Surface Pro - first impressions

Started by mbenigni, March 01, 2013, 07:32:10 AM

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mbenigni

#50
A little something from the too little, too late department at Microsoft:



*Well, too late for me anyway.  As for "too little", maybe too soon to tell.

** Actually it looks like MS is targeting the "remix" crowd, with an app that focuses on downloading packs of artist stems and fiddling around with them.  Not for people trying to track original music, then.  I have to assume that whatever technical limitations have kept their "Store" devoid of music production apps will also prevent this product from amounting to much.

Elantric

more recent summation.
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=2951.msg80847#msg80847
After more hands on trying to use  Windows on a touchscreen  - I'm beginning to see that Steve Jobs was right.... The targets are just too inaccurate on Windows apps - Its nothing like using an iPad where touch is integrated so well - by contrast on Windows, You waste time in target errors with touch response - it was not the "magic controller"  I expected - typically your hand ends up blocking your target control element  in the GUI.
mbenigni wrote>
That's why my Surface Pro is gone, and after very little actual use.  The fact that MS released Windows 8 and their own tablet at the same time, without making any concessions to work around this problem, still boggles my mind.  Simple gesture awareness - e.g. pinch to zoom and swipe to pan - may not have resolved the problem, but would have gone a long way toward helping.  Instead, they delivered Modern UI with no useful apps, and a legacy desktop that any sane person would sooner use with a conventional laptop.

Elantric

#52
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Microsoft-said-to-be-terminating-its-Surface-tablet-line_id61557
According to a report published on Thursday that cites sources from the upstream supply chain, Microsoft is planning to drop its Surface tablet line. This comes after sales of the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 have come in lower than expected. Microsoft had high hopes for the tablet, but larger-screened smartphones have recently been taking business away from tablets.

The first two generations of Surface slates are said to have produced losses of $1.7 billion for the manufacturer. Microsoft is now expected to ship less than 1 million units of the Surface Pro 3, which was aimed at enterprise users. In addition, sources say that Microsoft is backing away from developing the next-gen Surface tablets.

Microsoft had been expected to unveil the Surface mini at the same time that the Surface Pro 3 was introduced last May. But the manufacturer's lack of confidence in the product led it to cancel production of the model. Now, it seems that Microsoft has lost confidence in the whole line.


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and a conflicting bit of "damage control" info here
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Microsofts-Surface-tablets-wont-be-discontinued-new-Pro-line-confirmed_id61562

Frankster

On the subject on WinRT and MIDI, Microsoft are starting to get their act together with a preview release of a full MIDI API ...

https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.WindowsPreview.MidiRT/

And there's an API to handle low-latency audio, in case anyone wants to port ProTools to .NET code.

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/3-548