July 18, 2012 • 50 mins
How long has Microsoft supported pen-based PC interfaces? When did Bill Gates unveil the Tablet PC? What do we know about the Microsoft Surface tablet? Listen in as Jonathan and Chris explore the future (and surprising history) of Microsoft and tablets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera.
It's ready. Are you didn't touch with technology? With tech
Stuff from how stuff flix dot com. Hi, and welcome
again to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and
(00:20):
I am an editor at how Stuff works dot com.
Sitting across from me, as he's usual, it's senior writer
Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, Chris, and guys. This is June
twenty two, which is a Friday. This is two thou twelve,
and the reason why I say the date is the
Monday of this week we heard an announcement from Microsoft
about an upcoming product that definitely made some waves in
(00:43):
the tech world. I saw some interest in places that
I didn't expect, uh, and it was the Microsoft Surface tablet. Yeah,
the the Microsoft Surface up until a few days ago,
was a big table top touch screen device, a very
cool tabletop touch screen device. I'm priced out of the
(01:04):
market for most of us. It was really meant for
commercial uses, not for consumer uses. Yeah. Actually, it kind
of reminded me in a way of Veneva Bush's uh Memex.
This was of course envisioned in the nineteen forties as
um uh basically a desktop workstation that would allow you
to uh photograph different documents and use them on microfilm. Um.
(01:29):
And of course the lot of the computer and internet
engineers since then has sort of taken that as a
It ended up being a semi self fulfilling prophecy just
because people like the idea and he said, well, yeah,
it would be nice to have this. Well, the surface
was actually a desk itself in a way, a table
with a big touch screen surface, and you could have
different things on the screen and interact with it. You could,
(01:51):
you know, if you were using it in a work setting,
which it's not really designed to do, but you could
have all your documents in your desk, you know, on
the desktop literally and move things around. Very neat, but
very expensive. And uh uh yeah. But they they repurposed
the name. Yes, they changed the name of that device.
Uh pixel s right, that's the new name for what
(02:13):
was the surface and now the surface is a tablet.
And I've heard some people talk about how Microsoft is
aping Apple, which I think is completely off base for
multiple reasons. But we'll get into those and in order
to really understand where I'm coming from about how Microsoft
is not aping Apple, you have to kind of look
at Microsoft's history with the tablet, which has not been
(02:34):
a very smooth one. No, but it has been a
fairly long one, especially in tech terms. Yes, back in
Microsoft released a version of Windows called Windows for pen Computing.
And pen Computing was essentially the idea of using some
sort of interface that would require a stylus to input
(02:56):
data into a display. So it didn't necessarily mean it
would have to be in a tablet form factor. It
could be a screen on a wall, it could be
your laptop screen or or desktop screen. But the idea
was that there needed to be some form of support
for a different interface than just the keyboard and mouse. Uh. Now,
(03:18):
that product didn't really take off, and in fact, the
form factors didn't really take off outside of some niche markets.
And part of the problem is that building uh software
that can recognize handwriting is really really tricky, and in fact,
Apple had already tried it, yeah, with the Newton, the
(03:42):
Apple Newton, which was a message pad, Yes, a message pad.
It was sort of a PDA right UM a personal
digital assistant right not public display of affection right. A
p D a UM is basically a small handheld device um,
that you would use the stylist to interact with it
had a hum, it didn't have a the same kind
(04:03):
of touch screen we use now, right, it didn't. It
didn't necessarily allow you to use your fingers. You had
to use the stylus, right, um. And and basically what
it would do is I mean it was really at
the time designed to be a business tool. Yeah, for
the enterprise market. You would keep your calendar in there
and your your phone contacts and things. So it's a
(04:24):
smartphone without the phone, yeah, sort of more or less so.
But but Microsoft was not looking at creating devices or
marketing for devices that were, uh, this this kind of
tier of electronics below computers, right, because you could think
of a smartphone is like and a sub brand of computer,
(04:46):
but it it doesn't have the full process and capability
and uh, it's not as robust as a full computer
would be. Right. So Microsoft view was that, no, we
want to support devices that are essentially computers, just computers
that are in a different form factor than your big
desktop tower and display and keyboard and mouse. But again,
(05:08):
developing the software to try and support that was very
tricky and and it didn't really take off in the
early nineties, it just nothing really happened, and for a
while Microsoft kind of just put it on the back burner,
although Bill Gates was still who was the head of
Microsoft at the time, still very much determined to find
a way to make this work because he saw that
(05:30):
as the future of computing. He said that, you know,
eventually that the tablet form factor would actually outstrip other
fact versions of computers like laptops and desktops. So in
nineties seven, Microsoft hires a fellow named Dick Brass, who
was a guy who was involved in designing electronic dictionaries
(05:52):
in the eighties, and they hired him to kind of
spearhead this approach of trying to think about pen based
computing and and what would it take to make that successful.
So what Brass ended up doing was he ended up
working with a carpenter of all things, to put together
(06:14):
a rough looking model of what a tablet could look like.
And um, it was a wooden model, had a flat
base and a keyboard and a flat screen, and uh,
the screen could be separated from the keyboard. So this
was still a device that when it was put together,
(06:35):
would resemble a computer in some sense. But then you
could detach the screen and have that as a separate device,
which sounds very familiar. We've seen a lot of devices
over the last few years that have some sort of
laptop tablet hybrid approach. Right, See, that'll come into play later. Uh.
(06:55):
The so in in November of two thousand, we're skipping
a ad a little bit at the Comdex event. Now
Comdex is no longer a thing, yes, but at the
time it was a big computer trade show. Yeah, it
was the largest computer trade show in the world at
the time. Now uh c E s UH formerly known
(07:17):
as the Consumer Electronic Show, Yes, and still that's what
it stands for, but they want to be called C
E s UM. That's basically UM TVs UH, portable music players,
car stereos, stuff that you and I are going to
buy for uh daily everyday stuff. Yeah, there's also some
tablets and some phones and things. But really that's not
(07:38):
a whole lot of computers. I mean laptops. You see
a lot of laptops, like especially this last CS two
thousand twelve, that was when the Ultra books were really launched.
But in general it is not a computer showcase. No, no,
and neither is is E three the Electronics Entertainment XPO.
That's a video game showcase right right. Sometimes a hardware
(07:58):
showcase as well, but those are very specialized kinds of hardware. Right.
You see computers there, but they're you know, specifically oriented
towards gaming purposes or showing off gaming stuff. You might
see video cards. You know, hey you got a new
graphics card. Uh. Was the boring part of computers? Well yeah,
(08:21):
kind of? I mean was It was really a geeky
year side of the industry, get right down to it,
and a lot of it was, you know, personal computers
meant for home business. I don't think personal computers for
all different applications. But really, I mean the the image
most people have as a bunch of a bunch of
guys wearing short sleeve button up shirts with ties, sitting
(08:41):
in a big auditorium and drooling over the latest specs
of the next next year's models of personal computers. Um,
which is an unfair characterization, but that's often what people
think about. So at the two thousand Condex event, which
took place in Lost Vegas, Bill Gates came out and
(09:03):
had a keynote speech. He actually said some really interesting
things in that speech some stuff that I think you
could almost say everything you said turned out to be wrong,
at least at least in the short term. Well, you know,
that's the trouble with being a visionary and and Bill
Gates and uh, you know many of his contemporaries are
(09:23):
and we're visionaries. Um, but you know, different people have
different visions, and that things in the market also has
a saying this of course, right, and sometimes the future
turns out differently than the way you expect. And he said,
for example, that the browser is dead. Yeah, he said,
the browser era is over in two thousand, which you know,
when you think about it kind of died for a while.
(09:44):
It did, it did, and that and that was just
before the dot com bubble bursts too, so there was
some there were danger on the horizon already, but that
was pre web two point out right. But the browser
obviously is not dead. He also thought that people would
not want this sort of shared computing experience, the idea
of having uh, your computer essentially be a dumb terminal
(10:09):
attached to some sort of smarter computer device that would
do processing and storage. Well, it turns out cloud computing
has really taken off and so that's essentially what he
was talking about was cloud computing. It was just before
people were referring to it as cloud computing. I think
of it more as the old time share. Well, yeah,
the timeshare model and the the the dumb terminals that
(10:31):
you would see in college campuses where you had a
mainframe and you would connect to the main frame. Uh,
people at the time did want desktop computers. You wanted
to be able to operate your computer where you were
in your house instead of having to go to a
computer lab and work on the mainframe. Right. So yeah,
and it's it's funny to say that because, um, now
(10:54):
in retrospect, it looks I mean, we're I feel like
we're kind of teasing Bill Gates, because a lot of
the things he said, you know, turned out to be
sort of semi false at the time. In the context,
what he said sort of came to pass, and then
it reinvented itself in a different way. And there were
a lot of limitations on on the world when Bill
(11:15):
Gates made these these predictions. For instance, we didn't have
the broadband connections that we have now, so so having
a cloud computing infrastructure back in two thousand was not
a reasonable expectation. It wasn't feasible because you couldn't be
You wouldn't be able to access the data you would
need in a timely manner. It would take so long
to transfer the data that it would negate the the
(11:38):
benefits of having off site storage and all that kind
of stuff. So at the time his predictions made perfect sense.
But he also predicted that the tablet PC was going
to be huge, that this was going to be the
next revolution in UH in in computers and UH. Microsoft
software architect Bert Keeley came out and he specifically talked
(11:59):
about the tablet PC at that event. UM Now, the
information he gave was that the device would weigh less
than three pounds, and that would run Windows based software applications,
and you would use the stylus to make notes on
images and office documents which would then get incorporated into
UH files. So that let's say that you're looking at
(12:20):
a picture of something. Let's say that you're working with
an advertiser, for example, on an AD, and the advertiser
sends you a mock up of what the ad is
going to look like. You can make digital notes on
the ad using this tablet device and send it back
and say like, all right, you know this the product
isn't featured prominently enough for whatever you know, or or
(12:42):
I don't like the color of this this background because
it's it's masking the product. That sort of stuff. Um,
that was kind of the idea. And beyond just those
those use cases as well. I mean pretty much anytime
you could think of needing to make a note on
a digital file, that's when it would come into play, right, Um,
But it was just an announcement and a demonstration of
(13:04):
the prototype. There was no product to show off yet.
