The Future of Computing Is Chaos

The Future of Computing Is Chaos:

parislemon:

Farhad Manjoo:

Well, that’s the twist. The more I used Microsoft’s new machines, the more I thought that perhaps no single kind of device is destined to win the war for second place to the smartphone. Perhaps the very idea that there will be a second-place winner is a mistake. 

What if the future of computing is chaos? We’ll have smartphones and then a dizzying array of desktops, laptops, tablets and hybrid devices — and different people, for different reasons, will choose different sets of each.

I agree with this *but* this particular angle too heavily discounts the bonds of having all of those various devices connected within the same ecosystem – be it Apple’s, Google’s, etc. Microsoft’s counter may be that its software can bridge the different vendor hardware gap, but I’m not sure that will be the case…

The future of computing is definitely having the right device for the right task. And Microsoft is definitely screwed because the interoperability of all the devices - the continuity, if you will. ;) - is going to be the most important factor allowing this many device reality to be possible.

via Tumblr http://bit.ly/1TsttNp

The 10 most important things from today's big Microsoft event

The 10 most important things from today's big Microsoft event:

nerdology:

• Lumia 950: A Windows 10 Mobile Flagship
  
• Lumia 950 XL
• Lumia 550
• Display Dock: A New Attempt To Turn Phones Into PCs
• The Surface Pro 4: A New Volley In The Tablet Wars
• The Surface Book: An Actual Laptop From Microsoft
• Facebook: Now A Universal Windows 10 App
• More Surface Accessories
• New Mircrosoft Band
• Hololens Dev Kits Will Cost $3,000

Everyone was talking about the hinge on the Surface Book (it’s a laptop that’s also a tablet, not to be confused with the Surface Pro, which is a tablet that can replace your laptop… actually the whole thing is really confusing.) I do think the Surface 4 is RAD AS HELL and now that it has a better pen (the pen has an eraser, and a long click opens Cortana) I’m SUPER interested in it.

And those Lumia phones. Man. MAN. I had a Lumia 1020 for a few weeks and I’ve always thought about coming back. Having the ability to turn my phone into a full on Windows machine is amazing and I want to do it, I just don’t know that I ever will.

Fundamental disagreement with everything above, except the confusing part. Microsoft now makes: - a tablet that can replace your laptop and - a laptop that replace your tablet. What? Also, as per usual, Microsoft is doing some interesting things, but none of them are things that normal people will use. Even geeks likely won’t use them, even though they may think they want to. Seriously, who actually wants to plug their phone into their display to make it their computer? Nobody, that’s who.

via Tumblr http://bit.ly/1MYnXiV

parislemon: An iPad Keyboard in the Key of Microsoft And like...

parislemon:

An iPad Keyboard in the Key of Microsoft

And like basically every Microsoft product, it seems great until you actually use it. Then it’s garbage.

via Tumblr http://bit.ly/1JyCSLV

Microsoft HoloLens Disappoints

Did anyone actually expect anything else?

So, the Verge was on the scene at Build and reports in the video below about Microsoft’s HoloLens…

And guess what? It’s disappointing. Shocker.

It’s a cool idea, sure, but it just fundamentally doesn’t work, or at least doesn’t deliver on what it promised.

The screen is not immersive in the way that the press videos used suggest. You don’t see a full field of view world with your augmented reality imposed on all of it, rather you see your world with a small square of AR on it. It’s enough to immediately pull you out of the AR, and you stop believing any of it.

Also, as anticipated, the interaction gestures are still questionable. There are all sorts of air taps and voice commands, the former of which have consistently been shown to be frustrating on every platform that has tried to use them.

Beyond Microsoft’s shortcomings, the biggest question of this device is why would I want it? The use cases are cool in a tech demo, but I don’t think it improves anyone’s life experience in any way. Their biggest pushes are for 3D CAD modeling and gaming. For anyone who has ever done serious 3D CAD modeling, you would know that this headset would be basically impossible to use unless you used it solely as a monitor with dedicated mouse/keyboard/modeling tools plugged in. That would be entirely pointless.

On the gaming point, I think full VR has a much better gaming angle. The AR minecraft demo strikes me as a cool parlor trick, but not something that gamers would actually want. It’s not really any more immersive than screen gaming, and your world would end up very limited.

So color me not interested in HoloLens. But definitely let me know what you think about it in the comments.

via Medium

Thoughts on "It's Time to Kill the Surface"

So first, this is the initial post that I'm we're talking about here: http://stratechery.com/2014/time-kill-surface/
Give the full article a read. It will help you understand what is being said above.

