Ballmer slates Apple's tablet

Microsoft are not the only company announcing tablets, and in any case the Apple tablet isn't even confirmed.

At least Microsoft have the grace to show up, unlike Apple who seem to think they are above it.

I am convinced that PCPro take money from Apple to put up all these anti-MS stories. Bashing MS is like taking the piss out of your teachers in school.

By windywoo on 7 Jan 2010

Agreed

An absolutely pathetic piece of anti-MS pseudo-journalism. Would the same tone have been used if this had this been any other manufacturer? I am no fan of MS, but I do believe that so called professional writers should be obliged to operate in a professional manner. PC Pro is a truly shining example of how standards can continue to slide, even when they had already reached unprecedented lows. Shame.

By PaleRider on 7 Jan 2010

Can we have the post from windywoo edited/removed please? I find it offensive.

The announcements from MS do look fairly bland; there is nothing genuinely new.

However, I am excited by a Slate PC that could run full Windows 7. I'd find that more useful than a crippled netbook or a Unix or MacOS device/

By Stiggy on 7 Jan 2010

Article

I have to say, this article does seem to bash Microsoft unfairly.

I'm tired of this kind of anti-Microsoft journalism, in the face of boosting a competitor, fail PC Pro.

By Genesis on 7 Jan 2010

There is also something called constructive criticism. And then, on top of that, a journalist's obligation to at least try and be as objective as possible. Now, I can't see any signs of 'bashing MS' in the news bit above but I can see a lot of disappointment from someone who (I assume) was hoping for so much more from the biggest IT brand in the world. I'm not surprised. E3's presentation raised the bar of the expectations but it looks like Microsoft did what it's best at - rest at its laurels and float on the sea of self-appreciation.

You see, I don't have or have ever had any Apple product, I had to use Macs in my job before but don't really like them and steer clear away if only possible. But that doesn't make me to kneel down in front of every PC I come across. It doesn't stop me from wishing that Microsoft's products I'm using were better. And above all it doesn't stop me from disliking Ballmer who's got a media appeal of a gorilla with a bunch of fireworks up his jumping section. And to be honest... If Apple wanted to pay some money for just that, I'd consider.

And just the very last thing. As you can see, it's perfectly possible to disagree with someone's point of view without swearing.

By Josefov on 7 Jan 2010

P.S
My comment was relating strictly to windywoo's one, didn't expect any to jump in between.

By Josefov on 7 Jan 2010

Anoter biased article

I have to agree.

As demonstrated here, the tones of many recent articles have a pro-apple, anti-microsoft flavour.

PC Pro has been reporting positively and excitedly about the rumoured Apple tablet for at least the last 6 months, despite Apple not having stated anything official.

Here MS actually announces the equivalent in a PC format (the preferred format for the majority of PC Pro readers) and that announcement is treated with negative contempt.

By atomz on 7 Jan 2010

I just took a look at it.

Just read the same story on BBC which is much more un-biased and has some pictures of the devices. The HP and Pegatron ones look pretty nice.

By JStairmand on 7 Jan 2010

Well I didn't see this as anti M$ or particularly biased, if anything it has confirmed what many people feel and that is that Steve Ballmer isn't doing a good job.
Personally I'm sick of the whole M$ Apple arguement, it's just pathetic. I mean a pc is just a bunch of electronics, a tool, If I run Firefox or Thunderbird and many other programs, I can't tell whether I'm using M$, Ubuntu or a Mac. Its's the application that I'm using and if I become too aware of the platform then it's getting in the way of what I'm trying to do.
I think the Mac tablet has got everyone a bit on their toes, after the shock and awe of the iphone.

By stokegabriel on 7 Jan 2010

It seems to me that the tone of the article is spot on. The clip on the BBC news site showing Ballmers introduction of the 'slate' is nothing short of an attempt to grab some headline from Apples forthcoming announcement. The clip shows 3 devices that look like bloated iphones running a desktop version of W7! ohh, you can slide our finger over the screen and it changes display.... hardly ground breaking and obviously an attempt to cash in on apple.

Looks like MS are about to make the same stupid mistakes that made windows mobile the mess it turned out to be.

By richb330 on 7 Jan 2010

PC Pro have lost the plot....

"A feeble attempt to steal Apple's thunder"

Erm...Apple hasn't even launched their tablet yet so why is it a feeble attempt? A tablet running Windows 7, what more could you need for mobile computing? Every day PC Pro takes a step further to renaming itself Apple Pro. Get rid of the Apple fanboy journalists and sort it out.

By everton2004 on 7 Jan 2010

Balmer started it!

