they didn't release to PalmOS but eventually bought the market by paying companies to ship WindowsCE based PDAs. This is really out of character for Microsoft but then again, they have tried how many times with a Windows Phone and a Windows Tablet and failed? Apple's design and costs are going to be tough for Microsoft to break into and Android's utilitarian capabilities and existing market share also very tough to break into.

But you know, Microsoft once supported running Windows apps on UNIX until NT gained enough market share and many major UNIX apps were ported. Then they yanked the rug out from under it and vendors were left with having to spend millions porting back to UNIX or stick with a Windows-only code base.

What has surprised me more is how many XBox ads I see compared to Windows 8 ads. It seems to be at least 2:1 ratio. I guess they are doubling down on the one thing which seems to finally be showing growth and profit growth. I mean if Windows 8 fails and the PC segment keeps shrinking, they'll need something to pick up and replace those lost revenues or the stock will collapse. IMO

LoB

Microsoft declared the Windows 95 user interface some great research project where it was determined to be the best UI since sliced bread. Forget that they attempted to include even a small portion of the UI elements in the IBM OS/2 UI called the Workplaceshell but had to back them out because of performance issues. Vista was said to be the same, 'research said' or 'users asked for' blah blah blah. And so world and his dog have hammered through using that UI for going on 2 decades.

So exactly how many years of experience with the XP UI has this 3 year old had? I'm sure the kid is also simulating workloads found in the typical office setup too.

These kinds of Microsoft promotions remind me of why I dislike election season too. Lots of ads with little validity all over the place.

LoB

Because developing software and playing games are what Benioff was talking about? I don't think so. So you mentioned fringe areas where the cloud isn't the answer. Microsoft and their Windows software business can not survive with just that market.

LoB

yes, Microsoft fooled them all into thinking they had an open system when in fact they were slowly being tied to a single software platform, a single vendor and now to some extent a single hardware definition. Exactly what the entire PC market rallied against in the beginning. Unfortunately those tied into this Microsoft world see all these ways to enable new use cases and computing models as hardships and their only solution is to bring them all back into one Microsoft way via things like VDI. VDI should be the exception and not the rule.

LoB

the only way I read any validity into what he said was in the context of also using remote computing. I know a few who got off the Microsoft Windows bandwagon and do just fine running virtual machines once in a while locally but do lots of their business work using remote connections into their Windows environments at the office. When BYOD means you have bluetooth input devices at the office or at home and these remote access mechanisms in place there's no need for a local Windows box.

Given the above scenario and the life expectancy of Windows 7, in 5+ years who thinks there won't be even more migrations away from Win32 tied apps to even more cloud based solutions? It does mean that there really would be little need for Windows 8.

Also remember, Microsoft forces their new OS on the retail channels( remember how Vista was forced when nobody wanted it? ) and likes to use those sales numbers showing how many shipped units of Windows X there was for the 1st and 2nd year on the market. Businesses don't buy these new releases so soon so those numbers were always mostly pre-loads at retail. Considering how much the Windows is slowing at the retail channels(notice how poorly OEMs are doing lately?) Microsoft is going to have to pull big numbers of shipped Windows 8 PCs out of their thin air. Not to mention it's not likely home buyers are going to swarm to Windows RT on tablets given they all are running Windows XP, Vista, or 7 now and already have Android or Apple products. I see them picking up a Windows RT device and going 'WTF is this, what else do you have?'.

And then there's the jumping on the Post-PC era bandwagon to help get the message across that things are changing and that's what cloud vendors call marketing.

LoB

Nice to see an open source implementation already.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Arduino-EV-J1772-Charging-Station/?ALLSTEPS

LoB

right but don't lots of the same ISV APIs shared across phone, tablet and desktop now that Microsoft is pushing the UI formerly known as Metro, across all devices? That would mean the core OS is the same and so are a somewhat large chunk of the developer APIs and all that which is there to support it.

I'm thinking less like Android which really does use mostly the kernel and everything else is in the Dalvik JVM, and more like Meego. ie Android has little in common with desktop GNU/Linux while Meego had lots more in common.

If it really is just a Windows kernel/core and the APIs are so very different between the devices, I don't see why Microsoft would be pushing developers to Metro apps. Sure desktop Windows has all the included Win32 old stuff but we're talking the cross device stuff here.

