Lack of quality apps, yes definitely. But not offering anywhere near enough as a tablet OS? In what way?
Confirmed: Windows Blue Will Be Free, to Be Called 8.1
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Lack of quality apps, yes definitely. But not offering anywhere near enough as a tablet OS? In what way?
I'm just going assuming you aren't aware that Windows 8 is now on all new computers. 
You fail to understand. Just because they want a foothold they aren't going to block all their previous operating systems. Also, don't you realise that it is essentially mandatory if one buys a new computer and doesn't know how to downgrade?
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Soldato
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It not offering anything of any interest over its competitors, despite costing more? By 'tablet' I mean Windows RT, which costs much more. And if you exclude RT to include desktop functionality then it costs many, many times more.
That wasn't what you said:
But if that's an error then fair enough. I still disagree that it offers nothing over its competitors. Even Windows RT compares very favourably with other mobile operating systems, particularly iOS. And you can pick up a Dell XPS for less than £300.
So no, I'm not seeing your point to be honest. But that's ok.
Soldato
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Even Windows RT compares very favourably with other mobile operating systems, particularly iOS. And you can pick up a Dell XPS for less than £300.
So no, I'm not seeing your point to be honest. But that's ok.
But the Nexus 7 is available for £160, half the price of the Dell.
Ignoring the lack of apps, I'm not arguing that the Windows 8 RT OS doesn't offer as much, but it, to my knowledge, doesn't do anything anywhere near as good as a Nexus device at a comparable price point... in fact it can't even get to a comparable price point.
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That's not true though, you may personally feel it doesn't offer anything but despite its flaws (there's a ton) I'm still happier I replaced my iPad with one.
Anyway this is all besides the point, they had to start somewhere.
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What are you talking about specifically? You alternate between the OS and different different brands. If you're comparing a 7" device to the Surface RT then yes of course it's cheaper, there will be cheaper smaller tablets running RT too.
If price is your only motivator then Android is always going to be your best choice but Apple alone should prove price isn't always the key factor and more recently Surface pro has been selling well despite being a very expensive device. I haven't owned an Android tablet since my transformer (and a tab I haven't bothered to sell/open yet) but have they improved the dedicated tablet app selection? That's another plus to Windows that the apps are more consistent in that regard.
Soldato
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I was suggesting earlier that Microsoft need to drop the price to get traction in the market. I'm not saying that they necessarily need to compete head-to-head on price with Google, but they need to make it more a attractive option, and a Nexus-style subsidised device would help.
They definitely need a cheaper entry into the ecosystem, I wouldn't argue with that. I think a decent £199 8" tablet would do very well. The point I was refuting was that the operating system didn't offer anything compared with the competition.
Soldato
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Well I don't think it does. I think it's a solid base, but out of the box it has none of the innovation that particularly Google are introducing with each new Android update - I just feel that Microsoft are continually playing catchup, and while that's probably to be expected, they should be coming along faster than this.
If you're seriously suggesting that Windows doesn't offer anything of value over Android or iOS, then I don't know what to say really. I don't want to go down that road of everybody piling in saying product A does ABC and product B does XYZ.
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Perhaps but I think Microsoft is better served by having a reference standard on the market as their partners can push the budget lines and Microsoft is well served by either approach succeeding (I'm sure they'd prefer if the Surface won the sales but either's ultimately good for them).
This is a big assumption but I think they're doing their best to try and maintain that Surface RT is a premium device which competes directly with the iPad and once they start to fight over the price that comparison goes out the window.
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But without the apps it's never going to get a foothold and with so few devices sold out many app developers are going to be unwilling to push out products for it and without doing a Nexus I can't see how they'll convince app developers.
It's a vicious circle. The need to get the ball rolling on this one.
It's a vicious circle. The need to get the ball rolling on this one.
It's a rubbish metric but a metric nonetheless; the Windows store is up to 80,000 apps already.
With regards to Surface products 'winning' the sales, they kind of already do. 50% of Windows tablets shipped in Q1 2013 were Microsoft branded if you believe IDC's numbers.
It's rumoured that Microsoft would like to retain that proportion of tablet sales going forward. I'm not sure whether that's possible personally if the bigger OEMs start cranking out cheaper mini-tablets.
With regards to Surface products 'winning' the sales, they kind of already do. 50% of Windows tablets shipped in Q1 2013 were Microsoft branded if you believe IDC's numbers.
It's rumoured that Microsoft would like to retain that proportion of tablet sales going forward. I'm not sure whether that's possible personally if the bigger OEMs start cranking out cheaper mini-tablets.
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But Android and iOS will have 10 times that. It's missing key apps such as all of the BBC ones and Sky Go.
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Already? You say that as if it's some momentous milestone. W8 has been out for 8 months, it's an abysmal figure.
It has most of the big apps and even BBC has done a U-turn and is making an Iplayer app.
Which pretty much just leaves sky and google.
It's far from an abysmal figure. That's a lot of apps in a short time, seeing as it has most of the important one as well.
Which pretty much just leaves sky and google.
It's far from an abysmal figure. That's a lot of apps in a short time, seeing as it has most of the important one as well.
Check the 8 month figures for iOS app store and the Play store.
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That's kind of irrelevant, we're years on from then, Windows eco system technically has been going since their windows phones too, although they've only now with Windows 8 made an effort.
There's a divide between apps on W8 store and the W8P store too in some areas.
There still isn't a VLC/Spotify app on the Windows 8 store etc.