Balmer's intent was obviously to steal Apple's thunder on their much anticipated tablet launch, so the comparison with Apple is what we should expect. Apple has the advantage of making the whole device, hardware OS and Apps so they will always have an advantage in terms of integration (but will always be limited in some way). Also as OS-X is based on a Unix Microkernel it will more easily scale over a range of devices (and processor architectures) than Windows 7.
Microsoft's position in desktop and portable PC's is unassailable, but all strengths can become weaknesses and the monolithic “everything to everybody” nature of Windows 7 inevitably has drawback when applied to devices that need an OS tuned to a specific set of applications.
Finally the Archos device is available now and I don’t see press articles saying it’s selling off the shelves. There is little evidence that iPhone users feel the need to use Apple PCs, so there is no reason a PC magazine should not commend Apple non-PC devices.

By milliganp on 7 Jan 2010

@everton2004

You've answered your own question. No one's seen it, no one knows if it really exists and yet everybody is talking about it. What better reason do you need?

By Josefov on 7 Jan 2010

Seems to be....

a lot of heavy-handed editorial comment in what is supposedly a news article. It reads like something from an Apple fanboy blog, not a supposedly professional magazine.

By Lacrobat on 7 Jan 2010

PC Pro?

It's been Mac Pro for a while now. I subscribe to a PC magazine, wanting PC news etc. By PC I mean Windows news. Now I come across technical support articles for Leopard users. Not interested, if I was I would buy another periodical.
And those kids who insist on putting a $ sign next to the M. Grow up. Do you think that other companies, like Appl£ (see it fits), are charity organisations? I think not.

By vikarmo on 7 Jan 2010

I dunno...

I've been reading PC Pro damn near since issue one, and the only fault I've ever found with it is that it's to pro-Windows for my taste!

ok, they'll have the occasional wee moan, but in general they fly the MS flag. I mean, they were even loyal to Vista for goodness sake

By JohnM80 on 7 Jan 2010

Thanks vikarmo,

It's so pathetic the way some people put $ after the M. So desperately childish.

It also immediately undermines anything they say since you can see how biased they are.

As for the article, it's very overly critical.

Those slate pcs (seen them on the BBC site - why no pictures PCPRO?) look to be excatly what I've been waiting for. I simply can't see why the article is so harsh.

By Grunthos on 7 Jan 2010

Re-reading the article

...and I can appreciate the view of the author along with the views of fellow readers. This is quite indicative of two camps and lines being drawn! However, I think the author may have done well to provide an impartial view of what was being declared by MS at CES and simply stuck to "just the facts"... I'll gladly like to see the availability of a Windows Slate AND an iSlate and compare!

By idris on 7 Jan 2010

well...I like them

Thought the HP one looked quite good although I'd be worried about build quality from HP these days. Still not convinced about the joys of fingering up touch screens tbh - even the minimal amount of handling in the clip and it's clearly coated in greasy prints - but I would love something that size I could sketch on, read books, make notes...a stylus for me please :¬)

By strangefish2 on 7 Jan 2010

hmmm

Barry's comments are spot on. I sat through the keynote and it was dull dull dull.

Regarding the tablet thing. I was hugely underwhelmed. And here's why.

Take a tablet pc of a couple of years ago, and replace the screen with one that recognises a finger. And, boom, there we have this new device.

Except that now we have Win7 shoe-horned on. Now did you spot the UI? Looked like standard Win7 from the demos. If so, just when was Win7 optimised for finger operation? Mouse, yes. Pen, yes. Finger is entirely a different proposition.

So MS has probably added in some mutant utilities to hack finger onto this screen and OS combo. But is that a good engineering solution? No. Is that real progress? No. Is this the clear thinking and future-reach we should have from a company that spends billions of dollars on MS Research? No.

Where is the clarity of thinking here? The design and optimisation of a platform for touch? MS's answer is the same as always -- no, you dont want that cos that means that a) MS has to commit to a platform rather than just hacking something together as a low-cost solution and b) MS is determined that whatever the question is, Win7 desktop is the answer.

Go back some 15 (?) years to the original Compaq Aero pen tablet. Does this new HP thing *really* represent 15 years of progress? No, I didnt think so either.

I was hoping to see something really clever, something that would make me smile with the ingenuity of it, and subtle and clever thinking to solve the new problems of today. What we got (so far... it hasnt shipped yet!) is a luke warm and cynical zero-effort bodge. And that is just not good enough.

Jon H

By JonH_ on 7 Jan 2010

I thought having a go at MS was a good thing?

The sales figures for an iphone say everything. The sales figures for win mobile (or whatever name change we are on now) say whatever's left.

Now why can't MS with all it zillions get a real design team in and start doing something really useful....before Apple!

As for constructive criticism, whenever has MS taken any notice of anything anyone else has ever said.