LoB

I thought Windows was ported to ARM and all Windows 8 devices were now based on that ARM port( not the x86 version so much ). That is Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 RT( tablets) both running the Windows 8 for ARM OS but with modified UI for the screen size and obvious APIs differences for what the device has/needs/uses like making phone calls. The fact that the Windows Phone 8 phones now have multi core support and added memory capabilities lead me to believe this was due to using the x86 ported Windows system to ARM.

So Windows Phone 8 is still a Windows CE based OS?

LoB

not really. The investors are getting pissed that not only has Microsoft's stock price been flat but they are seeing the world+dog getting excited about Apple products and Apple's stock is flying high. Microsoft is supposed to be this great innovator and market leader and the investors are finally realizing they are not and have not been and want Ballmer to step it up and show Microsoft is an innovator.

Microsoft has tried many different versions of the Windows based phone but are failing and again Apple along with Google are shutting Microsoft products down to single digit market share. The iPad really lit the fire under Ballmer too. Not only because the tablet segment is much closer to the PC segment than a small screen phone but also because Microsoft has been in this space many times and failed.

So Microsoft needs this to succeed and they are using a two pronged, or three pronged, approach with the phone and tablet segments merging app development and app stores. To some extent they also want the desktop to help in that ecosystem and is probably why they are forcing the Metro UI onto the desktop even if it ends up just being an initial launcher for the old Windows apps.

Ballmer's continued career at Microsoft likely hinges on Windows 8 being successful on _all_ these devices.

LoB

Microsoft can not run down prices and survive at the bottom in the tablet space. So they are "adding" features to make their tablets closer to the laptop/desktop feature set or should we say usability model. They will advertise their system runs an office application suite or parts of it and have desktop like capabilities. Apple can't really say this. Therefore you see why Microsoft is pricing their system up so high IMO.

will it fly? I doubt it but they are a great marketing company so we'll see.

LoB

IIRC, he said he'd cut the loopholes, etc but give them tax breaks so they pay the same as they have been paying.

I do doubt his ability to get his Party and/or any of the Democrats behind tax code reform such as cutting all the holes out. Only a flat tax will do that otherwise it's just more rules and more/new holes.

LoB

Talk about following his Party line. If he said rewriting the ethanol rules and re-evaluating it than sure but those current laws requiring ethanol mixtures in fuel have food based corn requirements. Clearly another farm subsidy.

LoB

as one of the comments on TFA site states, 700 jobs at even $50K each and just over 9% State tax is $3.5 million annually. So the State makes their money back just in direct employment taxes in about 3 years. Add to it the sales tax on the vehicles and all the money moving around by building them in CA and it seems like a no brainer considering Tesla has proven they can build good cars already.

LoB

netbooks using Intel chips and/or Microsoft software also had those limitations put on them. The difference is that netbooks started with GNU/Linux on them and the name was coined in the open. I should clarify something, those limitations were put on netbooks once Microsoft and Intel got their paws in on the market. Most likely they didn't want cheap hardware and software to eat into their profits and setting those limitations did a nice job at killing that market. Win for Microsoft and a win for Intel.

The tablet sector is yet another attack vector against these two but so much more entrenched with Apple's iPad and ARM hardware. But they are still trying very hard. IMO

LoB

and Steve Ballmers comments about the pricing would follow them going for the high end of the market. Don't forget, netbooks dragged Microsoft kicking and screaming into the low end 'laptop' market. Once they sweet talked OEMs into using Microsoft's old and even a limited version for extremely low licensing and including marketing packages which most likely eliminated the OS "expense" for the OEM...Microsoft came out with Windows 7 for netbooks and pretty much killed that cheap netbook market.

Free or very cheap software is not what Microsoft wants to promote and since the dominant market for tablets is that which the iPad define that's what Microsoft will target. A small tablet by Apple will not complicate the Windows 8 tablet segment because there is no overlap for users. To complicate it, someone would have to be opting for a Windows 8 tablet( >9" size ) at iPad pricing and then opt for a much smaller iPad Mini instead for not much less. For a second there I thought it was a C/net article and just more promotional buzz for Windows 8 tablets.

LoB