Who's getting a SURFACE??!?!?!? I WANT ONE!!

[Alpha1]

I just got the 64GB Micro SDXC Class 1U (10mb/sec) Sandisk for £40 delivered on Amazon. And then I got a Sandisk micro USB (really tiny hardly pokes out of the USB port!) 16GB stick. They do 32GB but I didn't have the cash.

So that's me done and at 112GB

 

[Alpha1]

Plus you can stick a USB hdd on one if you really wanted too! I don't want to go larger than the standard presented form factor though.

 

[Alpha1]

Specs of the Tegra3 Nvidia chipset look pretty awesome! Check out the CPU and GPU cores!

http://www.nvidia.com/object/tegra-3-processor.html

 

[guddler]

Yeah, I've seen a pretty neat demo of the Unreal 3 engine. Obviously it remains to be seen what will come of this but it certainly has a lot of potential!!

Funnily enough, I'm just sitting here re-installing my Windows 8 VM and my Visual Studio 2012 so I can suss out the app dev process. It became a bit obvious that less than genuine products could get me in a little trouble with the App Store so for now I've had to downgrade to the Express version of VS until I come up with a fortune making idea and can afford to by an MSDN subscription.

 

[cools]

It's a Tegra 3 the same as the Google Nexus 7?

 

[Alpha1]

It's a Tegra 3 the same as the Google Nexus 7?

I believe so but the chipset comes in varying cores and clock speed. Not entirely sure what either is - might go take a look.

 

[BristolMartin]

I have to get one for the business. I used one the other week, Didn't like it much - shame as I love M$ and have built my career on them. Never mind.

 

[Alpha1]

Martin,

The RT's are just an iPad replacement - the Pro version is the full Windows 8 experience and is out in January.

Alpha12012-10-18 12:42:57

 

[BristolMartin]

Yeah I played with a prerelease Pro (and the new BB10 which by the way is Amazing and a certain android and windows killer if they get it right)

Its a steep learning curve for people, and thats what put me off. If they can educate quickly then it may work, but my gut feeling is we may be seeing the end of Microsoft on this space.

 

[Alpha1]

I would imagine with Office365, Windows Azure, the facy HyperV is now almost a vmware beater and the Office, Exchange, SQL, Windows and Xbox Product Teams they'll be just fine

I've been running Windows 8 RTM for the last 3 weeks and I have to say it is a blinder and an improvement over the very good Windows 7.

RIM have nothing other than BB10 going for them, they are killing off BES which made them a differentiator in the Enterprise space and moving to Microsofts Activesync protocols, and to be fair Android on a tablet on anything other than a Nexus or Samsung is pretty much bollocks.

However i'd like to see these products continue as it's only good for the consumer and drives innovation (something Apple actually don't do - but appear to get all the credit for doing it).

Alpha12012-10-18 13:06:00

 

[guddler]

I've been using the evaluation of Windows 8 Enterprise RTM in a VM the last few nights. For the most part I entirely agree and I fully love it but every now and then I feel like I'm fighting it rather than it working with me. I've not quite got my finger on whats causing that yet but I think it's the disparity between the full screen UI apps and the desktop apps.

Both are great - I actually love the new UI in VS2012 for instance (I know many, many people don't!) but you kind of get zoned in to one environment or the other so if, for instance you're in VS and you switch back to full screen to read an email, the transition feels a bit jarring since the two environments are so different.

I think for the casual user this isn't going to be a problem as they'll mostly spend their time with full screen modern UI apps but for the more power user people I'm oddly not so sure.

And I think my comments will likely apply just the same for the pro tablet when it comes along.

 

[BristolMartin]

Hyper V is getting better but even on Server 12 its not that close. However that said, in an SME its by far the best choice from ROI.

BB10 really is super, BES??? I think its fair to say the writing was always on the wall for that!

W8 is great, but try using it in 3 monitor config with your primary in the middle - good luck hitting the hotzones!

All in all, Microsoft have made a great play all round, but I wish they would focus a bit more, Apple is now a real competitor for the desktop space at consumer level.

 

[Alpha1]

Yeah I agree OSX will become more mainstream, I know many people here like it but I don't half think it's a pile of turd

I don't think i've ever recovered from OS8 and OS9.

Anyway full review of the Surface on the 26th. I'm planning on taking it to the local Apple Store in Southampton and causing some fun with it

Alpha12012-10-18 14:39:41

 

[BristolMartin]

Yeah I agree OSX will become more mainstream, I know many people here like it but I don't half think it's a pile of turd

I don't think i've ever recovered from OS8 and OS9.

Anyway full review of the Surface on the 26th. I'm planning on taking it to the local Apple Store in Southampton and causing some fun with it

Tut tut.

We need to get our app out on it asap, but were not going to hit launch.

 

[Alpha1]

I am mighty impressed with the eBay app, will be nice on the RT.

 

[Chihiro]

My S3 got the official Jelly Bean update today over the air & is proving very slick, never been a fan of Apple myself just don't see why its so popular tbh.

Running a Windows 7 lappy here & looking forward to 8, are they still going to let you upgrade for £40 to 8 ?

 

[Alpha1]

Yeah it's a £40 upgrade, or £20ish if you bought a Windows 7 laptop in the last few months.

 

[cools]

every now and then I feel like I'm fighting it rather than it working with me.

This.

I love the improvements to the various desktop bits of Windows 8, but the desktop/metro switching metric is jarring and I really hate using the corner activation with a touchpad.

It feels 50% finished. The technological improvements are great, the UI changes I can't stand. I'll happily use any of the Linux desktops or OSX, but for some reason Windows 8 drives me as nuts as the minimal *nix window managers.

 

[guddler]

Yeah it's a £40 upgrade, or £20ish if you bought a Windows 7 laptop in the last few months.

It's not that much!!

£24.99 from the launch date if you download it rather than buying a disc in a box that you'll use once and stick on the shelf (I presume you will be able to burn a disc from the download but don't know till it happens):

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/pdp/productID.257641900

I'm beginning to sound like Oll now

guddler2012-10-18 20:51:35

 

[guddler]

It feels 50% finished. The technological improvements are great, the UI changes I can't stand. I'll happily use any of the Linux desktops or OSX, but for some reason Windows 8 drives me as nuts as the minimal *nix window managers.

I think it may take the odd service pack or revision (R2 anyone?) before they can quite hone it and nail it. I guess a lot of people won't be prepared to give them that chance and will just bash it as a fail very loudly, but to be honest, I hope they don't (or rather they stop doing so - they already are!) as it's the most radical thing Microsoft have done since Windows 95 in my opinion so it's kind of only fair if they don't get it quite right first time.

The important thing for me is that it's a £25 OS upgrade. I think that's a big win. If it was a several hundred ££ upgrade like some of the versions of Windows have been then they'd probably struggle.

It all seems very exciting. I remember having quite deep conversations with work friends over beers in the evenings about how this may all pan out and it all seemed incredibly radical and a long way off, and now it's a week away.

Ho hum, the joys of being a techhie geeky person

Just like Xmas it'll all soon be over