I think MS should design the next OS with absolutely no compatibility with anything that has been done before. It might then be lean, mean etc and actually get us a bit further on from 1984 IBM clones anyone. it would help if it threw open the doors to listening to ideas from other people. Sorry gone off topic, though I definitely want a Star Trek slate thingy :)

Gordon Moore (not that one...)

By gfmoore on 7 Jan 2010

Stealing thunder??

Why is it that every time a company announces something that it's been "Rumoured" and not "confirmed" that apple are doing the same/similar they are always stealing apples thunder. Is it not possible that they're all doing it and it's just apple's info leaked first. Apple do not come up with every idea first as their patent disputes have proven over the years. Yes they have innovated in some areas but then so have other companies including MS. I'm no apple and no MS fanboy. I prefer my articles unbiased and I'm sorry but this review does have the pro-apple wiff. How is MS' announcement different/more dull that other tablet announcements from other companies over the years. But when it comes to apple I guess all their announcements are always exciting even if they've only tweaked existing products themselves for the better or sometimes not for the better.

Please can we have some decent independent unbiased journalism for a change.

By koshthetrekkie on 7 Jan 2010

And another thing!

Thanks Jon for the good technical argument. Following some of the comments I read up on the Archos device. It has a 1.1Ghz Atom, Windows 7 Starter Edition (i.e most of the better feature clobbered), weak graphics, resistive touch and only 5 hour max battery life. This is not a scene changing device! You'll die of boredom if you ever try to do something meaningful.

Re some of the other comments, the mag is called PC Pro not Windows Pro. Imagine if it only covered Intel processors and phones running Windows Mobile. The technology landscape has moved from PC == Wintel and I want to read a mag that is not slavish to a single vendor or platform.

By milliganp on 7 Jan 2010

Disappointing article...

Really disappointed with the tone of this article. I have no doubt that Bulmer wasn't the most inspiring speaker, but your knocking a product without giving more informaation on it.

OK, it runs, Windows 7, which has received critical acclaim (under the balmer leadership), Bing has been a success (I actually use it, and it competes well with google).

If the author had dissected the product more, I wouldn't have seen this as simply an anti MS article.

What was worst, is that Apple has not announced anything, and before they do, the MS product, which is real is already worst than apples so far vaporwear.

No wonder techno journalist salivate over the featureless apple iphone when compared compared to the featureful, but poorly implemented MS version. Is that aesthetics over substance I'm hearing?

By Ajamu1 on 7 Jan 2010

Thanks for all the comments

To answer a few of the points:

1. We're light on technical detail because Microsoft didn't provide any. It was a 30 second demo, in which Microsoft didn't even give out the product's name. We'll try and get more detail from HP.

2. We were far from the only people unimpressed with Ballmer's keynote. There was a general air of bemusement and "is that it?" when the presentation ended abruptly, because people expect more from a Microsoft CES keynote. We weren't expecting any ground-breaking announcements, but most of what was unveiled had either been previously announced, or was a minor update of an existing product.

Barry Collins
Online Editor

By Barry_Collins on 7 Jan 2010

Sorry, but....

comments like

"a feeble attempt"
"a thin selection of so-called Slate PCs”
"rather weak"

still shows far too much in the way of subjective editorializing. If this were a blog entry, fair enough, but some of us can make our own minds up about the relative worth or otherwise of today's launch.

"The Microsoft boss spent the first third of his speech reminding the audience of Microsoft’s successes in 2009"

Shocking! And of course, Steve Jobs NEVER blows his own trumpet at such launches.

By Lacrobat on 7 Jan 2010

Cheers Barry

The extra info definitely helps but would have been beneficial in the original article as would have the different tone that your comment had compared to the article.


I think the main problem was how you phrased things. Going straight for the "feeble attempt to steal Apple’s tablet thunder" line seemed a bit of a cheap shot considering apple weren't/wouldn't be the first company to develop a tablet regardless of whether they come up with something newly innovative in tablet terms or not. It's what made me wonder if say HP had announced this would you have made the same type of comment about them?

As your comment says you weren't given much info so it would have been more impartial to say that Balmer has announced a line of tablets but that you were disappointed that you were given little or no info and nothing really seemed new or innovative. You could've said that MS may have been trying to get something out before an official apple offering and if so it's a feeble attempt as they've so far offered nothing really new but it seemed your tone / choice of words were just MS bashing for extra effect / sensationalism and giving your opinion without the appropriate facts rather than reporting the facts with your conclusions which is what good journalism used to be about.

I don't mean to knock you too much as I understand now what you meant. It's just you shouldn't have to explain an article after you right it. It should be enough to stand on it's on merits. But hey what do I know ;o)

By koshthetrekkie on 7 Jan 2010

Article

The article is so poor in technical details and to criticise MS like the author did, is just childish! At least tell us why (analytically) as opposed to writing your frustration down, what next? U ran out of bog roll, keep ur personal feelings to yourself.

