Microsoft is saying they want to make a tablet that is good for content creation. That's why it's bigger. That's why it comes with a pen.

In my view, content creation is best done with keyboard, mouse and a desktop / laptop. What sort of content can be created with a stylus on a tablet? That's neither the best tools nor the most cost effective.

Cadillacs and Toyotas are both good at transporting people from one place to another. A 12" tablet cannot do most things possible on a smaller phone or a larger desktop.

I'll bet they didn't show this 12" screen running any of the legacy windows apps

What do people generally buy tablets for? In my view tablets are best for consuming content, with about 5% input done through keyboard. Except for watching movies, or for super exotic porn watching, 12" is a horrible form factor.

About half the Android tablets I've seen are used for dual purposes - making phone calls, as well as viewing mails, videos, Whatsapp and what not. A 12" tablet for making calls would make as much sense as navigating a 17" screen using touch or keyboard, but no mouse.

Content creation is best done on a laptop or ideally, on a desktop. So a 12" portable device is neither good for consuming content, making phone calls or creating content. So who is the target user for the Surface Pro 3?

I think it's not funny any more. Windows 8 and later do not seem to be operating systems at all, that description seems to have stopped with XP. An OS manages the hardware resources and provides an operating environment for application software to run.

Windows 8 has made it very cumbersome to use the hardware, focusing largely on touch, which is wasted on a desktop. And many legacy application software simply refuse to run on Windows 8 or later. Even simple web based applications are a pain to navigate and use in Windows 8.

So China or elsewhere, people need a decent desktop operating system, and Microsoft seems to have exited that business.

Microsoft seems a totally confused company at the moment. I bet more than 50% of all tablets are 7" screen size or less. The reason the iPad at about 10" is good is bcos of touch based apps for that platform.

12" is way too big for a tablet and $700 is about 3 times the ideal price point. This device will get hammered by Android tablets by the low-price customers; and anybody who can afford $700 for a tablet would close their eyes and buy the iPad which has 100 times more useful touch based apps than the Surface Pro.

The desktop OS is best navigated with a keyboard in Microsoft's opinion. The best Surface Pro apps are those designed for the desktop, such as Excel and Word.

Looks like a very confused company determined to throw another $1bn in a vain effort to get 2% marketshare in tablets. Gates or Ballmer or Nadella, nobody seems to have any clue about desktops, tablets or smartphones.

If the President is in control of the NSA, doesn't it follow that the NSA did this with full Presidential approval in the first place?

By that definition Windows XP is itself a huge piece of malware that needs to be constantly rid of the numerous bugs and defects. It has been for the past 10 years thus, and still not fully fixed.

That makes MS an untrustworthy source of poor quality software, or intentionally buggy software aka malware.

I'm surprised why Ballmer didn't report him and get him arrested; maybe this is the new Satya guy putting his stamp on company affairs?

Actually they should ask the sons to get written permission from Steve Jobs before unlocking. All Apple products belong to Jobs and Jobs alone.

In my experience; it is far easier to obtain; install and work with Free Software than with Free Hardware. I asked you about this in person 2 years back; but you brushed it aside saying hardware is not trivial to copy.

Recent events have proved me right; I feel. We simply do not have access to Freedom Hardware at low cost - even the Raspberry Pi has proprietary components in its hardware.

Why can't the FSF pool resources; license technology from ARM Holdings; and build a truly Free Tablet, Free Cellphone and Free PC running Free GNU/Linux instead of the pseudo-free Android? I am sure the community will pay any money to buy truly free Hardware from the FHF.

I think Nokia has learnt from HP and Dell - threaten to release a Linux box; and you get hefty discounts on Windows OEM pricing. Even though a subsidiary of Microsoft; I guess Windows Phone 8 is a big fraction of the price of a Nokia handset - hence this crazy strategy?

but have stylistic design.

You mean like rounded corners?

I call bullshit. OpenOffice or LibreOffice can be configured to store files in .doc and .xls and .ppt formats - problem solved! It annoys me there are still people and govts. buying the rubbish arguments spouted by Microsoft and their ilk...

So why does he need any lawyers at this stage?

on your business.... not being rude; just a rhetorical question about the business climate for music.

There are 2 dimensions to the IPv4 problem - the user end; and the server end. Except for newly formed companies looking to provide internet access to their users through a proxy server; the individual users are largely oblivious to the crisis; as you rightly mentioned.

But try hosting your own server (non-cloud provider) - your ISP forces you to acquire IPv6; and you have to jump through hoops to make it smoothly accessible over VPNs and the general inernet.