Posts by mmeier

Samsung whips out 12.2-inch 'Professional' iPad killers

Re: Sounds like a fringe use case?

If the price is not to high Samsung could get away with providing the bear necessities of (tablet pc) life:

A HWR on par with Win7/Win8 that works in every part of the system

A MS-Journal compatible notepad application OR a free SNote for Win that understands the Android SNote format (The current one is Samsung only and there are problems)

A full featured OneNote client (The current Android one is not useful), Payware acceptable

A PDF reader with ALL capabilities found in Windows readers (Multi documents, annotation, fast and reliable rendering). Free since that's what I get on Win

A paint program similar to ArtRage4 (for money) or at least FreshPaint (free)

IF SNote is finally stable for documents > 10pages AND you have a supported printer in case you need paper versions the 10 and 12'' NOTE units could be a nice replacement for a legal pad. 12'' more so than 10 from experience, the extra "real estate" is worth the weight.

Depending on what software is available under Android by now it might also be a useful Sketchpad (Assuming something like Artrage etc. exists by now) and useable for minor picture touch ups.

Re: Sounds like a fringe use case?

Okay, I am a big guy used to lug 30kg around the countryside in a former job and still keeping quite fit (1). But even for the average IT "weakling" a unit in the 700-1100g range should be quite useable standing IF it has a stylus and a good handwriting recognition. That way the unit is cradled in the off-hand and written on with the other. And 12''-13'' units can be handled by most humans quite well while having the benefit of being close in size to DIN A4/US Legal, making for a natural reading.

The main questions on the Samsung Note/Pro units are:

How long will they get updates/security fixes?

How stable is the note taking software?

How stable is the software in general?

How good is the HWR by now?

How are they priced compared to a x86 box?

Is the high screen resolution useful or just showmanship?

and most important:

Do you need to interface with a Windows based infrastructure / AD domain etc?

(1) Regularly balancing 1kg weights in one and 4.2kg weights using both hands while standing/kneeling helps as does weight-work and hiking

Acer cozies up to Google with new 'droid PCs and fondleslab, Chromebook

Re: Cups just fine, and WHO DOES PRINT these days ?

So the answer is - it still does not work. But nice try to dodge the question

An Android AIO WOULD BE the "big PC" for many buyers and that is used for printing out the stuff still needed in print like writing to the government departments.

CUPS on Android does not exist. So currently an Android device that needs to print needs another PC that runs Linux to do it OR a printer that supports the vendor specific printer app. THAT was the problem, THAT was the question

Re: This sort of thing should have become standard by now

A7 equal/better than BT? In what kind of tests? Last time "ARM better than Atom" was announced it turned out to be an effekt of the JavaScript based benchmarks and the JS engines used.

Re: Keyboard?

If you give them a "decend" set of chips - you have a Baytrail unit or better. That in turn does not need Android.

Re: So ... hardware manufacturers are now openly telling Microsoft to get stuffed

Netbooks had quite a few problems:

Small and low res screens

A lousy mass storage interface due to the limits of the Atom CPU

Low maximum memory, again the Atom

Low powered and problematic graphics due to the Atoms on board graphics

Their "benefits" where light weight and longish endurance. Interesting for some users but not for the majority. For them "price" was the only selling feature

As soon as notebooks became more common, be they second hand units from end of leasing be it new boxes the days of the netbook where mostly doomed. 2-3h on battery are "good enough" for most users and a 12-14'' screen with a 1280x800 or better resolution beats the 1024x600 "vision slit" of the average netbook

Re: Haswell Chromebooks with the Nexus 10 screen

The hardware is basically there (Sony Flip15)

Re: This sort of thing should have become standard by now

"Experts" here complain about the Modern/Desktop switching in Win8. Now imagine the howling if they actually had to switch OS for different tasks....

There are reasons for ARM (cheap, low power) but those are getting more and more irrelevant with Baytrail units coming out that offer better performance for most jobs at similar endurance. So for ARM there only is cheap.

Re: You wish

How is printing under Android these days? In 2013 the options where:

+ Have a printer the customers printer app supports(1)

+ Have a box with CUPS running (2)

+ Use a web/cloud based printing system(3)

Same for stuff like Scanners or TV-sticks.

(1) For totally unexplainable reasons the only Samsung printers supported where the costly (W)LAN models

(2) Worked 8 out of 10 times

(3) Assuming your router/ISP worked with that AND you where willing to let Auntie Google look at your data

Re: I tried one of their all-in-one Android systems at a store today

Looking at the price - I can get an core-i based unit with similar screen size and touch for that money. And ARM has no real benefits in what is basically a home/entertainment system. Time running is not big enough for the lower power to have a meaningful effect on the power bill,. wakeup time for a Win8 unit is equally short (and cold boot time for Android at least as long as cold booting Win7/Win8) and the x86 unit has more useful software and hardware as well as easier pheriphery access.