In two thousand one at Comdex, Compact came out and
showed off a prototype tablet PC running Windows and at
that time Gates then predicted that within five years, tablets
would be the most popular form factor of computers sold
on the market. And here's where I'm gonna take a
(13:26):
little break here. So we've already talked about how Microsoft's
got a long history and tablets. That doesn't have anything
to do with the iPad. Right, here's where I am
going to mention the iPad, Because even though the iPad
doesn't come out for another nine years, you know, we
see the iPad unveiled in UM Steve Jobs decided to
(13:48):
approach the iPad in a fundamentally different way than the
way Gates was looking at the tablet PC, and that
Gates was looking at a way to create create a
computer that was in the form factor of a tablet.
Jobs was looking at building up a smartphone like device
or iPod like device into the tablet form factor. He
(14:09):
was looking at scaling up smartphones, not scaling down computers,
and in fact, that was jobs main point. He said
that his competitors were all trying to make computers into
tablets and that that was the wrong approach and that
it would not succeed. Well, this is kind of what
Jobs was talking about. Microsoft has a history of trying
to make computers fit into the tablet form factor, and
(14:33):
historically they have not met with very much success. And
this compact prototype was one of the first ones that
sort of showed off what a Windows based tablet would
be capable of doing. But it ultimately did not really
make a huge impact, and again Gates's prediction about tablets
(14:56):
being really popular would ultimately be true. It was from
a completely different approach than the one Microsoft was making.
So moving ahead, So November seven, two the tablet PC
gets unveiled by Gates, who says he has anticipated this
moment for many, many years. And uh, they talk about
(15:19):
how they're going to be seven different computer makers that
will create tablets that run Windows software. So this is
not a Microsoft machine. It's Microsoft supporting the tablet form
factor by building an operating system specifically designed for that. Yeah,
that was the Windows XP Tablet PC edition. That's exactly right. Um, yeah,
(15:42):
it's it's exactly the way that Apple doesn't do it. Um,
you know that people talk about that. Uh you know
how Apple is a closed system because it manufactures both
the hardware and writes the software for it. So uh,
you know they do both sides of that equation. Microsoft
offt um keeping ourselves in this timeframe. Microsoft doesn't make hardware.
(16:05):
They make software, lots of different software, and they work
with many, many different hardware partners to build the machines
that run the operating system. And as a matter of fact,
this uh Windows XP Tablet PC edition was only available
to O E. M's original equipment manufacturers. So if you
were Compact or HP or you know one of the
(16:26):
other manufacturers that was was working with them, you could
buy this software and preinstalled on the tablets. You wouldn't
be able to find it on the shelf at shelf
at your local computer store. Hey, they still had computer
stores back then. Yep, and and uh. There were some
other things that really set this apart from what the
(16:47):
you know, the tablets that would come down the line
several years later. One is that a lot of the
tablets quote unquote tablets that came out in two thousand
three was when they really started hitting store shelves. All
those tablets were really hybrids. They were laptop hybrids. So
you had the kind that would either have a screen
that would swivel and then fold back down over the keyboard,
(17:09):
so you would have a really thick tablet because there
would be a keyboard section folded underneath. It's basically, uh,
the same form factor as a laptop with a closed case.
You know, it's it's just got the screen flipped around
and closed exactly. Or you would have the other type
of hybrid where you could detach the screen from the
(17:29):
base of the keyboard and it would just become its
own little computing device with a touch screen interface, again
mostly using stylus, not necessarily using your fingers. Um Gates
was very uh optimistic about the chances of this in
the market. He thought that at least half a million
(17:50):
would sell in the first year, and they'd spent around
four hundred million dollars on the technology to develop the
tablet PC operating system and to support that form factor. Um.
The manufacturers that were included in that list of seven,
among them were HP, Samsung, Tshiba, and a ser But
(18:11):
there were a couple of notable missing persons on that list,
the two being really Dell and IBM, huge names and computers,
especially at this time in the early two thousand's personal computers. Yeah,
so back in the early two thousand's, these two companies
(18:31):
famous for making computers, we're kind of holding back in
order to see if the tablet form factor truly would succeed,
because there was a lot of skepticism in the market.
I mean, there's a lot of optimism on one side,
but there were some companies saying, you know, this is
really risky. Do we really want to pour millions of
dollars in research and development and production to build something
(18:53):
that we are not convinced people want yet, And so
they decided to wait. And also these devices they ranged
in price between around eighteen hundred dollars. They were computers exactly.
They were full price computers. They weren't a tablet in
the sense that we think of today, where they're running
on lower power processors and using specialized operating systems. These
(19:16):
were Windows computers in a form factor of a tablet.
So the tablets had problems. They their screen resolution wasn't
the best, they tended to have really short battery life,
and the handwriting software, recognition software had lots of problems.
In fact, they had a lot of problems during the
development phase. I read one story about how they back
(19:41):
at Microsoft, while they were developing the tablet pcos, they
had an entire team switch from laptops to tablet PCs
to really test them and see what's going on and
see if they could do their work on a day
to day basis using them. And they found that whenever
they were making notes on a digital file, if they
had to make multiple notes, often the tablet PC operating
(20:04):
system wasn't really sure where those notes should go and
sometimes would combine them to make nonsensical sentences. It was
combining different notes into a run on sentence that has
no real meaning, like a bunch of sentence fragments just
crammed together. So they actually removed that feature before shipping
(20:24):
it because they realized that that would do more harm
than good. In fact, Apple had seen very similar problems
when they developed the Newton a decade earlier, so it
wasn't unique to Microsoft to have these problems. Um. But
another problem was that the adaptation of the operating system
and more more importantly, the applications that rested on top
(20:47):
of the operating system, they didn't really work so well
with a touch screen user interface. They you know, it
was it was trying to put software that was meant
to be used with a keyboard and mouse and put
it into a different form factor with a different user
interface without allowing for that difference. So a lot of
(21:09):
the applications were not intuitive, some of them were downright
unusable because they just weren't designed for that kind of interface.
So you had a product that had a lot of
horsepower to it, especially compared to you know, the computers
of the day. It was fairly equivalent to them, but
it just the software couldn't match up to the hardware
(21:31):
because the user interface wasn't there. So you would have
a big, heavy, expensive piece of electronics that couldn't do
what you needed it to do. That seems like a
waste of money, It does seem like that. Around that
same time, Microsoft also partnered with Fujitsu and view Sonic
to create smart displays. These were displays that linked to
(21:52):
a PC through WiFi. So you would still have a
home base PC and this device would hook to it.
You would have a smart touch you know, display case
where you could use it as if it were a tablet,
the processing being handled by the computer that it's hooked
to through WiFi. But these were still pretty expensive, like
around a thousand dollars or more, and it didn't really succeed,
(22:16):
so Microsoft ended up killing that project within about a
year of its starting. Then there was a Project Origami, Yes,
Project Origami, Yeah, that was for handheld PCs and touch
screen interfaces. Yeah, exactly, Uh, including the ultramobile PCs. Do
(22:37):
you remember that term? Yes? I do. It's not one
you run into very much anymore, but yeah, ultramobile PCs
that that was sort of the predecessor to both tablets
and netbooks, um, but in a way also a predecessor
to ultra books. Uh. They still had a lot of problems,
mostly because again the operating system wasn't fully optimized for
(22:57):
a touch screen interface, and also they tended to have
really lousy battery life. UM, not not a great experience.
Now that's not to say that these devices didn't work
and that people didn't use them. Um. There were a
couple uh industries really that took to them medical industry medicular, Yes,
(23:22):
the medical industry, um followed their own advice and took
two tablets and called Microsoft in the morning. Yeah, no,
but they did. And I actually still see that at
some of the doctor's offices that I've been to in
the past few years, they're still using, um, the traditional
you know, Microsoft tablet design. I mean, it's very useful
(23:45):
for that kind of thing, especially because um they're using
the same software uh to register and track patient records
that they would use on a desktop computer or laptop
computer typically, So it's very compatible with that, and it
has been very efficient for that. And it's good because
they can carry this around in the tablet form factor,
(24:07):
so they can carry it under their arm, uh you know,
drop it down where they can make notes and they
can talk to you and and and take notes on
this on this tablet device, but UM they had a
specific need to have something like that, So I think
that's one of the reasons why it um it took
off in that particular market. Sure, yeah, and for home
(24:28):
users not not like that. That's one of the things
that Microsoft has always pushed is the idea that these
are devices that can run the applications you're used to
on your computer, things that that the other form of tablet,
Apple's version of tablet can't do because the upbrake system
isn't robust enough to support all the features and functions
(24:49):
of the software. So for example, they're specifically one note
which is part of the Microsoft Office Suite for Windows UM,
this Note taking software, which I like very much actually UM,
and they made sure that that was that in particular,
in addition to the Office applications or Office compatibility, they
(25:09):
made sure that was available for the tablets. So you
can see where Microsoft is coming from. It's just again
they've had this these difficulties, and some of it is
beyond their control because again there they're creating the software
and the hardware is being designed by other companies. That
doesn't excuse the problems with how the software isn't fully
(25:32):
optimized for touch screens. Obviously that's something that's very important.
