DARIOVILLE

Last week, Microsoft held a press event in Los Angeles, to unveil the ‘Surface’ tablet:

 

To woot or not to woot? That is the question.

The woot

I love how this is a tablet + PC… two complete systems mashed together, with the PC capacity still letting you do SOME "serious stuff". Unfortunately, you can’t use all your normal Windows programs; only Metro apps, and anything released through the App Store.

I don’t like it when other tablet makers almost entirely ignore the ability to do serious stuff, for reasons like "people just want to consume now." Mankind doesn’t progress when important doors like that are shut for everyone, forcing an environment of consumption. Having options is good, and open doors are good. Every person who is doing "serious stuff" with a computer today started because there was an open door for that. (We often don’t *know* what we want, until we’ve come across an open door, and had the chance to try something.)

On to design, the keyboard cover looks great. It even has a trackpad, for mousing. The screen is pretty small, but it’s detailed enough that you can’t distinguish pixels on it. I also love how you can use a pen on the screen itself, since I use Photoshop. I hope the pen is eventually pressure-sensitive, so artists can actually do serious stuff on there. (Even kids who doodle will feel vastly more enabled if they can draw with pressure-sensitivity.)

The non-woot

- I have a lot of issues with Windows 8′s new Metro interface.
- You can’t run most regular Windows apps.
- It’s cheaper to get a full laptop, with complete PC capabilities. (The Surface will start at $500, for the low-end model.)