Microsofts New Handheld

[tbs]

dont we already have PDAs?

 

[Tunney]

Looks interesting - a bit like the OQO and the Nokia 770. I wonder how much it'll cost though? Will it replace Windows Mobile or just compliment it?

 

[sja360]

dont we already have PDAs?

my thoughts exactly, it looks like it'll do everything a pda does, apart from the gaming part.#

 

[McDaniel]

and how much have they spent on the xbox and the 360 ? lets face it with the state of the world today i think the money could be better spent some where else.

Same can be said about so much though, why bother paying footballers ludicrous amounts of money?

 

[Davey_Pitch]

Looks terrible!

I don't think MS have what it takes to break the handheld market.

I remember people saying the same thing when they announced the Xbox. They were wrong then, they could be equally wrong now.

 

[Spit]

Im really looking forward to this device.

 

[FeFiDoh]

could be interesting nothing fancy i suppose tho as it aint a gaming thing

and it annoys me when people moan about how MS could give so much more to charity. Just cos hes rich he should fix ALL the worlds issues? hardly fair is it id say he gives more than enuff

 

[NokkonWud]

and how much have they spent on the xbox and the 360 ? lets face it with the state of the world today i think the money could be better spent some where else.

Gates has already said, he's got "x" aside for family, when he dies the rest of his money is going to 3rd world hunger in an attempt to stop it.
The Gates family give to aid more than any other empire in the world.

People hate them because of what they are, not what they do ,it's wrong because Microsoft are a phenomenal company who make great products and have made computing what it is today.

 

[XPE]

i didnt say they should give all there money over to charity, My orignal comment was that they have very little chance of making money in the hand held market and that the money could be better spent.

mayby saying charity was a bad idea.

So if people dont like that how about this, MS could try putting the money bad into the PC market which made them the super power they are today. Mayby make some new franchises or something, there for generate more intrest in it and this will help them sell even more window visa when that comes.

 

[Manlove is my forte]

you know, ms could give the money to charity instead of throwing away another couple of billion getting there ass’s handed to them in the portable market.

Why?

and how much have they spent on the xbox and the 360 ? lets face it with the state of the world today i think the money could be better spent some where else.

Money well spent paying peoples wages, keeping people employed, stimulating the economy by providing a new "must have" consumer product, improving computing development, need I go on?

i know that, but it doesnt mean that ms should be allowed to throw away billions on trying to breach the protable market

WTF are you on? Its their money they are allowed to do what ever they ******* well want to do with it! I must have missed the memo that said Joe Public had a say in how MS invest in their future.

i didnt say they should give all there money over to charity, My orignal comment was that they have very little chance of making money in the hand held market and that the money could be better spent.

Umm, people doubted their ability to crack the Console market and I think they are proving people wrong. MS have the ability to do what they want. If they are lacking the skill they can sure as hell buy it.

mayby saying charity was a bad idea.

First intelligent thing you have said in this thread

So if people don't like that how about this, MS could try putting the money bad into the PC market which made them the super power they are today. Mayby make some new franchises or something, there for generate more intrest in it and this will help them sell even more window visa when that comes.

The PC market did not make them the super power they are today. Shrewd investments, buying the correct staff, building solid products that were more user friendly than the rival products, superior management & sales strategies (as well as the odd illegal act) made them the super power they are today.

If M$ want to invest in a new technology then they will.

Oh and its vista, visa is a finance company.

 

[JUMPURS]

People hate them because of what they are, not what they do ,it's wrong because Microsoft are a phenomenal company who make great products and have made computing what it is today.

that did make me chuckle tbh
They are a company who have made a fortune taking everybody elses ideas, messing them up, and mass marketing them to stupid IT managers who think since it says MS then it must be great and are to scared to look at alternatives. Ohh and getting you hooked on there products making it so hard for you to change to another system, then jack the price right up, that i think they do hold the patent for

 

[stu.artd]

As has already been suggested it could be an ultra portable 'tablet' computer, and seems reasonable if it is but that's just far too big for a handheld console.

