Why Microsoft Surface Took So Long To Deploy 187
An anonymous reader writes "Nearly a year after all the fanfare unveiling a new touchscreen tabletop interface, Microsoft's Surface computer will finally appear in select AT&T stores later this month. Popular Mechanics tech editor Glenn Derene, who first introduced us to Surface in May, seems to have done a complete 180 in this rant, blasting Microsoft for being more obsessed with Surface's novelty as a magnet for image-conscious partners while messing up a rare hardware device — and, surprisingly, the simple software he was told came with it. From Microsoft's official excuse in the article: 'It's actually been a good thing for us,' Pete Thompson, Microsoft's general manager for Surface, told me. 'We were anticipating that the initial deployments were going to be showcase pilots using our own software applications on units to drive traffic. What our partners have decided is that they want to skip that stage and go to an integrated experience where they build their own applications. That's pulled the timeline until this spring.'"
Dude! (Score:5, Funny)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZrr7AZ9nCY [youtube.com]
Re:I need a 10k$ table (Score:3, Funny)
Hmm.. theme ideas... (Score:5, Funny)
Development (Score:3, Funny)
So, the delay was getting an SDK out the door? Holy cow, MS pumps out half a dozen SDKs a month, it took a whole year to create an SDK for a table? I'm guessing they didn't build this thing from scratch, either - it's probably
Re:Testing... (Score:2, Funny)
Great, now when I come home I gotta check my computer to make sure the cats didn't put kitty porn on it...
*HIDE*
Re:Dude! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Roughly Drafted got it right (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I need a 10k$ table (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Testing... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Testing... (Score:5, Funny)
while(!asleep()) {
eat();
breakSomething();
}
Astonishing! (Score:1, Funny)
Somehow, I imagine something like this happend: (Score:2, Funny)
"A table?"
"Yeah, it does all of these neat things. It can recognize objects, respond to Bluetooth devices, run
"Thats it? Look, if you can make people pay a subscription fee to use software they have written for it or to use any software outside of the OS we might talk. It just sounds like it could be too... Ugh, functional. People putting them in their kitchen, to read recipes, sitting in the game room stealing face time from the 360. Think outside the box. How else can we create a market conquering product?"
"Wait, Bluetooth! Can you make some dongles that we can sell at $50 a pop?. Maybe a $150 RCA cable and a $200 AV dock?"
"Um, Bluetooth is wireless and it already has a screen."
"Damnit, what good are you? Wait, I've got it! Whoring the iPhone to AT&T worked for Apple! Make a sexy or hip or whatever demo, just remember the bullet points, we have brand recognition in those. My god, I still have it. I'm a f$%^&*@ genius!"