joshuanguyen:

So let me get this straight. The new tablet from Microsoft will have a

• screen
• keyboard
• trackpad
• [stylus]

Nice. It’s an inconvenient laptop.  I assume there’s also a cursor to go along with the trackpad?

So you can use your fingers to swipe the screen, then type away on what will be an awesome Office app, then break out the stylus and create magical annotations on your Excel worksheets. Open your laptops now and try that interaction.  Pretend that it’s a Surface (not a hard leap), and move between the screen and keyboard and trackpad.. and imagine throwing a stylus on top of that. Is that natural? Is that something you’ll find yourself doing a lot?

I’ll withhold judgment since we actually haven’t been able to play with the product yet.. but this suspiciously seems like a design by committee exercise that can only end up in a Frankenstein of a device.  But hey, maybe this is a pre-pre-precursor Microsoft’s brave new world. We ought to push into new forms instead of grafting old interactions onto new products. This feels very much like a diluted copy of a new technology (very Microsoftian).

Josh, I know I replied, but I have to go full reblog. You see a diluted copy of new technology, I see a perfect blend of what is missing from the market. It provides you the option to have a tablet with you all day, but when the time comes, and you have to write a long email, perform a github checkout, or hack some old code, your cover is suddenly there as a full keyboard.

The main reason I haven’t gotten an iPad is because there is no solution for handling any decent amount of programming or writing. The only alternative to having your screen half filled with uncomfortable ‘digital’ keys is throwing an additional bluetooth keyboard and trackpad in your bag.

But with the Surface, I have a tablet OS for the casual hours, and a full OS with a built in keyboard for those long work hours.

Right now I worry the computer market is going down a dark path for programmers and professionals. As everything is streamlined for the majority, the professional tools are being limited to fewer devices, but we still need solutions for programming on the go. I think this could be it.

Also, while I could spend a whole post on the poor options of tools for artists, I won’t because neither the Surface or the iPad still have a pressure sensitive pen.