And again Apple got that they designed their interface with
touch screen from the ground up. They didn't try and
scale something down and then adapted for touch screens. So
it's a different philosophy. That doesn't mean that Microsoft's approach
won't ultimately work. It's just that they've had a really long, hard,
(25:53):
uh journey and it's not over yet. Because we haven't
talked about the two things that came out in two
thousand eight. We mentioned one of them because we mentioned
Project Surface, which was the table top device you were
talking about. Surface used cameras inside the device pointed up
at the screen in order to detect where touches were
(26:14):
being placed upon the screen surface. It could do multiple
touches at once, so you could have um several people
all playing on a surface at the same time, and
it could track all those movements. It also meant that
you could do something like take a piece of paper
with something written on it, place it face down on
the surface, and copy it to the surface, so suddenly
(26:35):
you have a digital copy of the physical document you
had in your hands. And it's because there were these
cameras underneath that could look up and and see what
was being pressed against the surfaces. Surface would have been yep.
So I was pretty cool. But the other thing that
the other project that we became aware of in two
(26:56):
thousand and eight, really in two thousand nine was Project
Curve Ear. Yes, this was an internal project of Microsoft,
and it was led by a couple of different people,
one of whom was uh, someone who came from the
Xbox division of Microsoft, a division that did really really
well in the sense that it went into a uh
an industry that already had some dominating companies and it
(27:20):
mostly mainly Sony and Nintendo and created carved out of
space and was very successful in that space, at least
especially in the United States by creating the Xbox. If
you think about it, it's uh. It also provided a
valuable lesson for Microsoft. And I've never seen this written down.
It just occurred to me. Um. Up until this point,
Microsoft didn't make hardware, but the Xbox showed him that
(27:45):
they could, and it probably you know, again, again, I've
never seen anybody say this or hurt anybody say this,
but I would imagine that probably gave him a little
bit of confidence to say, hey, you know, we can
do this, we can be a hardware company too. And
also keep in mind the iPad had yet to debut.
The iPad doesn't debut till so at the same time
that we know Apple is working, or at least we
(28:06):
suspect Apples working on a tablet, we also hear about
this Microsoft project. And the thing that said the Courier
apart was that it was a two panel tablet. It
was hinged in the middle, and it had two displays,
so it's like a booklet or a bigger version of
the Nintendo DS form factor where you had two screens
(28:28):
when you open it up. And there were videos that
leaked on the web that had showed the Courier's concept
where you would be able to make notes and read
the information and create content, and so it was all
about content creation, not just content consumption. And it seemed
to have a customized operating system based upon the videos
(28:50):
that or at least it would have a customized operating
system because the videos were all pretty much prototype, concept
level stuff. It wasn't necessarily a working model, and so
there was a lot of interest in this among geek
circles anyway, but in Microsoft killed off that project and
part of that might have been that the approach to
(29:10):
the Courier was closer to what Apple was doing. It
was more about taking a simpler computing device and giving
it some interesting features and functions rather than trying to
take a computer and put it into a tablet form factor.
And ultimately, I think Microsoft decided that that the Courier
(29:32):
did not really reflect what Microsoft is as a company.
And it also didn't support two of Microsoft's flagship software
UH products being Windows and the Office Suite. So since,
you know, since it didn't do that, Microsoft like, why
(29:52):
would we produce a product that doesn't support our other
products that are the foundation of our company. And ultimately
the cur you'r died UH. And in two thousand nine,
Microsoft officially ended support for Windows for tablet PC. It's UM.
I think that actually this might be a good time
to mention UH something that we haven't before. And this
(30:13):
dates back again has its roots in in years before UM.
Microsoft did, however, make a an operating system for PDAs
called Pocket pc UM and it was a very successful
competitor to the Palm uh P d A s, which
were immensely popular with enterprise, but they were they were
both aimed at business customers and then you know, it
(30:37):
did the same kinds of things. But as the uh
first with the Trio and some of the other smartphones,
um Windows uh well Pocket PC became Windows Mobile, it
migrated over to smartphones and that was the operating system.
And of course we we now have Windows Mobile eight um.
But yeah, I mean they were they were starting to
(30:58):
use uh you touchscreen devices, making the software for other
companies to use on their phones, so that you know,
they are working on software that will do that will
operate a device like a tablet what we think of
now as a tablet, um, but it wasn't on what
they were creating as their tablet products. So the surface,
(31:20):
I mean, I'm sorry, the courier is probably using something
along more along lines and Windows Mobile as it's operating
system than it would be a more fully developed, fully functional,
went traditional Windows computer operating system. And part of the
reason for that is that going with the smartphone model,
smartphones and mobile devices tend to use lower power processors
(31:44):
than a computer does. They use like arm based processors,
and that's done for a couple of reasons. That they're
smaller and they are more energy efficient, so that means
you have a longer battery life, and they're cooler in
a lot of cases to um, which is important when
you have a device that doesn't necessary really have an
internal fan, Yes, especially if you're going to put it
in your pocket. So, uh, for the Microsoft, for Microsoft
(32:08):
Windows to run, it really needs a pretty beefy processor.
You know, it can't be it can't just it can't
just be you know, a little dinky process here. So
you know, there were some tough choices for Microsoft to
make in order to pursue this. So moving on in
Balmber was at CS and he showed off the Steve Balmer.
(32:31):
Uh sorry, I just I think of him as the
bomber Um. He showed off the HP Slate tablet at
Windows at CES it was running Windows seven, so again
you know, moving away from the Windows XP tablet PC
stuff into Windows seven. But another problem, Windows seven not
optimized for touch screens. So there were several tablets that
(32:53):
came out that ran on Windows seven. They did not
do very well because a lot of the reviews said,
this still is not a very satisfactory experience when you're
using a touch screen interface. It's just it wasn't made
for that. And there and it shows yeah, I mean
you you it has clarified. It has touch screen functionality,
but it wasn't optimized, right, It wasn't designed for a
(33:15):
touch screen. It was designed for a traditional computer. And
while it had elements of touch screen interface design in it,
it wasn't that wasn't the primary purpose. There were people
making touch screen PCs all in ones. I remember HP
had a line. It was very much the same style
of computer as uh the imax of now where you
(33:37):
have everything baked into a basically looks like a big
monitor with a keyboard. You know, no no side computer,
you know, our tower computer. It's all built into that.
And it said you know, hey, you can use this
as a touch screen, and yes you you could, but
it it didn't have things like the pinch to zoom
and the swiping and the the same kinds of effects.
(33:58):
So things that built in really intuitive little gesture commands
and things just weren't part of it. And that was
a problem. Well, now we're up to and Microsoft has
introduced the surface tablets, which are going to run two
different versions of Windows. There's two two main categories of
these tablets. There's the Windows r T version and Windows
(34:20):
RT is again an O E M version of Windows
just as tablet the tablet PC Windows XP was um,
it's optimized for more mobile processors. So again that now
we're looking more like the the Apple tablet in the
sense that it's going to be on ARM based processors,
so lower power, more efficient, cooler, but less um less
(34:46):
capable of running really chunky programs. Right, So that's one version.
It's the consumer model Windows are T version. Then you
have the Windows eight pro version, which will come out
about three months after the debut of the Windows our
T version. According to Microsoft, now this one is going
to be having It will have an Intel Core processor, uh,
(35:08):
and it will run Windows eight Pro on it, so
it will have a more fully fledged operating system. And
Windows eight was an operating system designed with touch screen
in mind, at least as far as the metro design
of Windows eight goes. Because there's there's different model modes
of Windows eight, but one of them was specifically designed
(35:30):
with touch screens in mind. And when it first premiered,
Microsoft didn't show it off on a tablet. They were
showing it off on computers, and people were thinking, well,
does this mean Microsoft working on a tablet or they're
working with other manufacturers for tablets, and as it turns out,
Microsoft was making a tablet. You might ask yourself, well,
why is Microsoft doing that now instead of partnering with
(35:51):
the manufacturers that does for computers and other devices, And
they're possible months of possible reasons. One of them might
be that Microsoft wants to make sure that a tablet
is made quote unquote the right way. Yes, Microsoft is
making a tablet. Why are they making a tablet? Thank
you Captain Kirk. The Captain Kirk is climbing the mountain
(36:12):
and look it up on YouTube. So the the the
question would be I think the answer here is that
Microsoft wants to design a tablet around that that really
takes advantage of this operating system. They know what the
operating system can do, They've got the people who can
build the tablet itself. They want to be able to
do this to show off the operating system, and it's
(36:33):
not necessarily going to be a line of products that
will continue forever into the future. It may even be
that these two models are the only two Microsoft ever produces,
and that they let everyone else build tablets from here
on out. I don't know that Microsoft wants to get
into the manufacturing business. That has been rumored. In fact, um,
(36:54):
some of that has been going along in the the
tech media in the past few days since the announcement
is that uh uh, that's one of the things is
that maybe Microsoft is doing this as a a proof
of concept and they will get in but not uh
jump into the market completely. And once they have proven
that this is a thing and then it will work,
(37:16):
they will let everyone else take the lead. Because, um,
as with Google's acquisition of Motor Motor Rolla Mobility, if
Google gets into the hardware business, everybody said, well, wait,
they're gonna be competing with all these other hardware manufacturers
that they have been working with. Well, Microsoft is going
to be in the same type of vote, competing with
(37:37):
their partners. So um, you know, there are people who
who really do believe that that is they're they're showing
it off. But of course, as Apple has proven uh
time and time again, Yes, a closed system is closed,
but the manufacturer has much more control over the environment
when the system is closed, because they can make it
(37:59):
work exact actually the way they think it should work,
and they don't necessarily include anything else that wasn't intended
for example, again with the Google Android platform, if you
buy a Google Android device with only a few exceptions,
you're going to get extra stuff that you do not
necessarily want or need. Uh. Some of those things don't
(38:20):
make sense if you catch my dress. Some of those
things are impossible to remove without without your rooting your device.
