The serious smartphone user - a Microsoft concept ?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Ridcully Jun 19, 2011 4:17 AM EDT |
I dropped into a Brisbane mobile phone store on Thursday......One of the really big phone companies....and again, yarned to a salesman. He confirmed that Android is the biggest seller, but he then dropped a fascinating little snippet into my lap. He seems to think that when Nokia gets its act together with Microsoft, it will seriously take over a large percentage of the market. His reasoning was interesting: he believes that Android is going to the gaming and socialising crowd, but the Microsoft smart phone will go to the "more serious person" who wants to use Office and other similar tools on the phone. I must admit my personal mental jaw hit the pavement because all I could think of was how could you use a smart phone as a word processor for serious business work.......and really, would you want to do that given a laptop can do it much more easily, faster and "suitably". Or maybe I am stuck in a rut and can't see something everyone else can. Whatever, I again enjoyed my little question: How are you enjoying using Linux ? And again, the lack of knowledge of these salesmen is astounding.......Oh yes, he loves using Android, and all the rest follows. He was fascinated by what I had to say about Linux and it's spread to all corners of the world....bar the desktop. Perhaps a one-man crusade to all of these phone shops might help ? But informing people costs me nothing but my time and it's fun. |
| tracyanne Jun 19, 2011 4:20 AM EDT |
Yes 400,000 new Linux users every day is pretty impressive. |
| dinotrac Jun 19, 2011 6:59 AM EDT |
Microsoft has been talking about that "serious" user since the days of the PocketPC. They just can't get past the notions that different form factors invited different uses. |
| hkwint Jun 19, 2011 9:07 AM EDT |
Ridcully: Saw the presentation of Windows on ARM? You should. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuRMuRyIgkw at about 5:07. Their Office features the old 'touch-unfriendly' mouse-UI. Why? Because if it looks different, like 'touch optimized' it would lose its selling point of being 'easy to use for billions of existing users". But if it looks like this, it will lose it's selling point of "MS Office on tablets". In fact, the whole Windows-on-ARM-thing always like this lose-lose situation. They could ask developers to developing everything again from scratch, optimized for ARM and touch. But then it loses it's 'unique selling point' of backwards compatibility with millions of existing Windows programs. They could ask to 'port' old Windows-programs. But many of those programs are probably left by the author's, and most of them are closed source, so no succes. They could try to do processor emulation, but it will be slow. They can focus on free software - which is easier to recompile for ARM than closed software. But then other Microsoft-like closed source companies would be angry. They could focus on making office apps available for phones. But then Dell, HP and so will lose their fat margins on fat desktops, so then all their OEM-partners will be upset. They could focus on desktops, like they did the last few years, but than Goldman Sachs is upset, and lowering 'price targets' and ratings. They could try to do it all, but then people will blame them for 'not being focused'. They can do it the RIM way: Connect netbooks / tablets to mobile phones. But then consumers would blame them for expensive solutions. So whatever they do, it won't be a success anyway; there will always be some parties left complaining. Now, of the above, who is the most important? Certainly not consumers. I'd say it's GS/MS (the "other" MS)/ JPM first, then the OEM's, and only then the rest. And what do you think, if MS Office for the smartphone will cost $200, will people buy it? If it comes pre-installed and adds $50 to the price of a Nokia phone, will the consumer pay the premium for that Nokia smartphone - even if Google Docs on Android is free? If they will give MS Office away - or ask only $5, will shareholders be happy? Again, lose-lose. Margin compression is hitting them from every direction, and whatever they do, important 'partners' will be upset. |
| TxtEdMacs Jun 19, 2011 10:16 AM EDT |
Hans, You are such an idealist. RE: Quoting: [...] Windows-on-ARM-thing always like this lose-lose situation. Because MS will offend one group or another (disregarding buyers, i.e. consumers, because they don't count) leaving no way for them to construct an effective development / marketing attack. [Insert your favorite derisive word to hear the depth of my scorn.] When has MS not been willing to cut off a contingent of their supporters at the knee caps without blinking provided it was for the greater good of the former? I have seen whole groups of avid MS supporters derided and pushed aside. That includes former leaders in development that used MS products. MS has no permanent friends, only the need to feed its hunger of unabridged conquest. As always, YBT |
