Both ASUS and MSI have now announced that they will be unveiling tablet devices based on Google’s Android operating system and Windows 7 at the Computex show in June. The question that has to be asked though is why would anybody buy one?
The simple fact is that neither Android nor Windows 7 are finger-friendly tablet-oriented operating systems. Android treats every device it’s on as though it has a big desktop and is, essentially just a computer, and Windows 7 is far from finger-friendly.
Apple’s iPad has proven what you should do to make a tablet device friendly and Microsoft’s own Courier concept device has been widely hailed as the way these devices really should be.
Then we have two more interesting developments, Windows Phone 7 OS, which people are already saying would suit a tablet device really well and even more recently, HP’s acquisition of Palm and, consequently, WebOS.
HP have committed to a series of tablet and other mobile devices and WebOS could turn out to be exactly what they need to make these devices successful.
Despite the rise of Microsoft in business and in the home, we’ve seen clearly in the last few years with the rise of things such as Android and the iPhone, that the operating systems for these devices can be proprietary and different to Windows. We will use tablets for a set number of tasks (email, messaging, social networking and web browsing to name the big ones) and if they make access to those functions simple and easy, the rest isn’t so important.
I can only see early adopters buying these first devices, which will also no doubt be expensive. For the rest of us I’d recommend waiting for a year or two.
Hmmm… This posting tells a very different story about Android and Windows 7 vs iPad:
http://windows7news.com/2010/01/28/why-the-ipad-will-fail-and-help-windows-7-to-succeed/
So I’m now very confused. Is it
“This will help sales of Windows 7 because of its multi-touch facilities and, in turn, should tempt a very many XP and Vista laptop owners to upgrade to a tablet. ”
or is it
“Apple’s iPad has proven what you should do to make a tablet device friendly and Microsoft’s own Courier concept device has been widely hailed as the way these devices really should be.”
But then we read Courier got cancelled:
http://gizmodo.com/5527442/microsoft-cancels-innovative-courier-tablet-project
Maybe Courier wasn’t sufficiently ‘innovative’ to be “what these devices really should be.”
Enquiring minds want to know what you really think.
I’m confused too. The stylus driven Courier as demonstration of how finger-friendly tablets should work? And exactly what is your reason for why people should wait a year or two for the ideal tablet you describe to become available, when your description perfectly matches the iPad? In your earlier article you suggested we should wait for the windows 7 tablets!
I guess you’re trying to say that you got it wrong on the iPad, and you’ve changed your mind. Maybe you should actually show a little integrity and humility and explicitly admit that?
What the heck? Didn’t the author just say a couple of months ago how wrong the iPad was and how it would fail? And how that failure would help Windows 7?
How could he possibly flip-flop so drastically in such a short period of time and not even mention it? Unless, of course, he is simply a hack who is interested in writing whatever will generate the most hits to the site…
what a joke. Do you get paid for this stuff?
I think that there is an entire sub-species of pundits who write stuff so embarrassingly stupid that it draws folks in droves. They come and stare, slack-jawed, while the wily pundit rakes in the Google AdSense cash.
Hi Mike Halsey.
Looks like you just got pwned.
http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/05/05/halsey
“…waiting a year or two.”
That’s excellent advice, in fact, I think that’s Microsoft’s own motto.
“Mac OS X Snow Leopard was just released? Sweet! We’ll just wait a year or two and copy it the best we can and call it ‘Windows 8′.”
Whadda ya think, Mike…Long lines for the MS Kin on its release date?
Mike, I think you left out the punchline. This is a joke, right?
Android and Windows 7 have nothing to do with each other! The one runs on x86 the other on ARM.
“Android treats every device it’s on as though it has a big desktop and is, essentially just a computer”
No it doesn’t! It has a home screen, not a desktop, I think you mean Windows. !?
Wow! I really need to get into your line of work, buddy. 1-Make a prediction that ends up being unbelievably wrong, 2-Never admit you were wrong and, 3-Still get paid!
Doesn’t the internet suck? I mean, it keeps track of all the crap you say and you have to try to pretend you didn’t say it! And hope no one notices!!!!
So, first the iPad is garbage and then it’s the ideal way that a tablet “should” be done???? Which is it????
So, Mike Halsey can write something like “Apple have done the R&D and released a product that’s been instantly derided as ugly and not what people want” a day after the product is announced, and write more or less the exact opposite a month after the product is actually released.
Wouldn’t it be cool if just once one of these “foot in mouth” expert pundits could simply apologize and admit to be totally and completely wrong. Ah, pigs will fly…
Oh man you are definitely the funniest writer on this comedy site. This is a comedy site, right?
Oh.
oh I thought I was at http://www.funnyordie.com!
Mike Halsey “Classic Stuff”.
hehehehehe