So you know, this is one way to get around
that as well. Now we don't know if it's going
to succeed, we'll have to wait. But still, really a
computer that's been put into the tablet form factor, it's
it's again that philosophy is building scaling down as opposed
(38:42):
to scaling up some other lower powered electronic device. Um.
The other big thing that I saw everyone going gaga
about is the cover for the surface. Ah. Yes, Now
it is very much like the smart cover introduced with
the iPad too, because it has a magnetic uh clasp
on it so that when you you cover your surface tablet,
(39:05):
it will the magnets will snap to the the case
of the device and it will hold it closed. Yeah.
But it also has a keyboard built into it, and
there are two different types of the keyboard. There's a
pressure sensitive keyboard where the keys are not raised or anything,
but you can you know, designated certain keys, and then
there's actually a click keyboard where they're the keys are
(39:26):
raised slightly so it's more like a touch keyboard. Um.
And also they work uh uh, they have a variety
of colors. They work on Bluetooth to connect to the device. Um,
it's kind of interesting. They also the surface itself has
a little kickstand in the back of it that you
can flip out so it stands up like a laptop
(39:48):
screen would. In fact, a lot of people have said
that this is really just another version of the laptop
tablet hybrid. It's just that this is one that is
closer to the tablet side than the laptop side. And
I don't that Microsoft would argue that because they really
want you to think of it as a PC. And
the Microsoft presentation where they unveiled this, they referred to
(40:09):
it as a PC repeatedly. Yeah, which is exactly in
line with their their previous tablet effort and exactly an
opposite alignment of Apple's approach, where Apple was jobs would
say this is not a PC, this is a this
is a tablet. It's for the post PC environment, right right,
where whereas uh, the iPad, and it has been criticized
(40:32):
more times than I can account, certainly by people who
say it's a consumption device. It is a consumption device
that people began writing productivity software for. It's sort of
one people's hearts and minds by being a consumption device
primarily at first, but it is shown also well, the
software developers have shown that you can use it for
(40:53):
productivity and creativity and creation as well. And and Microsoft
isn't approaching it as a h well, this is a
scaled down productivity device that you can also use to
consume with. So it's it's really I mean that both
devices will do both, but it's two different and different
approaches to the same converging point, right, because that's why
(41:13):
this is all about his convergence, because you know, you
can't go an entire episode without me saying the word.
So that's a that's a that's an example there. Yeah,
and and you know, just so you guys know, I mean,
there have been several tablets that have run on various
versions of Windows, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows seven
all had tablets. Uh, it's just they didn't do so well.
(41:34):
And so you know, in terms of sales in terms
of sales. UM, So we'll see if the Surface could
perhaps buck the trend. You know what. I think we're
actually getting to the point where people are curious about this.
They really think, well, if Microsoft can make a truly
compelling product that can really run these rich applications that
(41:56):
are beyond the scope of something like an iPad or
an Android tablet, it perhaps there's a place for it.
And that might very well be instead of buying a laptop,
maybe I'd buy a surface next time because it has
all the capability of a laptop but has the portability
and other functions of a tablet. Why would why not
get that? UM? I think it's really going to depend
(42:16):
heavily upon the price of the surface. We don't know
what that's going to be yet. We don't know exactly
what processors they're going to put in it, right, Yeah,
we don't have the specific details. We do know that
the RT one will have an ARM based processor that's
what Windows RT was optimized for, and that the Windows
eight pro version will have some sort of x A
D six based processor, although and we don't know specifically
(42:38):
which one it will be. UM, we know that there's
going to be a couple of different flavors of each
of these. You know, there's certain bubery don't have the
different levels of storage space, you know, thirty two gig
versus sixty four gig versus twenty eight gig, that kind
of thing. But we don't really know what the price
ranges are going to be. It may very well be
that the Windows eight Pro one hundred twenty eight gig
(43:00):
version is that could that could happen. We don't know that.
That's the thing about a tablet, regardless of what system
it's running, you might say, is what you're giving up
to make it work and what price point you've got
to hit? So you know, you have to make sure
it's it's not going to run the battery down. You've
(43:22):
got to make sure that it's energy you know that
it's energy efficient, that it it looks nice even though
it has a nice screen on it, and it's functional.
But then you go, okay, well what software am I
gonna run? You know what, Obviously you're not going to
be able to run something like a Final Cut Pro
on an iOS device or Adobe full version of Adobe
(43:44):
Photoshop CS on a surface because there are certain things
you need the screen space, you need. So what are
you going to give up? What are you gonna take out?
What are you gonna put in? And that's that's really
what we're talking about when we're talking about the philosophy
that we're approaching it at Because, um, the forum factor
has been established as a success. You know, it's it's
(44:05):
a good These are good sizes for the device. Um.
As a matter of fact, you have the surface is
very similar in size to the iPads versus the the
Android tablets, which vary in size sixteen by nine screen size,
and you know they're smaller or bigger than you have
a tablets, the fablets, the fablets, the half phone half tablet.
(44:27):
I like saying that the Galaxy Note being one of
the first makes the term makes Jonathan squirms, So it's
not a big fan of the term fablet. I still
want a Galaxy Note, by the way, I don't own
one one, But I do think I do think that
Microsoft has uh it's on the right track, definitely, And
if anybody can do this, it's going to be Microsoft.
(44:49):
You know. Obviously Google and Apple have already proven that
they can do this. But I can't think of anybody
else getting into the field. Uh and just when I go,
there's Paul, these guys. That's right, they still have o s.
I don't know that we'll ever. I mean, technically it's
not dead dead yet. Uh. Now it will, I think
(45:11):
depend very heavily on the price, because people now have
an expectation of how much tablet should cost, not thinking
this is don't think of it as a tablet, think
of it as a PC. That's that's really hard because
now we've already established what a tablet is and what
it can do and what it cannot do. And perhaps
if you think of it, oh, well, this is a tablet,
it can just do more than this other tablets. Yeah,
(45:32):
but is more value. That's so I think it's really
gonna play down to how does Microsoft price it. Microsoft
could end up pricing it very very competitively, so that
they're essentially taking a loss in the hardware. But if
they do that, then they're shooting themselves in the foot
in another way, because they've set an expectation for all
their partners, and then if their partners are forced to
(45:54):
sell at it, you know, it doesn't make sense for
the partners to sell at a huge loss. If that
if that's how they may their money is through the hardware,
which is already a very low margin area to make
your money off of anyway. Um, so Microsoft has a
very delicate balancing act. They can't price it so competitively
that they have knocked all their partners out of the market,
and they can't go too far over the established price
(46:18):
of tablets because then everyone's gonna balk at the expense.
Plus uh. I think this is very important for Microsoft
to try for one very important reason. Um, there has
been a halo effect on Mac sales from the success
of the iPhone and the iPad. Now, of course you're
going to say that the Mac still trails Windows by
(46:41):
a huge margin. Yes, that's true, but there has been
an increase in Mac sales and they have been selling better.
Now there are rumors, of course that with the Chrome
operating system, that Google could be getting into the desktop
market and and it I think it is important to
for Microsoft to establish a beachhead in the tablet front
(47:05):
to keep people, to give them an option in to
keep everybody in the Windows ecosystem as it is. Well,
I have to say Windows eight Mobile, you can have
you know, the Windows RTU tablet and you can have
your Windows eight desktop. I have to say that I'm
not surprised about the Halo effect thing, because you know,
as we all know, Bungee used to develop games just
(47:26):
for the Mac and that was where Marathon came out of,
and the Halo games are sort of a spinoff of Marathon,
and those went over into not that Halo effect. The
Halo effect actually refers to, hey, I like this, and well,
you know what, that looks very much like this. I
think I'd be comfortable trying it out. And yes, people
who have been trying out uh, Macintosh computers, people who
(47:47):
didn't necessarily use them because they bought an iPhone or
an iPad and said, hey, you know, the operating system
looks pretty similar, I want to try it, and they
find out they worked very well together. Again, that's sort
of the benefit of the closed system. Just have a benefit,
have Halo on the mind because I get to play
Halo four in two weeks. Okay, all right, so I'm excited.
But well, that was the reason that Microsoft sold so well.
(48:10):
Office and Windows go so well together, and of course
Internet Explorer as the browser. Um, you know, that was
the focus of the whole antitrust thing is it part
of the operating system? Is it not part of the
operating system? Do people have a choice? But it makes
you wonder about the whole, like the any there's an
any trust thing brought up against Microsoft, but not brought
(48:33):
up against Apple and the iPad where Chess, Safari and anyway.
So these things I think are being redefined. Yeah they are.
I agree they are being redefined. So we're going to
wrap up this discussion on the history of Microsoft and
tablets and the discussion about the Surface, which I'm sure
we'll talk more about once it once it actually becomes
(48:56):
a real reality. It's a retail reality as opposed to
just the the versions that we've seen and where we
have more details and we can kind of I think
it will be fun to talk about it maybe a
year after the debut, to see what impact it had,
if any, on the industry as a whole. Well, that's
a that's a good point too, because as we know,
BlackBerry and Palms tablets lasted for a very very brief
(49:22):
period of time on store shelves. Yeah, I think the
Surface has a much better chance of making it long
term and being a real competitor to the iPad than
um those devices did, Yeah, I agree to. I think
they'll be around. Well, well, we'll see. I mean there
was a lot of initial excitement at the announcement at
(49:43):
any rate, so that hopefully will propel this. And competition
is always a good thing, So I want to see
this succeed, at least as far as it will make
other companies like Google and Apple and the various partners
really press to innovate and and continue to bring cool
features to consumers, so we'll all benefit in the end. Well,
(50:04):
that wraps up this discussion. Now. If you guys have
any suggestions for topics that we should cover in future
episodes of text Stuff, please let us know. You can
send us an email. Are and just tex stuff at
Discovery dot com or let us know on Facebook or Twitter.
