[alanwarwic]

IOS now has Google Docs and the off-line mode.(no collaboration off-line)

No one yet has Windows RT but obviously it is a Microsoft branded Windows 8 lookalike.
Whether familiarity and legacy stuff like Office will be enough for major success, who knows?

Most existing printers will obviously will have to be shared with a PC.

[whoever,hey]

Originally Posted by Batwing

I know very little about the vaporware Microsoft products so you may want to ask someone else your question.

Its impossible to have a constructive debate when poeple use such meaningless fanboy terms such as vapourware.

[TheBigM]

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

IOS now has Google Docs and the off-line mode.(no collaboration off-line)

No one yet has Windows RT but obviously it is a Microsoft branded Windows 8 lookalike.
Whether familiarity and legacy stuff like Office will be enough for major success, who knows?

Most existing printers will obviously will have to be shared with a PC.

Well you either have the printer permanently connected to a desktop PC or you just plug it in to the tablet when you want as all these tablets have USB ports or you have a networked printer. Either way, no faffing around with AirPrint or Google Cloud Print etc.

I think 90%+ of windows users still use Office rather than browser-based alternatives like Google Docs. Especially due to the need for compatibility with the docx format and wanting to preserve formatting fidelity.

Businesses should prefer them to iPads as they will have higher manageability whereas iPad only uses EAS and the iPad's app store advantage isn't really relevant for most businesses who are wanting to run their own key apps.

Plus these things have USB ports, SD card slots etc etc which make them more appealing too. Android on tablets has improved a lot since ICS rolled around but it's still no where near as mature. With an RT tablet, you can do tablety things then set it down on a desk, use file explorer to manage your files and fire up Office - it covers more broadly the scenarios consumers need IMO.

[alanwarwic]

Originally Posted by TheBigM

... or you just plug it in to the tablet when you want as all these tablets have USB ports or you have a networked printer.

They will all need new drivers.
New printers stand a chance but guessing I would expect cheap printers to make use of a missing framework.

Yes most business users prefer/are trapped in Office.
It is not clear cut these days with Google snapping up a few very big contracts.

[Batwing]

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

Outperform :- and now you ask.

?

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

2.3Ghz versus a low voltage 1.7Ghz is a head start............................

Were you not just talking about chipsets and now you wish to discuss cpus?

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

Alloys - Magnesium alloy is on the whole lighter but needs painting. Black is probably only the norm because it is traditionally used for high end business laptops.

And yet, as I said, unless you know the specifics of each alloy one can not conclude that one is lighter than the other or not, not to mention the rest of the design of the computer and how it affects total weight.

[Batwing]

Originally Posted by whoever,hey

Its impossible to have a constructive debate when poeple use such meaningless fanboy terms such as vapourware.

Actually, the "meaningless" term is "fanboy" whereas calling it vaporware is accurate considering Microsoft's announcement with no dates, no prices, etc.

[TheBigM]

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

They will all need new drivers.
New printers stand a chance but guessing I would expect cheap printers to make use of a missing framework.

Yes most business users prefer/are trapped in Office.
It is not clear cut these days with Google snapping up a few very big contracts.

Care to tell me which frameworks have been removed? A printer with Windows 7 drivers will work fine on Windows RT.

[alanwarwic]

Originally Posted by TheBigM

A printer with Windows 7 drivers will work fine on Windows RT.

Do you really expect x86 drivers to run on ARM?

FYI there are some .NET AP's for Metro style apps but you still have to rewrite code.
I'm not even sure that this more limited set of API's is identical on both RT and standard Windows 8.

Anyone know?

[John259]

For many years Windows has included drivers for all common printers. IMHO any departure from that policy with either edition of Win8 would be another nail in its coffin.

[alan1302]

Originally Posted by John259

For many years Windows has included drivers for all common printers. IMHO any departure from that policy with either edition of Win8 would be another nail in its coffin.

The normal PC version will work as it's always done but there probably aren't a load of printer drivers for the ARM versions for them to put on

[brangdon]

Originally Posted by c4rv

until we see developers starting to support these there is little chance of them succeeding. Right now both android and ipad have 500k+ applications available, number of RT compatible apps can probably be counted on one hand.

The X86 version can run Windows apps, so there's a huge amount of software available. I work at a software company, and Microsoft are encouraging us to get our products onto their app store for launch.

The number of Metro apps is far more than a handful. Obviously it will take time to build up the numbers. Being able to run the same app on a desktop, laptop, notebook, tablet and phone, is potentially valuable to users, and being able to write an app once and sell it onto all those platforms is potentially valuable to programmers. Maybe it will fail, but I could also see it being a huge success.

Originally Posted by That Bloke

To be honest I'm not really feeling the love for RT. I just can't can't see any reason to buy it over the ipad / android tablets, and especially so if it's significantly more expensive than either.

Mostly I agree with you. The x86 version is compelling now; the ARM will be later as more Metro apps become available.

As I understand it, it has the usual Windows support for multiple users. That could be useful domestically if you have one device shared between a family. The security infrastructure may also be compelling for corporates.

If you have a Windows desktop or laptop, then there may be some synergy with having WindowsRT on your tablet and phone. We'll see.

Originally Posted by Neda_Turk

That or can you change Windows 8 to look like Windows 7?

Windows 8 on x86 has a desktop that looks like Windows 7. It has a few improvements, like a better task manager. It also has the new start screen instead of a start menu, which some people hate. I run Windows 8 on my laptop at home; in practice I rarely see the start screen (I have my common apps available from the task bar and as desktop icons) so it feels like an improved Windows 7.

This works partly because I have configured the video player etc to be the desktop version, which works because my laptop always has keyboard and mouse. I am not sure if it would work so well on a hybrid machine, where sometimes it has a keyboard and sometimes it doesn't. Whether I wanted the Metro video player or the desktop one would vary, and I don't know if Windows is smart enough to get it right.

Originally Posted by Helbore

I was just trying to work out what sort of battery life we can expect from the x86 tablet.

In addition to the points you make, it may depend on the mix of Metro and desktop apps you run. The WinRT API is designed to help minimise power use, so if you use mostly Metro apps you should get a longer batter life.I have no idea how effective it is in practice, or whether you'll be able to find enough Metro versions of the software you need to eschew the desktop versions. (Presumably the latter will improve over time.) Personally I'd hope for much better than the 5.5 => 6hr improvement you mention.

[TheBigM]

Originally Posted by alanwarwic

Do you really expect x86 drivers to run on ARM?

FYI there are some .NET AP's for Metro style apps but you still have to rewrite code.
I'm not even sure that this more limited set of API's is identical on both RT and standard Windows 8.

Anyone know?

Originally Posted by John259

For many years Windows has included drivers for all common printers. IMHO any departure from that policy with either edition of Win8 would be another nail in its coffin.

Originally Posted by alan1302

The normal PC version will work as it's always done but there probably aren't a load of printer drivers for the ARM versions for them to put on

Whilst you cannot install x86 software onto an RT pc, Microsoft can make use of "class drivers" to ensure broad compatibility.

[alanwarwic]

Originally Posted by TheBigM

Whilst you cannot install x86 software onto an RT pc, Microsoft can make use of "class drivers" to ensure broad compatibility.

Has Microsoft even said a dicky bird on this?

On the whole Microsoft uses the device ID and downloads/installs drivers that were issued to them by the manufacturer. Manufacturers pay fees for this.