 

[Psyk]

Notice how only one of those pics shows a game being played. I seriously doubt it will be a handheld games console, instead it will be a handheld PC that plays games. People automatically assume that just because it's just about small enough to be handheld and it can play games, it's a competitor for the DS and PSP. MS would not be that stupid. It's obviously too big to be properly portable and we all know portability is the key to a successful handheld console. Just look at the old sega handheld (I forget the name) it was more powerful than the gameboy and was even in colour when the GB wasn't at the time. It failed because it was too big and had too small a battery life. I'm sure MS are well aware of what happened to that and they aren't going to make the same mistake.

 

[Boogle]

that did make me chuckle tbh
They are a company who have made a fortune taking everybody elses ideas, messing them up, and mass marketing them to stupid IT managers who think since it says MS then it must be great and are to scared to look at alternatives. Ohh and getting you hooked on there products making it so hard for you to change to another system, then jack the price right up, that i think they do hold the patent for

If you use Windows you're as 'guilty' of being a stupid IT manager who does what MS says and doesn't look at the alternatives. The more MS products you use, the more hypocritical you get.

MS are one of the best companies out there, they're not an evil company who eat everything in sight. Just look at companies like Walmart & Stagecoach to see companies that will do anything to win. In case you're wondering, both of those companies price their products at a price that drives the competition out, then when there's no competition, they put the prices up (to above what they would normally be).

Either way MS have done a *lot* for computing. Before Windows (and IBM) there weren't standards across all PCs, it was piecemeal to say the least. You wonder why you can go and buy an 'AGP' or 'PCI-E' graphics card, and it just works when you plug it in, without needing to set up a million and one options, and hope and pray that it works with everything else? Thank MS for that. No setting up IRQs, no worrying about 32bit apps working on a 64bit OS, no worrying about drivers, no worrying about software installing & working, no worrying about the piece of hardware even working with the PC. All things MS either introduced in a big way, or had a hand in helping. Imagine if a small company wanted the big manufacturers to get on board with 'Plug n Play' - they wouldn't care at all. Because MS did it, it became adopted by all companies. MS introduced the first DB abstraction layers (ie. ODBC) that allowed developers on the Windows platform to program an application that will work with numerous databases, no need to program for each individual database. They've done all sorts. The more they standardise the better, something the movie industry would be wise to follow.

MS do make mistakes, but at least they haven't caused any major long-term damage. Worst thing I can think of is their strong-view that everything should be backwards-compatible. This means you can run old programs on new computers (big thing), but it also means security is sacrificed. It would seem Vista uses a series of 'hacks' to patch up many of these holes. I would also like to point out you don't need a million and one parallel installations of numerous libraries so you can 'compile' every application you buy. I don't think I need remind you of the millions of forum threads / newsgroup posts regarding compilation failing of X application on X distribution of Linux. End user (not techy end user) wants to buy an application, insert the CD, and use the app. Not opening up the command line and start compiling things, installing libraries, and updating compilers.

Of course because its 'MS' they did nothing other than screw the customer over, they stopped systems being able to talk to each other, and they slowed all development of computers. Oh wait, didn't they do the exact opposite?

I used to like Linux, then I realised I was spending more time 'tweaking' the OS, or setting up applications (ie. playing with config files till my eyes bled) than actually using the PC. With Visual Studio and Windows I can just add a single entry in the global search path in VS, and everything else is handled automatically. No makefiles, no config files, just a single button or keypress. Multiple monitors are also handled much, much better in Windows.

Ooo errr, I appear to have gone completely OT. I'll be leaving now...

 

[JUMPURS]

Unfortunatly i do use windows, but it is purely due to the fact i like to play games and most games run on windows.
At one point talking about hardware running i could have swore you where talking about Macs
They took windows from macs (Although apple stupidly didnt read there own license agreement **sigh)
They took active directory from Novell
They took java from Sun
They basically copied the dreamcast and made the xbox
i.e. 7 basically takes the features that Opera, safari and firefox (and previously mozilla) have had for a while
and thats just off the top of my head
Ohh and what do they do if they eventually get caught, thats right we will write a big fat cheque. that makes it alll better.