Are handled there is tech stuff hs W and Chris
and I will talk to you again really soon for
(50:25):
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It's ready. Are you didn't touch with technology? With tech
Stuff from how stuff flix dot com. Hi, and welcome
again to tech stuff. My name is Chris Poulette and
(00:20):
I am an editor at how Stuff works dot com.
Sitting across from me, as he's usual, it's senior writer
Jonathan Strickland. Hey there, Chris, and guys. This is June
twenty two, which is a Friday. This is two thou twelve,
and the reason why I say the date is the
Monday of this week we heard an announcement from Microsoft
about an upcoming product that definitely made some waves in
(00:43):
the tech world. I saw some interest in places that
I didn't expect, uh, and it was the Microsoft Surface tablet. Yeah,
the the Microsoft Surface up until a few days ago,
was a big table top touch screen device, a very
cool tabletop touch screen device. I'm priced out of the
(01:04):
market for most of us. It was really meant for
commercial uses, not for consumer uses. Yeah. Actually, it kind
of reminded me in a way of Veneva Bush's uh Memex.
This was of course envisioned in the nineteen forties as
um uh basically a desktop workstation that would allow you
to uh photograph different documents and use them on microfilm. Um.
(01:29):
And of course the lot of the computer and internet
engineers since then has sort of taken that as a
It ended up being a semi self fulfilling prophecy just
because people like the idea and he said, well, yeah,
it would be nice to have this. Well, the surface
was actually a desk itself in a way, a table
with a big touch screen surface, and you could have
different things on the screen and interact with it. You could,
(01:51):
you know, if you were using it in a work setting,
which it's not really designed to do, but you could
have all your documents in your desk, you know, on
the desktop literally and move things around. Very neat, but
very expensive. And uh uh yeah. But they they repurposed
the name. Yes, they changed the name of that device.
Uh pixel s right, that's the new name for what
(02:13):
was the surface and now the surface is a tablet.
And I've heard some people talk about how Microsoft is
aping Apple, which I think is completely off base for
multiple reasons. But we'll get into those and in order
to really understand where I'm coming from about how Microsoft
is not aping Apple, you have to kind of look
at Microsoft's history with the tablet, which has not been
(02:34):
a very smooth one. No, but it has been a
fairly long one, especially in tech terms. Yes, back in
Microsoft released a version of Windows called Windows for pen Computing.
And pen Computing was essentially the idea of using some
sort of interface that would require a stylus to input
(02:56):
data into a display. So it didn't necessarily mean it
would have to be in a tablet form factor. It
could be a screen on a wall, it could be
your laptop screen or or desktop screen. But the idea
was that there needed to be some form of support
for a different interface than just the keyboard and mouse. Uh. Now,
(03:18):
that product didn't really take off, and in fact, the
form factors didn't really take off outside of some niche markets.
And part of the problem is that building uh software
that can recognize handwriting is really really tricky, and in fact,
Apple had already tried it, yeah, with the Newton, the
(03:42):
Apple Newton, which was a message pad, Yes, a message pad.
It was sort of a PDA right UM a personal
digital assistant right not public display of affection right. A
p D a UM is basically a small handheld device um,
that you would use the stylist to interact with it
had a hum, it didn't have a the same kind
(04:03):
of touch screen we use now, right, it didn't. It
didn't necessarily allow you to use your fingers. You had
to use the stylus, right, um. And and basically what
it would do is I mean it was really at
the time designed to be a business tool. Yeah, for
the enterprise market. You would keep your calendar in there
and your your phone contacts and things. So it's a
(04:24):
smartphone without the phone, yeah, sort of more or less so.
But but Microsoft was not looking at creating devices or
marketing for devices that were, uh, this this kind of
tier of electronics below computers, right, because you could think
of a smartphone is like and a sub brand of computer,
(04:46):
but it it doesn't have the full process and capability
and uh, it's not as robust as a full computer
would be. Right. So Microsoft view was that, no, we
want to support devices that are essentially computers, just computers
that are in a different form factor than your big
desktop tower and display and keyboard and mouse. But again,
(05:08):
developing the software to try and support that was very
tricky and and it didn't really take off in the
early nineties, it just nothing really happened, and for a
while Microsoft kind of just put it on the back burner,
although Bill Gates was still who was the head of
Microsoft at the time, still very much determined to find
a way to make this work because he saw that
(05:30):
as the future of computing. He said that, you know,
eventually that the tablet form factor would actually outstrip other
fact versions of computers like laptops and desktops. So in
nineties seven, Microsoft hires a fellow named Dick Brass, who
was a guy who was involved in designing electronic dictionaries
(05:52):
in the eighties, and they hired him to kind of
spearhead this approach of trying to think about pen based
computing and and what would it take to make that successful.
So what Brass ended up doing was he ended up
working with a carpenter of all things, to put together
(06:14):
a rough looking model of what a tablet could look like.
And um, it was a wooden model, had a flat
base and a keyboard and a flat screen, and uh,
the screen could be separated from the keyboard. So this
was still a device that when it was put together,
(06:35):
would resemble a computer in some sense. But then you
could detach the screen and have that as a separate device,
which sounds very familiar. We've seen a lot of devices
over the last few years that have some sort of
laptop tablet hybrid approach. Right, See, that'll come into play later. Uh.
(06:55):
The so in in November of two thousand, we're skipping
a ad a little bit at the Comdex event. Now
Comdex is no longer a thing, yes, but at the
time it was a big computer trade show. Yeah, it
was the largest computer trade show in the world at
the time. Now uh c E s UH formerly known
(07:17):
as the Consumer Electronic Show, Yes, and still that's what
it stands for, but they want to be called C
E s UM. That's basically UM TVs UH, portable music players,
car stereos, stuff that you and I are going to
buy for uh daily everyday stuff. Yeah, there's also some
tablets and some phones and things. But really that's not
(07:38):
a whole lot of computers. I mean laptops. You see
a lot of laptops, like especially this last CS two
thousand twelve, that was when the Ultra books were really launched.
But in general it is not a computer showcase. No, no,
and neither is is E three the Electronics Entertainment XPO.
That's a video game showcase right right. Sometimes a hardware
(07:58):
showcase as well, but those are very specialized kinds of hardware. Right.
You see computers there, but they're you know, specifically oriented
towards gaming purposes or showing off gaming stuff. You might
see video cards. You know, hey you got a new
graphics card. Uh. Was the boring part of computers? Well yeah,
(08:21):
kind of? I mean was It was really a geeky
year side of the industry, get right down to it,
and a lot of it was, you know, personal computers
meant for home business. I don't think personal computers for
all different applications. But really, I mean the the image
most people have as a bunch of a bunch of
guys wearing short sleeve button up shirts with ties, sitting
(08:41):
in a big auditorium and drooling over the latest specs
of the next next year's models of personal computers. Um,
which is an unfair characterization, but that's often what people
think about. So at the two thousand Condex event, which
took place in Lost Vegas, Bill Gates came out and
(09:03):
had a keynote speech. He actually said some really interesting
things in that speech some stuff that I think you
could almost say everything you said turned out to be wrong,
at least at least in the short term. Well, you know,
that's the trouble with being a visionary and and Bill
Gates and uh, you know many of his contemporaries are
(09:23):
and we're visionaries. Um, but you know, different people have
different visions, and that things in the market also has
a saying this of course, right, and sometimes the future
turns out differently than the way you expect. And he said,
for example, that the browser is dead. Yeah, he said,
the browser era is over in two thousand, which you know,
when you think about it kind of died for a while.
(09:44):
It did, it did, and that and that was just
before the dot com bubble bursts too, so there was
some there were danger on the horizon already, but that
was pre web two point out right. But the browser
obviously is not dead. He also thought that people would
not want this sort of shared computing experience, the idea
of having uh, your computer essentially be a dumb terminal
(10:09):
attached to some sort of smarter computer device that would
do processing and storage. Well, it turns out cloud computing
has really taken off and so that's essentially what he
was talking about was cloud computing. It was just before
people were referring to it as cloud computing. I think
of it more as the old time share. Well, yeah,
the timeshare model and the the the dumb terminals that
(10:31):
you would see in college campuses where you had a
mainframe and you would connect to the main frame. Uh,
people at the time did want desktop computers. You wanted
to be able to operate your computer where you were
in your house instead of having to go to a
computer lab and work on the mainframe. Right. So yeah,
and it's it's funny to say that because, um, now
(10:54):
in retrospect, it looks I mean, we're I feel like
we're kind of teasing Bill Gates, because a lot of
the things he said, you know, turned out to be
sort of semi false at the time. In the context,
what he said sort of came to pass, and then
it reinvented itself in a different way. And there were
a lot of limitations on on the world when Bill
(11:15):
Gates made these these predictions. For instance, we didn't have
the broadband connections that we have now, so so having
a cloud computing infrastructure back in two thousand was not
a reasonable expectation. It wasn't feasible because you couldn't be
You wouldn't be able to access the data you would
need in a timely manner. It would take so long
to transfer the data that it would negate the the
(11:38):
benefits of having off site storage and all that kind
of stuff. So at the time his predictions made perfect sense.
But he also predicted that the tablet PC was going
to be huge, that this was going to be the
next revolution in UH in in computers and UH. Microsoft
software architect Bert Keeley came out and he specifically talked
(11:59):
about the tablet PC at that event. UM Now, the
information he gave was that the device would weigh less
than three pounds, and that would run Windows based software applications,
and you would use the stylus to make notes on
images and office documents which would then get incorporated into
UH files. So that let's say that you're looking at
(12:20):
a picture of something. Let's say that you're working with
an advertiser, for example, on an AD, and the advertiser
sends you a mock up of what the ad is
going to look like. You can make digital notes on
the ad using this tablet device and send it back
and say like, all right, you know this the product
isn't featured prominently enough for whatever you know, or or
(12:42):
I don't like the color of this this background because
it's it's masking the product. That sort of stuff. Um,
that was kind of the idea. And beyond just those
those use cases as well. I mean pretty much anytime
you could think of needing to make a note on
a digital file, that's when it would come into play, right, Um,
But it was just an announcement and a demonstration of
(13:04):
the prototype. There was no product to show off yet.
