Microsoft Slate - the exact opposite of Apple tablet

Translation of Liam Cassidy's article from theappleblog.com .

So, Microsoft introduced a new tablet PC. His prototype was made by HP, the name it received (which is no coincidence) Slate. According to fake Steve Jobs, he should be called “Bue,” and in that he is damn right. But the British "Telegraph" wrote that it would be "the strongest blow" on Apple, and in this it is damn wrong.

You know, I would really like to just laugh at this haste, when everyone suddenly broke into a race to shout "I and I!" (Which is more like "I am the first!"), But I just can not . I can not, because the whole atmosphere is permeated with hopelessness and despair.
')
Yesterday in his personal blog [January 6, 2010 - approx. Lane.] I made some not very original predictions about the new Microsoft tablet. I said that he was waiting for the collapse, because it will work on the full version of Windows 7 and will require a stylus. The forecast about the stylus was not justified. (And only for the time being - wait for the release of the “Student and corporate version of Microsoft Slate PC”, which will probably have a stylus and a sliding keyboard. Yes, yes, like a “laptop”!)

I already guess what comments will be. "I am an Apple fan and am proud of it, but here they are just unjustly throwing mud at Microsoft." I will not argue with the first part of the proposal, but I have a counter-argument to the groundlessness . I suggest taking a closer look at the Microsoft tablet. Of course, this way we will not be able to find out what to expect from the Apple tablet, but we will be able to understand for sure what to expect from it.

Plump fingers, small screens

Microsoft has already tried to enter the market with its own tablet, but the undertaking has destroyed a vigorous mixture of bad timing and a bad interface. In the early years of the 21st century, the component base was weak and too expensive, remaining up to the end of the decade. (And whoever, and I know about it: I myself had several tablets.)

The irony of the situation is that the only thing Microsoft could go on — software — turned out to be the weakest link. Microsoft rushed to dissect its desktop operating system, which is almost not subject to modification, which is designed for the keyboard and mouse. Not a stylus. And of course, not fingers. If you have ever tried to hold a weighty tablet in one hand and wield a tiny stylus with the other, while your body was not in an absolute state of rest, you will understand why this whole undertaking was one continuous mistake and disappointment.

Apple avoided this error. Let iPhone software be based on OS X, but on the iPhone itself you will never say. Its interface is ideally suited even for thick fingers and a small screen size. It seems to me that when the Apple tablet comes out, we will see the next version of OS X, something between the iPhone and the fully-fledged charged Mac OS X.

And I guarantee you that you will not see a single control element (buttons, bookmarks, scroll bars, etc.) that will switch from desktop OS X to tablet OS X completely untouched. Apple understands how to prevent this error, but Microsoft does not . Microsoft loads a full, unmodified Windows onto a tablet. But this time we will no longer have a stylus, so somehow to rectify the situation will not work. We'll have to poke fingers. The result is an awkward, almost unworkable interface.

Ballmer showed it very well. He was clearly not in the joy of aiming at the virtual buttons, which on the 7-inch small screen were barely noticeable dots.

We have to admit that Microsoft is repeating the same mistakes as ten years ago with its first tablets. But in 2002 it was at least some kind of innovation.

The presentation of the Microsoft tablet a few weeks before Apple seems like a desperate attempt to get at least a little press attention due to the fact that “we were the first to show a tablet!”. Here are just no real benefits from the rush Microsoft will not extract, at least now , when it comes to a maximum of the prototype. Better than others, this thought was expressed by the irrepressible Andy Aikhentko on Twitter when he saronised about Ballmer’s speech at CES: 72 hours to make it. ”

Worse, Microsoft itself has driven itself into a corner. If this summer, after the release of Apple iSlate (or otherwise, it does not matter), HP will release its tablet without significant changes, it will simply laugh at you. And if after that HP starts to change it in a hurry, so that it looks more like Apple, then it will be funny, and in addition humiliating.

If we lived in the world of Bizarro [fictional planet from comics - approx. Lane] and the Apple tablet suddenly turned out to be exactly like a prototype of Microsoft, I would have experienced a real shock. I would seriously doubt Apple’s creative strategy. I would have thought that Johnny Ive (Johnatan Ive, Apple's vice president - lane) out of his mind. I would doubt the mental abilities of Steve Jobs himself. But you and I know very well that when El Jobsau takes the stage and shows his next glittering toy, it is certainly breathtaking .

In the entire technology industry, there is only one company with financial and engineering resources to at least get closer to Apple - this is Microsoft. So really this mossy tablet from the grandmother's chest - that's all they can do? Come on! From this, even the most avid fan of Microsoft will blush.

Who will buy it? Curious? Microsoft adepts? Those who can't afford an Apple tablet? Or masochists? Come on, begin to violently disagree with my vile insinuations in your comments.