A Rant - Windows Surface

There is a lot of stupidity running around in the Tech Media, and even more so among those who comment on the tech blogs. Of course, any major announcement by Apple or Microsoft is a chance for all the haters to try to sound profound...almost all of them fail...and for the fanboys to come out of the walls in support of their side.

Now, I admit to being a bit of a hater when it comes to Apple, but mostly I just get annoyed with the choir of angels they think should sing every time something new runs up the Apple flag pole. Apple makes it, it's perfect. Apple doesn't make it, it's a failure. And of course, sales figures and the number 100 billion will come up as the defense of their position.

Now, Microsoft made a big announcement on Monday, something which I have already commented on, but all day Monday, the tech blogs were just full of crap...yes, crap that is the only thing you can call it when it smells like that. For the Applefanboys, nothing from Microsoft can be a success unless it can match the sales of Apple, and unless the pile of money under Steve Ballmer starts to grow closer to the size of the one under Tim Cook.

I should actually rephrase that, because, they would never use the word unless, that could be an expression of doubt in the inevitable dominance of Apple. They would say that nothing from Microsoft can be a success BECAUSE the sales do not match Apple. Of course, they always forget the sales of Windows, but oh well.

Now, we come to Microsoft Surface, a spiffy new tablet that will be available later this year. First, we must understand that there are two versions of Surface, and this seems to confuse the Applefanboys of the tech media, though it doesn't seem to confuse anyone who has been paying attention to Windows 8 over the last six months.

Surface will be an ARM based tablet running Windows RT.

Surface Pro will be an Intel based tablet running Windows 8.

Now, if that didn't clear it up, then please go away and come back when you understand the difference between Windows RT and Windows 8 and the difference between ARM processors and Intel processors. It has been all over the media for months. I am sorry, but there is no excuse for anyone who calls themselves a technology professional to not know the difference, and when I hear questions like, "well, which one are we supposed to buy?" from someone whose credentials should include technology professional, then I wonder at what they have been doing, because they certainly aren't smart enough to be an technology professional.

If you are a technology professional, you should be knowledgeable, and if you are knowledgable about technology, then the only proper answer to...

Which one should I buy?

is...

The one that best fits your needs.

So, should you buy Surface or Surface Pro? Well, which one best fits your needs?

For all of you who are not technology professionals, you may need some help with that answer...and frankly, that is beyond the scope of this post, but technology professionals do not have that excuse.  They are the ones who are supposed to be giving advice to everyone else.

And then...

Way too many of the pundits are concerned that Microsoft is going to anger their OEM partners with this move.

Oh, and you think that Microsoft did all this without considering that? How stupid are you? Don't answer that, I think I can guess. Well, let's just assume for a moment that Microsoft has some smart people working for them. They considered this point. They decided they could survive this potential problem and they moved forward. So, let's consider why.

• The OEM response to Windows Phone has been less than enthusiastic.

Now, why does that make a difference? I think if you look at the sales of Windows Phone you will understand. More than a year on, and Windows Phone is just not selling very well. There are multiple reasons why, but one big one is that when you walk into your local phone store, you see the iPhone, which needs no explanation and no one compares it to other phones on size, battery life, processor speed, etc. No beef with that, it has earned that status, but I think it is different than other phones.

Next to that you have all the Android phones, which DO complete on feel, weight, processor power, battery life, etc. And, after that you move on to Windows Phone. Unfortunately, most of the Windows Phones don't compete well when all you compare is the internal hardware. It reminds me a little of the AMD/Intel wars, when AMD processors lost because they had slower processor speeds, despite outdoing Intel processors at the same speed. Windows Phone works faster on lesser hardware, that is all there is to it, but that isn't something you can get people to understand easily. It also reminds me of the megapixel wars, both past and present. Anyone with a brain knows that megapixels are only one factor, and that optics, that is the glass out in front of the sensor, are equally if not more important, but that cannot be explained in a sound bite.

The point is that Microsoft could easily feel that the phone OEMs have let them down. It seems that Samsung and HTC both put out better phones for Android while leaving Windows Phone behind. Only Nokia seems interesting in having Windows Phone as their flagship, and they don't do Android.

To a lesser extent, Microsoft could feel the same way about the PC OEMs, but I feel that the ultrabooks might be changing that.

• Android Tablets don't have that much going for them.

Despite what Androidfanboys would have you believe, the Android tablet is not doing all that well. There are many reasons for that and none of those reasons has a place in this essay, except maybe one. Among the hardware designs, there are few big winners. There are some good tablets, and some with cool features, but there is not a lot of WOW! in the Android tablet stable.

These first two tie together into one big thought....in my mind.

Microsoft does not trust the tablet OEMs to produce tablets with WOW!

So, they did it themselves, and thus was born Surface.

But, there is more to look at and it concerns the strategy surrounding Surface. Microsoft could have taken the Kindle Fire route. They could have produced a tablet and sold it near cost, taking no profit from the hardware, and making it up in services, apps, games, music, video, etc. This is a good strategy for Amazon, because they have all the services you could ever ask for, but if you consider, Microsoft it does not work as well, plus it leaves no place for Microsoft's OEM partners to go. They cannot afford to sell at a loss, because they don't get any part of Microsoft's services revenue. The OEMs would be cut out of the deal.

So, where did Microsoft go? Well, the key is to look at the prices mentioned for Surface. Nothing specific was revealed, but the word comparable was used. Surface comparable with the iPad, and Surface Pro comparable with ultrabooks. This places the Surface in the premium range. It sets the gold standard, but has a price to match.

So, where does this leave the OEMs? Well, they can attempt to match the Surface and go head to head against it, and the iPad, or they can attempt to come in below the Surface, going with a lower price, and of course a lower feature set.