In two thousand one at Comdex, Compact came out and
showed off a prototype tablet PC running Windows and at
that time Gates then predicted that within five years, tablets
would be the most popular form factor of computers sold
on the market. And here's where I'm gonna take a
(13:26):
little break here. So we've already talked about how Microsoft's
got a long history and tablets. That doesn't have anything
to do with the iPad. Right, here's where I am
going to mention the iPad, Because even though the iPad
doesn't come out for another nine years, you know, we
see the iPad unveiled in UM Steve Jobs decided to
(13:48):
approach the iPad in a fundamentally different way than the
way Gates was looking at the tablet PC, and that
Gates was looking at a way to create create a
computer that was in the form factor of a tablet.
Jobs was looking at building up a smartphone like device
or iPod like device into the tablet form factor. He
(14:09):
was looking at scaling up smartphones, not scaling down computers,
and in fact, that was jobs main point. He said
that his competitors were all trying to make computers into
tablets and that that was the wrong approach and that
it would not succeed. Well, this is kind of what
Jobs was talking about. Microsoft has a history of trying
to make computers fit into the tablet form factor, and
(14:33):
historically they have not met with very much success. And
this compact prototype was one of the first ones that
sort of showed off what a Windows based tablet would
be capable of doing. But it ultimately did not really
make a huge impact, and again Gates's prediction about tablets
(14:56):
being really popular would ultimately be true. It was from
a completely different approach than the one Microsoft was making.
So moving ahead, So November seven, two the tablet PC
gets unveiled by Gates, who says he has anticipated this
moment for many, many years. And uh, they talk about
(15:19):
how they're going to be seven different computer makers that
will create tablets that run Windows software. So this is
not a Microsoft machine. It's Microsoft supporting the tablet form
factor by building an operating system specifically designed for that. Yeah,
that was the Windows XP Tablet PC edition. That's exactly right. Um, yeah,
(15:42):
it's it's exactly the way that Apple doesn't do it. Um,
you know that people talk about that. Uh you know
how Apple is a closed system because it manufactures both
the hardware and writes the software for it. So uh,
you know they do both sides of that equation. Microsoft
offt um keeping ourselves in this timeframe. Microsoft doesn't make hardware.
(16:05):
They make software, lots of different software, and they work
with many, many different hardware partners to build the machines
that run the operating system. And as a matter of fact,
this uh Windows XP Tablet PC edition was only available
to O E. M's original equipment manufacturers. So if you
were Compact or HP or you know one of the
(16:26):
other manufacturers that was was working with them, you could
buy this software and preinstalled on the tablets. You wouldn't
be able to find it on the shelf at shelf
at your local computer store. Hey, they still had computer
stores back then. Yep, and and uh. There were some
other things that really set this apart from what the
(16:47):
you know, the tablets that would come down the line
several years later. One is that a lot of the
tablets quote unquote tablets that came out in two thousand
three was when they really started hitting store shelves. All
those tablets were really hybrids. They were laptop hybrids. So
you had the kind that would either have a screen
that would swivel and then fold back down over the keyboard,
(17:09):
so you would have a really thick tablet because there
would be a keyboard section folded underneath. It's basically, uh,
the same form factor as a laptop with a closed case.
You know, it's it's just got the screen flipped around
and closed exactly. Or you would have the other type
of hybrid where you could detach the screen from the
(17:29):
base of the keyboard and it would just become its
own little computing device with a touch screen interface, again
mostly using stylus, not necessarily using your fingers. Um Gates
was very uh optimistic about the chances of this in
the market. He thought that at least half a million
(17:50):
would sell in the first year, and they'd spent around
four hundred million dollars on the technology to develop the
tablet PC operating system and to support that form factor. Um.
The manufacturers that were included in that list of seven,
among them were HP, Samsung, Tshiba, and a ser But
(18:11):
there were a couple of notable missing persons on that list,
the two being really Dell and IBM, huge names and computers,
especially at this time in the early two thousand's personal computers. Yeah,
so back in the early two thousand's, these two companies
(18:31):
famous for making computers, we're kind of holding back in
order to see if the tablet form factor truly would succeed,
because there was a lot of skepticism in the market.
I mean, there's a lot of optimism on one side,
but there were some companies saying, you know, this is
really risky. Do we really want to pour millions of
dollars in research and development and production to build something
(18:53):
that we are not convinced people want yet, And so
they decided to wait. And also these devices they ranged
in price between around eighteen hundred dollars. They were computers exactly.
They were full price computers. They weren't a tablet in
the sense that we think of today, where they're running
on lower power processors and using specialized operating systems. These
(19:16):
were Windows computers in a form factor of a tablet.
So the tablets had problems. They their screen resolution wasn't
the best, they tended to have really short battery life,
and the handwriting software, recognition software had lots of problems.
In fact, they had a lot of problems during the
development phase. I read one story about how they back
(19:41):
at Microsoft, while they were developing the tablet pcos, they
had an entire team switch from laptops to tablet PCs
to really test them and see what's going on and
see if they could do their work on a day
to day basis using them. And they found that whenever
they were making notes on a digital file, if they
had to make multiple notes, often the tablet PC operating
(20:04):
system wasn't really sure where those notes should go and
sometimes would combine them to make nonsensical sentences. It was
combining different notes into a run on sentence that has
no real meaning, like a bunch of sentence fragments just
crammed together. So they actually removed that feature before shipping
(20:24):
it because they realized that that would do more harm
than good. In fact, Apple had seen very similar problems
when they developed the Newton a decade earlier, so it
wasn't unique to Microsoft to have these problems. Um. But
another problem was that the adaptation of the operating system
and more more importantly, the applications that rested on top
(20:47):
of the operating system, they didn't really work so well
with a touch screen user interface. They you know, it
was it was trying to put software that was meant
to be used with a keyboard and mouse and put
it into a different form factor with a different user
interface without allowing for that difference. So a lot of
(21:09):
the applications were not intuitive, some of them were downright
unusable because they just weren't designed for that kind of interface.
So you had a product that had a lot of
horsepower to it, especially compared to you know, the computers
of the day. It was fairly equivalent to them, but
it just the software couldn't match up to the hardware
(21:31):
because the user interface wasn't there. So you would have
a big, heavy, expensive piece of electronics that couldn't do
what you needed it to do. That seems like a
waste of money, It does seem like that. Around that
same time, Microsoft also partnered with Fujitsu and view Sonic
to create smart displays. These were displays that linked to
(21:52):
a PC through WiFi. So you would still have a
home base PC and this device would hook to it.
You would have a smart touch you know, display case
where you could use it as if it were a tablet,
the processing being handled by the computer that it's hooked
to through WiFi. But these were still pretty expensive, like
around a thousand dollars or more, and it didn't really succeed,
(22:16):
so Microsoft ended up killing that project within about a
year of its starting. Then there was a Project Origami, Yes,
Project Origami, Yeah, that was for handheld PCs and touch
screen interfaces. Yeah, exactly, Uh, including the ultramobile PCs. Do
(22:37):
you remember that term? Yes? I do. It's not one
you run into very much anymore, but yeah, ultramobile PCs
that that was sort of the predecessor to both tablets
and netbooks, um, but in a way also a predecessor
to ultra books. Uh. They still had a lot of problems,
mostly because again the operating system wasn't fully optimized for
(22:57):
a touch screen interface, and also they tended to have
really lousy battery life. UM, not not a great experience.
Now that's not to say that these devices didn't work
and that people didn't use them. Um. There were a
couple uh industries really that took to them medical industry medicular, Yes,
(23:22):
the medical industry, um followed their own advice and took
two tablets and called Microsoft in the morning. Yeah, no,
but they did. And I actually still see that at
some of the doctor's offices that I've been to in
the past few years, they're still using, um, the traditional
you know, Microsoft tablet design. I mean, it's very useful
(23:45):
for that kind of thing, especially because um they're using
the same software uh to register and track patient records
that they would use on a desktop computer or laptop
computer typically, So it's very compatible with that, and it
has been very efficient for that. And it's good because
they can carry this around in the tablet form factor,
(24:07):
so they can carry it under their arm, uh you know,
drop it down where they can make notes and they
can talk to you and and and take notes on
this on this tablet device, but UM they had a
specific need to have something like that, So I think
that's one of the reasons why it um it took
off in that particular market. Sure, yeah, and for home
(24:28):
users not not like that. That's one of the things
that Microsoft has always pushed is the idea that these
are devices that can run the applications you're used to
on your computer, things that that the other form of tablet,
Apple's version of tablet can't do because the upbrake system
isn't robust enough to support all the features and functions
(24:49):
of the software. So for example, they're specifically one note
which is part of the Microsoft Office Suite for Windows UM,
this Note taking software, which I like very much actually UM,
and they made sure that that was that in particular,
in addition to the Office applications or Office compatibility, they
(25:09):
made sure that was available for the tablets. So you
can see where Microsoft is coming from. It's just again
they've had this these difficulties, and some of it is
beyond their control because again there they're creating the software
and the hardware is being designed by other companies. That
doesn't excuse the problems with how the software isn't fully
(25:32):
optimized for touch screens. Obviously that's something that's very important.
