advantages of better security, more robust drivers, etc.

Microsoft is going on a much more aggressive release schedule with the next version of Windows (code name Blue) already in a public beta release.  Look for a new release about once a year, and for further changes and refinements in the UI.  Personally, I'm looking forward to my next computer with a touch screen and Windows 8.  I've had enough experience with the early release version and the latest Blue release to know that it's not as bad as everyone perceives it to be.  In many ways, it's even easier to use the Windows 7, even on a desktop without a touch screen.

And to keep on topic, Windows 8 on a tablet is no better or worse than Android or IOS, just different, but more alike than not.

 

[Ned]

Sittping here at the hospital awaiting blood work. I look around and everyone has their eyes and thunbs on a smart phone  ;D

It appears you typed that on your phone with your thumbs

 

[carson]

Hope you an APP for "Blood work analysis" ; maybe you can prove the doctors wrong int their analysis. The web is always right, eh ?

 

[Tom]

It appears you typed that on your phone with your thumbs

Nope, it was on the tablet. The gal called my name before I could read it, and I just hit the Post button, grabbed my stuff and went into the torture room. Had I used my thumbs to type, it would have been far worse 

 

[Tom]

Hope you an APP for "Blood work analysis" ;

I downloaded the app before I left home Carson. The gal merely had to connect her machine to the tablet via WiFi, press a button, and I was out of there.

 

[Bob Buchanan]

Sitting here at the hospital awaiting blood work. I look around and everyone has their eyes and thumbs on a smart phone  ;D

Have noticed in the past few weeks young couples sharing a meal together - and thumbing smartphones vs. any conversation or eye contact whatsoever. 

Maybe they were texting each other!!

 

[Tom]

[quote author=Bob]Maybe they were texting each other!![/quote]

I suspect they were Bob  ;D

A year or so ago Chris and I took the grandkids to the opening night of the B&B circus at the O2 Arena (next to the Oakland Coliseum). It was the grandkids' first time on BART and first time to a circus, so they were excited. Once in the arena, we were surrounded by 8-12 year old kids with their smart phones and tablets turned on through the entire performance 

 

[Tom]

Today, while sitting in the hospital lab area, I was reminded of what, for me, is a major advantage of the tablet; It's so easy to expand an area of a page, or scroll across and up/down, with just a couple of fingers dragged across the screen. This is especially helpful when I need a larger "target" for my clumsy fingers.

I would not have bothered to take the netbook today.

I'm also reminded of a change I made at the request of a long-time forum member. Our forum software comes out of the box with very small New buttons. Like many others, the forum member views Unread posts since last visit, and then clicks multiple New buttons to open messages in separate tabs. Even with his large monitor, the member explained that the targets were too small. I installed much larger New buttons, and the problem was solved.

On a 10" screen, the same issue occurs, even with the larger buttons. Using my tablet, I merely use my fingers to zoom in on the area I need, and hit the now-enlarged New buttons with a finger or thumb. I don't know how I'd do that with my 10" netbook.

Just MHO. YMMV.

 

[BruceinFL]

Thanks for all the comments y'all. Need to take some time to read them and absorb. May have more questions then. But for now, would a tablet replace the laptop and netbook? What about Windows software such as Ffire, Tbird, Open Office, MS&T, etc? Will they run on a tablet and will there be enough room?

 

[Ned]

Thanks for all the comments y'all. Need to take some time to read them and absorb. May have more questions then. But for now, would a tablet replace the laptop and netbook? What about Windows software such as Ffire, Tbird, Open Office, MS&T, etc? Will they run on a tablet and will there be enough room?

Firefox has an Android version as does Chrome.  There are office suites that will read/write Office files.  Google Maps is better than Streets & Trips.  I have a 16GB Nexus 7 and even with 77 apps have over 5GB free.  There are 32GB tablets available if you really need more room.

Tablets are primarily an information consumer device and not well suited for information creation beyond simple things like email and forum messages.  For heavy duty word processing, a desktop or notebook computer is needed.  Of course, with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse, even a tablet can handle some pretty heavy tasks.

 

[Conquest aka Robert]

My daughter's tablet came with 4gb and added 4gb and she has not filled it up. My son's came with 4gb he added a 32gb to his no where even close to full and he loads movies. After reading all the comments I think I will reconsider the tablet format it does seem to have a place. Guess I will have to borrow one from the kids if they will even let go of it ;D

 

[Director]

Two Mac Book Pros, two iPhone 4Ss, home built computer and the iPad.

Some things are much better done with the iPad. Looking on Google Earth and most importantly, I use Docs to Go loaded with all the drawings, pictures and schematics for our Adventurer. I can't tell you how many things I have fixed with the tech drawing zoomed in on a part and tool in my other hand. It beats having a slew of manuals. Now it's all in one place and with the zoom, turn and twist capabilities of the ipad -- I feel it has it's place like the other tools in my tech shed.
How's that for 50 cents worth.

 

[DakotaRed]

... Software has no intrinsic value until it solves a problem you want or need to have solved. Once you find that sweet spot, though, then you get swept away. Just enjoy the ride!

I'm livin' in the sweet spot, Kim.  ;D  riding the waves.

 

[DakotaRed]

As Kim stated, everyone's situation is different.  Since I am working out of the coach, and in the software field, I have my work laptop that pretty much stays in the docking station, hooked to my dual monitors.  I also have a desktop hooked to those same monitors that I do all my personal stuff on including CPU intensive work, like Photoshop.  Kathy has a laptop that she uses for most of her PC related stuff, plus a couple of Kindles.  I also have an iPad that I use for book reading, email, facebook, many, many apps, and more.  In the future, based on technology I may replace my desktop with a laptop that can also be used as tablet, since touch screens are becoming so handy with enhancements to operating system software.

 

[Tom]

I wonder if Bruce got his question answered  ???

 

[BruceinFL]

I wonder if Bruce got his question answered  ???

Yes I did...thanks