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Major Microsoft announcement 18 June 1800 CST


USNRET

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I am seeing this whole tablet craze as just a gimmick that will eventually pass.

Nope. Touch, gesture, and voice command are the logical next step. Just read classic scifi or watch a bit of Star Trek, et al.

Direct brain control is now about at the Xerox Parc stage of development and the "NBT" after these things. It may even take less time than the mouse. Having been around for early meeces, I recall the general poopooing of the computer community of them as gimmicks.

Dave

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Dave is absolutely correct about this. Tablet computing is NOT a fad and isn’t going away any time soon. It’s simply the next “evolutionary” step in information dissemination.

Another good example of “evolutionary” technology changes is cellular phones. My first cell phone was a large black box mounted under the seat of my work truck. The handset (better described as a handful) rested in a cradle mounted to the floor of the truck. There was a rather large antenna poking out of the roof. Even with all of this it was awful and only worked about a third of the time. Today not so many years later my cell phone rides in my pocket and works great.

Tablet computing is about finding and receiving concise and timely information with very little effort. Today I was at the hospital visiting my Son and his wife. She’s there awaiting the delivery of my first grandchild. We were chatting and a movie was mentioned. None of us could remember the title. I had my iPad with me and was connected to the local WiFi. In way less than a minute I had found the movie title. Trivial? Yea… For sure. But a good example of how having information resources at our fingertips can enrich our lives.

When I think about my first desktop PC (a DIY 286 with 64K memory and amber mono graphics) compared to my current Win7 box it’s clear just how far computer technology has come in not many years. Tablet computing is simply an extension of that technological advancement. Smaller, lighter, faster, and smarter has been the “mantra” of the tech folks for years.

There are today at least tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, and perhaps millions of tablet devices in the hands of real people doing real work for real companies.

No… Tablet computing is definitely NOT going away any time soon.

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OOPS!!! Somehow I failed to paste the last part of my post.

Now… All of that said I think that Microsoft is making a mistake by entering the tablet market. Microsoft IS and always has been a “software” company. With very few exceptions their hardware offerings have been disappointing to say the least.

If I were part of the “product development” team at MS I would have been looking at developing a MS operating system for hardware platforms OTHER than iPad. There are some GREAT hardware builders out there. To date most of them have partnered with Google and used the Android OS. Why not a Microsoft tablet OS on a HP or Dell tablet? Call it MSTOS.

Don’t get me wrong here I’m not dissing Android at all. I’ve had several Android devices and they’ve all been wonderful. It’s just that there is a real need for tablet devices that will work well within a highly structured Microsoft AD network environment. iPad won’t do it and neither will Android. At least not very well.

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It’s just that there is a real need for tablet devices that will work well within a highly structured Microsoft AD network environment. iPad won’t do it and neither will Android. At least not very well.

As Dave has said before, this is

TRVTH

Apple desktops are only now getting to reasonable integration with AD. Tablets are much harder.

Bruce

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In their current form, I really don't think they will last. Tablets are what come to mind when touch, gesture, voice commands, and direct brain control are mentioned, but they really are separate entities. The examples you mentioned could be incorporated into anything, and I am failing to make the connection how it has much to do with my post. The problem with tablets are they are just extremely locked down, low powered computers. While Androids are a little more flexible, Apple reviews every single app that gets put onto their marketplace. Until companies can completely open up and make their tablets more customisable and upgradeable in the software AND hardware, I really can't see them start to take the place of the traditional PC.

I think the best route for them to go is to stop focusing on adding bigger and better processors, and focus more on being able to use them as basically an extension of a home computer. Instead of trying to build one single OS that will essentially be the jack of all trades, master of none (Windows 8), build me an OS that is designed specifically with tablets in mind, that can control the OS that I already have that was built specifically for my computer over the internet. That way I have the best of both worlds, and no one would ever really need to upgrade their tablet.

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My company is placing tablets on all our rigs as we speak. For years we've used paper checklists and maintenance procedures Quick Reference Cards. Now, I am converting all of these into combination step by step procedures with check boxes. When completed, the record is uploaded and time/date stamped into the rig records.

Priceless. If these devices did NOTHING but that they'd pay for themselves rapidly. AAMOF, we decided against the 3k-plus mil-spec ones as our replacement costs appear to be lower than preventing breakage is worth.

The value to ensureing the safety of the employees and integrity of the equipment is incredible.

Dave

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What other technology has given you so much more for so much less....? The cost of microprocessing keeps decreasing while the technology behind them keeps climbing the ladder. I started out on an IBM 360 that took up the entire basement of a one block square building in Richmond, Va. I have more computing power on my desk now, than that whole machine could come up with. If you remember the first IBM 286' based desktops they cost upwards of 10K each....YES...We have come a very long way in a very short time. I will say this again.....The technology you see in the public domain is probably 20 years behind what is actually being developed in the Black Circle......

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I have more computing power on my desk now, than that whole machine could come up with.

Indeed, and you get the benefit of only a tiny part of it due to bloated OS systems that hog resources beyond belief. I am not the only one here who recalls launching a word processor and it being ready as fast as I could position my hands to type...back in the late 80s and early 90s. Further, I do not recall them lacking anything needed to get the job done.

Even early "runtime" versions of Windows badly degraded the programs performance and now Windows (Apple OS as well) now wag the dog. Originally, one had just enough OS to run the program and if you had performance problems it was with the program, not the OS.

