I don't think this is ever a discussion of the relevance of Microsoft today. I think they will continue to prosper and exist, with the exact reasons you mentioned. They are a cash cow with still a significant monopoly positions with those revenue models and market segments. The world can say whatever they want about open-source systems eating into M$' business in the SME segment and the big boys which are a significant, albeit smaller subset of the economy goes for the big boys like Oracle and SAP anyway. So yea, there's still a lot of money for everyone, and M$ *IS* still getting a whole lot of them. Anyways. I still think Windows 8 have a lot of potential and it would save companies like Nokia if they know how to harness it well. To me, there's just too much Andriod in the world and iOS is, well, iOS. So we need something fresh to make the world go round. Metro is very welcomed in my books. I personally hope M$ won't try to please everybody and focus on making the best of it.
I like the charm bar the navigation in metro UI and the way it allows you to have two apps running side by side on a tablet. then I read all about the Win8 hardware in this week's computex coverage. *facepalm* sigh! which then reminded me of all the Symantec / microtrend / pdf viewer / cyberlink bundles... sigh! At least MS banned HTC from making Win 8 tablets. that's probably the only comforting news we got from this year's computex. still I think once a consumer uses a mac at home, he/she will not go back to windows no matter how great win8 turns out of be.. MS hardware partners really screw it up! has anyone seen the Asus taichi? didnt they try that concept before? vista sideshow?
Erm...that leaves to Samsung for making half decent tablets? No thanks as well...although HTC doesn't really make ANY decent tablets too... lol
the fact is that there is no great consumer PC maker around anymore. Asus is probably the only one that is still putting in a lot of engineering efforts in producing higher-end products that what we really want to buy. and of course, the toshiba protege. Sony, Samsung, Acer? they just want to be hip and cool. try to apply pressure on the H key and you will know what i mean. sinking keyboards!
Yeah, Asus is the only one really making tons and tons of great products, which is why I bought their tablet, sound card, and maybe I intend to buy their router too. Well, Lenovo still makes solid products, but they are not exactly innovative these days.
i really wanted to include lenovo in the list because I think their thinkpad is still great (it's a business line of notebook btw and we are discussing about consumer products but i really don't mind getting it for personal use. the HP elite is very well built as well.) but then i had a nightmare dealing with their thinkpad support center recently. So instead of dealing with customers issues directly, they are now passing the hot potatoes around their call centers. Trust me, you will never be able to get through to even ask for help. I spent half an hour calling 5-6 different hotlines and I just gave up eventually. it was always the same reply: this is not the thinkpad hotline you will need to call this number 12345. just bring your customers to walk around the garden, in the hope that they will just walk away eventually. problem solved. hahahaha..
Which number did you call exactly? Did you go to any center? If it is IBM's hotline, maybe I can provide some 'feedbacks' lol.
no it wasn't an IBM hotline. it was a lenovo hotline that is on their website. I didn't know IBM is still supporting lenovo thinkpad? Do they? never had issue with IBM system x support. hard drives always got replaced within hours. the extended warranty is expensive, but it's worth every single cent.
I thought Lenovo took over all support for Thinkpads already? Hmm but the Thinkpad today isn't anything like the Thinkpads before. The only reason they still look good is because the rest has gone from bad to worse. Hopefully Asus continues to be as they are today. Their routers really are quite attractive. Regret getting my E4200 already. Should have gotten the Asus instead.
At the moment, IBM is still supporting Thinkpad products, under MTS if you still remember... haha... I'm currently using E3000 and RVS4000 and both are starting to give me problems...Sigh...
HP elite is quite solid. but i understand their support is equally shit. hahahaha.. oh well the company is in a mess anyway so no surprise la!
http://images.anandtech.com/doci/6016/_DSC8238.JPG oh my! it's time! finally a high quality MS device! we were just discussing about this issue two pages ago! haha!
Probably Foxconn again.. Not many in the world can pull this off, and in large enough quantities and low cost too.
Well, it is not Apple, and it is not a large quantity product like iPhone or iPad. Other manufacturers will still be making their own versions of Surface, similar to Google's Nexus products.
Hard to say. Microsoft never released much details. No one knows if they intend it for a limited release like Google Nexus, or a worldwide release like the iPad. Then again, Foxconn does not only deal with super large quantities. I think they will gladly accept any business Microsoft can throw their way.
Google Nexus series are far from limited release, and they are made by HTC and Samsung. In fact, people can still buy Galaxy Nexus today, and it is sold on Google Play too. The demand is not high since Google don't market it as much as the major brands. Unlike Apple, MSFT will still allow other manufacturers to make their own versions. Surface is basically Windows RT or Windows 8 devices made by MSFT. Just take a look at Android today, they have the biggest market share of smartphones, but none of the single models can match the iPhone's sale.
That's because they have way too many models, and they introduce newer ones all the time. I think it's too fragmented. But in terms of desirability, I think the Samsung Galaxy S3 is at least equal to that of the iPhone 4S.