By Natasha26 on 8 Jan 2010

Still not happy with the Article...

The nub of the matter is the statement "The devices were a naked – and rather weak – attempt to usurp Apple’s tablet"

It is quite clearly subjective and based on no facts whatsoever considering the Apple tablet is still vapourware. I'd expect better from a professional publication such as PC Pro.

By everton2004 on 8 Jan 2010

Bias?

To all the people who can't see the blataint bias in this article; did you actually read the first sentence?
"Microsoft boss Steve Ballmer has made a feeble attempt to steal Apple’s tablet thunder after unveiling a selection of “slate PCs” at CES in Las Vegas."

How does one make a feeble attempt to steal the thunder of a device which, according to several official sources, does not exist outside of a number of enthusiastic fan-made renders?
Easy, make a speech that announces a near-equivalent product in front of a reporter that wants the imaginary competitive device to exist so badly that they will slate (sorry) yours sight unseen.

By LTC_UK on 8 Jan 2010

Barry is right to slate spoiler

While Barry didn't pull his punches, his comments seem fully justified.

Put down for a minute your prejudices (we are, after all, reading PC Pro and not MacWorld).

The problem is that it it pretty clear that Mr Ballmer wasn't waving a real product that will be released in the foreseeable future. It was no more than a maybe.

He chose to do this 2 weeks before the industry expects that Apple will do a real product launch of an actual product with full details and scheduled availability.

And the device that Ballmer chose to wave around was picked to look as much like an iPhone as possible.

The older reader may recognise the tactics of spoilers and FUDS, for many years the preferred business practice of IBM before it became largely irrelevant. For those that do, it is very disappointing to see MS going the same way, because it is the sign of an organisation that is loosing its ability to compete for new business on the basis of relevance.

For a while it looked like My Ballmer may bring a more straight forward approach into MS. He has, after all, the man who finally admitted what most of us already knew i.e. that there was no point in a Windows 2000 user migrating to Windows XP.

So it is not surprising if a professional MS watcher, a man with plenty of reason to have a natural bias toward MS, writing for a magazine with plenty of reason to have a natural bias toward MS, finds it disappointing to see Mr Ballmer stooping to such levels.

By Henry_3_Dogg on 8 Jan 2010

Reality Distortion

The root cause of this debate is that Steve Ballmer has never developed the famed 'reality distortion field'.

Microsoft make some great stuff. Their products power most businesses. But they're not 'cool'. The lesson learnt should be to try to forget that Apple exist when reading about what Microsoft are doing, see if it's interesting to you, and then compare with the competition (including Apple).

P.S. I'm typing this on a MacBook and I'm definitely not a Microsoft employee!

By PeterGlock on 8 Jan 2010

Compare with the competition?

Isn't that the whole point? At this point in time there is no competition (the Apple tablet does not exist) yet the W7 tablets are being compared to it in an unfavourable light - completely without justification!

By everton2004 on 8 Jan 2010

Clay Tablets

If Ballmer wore a leather jacket and turned up on stage driving a Harley, then told everyone the new tablet is totally incompatible with every previous product, and would cost 3 times what it is worth, he would not convince Microsoft enthusiasts, because they don't fall for that nonsense, only the Apple cult does, like EST graduates or Larouchies who volunteer their free time to worship their hero.

By fogtax on 9 Jan 2010

Fed up

I used to be a regular subscriber to PC Pro; I even used to have a copy of the promotional issue from before PCPro's launch. I still visit the web site most days. I have made many, many purchases on the back of PCPro's recommendations.
And yet I am fed up with PCPro as well, much the way many of the the people writing before me are. It seems that Apple can do no wrong and MS can do no right.

Yes, Apple products are "cool", but the company is just as predatory and ruthless as MS. The only difference is if anyone attacks Apple, then there is the immediate whiny response that Apple is just trying to compete and that everyone else is unfair.

"We weren't expecting any ground-breaking announcements, but most of what was unveiled had either been previously announced, or was a minor update of an existing product" is a ridculous excuse. If you weren't expecting anything groundbreaking, how can you be disappointed?

PCPro, please grow up and return to providing objective and balanced comment and advice.

By marekj on 9 Jan 2010

Gosh...

Never known such animated responses. Has someone died?

Barry, carry on and criticize as necessary.

I remember posting some anti Vista comments on the Green Button when it came out, man did I get flamed, Seems nothing has changed for the ms apologists, and I've never used a Mac (well, perhaps the original one in 1984!).

By gfmoore on 11 Jan 2010

iSlate

Find more information on Apple Ready: http://apple-ready.blogspot.com/2009/01/new-tablet
-pc.html

By joseferreiraaa on 19 Jan 2010