And microsoft are not shy of finding a wee company that makes a decent product and buying them, Bungie, bizzarre (gotta keep it kinda console related) not to mention the mob that made the anti spyware and the mob that are doing the anti virus.

MS are in a lot of trouble just now for doing the very things you described, they are limiting systems talking to each other and slowing development. Thats why the EU is havbing such a go at them, for not being so forthcoming with other developers about letting their software integrate with windows servers.
as for the 64 bit OS, AFAIK the fact that although the chips we are using just now Claim to be 64 bit, its the CPU's which allow 32 bit apps to be run just as much as the software. As i am sure that the AMD 64's are not true 64bit chips as they have so much 32bit architecture in them. Hence the very reason we can run a 32bit OS on a 64 bit chip, which should be impossible if it wasnt for the chip
The only stable OS they have ever made was XP. whereas the mighty mac has been stable for years and years and years.
anyways bac on topic. Portible gaming machine, still dont think so (unless spider solitaire counts)

 

[Boogle]

as for the 64 bit OS, AFAIK the fact that although the chips we are using just now Claim to be 64 bit, its the CPU's which allow 32 bit apps to be run just as much as the software. As i am sure that the AMD 64's are not true 64bit chips as they have so much 32bit architecture in them. Hence the very reason we can run a 32bit OS on a 64 bit chip, which should be impossible if it wasnt for the chip

I'm going to skip the rest (its all grey, nowhere near cut and dry 'stole this' 'made this themselves'). When in 64bit mode any x86-64 CPU can only accept 64bit instructions. Hence you need a layer to operate between the OS and the application (this is called WOW in Windows). The advantage of developing this, is it, along with the OpenGL->DX mapping in Vista; has allowed for the emulator to be born for the Xbox 360. Traditionally emulating a complex x86 CPU on such a relatively slow RISC processor would be unfeasable. Its an amazing feat that the 360 can actually emulate Xbox games.

 

[Psyk]

Unfortunatly i do use windows, but it is purely due to the fact i like to play games and most games run on windows.
At one point talking about hardware running i could have swore you where talking about Macs
They took windows from macs (Although apple stupidly didnt read there own license agreement **sigh)
They took active directory from Novell
They took java from Sun
They basically copied the dreamcast and made the xbox
i.e. 7 basically takes the features that Opera, safari and firefox (and previously mozilla) have had for a while
and thats just off the top of my head

Yeah I know what you mean. If I were to make a new car I wouldn't give it headlights, the rear-view mirror, power steering, abs, airbags or a radio. Other companies made cars with those things before I did so I should just leave them out

 

[Gimpymoo]

As an alternative to a laptop PC in the home.. web browsing, streaming videos over your wi-fi, using messenger... at the right price, this could kick some serious butt.

Kind of an hybrid with a PSP/DS/Tablet PC.

If this can stream videos over your wi-fi network.. IM GETTING ONE.

Be great for watching stuff in bed or the bath.

 

[chimaera]

As an alternative to a laptop PC in the home.. web browsing, streaming videos over your wi-fi, using messenger... at the right price, this could kick some serious butt.

Kind of an hybrid with a PSP/DS/Tablet PC.

If this can stream videos over your wi-fi network.. IM GETTING ONE.

Be great for watching stuff in bed or the bath.

Full agree with you here, if its got reasonable levels of power then it'll do well.

I use a tablet PC for work a lot and it would be great to get one thats half the size, most companies seem to think i need a 15in screen to look at a few maps, i'd rather cart around something smaller on a hip belt or something, than a hulking great tablet.

 

[JUMPURS]

i think nokia make something similar, but its purely for surfing.
It might be quite good, but i think i will wait till there is a 2nd revision or see how the support for it goes. Hopefully we will get one in work to play with, i mean test lol