Source: http://thewindowsclub.thewindowsclubco.netdna-cdn.com/
wp-content/uploads/2013/10/surface-RT3-400x263.png?0479ea

So, MG Siegler makes the comments on Tumblr:

"Ben Thompson makes the case as to why new Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella should kill off the Surface product line:"

'This here is the greatest danger of forgetting your original goal; you start making up new ones, that are basically “because we need it to exist.” The hardware capability that Nadella claims Surface leverages only exists because of the decision to make Surface. Nadella is basically saying Microsoft needs to make Surface because Microsoft makes Surface. With that sort of reasoning, you can continue on a wrong path forever, just like the Xbox.'

"I was thinking this very thing last night after hearing Nadella speak at the Code Conference. He often seems to be making the case for many of Microsoft’s products because they already exist, not because they shouldexist. As he did with the Surface Mini, I expect him to trim."

This is a really interesting point, and one that goes for Samsung and their 12” tablets: the companies are making projects to answer problems that the large mass of consumers don’t have. Consumers are okay with carrying a laptop and a small tablet around because each serves a different purpose. And nobody that was working on large professional projects on the go thought, gee, I’d like to use a less precise input method while doing this. And consumers certainly didn’t ask for the headaches of Windows RT.

At the end of the day, the solution to consumers not buying your product isn’t to reiterate it. If they weren’t buying the idea before, they’re not sold on the idea regardless of the implementation. It wasn’t a question of poor marketing, it was a question of poor intention. After the first Surface generation, Microsoft should have rethought the whole division entirely. Perhaps the case of having a device to showcase the software for developers and OEM’s (similar to Nexus devices and/or the Chromebook Pixel) makes sense. That’s fine, and then you can charge any price for it because it’s not for consumers.

As it stands, though, even the Surface Pro 3, arguably the best Surface to date. isn’t compelling enough for me to buy, and I imagine most of the rest of the market will feel the same. 

Microsoft Dis-Kinects: thoughts on Microsoft’s recent console changes

http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/kinect_josh.jpg

MG Siegler writes on tumblr in reaction to this article from wired.com:

“Chris Kohler on the news that Microsoft will soon begin selling a $399 version of the Xbox One without the Kinect:”

‘Price is the problem, as others have learned recently. Getting Xbox One’s price in line with PlayStation 4′s was paramount, and matching Sony in terms of online video streaming features was as well since that is also an extra cost associated with Xbox ownership. Microsoft having to suck it up again and roll back a feature to get the price down illustrates that this was really its only feasible move. (Getting rid of an unpopular peripheral has got to hurt a lot less than Sony having to ditch backward compatibility to get PlayStation 3′s price to a palatable level.)’

“I’m not sold that price is the only problem here. As I’ve said from the outset, this latest generation of consoles sound like mediocre upgrades at best. They’re not Wii U-level disasters, but they’re just too “meh” to compete in a world that is increasingly mobile.”

“Further, I think Microsoft just created a quagmire for developers who were told time and time again that all Xbox One’s would ship with the Kinect. With the change, who in their right mind would create a game that takes full advantage of the device? And that, in turn, will ensure the device itself is not a success.”

I think there’s definitely something to say for making this “Xbox S” (see what I did there?) upgrade more palatable to previous console owners by making the buy-in price less steep, but I’m not sure how much of this price drop has to do with mobile gaming.

Honestly, the people that will buy a console or are thinking about it want to do so because of “hardcore” games like Titanfall, which mobile just isn’t capable of yet. Will decreasing the cost attract some mobile gamers? Probably. But I don’t see that as the goal. I see the reason being that Microsoft has realized that non-gamers are probably skipping this generation of consoles, and thus they are trying to compete with Sony’s more gaming focused machine.

As for dropping the Xbox live requirement for use of Netflix and other video apps, I see this as Microsoft actually trying to live up to its ideal of being your entertainment center, not just your gaming console. Especially in 2014, I’m not going to buy a really expensive box that I then have to pay $60 a month to use a movie streaming service I already pay for. That’s absurd. But, I may buy this box if it’s a free way to access the services I pay for and also allows me to play games.

Let's play Titanfall on (3) 46" Monitors : COD & BF4 Alternative

Maybe it would be different if I was actually sitting in the chair, but I don't feel like the surround screen gaming would be my thing. I feel like I would personally prefer having just one monitor to deal with. That being said, I think being in the Titan looks pretty cool on this three monitor set-up.

Titanfall might be the game that makes me get a console this generation. I wasn't too keen on the idea, but from the gameplay I've seen, I am very interested. There are other reasons why the Xbox One is cool, yes, but the thing really putting it above the PS4 in my mind right now is Titanfall.

In any case, check out this video of 3 monitor gameplay of Titanfall beta on PC.