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And this is different than any laptop?

And the iPad screen - that's safe not having ANY protection (natively)?

Really? which do you think possesses a bigger issue when it comes to keeping the device "safe"? LOL

Yes, it's very different. Though, it really depends on how the courier would fold. Since it's just a 3-D simulation, we don't know. But, if it really folds flat so it's glass-on-glass, it'd be a major problem. When you fold a laptop, you're folding glass on keys. The keys have "give" to them, and little things like grit will not damage the screen.

As for the iPad, it depends on how you use it. There's nothing about the iPad that requires you to press another hard piece of glass onto the screen.
 
Epic fail? Overused. And not applicable. If you want to argue that the iPad ISN'T just a big iPod Touch - then you can't blather on how this just looks like it's a scrap book.

Can we all try to agree to use EPIC FAIL when it actually means something instead of the "go to" word of the day?

I think what the poster is saying is that we've only seen one application for the courier in the demo videos... and that demo is like a digital scrapbook - of very limited use. Neat? sure... but very limited. Who knows if the courier has some other function. It's just not clear at all what the OS on this thing is, or how applications would be developed or installed on it.
 
I think what the poster is saying is that we've only seen one application for the courier in the demo videos... and that demo is like a digital scrapbook - of very limited use. Neat? sure... but very limited. Who knows if the courier has some other function. It's just not clear at all what the OS on this thing is, or how applications would be developed or installed on it.

Some sort of win ce-based thing now.
 
The Microsoft Surface is being used in restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe, casinos, hotels and stores.

Heck, AT&T was the first retail customer, putting Surfaces in its flagship stores back in early 2008 to allow people to compare phones. YouTube video here.

I have yet to see one live, and I'll never own one. From my perspective, this thing is as abstract and vaporous as the Courier. Why in the world doesn't Microsoft spend their considerable resources making this thing as affordable as possible? There's fundamentally nothing about The Surface that requires it to be so expensive. It's gotta be the stupidest product plan ever: Let's make something really cool that nobody can ever hope to buy, and just makes people realize how lame their windows PC is, and what they're missing out on.

In the meantime, Apple is making usable multitouch a reality with the iPad. Sure, it's a lot smaller, but it's something you can actually afford and use... and it'll be here on April 3.
 
I have yet to see one live, and I'll never own one. From my perspective, this thing is as abstract and vaporous as the Courier. Why in the world doesn't Microsoft spend their considerable resources making this thing as affordable as possible? There's fundamentally nothing about The Surface that requires it to be so expensive. It's gotta be the stupidest product plan ever: Let's make something really cool that nobody can ever hope to buy, and just makes people realize how lame their windows PC is, and what they're missing out on.

In the meantime, Apple is making usable multitouch a reality with the iPad. Sure, it's a lot smaller, but it's something you can actually afford and use... and it'll be here on April 3.

I saw one in a museum in DC. Didn't work properly - it was like the thing was miscalibrated by about 4". Not sure how that happens. Anyway, it was a bit anti-climactic.
 
Why in the world doesn't Microsoft spend their considerable resources making this thing as affordable as possible?

Who knows.

I suspect it's partly because it was an internal R&D project and wasn't originally planned to be released, and partly because Microsoft is still mostly a software supplier and they expect hardware manufacturers to pick up stuff like this and run with it.

The same question could be asked of Apple. Why haven't they done a decent TouchSmart like kitchen computer? Where's the Mac based tablet? Why haven't they done a Surface like computer, like Savant's Rosie?

The answer is probably the same: it's not in their product plans (yet).
 
I saw one in a museum in DC. Didn't work properly - it was like the thing was miscalibrated by about 4". Not sure how that happens. Anyway, it was a bit anti-climactic.

They have them at disneyland too. The technology has a similar feel to the desktop HP touchsmart which means that the screen is terribly non-responsive even when properly calibrated. (the absolutely bland apps they have running on them don't help at all, a few photos you drag around and a block game that looks like a direct port from DOS 2.0). Interesting potential but the technology is just not there yet.
 
Microsoft's courier looked very cool from the interface videos, but looking at the actual size of the device I was a bit disappointed. It appears to have fallen into that too big for my pocket but to small to be useful category. For a product based on doodling with the stylus the screen looks a bit too small.

My other question is what it feels like to draw on the screen. If it is just like using my old WinMo smartphone it will be an extreme let-down. If they can make the experience like drawing on paper they may have something interesting on their hands.
 
Of course no Apple iPhone/Touch user thinks a stylus is needed or wise or useful. I've had the pleasure of optionally using one with my archos touchscreen devices, and have to say that having a screen that CAN react to a stylus is a plus. The key is to have a nice case with a stylus pocket so you don't lose it, and then having the option to NOT need it if you are not in a stylus mood. I've got a nice Sketch app on my Touch, and although it is amazing for how clever the programmers are with finger input it really begs for more precision that a stylus would allow.

I'm a big fan of "no losable parts", and a stylus can quickly join the lost. Yet humans have been holding pen or brush for at least a few centuries now, and to toss the analogous stylus out for spite is foolish. JMHO.
 
I agree that the ipad has the advantage of being more realistic that the courier. Only time will tell, once both products are available and you can actually touch it.

If the courier truly is as smooth as these CG based videos are, it could be quite competitive.
 
Yes, it's very different. Though, it really depends on how the courier would fold. Since it's just a 3-D simulation, we don't know. But, if it really folds flat so it's glass-on-glass, it'd be a major problem. When you fold a laptop, you're folding glass on keys. The keys have "give" to them, and little things like grit will not damage the screen.

You really expect glass? At the weight they are talking it either has to be paper thin glass or just good ol' PC plastic. In which case the problem is amplified 10x

I think what the poster is saying is that we've only seen one application for the courier in the demo videos... and that demo is like a digital scrapbook - of very limited use. Neat? sure... but very limited. Who knows if the courier has some other function. It's just not clear at all what the OS on this thing is, or how applications would be developed or installed on it.

I think if MS is to be successful with this device they would be well advised to not attempt to compete with the iPad, by being a general life enhancement device, but rather stay focused on this one-note-on-steroids approach and stay squarely focused on business and students.

MS in general is the least qualified to be at the head of the computing game. They can't innovate to save themselves, they consistently poorly imitate others innovations, they always put sales ahead of furthering computing evolution at the expense of the buyers experience, they repeatedly develop closed proprietary clones of well established open standards then force feed them to developers to prevent competition.

That said, there is one area of Microsoft which is worthy of some respect and that is the MS Office dev team. This is the only facet of MS worth anything and having used OneNote (and InkSeine) on a tablet PC for some time I can say that the Office team have done a great job of it. It isn't perfect but it is good. This steroid injected version they are proposing here is a worthy evolution of OneNote/InkSeine.

So I reiterate, if MS can stay focused and build this device around this single function then it will be successful, not as a competitor to the iPad, but as a unique and evolutionary device on it's own.

Chances of that happening based on prior MS history? Close to nil unfortunately, but there is always hope.
 
It's failry clear that most people here see the Courier as more of a Student/Professional type tablet and not something that mainstream consumers can take advantage of. Of course the thing has yet to be released and so I'm sure MS will detail other features like video, music, pictures etc. Although I agree with many here that it will be quite displeasing to watch video on something with two screens and a physical hinge between them.
 
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