What we won't see, but need, is a Windows (or Mac OS) for "the rest of us," the 90 percent who do not need the massive overhead of a "one size fits all" OS for Exxon as well as for Johnny to do his homework and play "Minecraft" on.

The last "reasonable" Windows was 98SE which would install in a "compact" version of 100mb...if you can even imagine that now. Further, I don't recall it failing to be able to do anything I needed to do.

I challenge anyone here to prove this not to be true:

AutoCAD would launch and function EVERY BIT AS FAST in 1989 as it does today and had at least 95% of the features as today. Further, if these features were available at that time they would not have slowed it down significantly.

We've been brainwashed, right and proper.

In a world where value to the customer counted at all, we'd have a 40.00 or so OS fully capable of doing most anything we needed to do on a routine basis with no waiting for anything beyond issues outside the machine. I honestly do not know how many thousand times the CPU performance we have today over an 8086 or P90 processor but I know I do not get the benefit of it.

It is my assumption that MS and/or IBM have DOS so locked down legally as to prevent new apps from being written in it. A DOS video editor, or modeling program, or CAD program would be completely latency free with a modern CPU.

But don't hold your breath...

Dave

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Dave,

I am going to keep this short as I do not want to get into a debate on this. I will let have your opinion and leave it at that.

Your only argument is loading times. Yes in the old DOS days, we did a batch file and typed WP or AC and it went to the program directly and loaded. The amount of Plugins and additional STUFFused today, with Word and AutoCAD, it is exponentionally more to load than in the old days. I can have ten different programs open and running along with surfing the net....THAT is something you could NOT do in DOS. Remember everything is still basically run off of the DOS platform but stuff is much more complex today, than back then. Also once any program is loaded there is NO hesitation of waiting for processing of a file. I dare say that YOU have never out typed Word and had it still putting letters on the screen while you had finished typing......I am running a quad core and I can tax it's power doing solid modeling and CGI Gra[hics, but that is the ONLY time that the processor is ever challenged. The fact of having to wait a few seconds for something to load is a thin arguiment against today's technology. When I hit the Icon for AutoCAD Inventor 2012, it takes less than three seconds to get the drawing screen and my friiend, that is FAST, considering all of the ancillary crap that has to load.

W. C.

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Well, I've no interest in a Windoze or Apple bash either as it won't help.

I would point out a couple of things:

Yes, we ran multiple simultaneous apps. There were three popular programs for this. Can't recall the other two, but I used Software Carousel and could switch apps, cut and paste, etc at about the same speed as today.

Also, your mention of running Inventor in three seconds: That's about the load time from nearly 20 years ago without an exponentially faster CPU, RAM, and drives we have today.

However, the point is there should be no noticable latency AT ALL at hese processor speeds. Our render times in 3DMax are approximately the same as those on an Amiga of 1995 running Lightwave. Granted, the res is much higher now but even with that things should have sped up a LOT more.

Finally, I still say that the average consumer paying 140.00 bucks for an OS designed for enterprise use whose features they will use only a fraction of is just wrong.

But, O, so right as a revenue model... I just miss the excitement of the early days when there was competition in the OS market and each one was targeted to specific groups rather than "one size fits nobody."

Anyway, you know I'm just a crotchety ol' fart, I never question anothers experience even if it differs from mine, and my opinions are just mine and don't mean anything outside of that...[:D]

Dave

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AutoCAD would launch and function EVERY BIT AS FAST in 1989 as it does today and had at least 95% of the features as today.

PWK BS Button

OK, WC, it didn't do 3D. Other than that, if you question my statement I'd go back even farther to radio days and respond with "Vas YOU der, Charlie?" [;)]

Back to our regularly schedule discussion. In spite of the above, note I am all FOR success of the MS Surface initiative but hope they refine Metro from it's current edition.

Dave

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Dave,

I got my CAD start in being on the original Beta Team for AutoDesk back at the end of 77, I believe....memory is much to faded today. I can honestly tell you one thing...up to the advent of multiple processors, I have NEVER had AutoCAD load in less than 30 seconds....Back in 78, 79 the first versions were going to market and average loadtimes were about 40 to 45 seconds, on 286 based processors ......Man when the first 386's came out I remember making the foolish statement that there would NEVER be any need for anything faster...the next year the 486's were introduced and the rest is history......I was reared on Fortran and Cobal, the old IBM 360, in 71 was fed by key - PUNCHED index cards.....talk about antiquated....! 5MB RLL drives looked like cake dishes, about 15 inches in diameter....We could probably go on for hours about this as it is really bringing back memories but that should be another thread entirely....YES, it is very easy to side track a great thread and I again apologize.....! Yes...I DO remember the Baron....!

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Yes...I DO remember the Baron....!

Excellent! Fewer do every day...

Nor do they know where so many of Looney Toons characters like Foghorn Leghorn originated. AAMOF, I've alway been convinced that the Laugh In cabinet doors routine they closed with was based on "Allen's Alley" as well...

But, here we go again, WC...

Mea culpa this time. [:$]

Dave

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AutoCAD would launch and function EVERY BIT AS FAST in 1989 as it does today and had at least 95% of the features as today.

PWK BS Button

I'll have to say Dave is right on with what he said. We still use a 200 mHz computer running under DOS 5 as an Autocad workstation around here. The computer boots in 13 seconds and loads Autocad Release 12 in about half a second. It will do 3D but we don't use the 3D features as we mostly generate wiring diagrams, ladder diagrams and electrical schematics. This machine has given us no trouble in the last 15 years or so. I wish I could say the same about the Windows based computers we have with Autocad installed.

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