And again Apple got that they designed their interface with
touch screen from the ground up. They didn't try and
scale something down and then adapted for touch screens. So
it's a different philosophy. That doesn't mean that Microsoft's approach
won't ultimately work. It's just that they've had a really long, hard,
(25:53):
uh journey and it's not over yet. Because we haven't
talked about the two things that came out in two
thousand eight. We mentioned one of them because we mentioned
Project Surface, which was the table top device you were
talking about. Surface used cameras inside the device pointed up
at the screen in order to detect where touches were
(26:14):
being placed upon the screen surface. It could do multiple
touches at once, so you could have um several people
all playing on a surface at the same time, and
it could track all those movements. It also meant that
you could do something like take a piece of paper
with something written on it, place it face down on
the surface, and copy it to the surface, so suddenly
(26:35):
you have a digital copy of the physical document you
had in your hands. And it's because there were these
cameras underneath that could look up and and see what
was being pressed against the surfaces. Surface would have been yep.
So I was pretty cool. But the other thing that
the other project that we became aware of in two
(26:56):
thousand and eight, really in two thousand nine was Project
Curve Ear. Yes, this was an internal project of Microsoft,
and it was led by a couple of different people,
one of whom was uh, someone who came from the
Xbox division of Microsoft, a division that did really really
well in the sense that it went into a uh
an industry that already had some dominating companies and it
(27:20):
mostly mainly Sony and Nintendo and created carved out of
space and was very successful in that space, at least
especially in the United States by creating the Xbox. If
you think about it, it's uh. It also provided a
valuable lesson for Microsoft. And I've never seen this written down.
It just occurred to me. Um. Up until this point,
Microsoft didn't make hardware, but the Xbox showed him that
(27:45):
they could, and it probably you know, again, again, I've
never seen anybody say this or hurt anybody say this,
but I would imagine that probably gave him a little
bit of confidence to say, hey, you know, we can
do this, we can be a hardware company too. And
also keep in mind the iPad had yet to debut.
The iPad doesn't debut till so at the same time
that we know Apple is working, or at least we
(28:06):
suspect Apples working on a tablet, we also hear about
this Microsoft project. And the thing that said the Courier
apart was that it was a two panel tablet. It
was hinged in the middle, and it had two displays,
so it's like a booklet or a bigger version of
the Nintendo DS form factor where you had two screens
(28:28):
when you open it up. And there were videos that
leaked on the web that had showed the Courier's concept
where you would be able to make notes and read
the information and create content, and so it was all
about content creation, not just content consumption. And it seemed
to have a customized operating system based upon the videos
(28:50):
that or at least it would have a customized operating
system because the videos were all pretty much prototype, concept
level stuff. It wasn't necessarily a working model, and so
there was a lot of interest in this among geek
circles anyway, but in Microsoft killed off that project and
part of that might have been that the approach to
(29:10):
the Courier was closer to what Apple was doing. It
was more about taking a simpler computing device and giving
it some interesting features and functions rather than trying to
take a computer and put it into a tablet form factor.
And ultimately, I think Microsoft decided that that the Courier
(29:32):
did not really reflect what Microsoft is as a company.
And it also didn't support two of Microsoft's flagship software
UH products being Windows and the Office Suite. So since,
you know, since it didn't do that, Microsoft like, why
(29:52):
would we produce a product that doesn't support our other
products that are the foundation of our company. And ultimately
the cur you'r died UH. And in two thousand nine,
Microsoft officially ended support for Windows for tablet PC. It's UM.
I think that actually this might be a good time
to mention UH something that we haven't before. And this
(30:13):
dates back again has its roots in in years before UM.
Microsoft did, however, make a an operating system for PDAs
called Pocket pc UM and it was a very successful
competitor to the Palm uh P d A s, which
were immensely popular with enterprise, but they were they were
both aimed at business customers and then you know, it
(30:37):
did the same kinds of things. But as the uh
first with the Trio and some of the other smartphones,
um Windows uh well Pocket PC became Windows Mobile, it
migrated over to smartphones and that was the operating system.
And of course we we now have Windows Mobile eight um.
But yeah, I mean they were they were starting to
(30:58):
use uh you touchscreen devices, making the software for other
companies to use on their phones, so that you know,
they are working on software that will do that will
operate a device like a tablet what we think of
now as a tablet, um, but it wasn't on what
they were creating as their tablet products. So the surface,
(31:20):
I mean, I'm sorry, the courier is probably using something
along more along lines and Windows Mobile as it's operating
system than it would be a more fully developed, fully functional,
went traditional Windows computer operating system. And part of the
reason for that is that going with the smartphone model,
smartphones and mobile devices tend to use lower power processors
(31:44):
than a computer does. They use like arm based processors,
and that's done for a couple of reasons. That they're
smaller and they are more energy efficient, so that means
you have a longer battery life, and they're cooler in
a lot of cases to um, which is important when
you have a device that doesn't necessary really have an
internal fan, Yes, especially if you're going to put it
in your pocket. So, uh, for the Microsoft, for Microsoft
(32:08):
Windows to run, it really needs a pretty beefy processor.
You know, it can't be it can't just it can't
just be you know, a little dinky process here. So
you know, there were some tough choices for Microsoft to
make in order to pursue this. So moving on in
Balmber was at CS and he showed off the Steve Balmer.
(32:31):
Uh sorry, I just I think of him as the
bomber Um. He showed off the HP Slate tablet at
Windows at CES it was running Windows seven, so again
you know, moving away from the Windows XP tablet PC
stuff into Windows seven. But another problem, Windows seven not
optimized for touch screens. So there were several tablets that
(32:53):
came out that ran on Windows seven. They did not
do very well because a lot of the reviews said,
this still is not a very satisfactory experience when you're
using a touch screen interface. It's just it wasn't made
for that. And there and it shows yeah, I mean
you you it has clarified. It has touch screen functionality,
but it wasn't optimized, right, It wasn't designed for a
(33:15):
touch screen. It was designed for a traditional computer. And
while it had elements of touch screen interface design in it,
it wasn't that wasn't the primary purpose. There were people
making touch screen PCs all in ones. I remember HP
had a line. It was very much the same style
of computer as uh the imax of now where you
(33:37):
have everything baked into a basically looks like a big
monitor with a keyboard. You know, no no side computer,
you know, our tower computer. It's all built into that.
And it said you know, hey, you can use this
as a touch screen, and yes you you could, but
it it didn't have things like the pinch to zoom
and the swiping and the the same kinds of effects.
(33:58):
So things that built in really intuitive little gesture commands
and things just weren't part of it. And that was
a problem. Well, now we're up to and Microsoft has
introduced the surface tablets, which are going to run two
different versions of Windows. There's two two main categories of
these tablets. There's the Windows r T version and Windows
(34:20):
RT is again an O E M version of Windows
just as tablet the tablet PC Windows XP was um,
it's optimized for more mobile processors. So again that now
we're looking more like the the Apple tablet in the
sense that it's going to be on ARM based processors,
so lower power, more efficient, cooler, but less um less
(34:46):
capable of running really chunky programs. Right, So that's one version.
It's the consumer model Windows are T version. Then you
have the Windows eight pro version, which will come out
about three months after the debut of the Windows our
T version. According to Microsoft, now this one is going
to be having It will have an Intel Core processor, uh,
(35:08):
and it will run Windows eight Pro on it, so
it will have a more fully fledged operating system. And
Windows eight was an operating system designed with touch screen
in mind, at least as far as the metro design
of Windows eight goes. Because there's there's different model modes
of Windows eight, but one of them was specifically designed
(35:30):
with touch screens in mind. And when it first premiered,
Microsoft didn't show it off on a tablet. They were
showing it off on computers, and people were thinking, well,
does this mean Microsoft working on a tablet or they're
working with other manufacturers for tablets, and as it turns out,
Microsoft was making a tablet. You might ask yourself, well,
why is Microsoft doing that now instead of partnering with
(35:51):
the manufacturers that does for computers and other devices, And
they're possible months of possible reasons. One of them might
be that Microsoft wants to make sure that a tablet
is made quote unquote the right way. Yes, Microsoft is
making a tablet. Why are they making a tablet? Thank
you Captain Kirk. The Captain Kirk is climbing the mountain
(36:12):
and look it up on YouTube. So the the the
question would be I think the answer here is that
Microsoft wants to design a tablet around that that really
takes advantage of this operating system. They know what the
operating system can do, They've got the people who can
build the tablet itself. They want to be able to
do this to show off the operating system, and it's
(36:33):
not necessarily going to be a line of products that
will continue forever into the future. It may even be
that these two models are the only two Microsoft ever produces,
and that they let everyone else build tablets from here
on out. I don't know that Microsoft wants to get
into the manufacturing business. That has been rumored. In fact, um,
(36:54):
some of that has been going along in the the
tech media in the past few days since the announcement
is that uh uh, that's one of the things is
that maybe Microsoft is doing this as a a proof
of concept and they will get in but not uh
jump into the market completely. And once they have proven
that this is a thing and then it will work,
(37:16):
they will let everyone else take the lead. Because, um,
as with Google's acquisition of Motor Motor Rolla Mobility, if
Google gets into the hardware business, everybody said, well, wait,
they're gonna be competing with all these other hardware manufacturers
that they have been working with. Well, Microsoft is going
to be in the same type of vote, competing with
(37:37):
their partners. So um, you know, there are people who
who really do believe that that is they're they're showing
it off. But of course, as Apple has proven uh
time and time again, Yes, a closed system is closed,
but the manufacturer has much more control over the environment
when the system is closed, because they can make it
(37:59):
work exact actually the way they think it should work,
and they don't necessarily include anything else that wasn't intended
for example, again with the Google Android platform, if you
buy a Google Android device with only a few exceptions,
you're going to get extra stuff that you do not
necessarily want or need. Uh. Some of those things don't
(38:20):
make sense if you catch my dress. Some of those
things are impossible to remove without without your rooting your device.
So you know, this is one way to get around
that as well. Now we don't know if it's going
to succeed, we'll have to wait. But still, really a
computer that's been put into the tablet form factor, it's
it's again that philosophy is building scaling down as opposed
(38:42):
to scaling up some other lower powered electronic device. Um.
