Only to be available from Microsoft, either at their own stores or at their online store.

This limited distribution strategy may be one way they're placating OEMs. Rather than try to ship high volume of units, it may be more along the vein of the Nexus phones. Nice reference designs but not a high volume product.

If that's the case, why bother? That is what doomed the Zune, that they wouldn't commit to making and selling a ton of units, so they couldn't compete with the iPod on price/cost. They didn't sell the Zune outside the US either.

So far, most of the buzz seems to be about those colorful keyboards/covers, which are probably optional accessories.

But there seems to be an interest in this hybrid device, since it can be both a laptop (with a good keyboard) or a thicker, heavier tablet. Of course, there wasn't a big market for the Tablet PCs that MS has been pushing for a decade now. But these should be more sleek and cheaper.

Thankfully, almost every tech site (who actually got to hold one) disagrees with you.

For a take on Surface from people who actually know tech, read this Engadget editorial:

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/19/e...e-tablet-line/

That said, care to explain which parts have "fail" written all over it? Personal opinions please, not stuff cut and pasted from Apple sites.

To me, this has success written all over it, because they'll be doing the opposite of what Apple is trying - Apple is taking the best of iOS to the desktop, and Microsoft is taking the best of the desktop to a tablet. And with >90% of the market using Windows, there WILL be people who don't want to screw around with multiple systems. With Windows 8 sharing preferences between machines, Surface has the potential to be something big.

Though the decision to only sell directly will backfire, and I hope they rethink that soon.

I'm sure that's true, and I have absolute ZERO interest in Windows 8. My only interest in this tablet is its ability to run the stuff I'm already running under Win7.

No. The OP didn't realize that they shouldn't quit their regular job and try out as a stand up comedian. OP was trying for humour.

To be fair, that article is all speculation, too. None of them have even held one, nor does anyone know the true specs.

The article states its price needs to be competitive with the iPad family. Wrong. It needs to be significantly cheaper for anyone to be swayed to buy one--and that's just for the people who have resisted taking a bite out of the fruit. IMO, it's going to be nearly impossible to see a significant defection of people who will give up their iPads for the MS Surface.

lol .. I didn't see who posted the OP. He got me.

But seriously, Engadget is Scott's trusted technical source now? I'm worried about Scott.

I hope they come out with something good. That's how everybody else will get better and better. Choice is good.

-David

I agree that for a lot of people this is looking very strong, apart from the distribution which is a very odd move. I don't know of many MS shops (are there 25 in the US yet?) and one of the big sales things is going to be to get people playing with these things. Quite how they're supposed to do that if their local store is in another state is a challenge MS are going to have to face soon. I was in an Apple store this week and someone who said they had always wanted a tablet was purchasing one based solely on the fact that she had a chance to play with one in store. However this is what the Metro interface is going to shine on, not traditional desktops where it seems out of place and slightly unnecessary for some people. I can see why MS is going all out for a standard GUI across all devices, I just don't think it should be forced on desktop/laptop end users.

I agree. One reason this product is DOA is that MS is arrogant enough to believe they can charge as much for the Surface as Apple does for the iPad. But it isn't enough for an MS product to be competitive with an Apple product; the MS product needs to blow the Apple product out of the water in every way (including price), and MS simply can't pull that off.

Let me put it this way: Windows Surface will have about as much impact as Windows Phone. (How's WP doing, btw?)

Sure, from your own link:

And of course, let's not forget this gem from your link:

And this:

And there is the history of Microsoft to consider when thinking about the potential for success:

And this comment just gushes with hopes and potential:

Overall I am not sure why you would link to that site with all of the above negativity about the Zune Tablet.

They have announced, not released, what is essentially vaporware. No specs, not specific release dates, no pricing, and two different operating systems. Like it or not to truly compete for a large chunk of the tablet market they need to blow us out of the water and significantly undercut Apple's price while producing a better product. THAT is why this has fail written all over it.

Sorry you fail to see the value in any website that covers Apple. Do you discount Flyertalk because the cover airlines?

To me, the following points stand out:

- MS have (finally) realised that user experience is the #1 thing. They're designing Windows 8 Metro for it, and if you take into account the Windows Phone OS, they want to keep the experience as consistent as possible - similar to how the iPhone and iPad are pretty much using the same OS, providing the same user experience.

- Even some people will see it that way, I don't think MS are designing this to be an iPad killer. I see it as replacing the netbook, sub-notebook or even the laptop market. If they fight the tablet market head on, i.e., take on Apple/iPad, MS will be making it very difficult for themselves.

- Therefore, they must price it lower than an iPad with similar spec and storage.

- Another big success factor will be the apps. MS have had a market place for years, even as far back as Windows 95/98 (?), how will that work? Will apps be run from the cloud? I don't mind spending a few bucks if my app can be used on multiple devices.

- A lot of excitement seems to be around the built-in keyboard in the case. If that is the most exciting feature, MS is in trouble.

Other questions I have:
- Will there be 3/4G models?
- Has anyone seen pictures/videos of it being used in Portrait mode?
- Do we really need a stylus?
- Can it play Diablo 3?

Fixed it for ya.

If they'd make a competitive phone I'd buy one. I have been trying to find a phone on par with the high end androids and have totally ZERO for options.

I want at least 1GB RAM, 1.5Ghz CPU, and ready for windows phone 8.

(from exblackberry/palm pre/treo/(and and wimo for a month or two) and current 2 android phone user)

There are plenty of good apps already that let an iPad edit or create office docs. Ultimately the real constraint to that is form factor, which is why I think apple have it right in positioning a tablet as a consumer of content and not a creator.

Notebooks and laptops are plenty light enough that it's no hassle to carry both. Most of us do exactly that when travelling for work and I can't see it changing. It's the ecosystem that determines success now and it's going to be hard to displace the credible lead apple have here.

I'll be the first to admit my frustration over the lack of details regarding battery, CPU, pricing and resolution. In my opinion it would have been better to announce this, once they were ready to ship the units. But these details are not significant enough to curb my enthusiasm in what Microsoft is trying to accomplish - a hybrid laptop/tablet form factor - making a tablet that is actually useful to me.

That being said, and not fully understanding their reasons for timing it the way they did - I can speak from experience, it would be very difficult to pinpoint battery consumption, on an OS that hasn't been finalized yet. Any changes made to the OS, and any changes made to device firmware can impact power consumption, so I don't blame them for not announcing that yet.

I recall reading in the news a few months back that Nokia released a firmware for one of their phones that reportedly tripled the battery life. With that type of potential variation, it would be near impossible to pinpoint battery life until software is final.

There's been a lot of interest expressed about the Surface Pro because it could run real software, real OS, etc. as well as convert to a tablet form factor.

But MS has been pushing these convertible tablet PCs for a decade now and they didn't sell. Wonder how big the market will be of people who want both the ability to use as tablet as well as run "heavy" software like Office, Photoshop, CAD, IDE, etc.

I understand the appeal of wanting one device for both mobile and desktop software. However, to run big desktop applications, that means the product will be heavier and thicker, so for instance, using in bed is pleasant experience.

Plus, we'll have to see the specs and price relative to laptops. If it's around $1000, that buys a lot of laptop. What if the Surface Pro is limited to 2 or 4 GB of RAM and only 64 or 128 GB of storage when laptops in the same price range has more of both, as well as faster processors?