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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveals Surface,the new family of PCs for Windows |
One of the most basic is a
keyboard.
However slick the iPad's
virtual keyboard looks, it can't replace a separate keyboard leaving the
screen's entire real estate for text. That makes add-on keyboards the most-needed
accessory for the iPad.
More important, most virtual
keyboards offer no arrow keys, which are essential for navigating around documents. Writing without arrow keys is harder than writing long-hand; making
changes becomes more difficult than crossing out words and writing above the
line.
And looking for ways to beat
Apple’s dominant iPad, other manufacturers are adding keyboards and business-friendly features to their new tablets.
Microsoft has unveiled its
Surface, which is aimed also at businesses and could make an interesting
product for writers.
Its case doubles as a
keyboard, and while its Windows 8 operating system will not offer the countless
apps available for Apple and Android devices, the Surface will be able to use Microsoft Office software such as Word and Excel.
Hewlett-Packard also is taking
the tablet concept into new directions. The company recently introduced the
Envy X2 hybrid laptop, whose screen detaches to become a
tablet.
It is also introducing the HP ElitePad, a 10.1-inch Windows 8 device designed
to work with an optional case that offers a keyboard, an extra battery pack and a docking
port.
For its part, Apple has
certainly recognized the huge potential of the business and enterprise market
for the iPad. Tablets will without doubt change the way business is done,
replacing clipboards, folders and legal pads. And the company has been pushing to
better address business use.
But sleek, an adjective that well describes the iPad, is not as
impressive in an office setting as efficient,
and typing in data with one finger on a virtual keyboard just isn't efficient.
Moreover, sleek is expensive. The iPad's beauty
can easily sell it to an individual buyer, but if you're buying tablets for an
entire company, suddenly the iPad is more expensive
than it is sleek.
And a bottom line is that
companies around the world already function on Microsoft’s dominant Office
suite of office-productivity software and everyday tasks. The easy transition from PC to tablet
that the Surface offers should be a plus for Microsoft.
It's funny how less unobjectionable
that statement sounds today, in a world with Apple and Google and Android, than
it would have sounded five or ten years ago, when Microsoft had no serious
challengers.
Either way, competition for Apple’s
iPad will mean more choices and more tools for writers. And judging from Apple’s
performance in the past years, the company will match—or better—most of
what the competition comes up with.
By John Sailors
(C) 2012, by Story Crest Press.
Photo courtesy of Microsoft.
Story Crest
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ReplyDeleteI'm an Android Fan so for all you Apple Fan's I'm not hating but I haven't found any iPads for under $100 unless they're used and scratched up http://techcompact.com/best-tablets-under-100-dollars/
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