| Ridcully Jun 19, 2011 10:17 AM EDT |
Thanks Hans.......I had a look at the presentation and sure enough, up popped the Office writer around 5 minutes into the sequence......I assume the presentation was being presented on a Pad/Tablet not a smart phone ? When I wrote my comment above, I was thinking purely in terms of the screen size of a smart phone and not the larger area of a Pad or Tablet.....even so, I would definitely not like to do word processing on a Pad surface even if the software is touch optimised simply because I personally think the display size is too small to be effective. But then I prefer the larger laptop display. Some people can probably deal with the smaller sizes but I know I can't. However, I cannot help but smile at and concur with your logical deduction to the lose-lose situation.....I wonder what Redmond will do ? I remember that some time back (in the days of Win98SE/WinXP) I participated in discussions on this very subject of "developing everything from scratch" as regards the Windows code, although at the time it was to do with enhancing security and a shift from a stand-alone OS to a true networking OS.....but as far as I know, such a thing has not been done, possibly due to the pressures of backward compatibility......Perhaps this paradigm shift in how the younger generation views computing may force Microsoft into a re-write situation so that its code is optimised for the touch screens of the Pads and Tablets. However my impression of the whole thing still remains the belief that Microsoft has been left at the station and the Android train is already several stops down the line. |
| DrGeoffrey Jun 19, 2011 10:33 AM EDT |
Quoting:MS has no permanent friends, only the need to feed its hunger of unabridged conquest. And amongst that crowd of no permanent friends is MS's shareholders. Take a look at the price of MS stock in recent years. For decades my profession has hyped (beatified?) the efficient markets hypothesis. Yet, somehow, MS's shareholders have not taken a powder. Be it due to stupidity, inertia, or whatever, clearly the markets are not efficient. |
| hkwint Jun 20, 2011 3:39 AM EDT |
Rid: In the vid was definitely the tablet interface. Like the keys at two sides of the screen and in the middle nothing: That UI is designed to hold both sides of the tablet, and type using your two thumbs. Guess Microsoft never heard of right/left handed Dvorak, where you type using five fingers of one hand? Think indeed Office on smart phones wouldn't been feasible this way. |
| tracyanne Jun 20, 2011 6:38 AM EDT |
re http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuRMuRyIgkw at about 5:07. The bloke didn't actually do anything. He launced applications, closed applications, touched photos but he didn't actually do anything useful. when he did use the onboard keyboard it was one finger hunt an peck, He opened a psreadsheet but I think the whole demo would have come apart if he had tried to actually enter data in the thing. |
| Ridcully Jun 20, 2011 9:06 AM EDT |
And that, Tracyanne, was what had me so "mentally sceptical" when the Telstra salesman put forward his idea of "serious users" rejecting Android for Microsoft Windows. Putting Microsoft Office on a mobile phone (smart phone or not) seems utterly absurd to me, purely from the aspect of screen size. Putting it on a pad or tablet is equally problematical as far as I am concerned - I believe that you need a larger display area and a separate keyboard for really efficient use. This "serious user" concept almost reeks of the usual "Microsoft hype" - fantasy even. Redmond makes things sound good and obviously bigger and better than ever, and undoubtedly the pad/tablet situation will work in a limited way - however for serious creative work I think the pad/tablet situation is quite impractical. My present concept is that pads, tablets and smart phones are targetted at the IT consumer who uses them to display previously material that is mostly created elsewhere. Sure you can use pads/tablets to photograph, look at pictures, read book texts, listen to music, share all of these, and put text messages across the net complete with images. But, I don't think that the serious/professional IT producer/creator would consider pad/tablets as a satisfactory hardware setup for serious creation of IT material. I think that serious work in word processing, databasing, spreadsheeting, image manipulation, presentations and publication layouts requires a keyboard and standard computer or laptop displays - and I cannot see this changing. |