The other big thing that I saw everyone going gaga
about is the cover for the surface. Ah. Yes, Now
it is very much like the smart cover introduced with
the iPad too, because it has a magnetic uh clasp
on it so that when you you cover your surface tablet,
(39:05):
it will the magnets will snap to the the case
of the device and it will hold it closed. Yeah.
But it also has a keyboard built into it, and
there are two different types of the keyboard. There's a
pressure sensitive keyboard where the keys are not raised or anything,
but you can you know, designated certain keys, and then
there's actually a click keyboard where they're the keys are
(39:26):
raised slightly so it's more like a touch keyboard. Um.
And also they work uh uh, they have a variety
of colors. They work on Bluetooth to connect to the device. Um,
it's kind of interesting. They also the surface itself has
a little kickstand in the back of it that you
can flip out so it stands up like a laptop
(39:48):
screen would. In fact, a lot of people have said
that this is really just another version of the laptop
tablet hybrid. It's just that this is one that is
closer to the tablet side than the laptop side. And
I don't that Microsoft would argue that because they really
want you to think of it as a PC. And
the Microsoft presentation where they unveiled this, they referred to
(40:09):
it as a PC repeatedly. Yeah, which is exactly in
line with their their previous tablet effort and exactly an
opposite alignment of Apple's approach, where Apple was jobs would
say this is not a PC, this is a this
is a tablet. It's for the post PC environment, right right,
where whereas uh, the iPad, and it has been criticized
(40:32):
more times than I can account, certainly by people who
say it's a consumption device. It is a consumption device
that people began writing productivity software for. It's sort of
one people's hearts and minds by being a consumption device
primarily at first, but it is shown also well, the
software developers have shown that you can use it for
(40:53):
productivity and creativity and creation as well. And and Microsoft
isn't approaching it as a h well, this is a
scaled down productivity device that you can also use to
consume with. So it's it's really I mean that both
devices will do both, but it's two different and different
approaches to the same converging point, right, because that's why
(41:13):
this is all about his convergence, because you know, you
can't go an entire episode without me saying the word.
So that's a that's a that's an example there. Yeah,
and and you know, just so you guys know, I mean,
there have been several tablets that have run on various
versions of Windows, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows seven
all had tablets. Uh, it's just they didn't do so well.
(41:34):
And so you know, in terms of sales in terms
of sales. UM, So we'll see if the Surface could
perhaps buck the trend. You know what. I think we're
actually getting to the point where people are curious about this.
They really think, well, if Microsoft can make a truly
compelling product that can really run these rich applications that
(41:56):
are beyond the scope of something like an iPad or
an Android tablet, it perhaps there's a place for it.
And that might very well be instead of buying a laptop,
maybe I'd buy a surface next time because it has
all the capability of a laptop but has the portability
and other functions of a tablet. Why would why not
get that? UM? I think it's really going to depend
(42:16):
heavily upon the price of the surface. We don't know
what that's going to be yet. We don't know exactly
what processors they're going to put in it, right, Yeah,
we don't have the specific details. We do know that
the RT one will have an ARM based processor that's
what Windows RT was optimized for, and that the Windows
eight pro version will have some sort of x A
D six based processor, although and we don't know specifically
(42:38):
which one it will be. UM, we know that there's
going to be a couple of different flavors of each
of these. You know, there's certain bubery don't have the
different levels of storage space, you know, thirty two gig
versus sixty four gig versus twenty eight gig, that kind
of thing. But we don't really know what the price
ranges are going to be. It may very well be
that the Windows eight Pro one hundred twenty eight gig
(43:00):
version is that could that could happen. We don't know that.
That's the thing about a tablet, regardless of what system
it's running, you might say, is what you're giving up
to make it work and what price point you've got
to hit? So you know, you have to make sure
it's it's not going to run the battery down. You've
(43:22):
got to make sure that it's energy you know that
it's energy efficient, that it it looks nice even though
it has a nice screen on it, and it's functional.
But then you go, okay, well what software am I
gonna run? You know what, Obviously you're not going to
be able to run something like a Final Cut Pro
on an iOS device or Adobe full version of Adobe
(43:44):
Photoshop CS on a surface because there are certain things
you need the screen space, you need. So what are
you going to give up? What are you gonna take out?
What are you gonna put in? And that's that's really
what we're talking about when we're talking about the philosophy
that we're approaching it at Because, um, the forum factor
has been established as a success. You know, it's it's
(44:05):
a good These are good sizes for the device. Um.
As a matter of fact, you have the surface is
very similar in size to the iPads versus the the
Android tablets, which vary in size sixteen by nine screen size,
and you know they're smaller or bigger than you have
a tablets, the fablets, the fablets, the half phone half tablet.
(44:27):
I like saying that the Galaxy Note being one of
the first makes the term makes Jonathan squirms, So it's
not a big fan of the term fablet. I still
want a Galaxy Note, by the way, I don't own
one one, But I do think I do think that
Microsoft has uh it's on the right track, definitely, And
if anybody can do this, it's going to be Microsoft.
(44:49):
You know. Obviously Google and Apple have already proven that
they can do this. But I can't think of anybody
else getting into the field. Uh and just when I go,
there's Paul, these guys. That's right, they still have o s.
I don't know that we'll ever. I mean, technically it's
not dead dead yet. Uh. Now it will, I think
(45:11):
depend very heavily on the price, because people now have
an expectation of how much tablet should cost, not thinking
this is don't think of it as a tablet, think
of it as a PC. That's that's really hard because
now we've already established what a tablet is and what
it can do and what it cannot do. And perhaps
if you think of it, oh, well, this is a tablet,
it can just do more than this other tablets. Yeah,
(45:32):
but is more value. That's so I think it's really
gonna play down to how does Microsoft price it. Microsoft
could end up pricing it very very competitively, so that
they're essentially taking a loss in the hardware. But if
they do that, then they're shooting themselves in the foot
in another way, because they've set an expectation for all
their partners, and then if their partners are forced to
(45:54):
sell at it, you know, it doesn't make sense for
the partners to sell at a huge loss. If that
if that's how they may their money is through the hardware,
which is already a very low margin area to make
your money off of anyway. Um, so Microsoft has a
very delicate balancing act. They can't price it so competitively
that they have knocked all their partners out of the market,
and they can't go too far over the established price
(46:18):
of tablets because then everyone's gonna balk at the expense.
Plus uh. I think this is very important for Microsoft
to try for one very important reason. Um, there has
been a halo effect on Mac sales from the success
of the iPhone and the iPad. Now, of course you're
going to say that the Mac still trails Windows by
(46:41):
a huge margin. Yes, that's true, but there has been
an increase in Mac sales and they have been selling better.
Now there are rumors, of course that with the Chrome
operating system, that Google could be getting into the desktop
market and and it I think it is important to
for Microsoft to establish a beachhead in the tablet front
(47:05):
to keep people, to give them an option in to
keep everybody in the Windows ecosystem as it is. Well,
I have to say Windows eight Mobile, you can have
you know, the Windows RTU tablet and you can have
your Windows eight desktop. I have to say that I'm
not surprised about the Halo effect thing, because you know,
as we all know, Bungee used to develop games just
(47:26):
for the Mac and that was where Marathon came out of,
and the Halo games are sort of a spinoff of Marathon,
and those went over into not that Halo effect. The
Halo effect actually refers to, hey, I like this, and well,
you know what, that looks very much like this. I
think I'd be comfortable trying it out. And yes, people
who have been trying out uh, Macintosh computers, people who
(47:47):
didn't necessarily use them because they bought an iPhone or
an iPad and said, hey, you know, the operating system
looks pretty similar, I want to try it, and they
find out they worked very well together. Again, that's sort
of the benefit of the closed system. Just have a benefit,
have Halo on the mind because I get to play
Halo four in two weeks. Okay, all right, so I'm excited.
But well, that was the reason that Microsoft sold so well.
(48:10):
Office and Windows go so well together, and of course
Internet Explorer as the browser. Um, you know, that was
the focus of the whole antitrust thing is it part
of the operating system? Is it not part of the
operating system? Do people have a choice? But it makes
you wonder about the whole, like the any there's an
any trust thing brought up against Microsoft, but not brought
(48:33):
up against Apple and the iPad where Chess, Safari and anyway.
So these things I think are being redefined. Yeah they are.
I agree they are being redefined. So we're going to
wrap up this discussion on the history of Microsoft and
tablets and the discussion about the Surface, which I'm sure
we'll talk more about once it once it actually becomes
(48:56):
a real reality. It's a retail reality as opposed to
just the the versions that we've seen and where we
have more details and we can kind of I think
it will be fun to talk about it maybe a
year after the debut, to see what impact it had,
if any, on the industry as a whole. Well, that's
a that's a good point too, because as we know,
BlackBerry and Palms tablets lasted for a very very brief
(49:22):
period of time on store shelves. Yeah, I think the
Surface has a much better chance of making it long
term and being a real competitor to the iPad than
um those devices did, Yeah, I agree to. I think
they'll be around. Well, well, we'll see. I mean there
was a lot of initial excitement at the announcement at
(49:43):
any rate, so that hopefully will propel this. And competition
is always a good thing, So I want to see
this succeed, at least as far as it will make
other companies like Google and Apple and the various partners
really press to innovate and and continue to bring cool
features to consumers, so we'll all benefit in the end. Well,
(50:04):
that wraps up this discussion. Now. If you guys have
any suggestions for topics that we should cover in future
episodes of text Stuff, please let us know. You can
send us an email. Are and just tex stuff at
Discovery dot com or let us know on Facebook or Twitter.
Are handled there is tech stuff hs W and Chris
and I will talk to you again really soon for
(50:25):
more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it
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