Ballmer Says Microsoft Is 'Hardcore' About Tablets 324
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by
Soulskill
from the leading-from-the-back dept.
from the leading-from-the-back dept.
gbll writes with news that Microsoft is gearing up to aggressively pursue the tablet PC market, according to CEO Steve Ballmer. Microsoft is working with a variety of hardware companies including Asus, Dell, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony, to release Windows 7 slates later this year.
"These slates will be available at a variety of price points and in a variety of form factors — with keyboards, touch only, dockable, able to handle digital ink, etc. Since Ballmer showed off a prototype of a Windows 7 slate from Hewlett-Packard at the Consumer Electronics Show in January, the company has said next-to-nothing about how it planned to address the slate form-factor space. ... Ballmer never mentioned the iPad or the coming Chrome OS-based slates by name during his remarks. Microsoft’s pitch will be that these slates will be sanctioned by corporate IT departments, enabling customers to use them at work and at home."
Get ready for.... (Score:5, Funny)
ruggedized? (Score:1, Funny)
Will the tablets be ruggedized so they can withstand being thrown across the room by Ballmer when they end up languishing on store shelves next to the unsold Zunes?
Hardcordz (Score:5, Funny)
"Hardcore" means something different at MS (Score:5, Funny)
It means "We have dedicated 5 different development and marketing teams to 5 different products that all compete with each other. Each of them has different strengths and weaknesses, each of them is mostly, but not *completely* compatible with the other, and NONE of them will actually be available for sale before Apple or Google makes them completely obsolete. Also, there will be skins available."
Corporate IT departments (Score:4, Funny)
Microsoft’s pitch will be that these slates will be sanctioned by corporate IT departments, enabling customers to use them at work and at home.
Translation: We will aggressively shove these down the throats of everyone though the CIOs who saw our ad in the in-flight magazine.
Re:Still want Courier (Score:5, Funny)
Books are too complicated [youtube.com].
hardcore? (Score:1, Funny)
I question he means by hardcore - when Apple won't even allow softcore.
Re:If all they do (Score:3, Funny)
Meh, a tablet that was just a laptop without a hinge and with an on-screen keyboard that can be minimised when not in use would suit me. Especially if it had plenty of usb, sd and micro-sd slots.And wirelessness.
And if it ran gnu/linux.
Re:Hardcordz (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Get ready for.... (Score:5, Funny)
First day: "Hello, Mr. Ballmer and welcome to Microsoft R & D. Windows tablets? Sure - here, take two and call me in the morning!"
Second day: "They didn't work? Sorry, I meant you should use Windows tablets like suppositories. You know the drill."
Third day: "Can't run as fast as you used to? Windows will do that to you."
Fourth day: "Can you feel the PAIN? Remember - no pain, no gain!"
Fifth day: "What do I look like - tech support? Call your next of KIN"
Sixth day: "You can't get it out? We need to reboot you. Bend over - this guy here used to be the kicker for Texas. Will this fix it? No, but you'll now know exactly what it feels like to be a long-term Microsoft customer."
Seventh day: *crickets*
Oh noes! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Still want Courier (Score:1, Funny)
A hard single stone surface tablet is nice to hold, especially since we have used to hold stone tablets in our hands for thousands of years.
Re:If all they do (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Lets be honest here... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:Success with little risk (Score:2, Funny)