| hkwint Jun 20, 2011 9:56 AM EDT |
Coming to think of it, I don't think you can enter much data while holding a device. Only when it's resting on some surface. I don't own a smartphone yet, but from what I saw browsing the web is also a bit of a 'limited' experience compared to a 15" screen. |
| Fettoosh Jun 20, 2011 10:55 AM EDT |
Quoting:Putting Microsoft Office on a mobile phone (smart phone or not) seems utterly absurd to me, @Ridcully, I fully agree about "serious users" and at this time, but for small niche market, I believe some people will find it useful/helpful. Think about the following areas: 1- People who like to brag about technology, believe it or not, there are many who buy things just to talk about what their little device can do. It might not have any business value, but yet, they still buy it. 2- Sales people who absolutely have to have such capabilities and need to display or make very small changes in a text doc or a spread sheet. 3- People who have a smart phone that have resources equal to laptops/desktops with features and capabilities that match desktop. All they need is a keyboard and monitor and don't need to carry a laptop. 4- Future technologies capable of displaying a holograph and voice recognition to execute commands and convert speech to text. |
| kingttx Jun 20, 2011 3:38 PM EDT |
There are several office suites for Android. What's the big woop-de-doo? |
| henke54 Jun 21, 2011 10:21 AM EDT |
Hans wrote:In fact, the whole Windows-on-ARM-thing always like this lose-lose situation.Hmmmmm ...... : Quoting:Microsoft and Nvidia have an agreement in place that spells out terms relating to a possible acquisition of the graphics and mobile processor manufacturer, regulatory documents indicate. The deal gives Microsoft the exclusive right to match any offer for 30% or more of Nvidia's outstanding shares by a third-party, according to an SEC filing reviewed by InformationWeek.http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/microsoft_news/2... |
| hkwint Jun 22, 2011 6:05 AM EDT |
Definitely lose-lose: -They're afraid somebody else is buying Nvidia. If they're afraid, they're dependent on Nvidia. In such case, there's vendor lock-in and Nvidia can extort Microsoft because Microsoft is dependent on them, just like Microsoft extorted customers who are dependent on them. This is what I suspect. -They want to buy Nvidia. If they do so, first there will be the Nokia-like brain-drain, which BTW also happened when Apple bought Intrinsity. Then, current nVidia customers may walk away, as the MSFT/NOK/NVDA-chain will be competing against any Android device manufacturers, and because support for the Linux kernel might decrease. Which leads to a decrease of value of Nvidia. Then, they'll have to integrate the whole chain. In the past, IT companies have shown this is very hard - or worse, they failed. |
| gus3 Jun 22, 2011 9:39 AM EDT |
Hans, do you have any examples where that approach succeeded? |
| techiem2 Jun 22, 2011 1:35 PM EDT |
I'm trying to think of any instance where MS has bought anything and made it better...as far as I can recall, almost every time I've heard of them buying out someone (usually a software developer), they end up destroying what they bought (i.e. Microsoftize it and kill all the features that people liked the product for). It seems rarely (like with some of the nice power tools), that they buy out someone and leave the product alone. The thought of them acquiring Nvidia leads me to think that 1. Linux driver support would dwindle/die quickly. 2. Any spec information that is currently released by NV that makes FOSS driver dev a little easier would likely disappear quickly. 3. The quality of the cards would probably stagnate/go down. Though I'm not totally sure on this..oddly enough MS does seem to have a fairly good record with hardware products (at least with peripherals...that whole xbox thing is another issue). |
| number6x Jun 22, 2011 2:01 PM EDT |
to t2's question... Did Microsoft buy JET or did they develop it? Was it part of the FoxPro aquisition or independently developed at MS? I know Access was much improved after FoxPro was aquired. -Sean |
| hkwint Jun 22, 2011 2:22 PM EDT |
Maybe Oracle will be successfull with SPARC64? Apple is not doing too bad, though they're no hardware company I'd say - as they bought most of their A4/A5 from stock. Buying PA/Semi - if it was for the PPC branch - was no success though either. |
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