Re: So ... hardware manufacturers are now openly telling Microsoft to get stuffed

Ah, that's the reason Acer has just started to sell the upgraded R7-572 series of Win8 convertibles. 15', NTrig Digitizer and quite a few other gadgets. Acer has been doing more than one OS for quite some time now, nothing new.

Now if someone can tell me why I should shell out 1100& for an ARM AIO when the same price will buy a similar sized and far more useful x86 based unit, I might be able to understand the market.

Mars One's certain-death space jolly shortlists 1,000 wannabe explorers

Re: :::Horse::>Cart

You are wrong. Construction of Capricorn 1 has already started...

Re: Surely most of these are Trolls

@Mag07

The vast majority of explorers did their exploration for a easily understood reason - MONEY and/or POWER. They had an idea that there are riches to be found by blazing a way to India or to that valley where the natives where hunting those beautiful beaver pelts or...

Exploration "just because" is a very recent thing. And even today many still look out for good press coverage, sponsors and a well paid tour of the talk shows.

Microsoft shops ditch XP for New Year as Windows market share expands

Re: Are those Surface sales real 8.1 sales?

Who buys a S/P2 when he can not use the rather costly Wacom digitizer? And the Wacom Penabled drivers for Linux are "Alpha" and for MacOS there are none. If I want a Haswell tablet there are cheaper options. So yes, most S/P2 are likely used under Win8.x

Given that the units are out on Amazon MS and the MS webshop as well as the pricing - they are clearly aimed at the non corporate user as well. If you want to see pricing for a purely business tablet - look at Fujitsu, there 10ince ATOM starts at a price close to that of a 256GB S/P2. And with the "typical candidates" for "big corporates" (Dell, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Sony) offering their own units (with more options/better maintainability) I do not expect the S/P2 in our customers IT departments. Rather the Thinkpad Yoga or the Duo13. S/P2 in "commercial" use is for users like the real estate agent that I support on occasions or the insurance agent

Re: IME...

Your experience may be limited / in a specialist sector.

Our customers spanning three types of business have all switched to Win7 (with a few specialist Win8 units, few as in 100-500 among a few thousand PC) for the clients. Same for at least one of the "big IT companies" around here.

If one reads the articles comment about Surface it is quite clear that the reference is to Surface/Pro (since Lenovo etc. do not offer RT based units) and that is basically an Ultrabook+Wacom. So no need to get all software from MS.

If you're still waiting for Firefox on Windows 8, don't hold your breath

Re: My advice to Mozilla

IIRC the 8.1 version can boot directly to desktop (did not try since I actually LIKE Modern), CTRL-ALT-DEL to get the switch user works on /Pro and the login is "close enough".

As for the rest I'd have to ask the admins wether my box is a "hand crafted" setup or simply works with the Win7 settings and/or check with our customers sysops who integrated the TPT2 and Lat10s last year. Since those guys where not burning / needling puppets in my liking my guess is it wasn't all that complex.

Now that guy recommending the iThingy, he's still showing occasionat twitches, strange movements and an uneasiness near needles....

Re: What *other* apps are not available on Windows 8?

Well, if the users want a Modern version of FF (the desktop version works/crashes just fine) then I guess the USERS should pay for it.

Re: What *other* apps are not available on Windows 8?

Short hint:

MS does not care for a Modern enabled Firefox. They do not care for Firefox AT ALL

They HAVE a Modern enabled browser that works just fine on Win8. One that they control. It's called IE.

Journalism on the "Remember the Maine" level of quality

The correct headline should be something along the lines of

Mozilla delays Firefox for Modern UI

because on the Win 8.x DESKTOP Firefox works as it did on Win7 or that funny DIY OS some people use.

Striking Amazonians warn: Don't rely on us for Christmas pressies

Re: Speed test started

With Christmas done:

All packages arrived well in time and as advertised. Same for the family members. Verdi's propaganda is taking more and more of a "Germany, April 1945" tone with lies, mis-use of fixed terms and all.

Looks like 2014 will be the "year Verdi dies" and makes room for multiple specific unions. Good!

Re: Speed test started

Status: 6 Packages ordered (Prime and normal delivery)

2 have arrived (Prime/books)

2 are in the hands of DHL and will be here by Thursday at 14:00

2 are "in processing" but DHL already lists them as "we have been noticed"

At least from my PoV: AMAZON WINS!

Speed test started

Ordered a number of things from Amazon for Christmas. Made sure it was "sold and delivered by Amazon" stuff.

The big A gave me delivery times within this week all falling in the "typical" range for the goods ordered.

By Friday evening I'll know for sure if Verdi failed to stop the good guys

Re: Fair play to them.

And a friendly hello from an old IG Chemie member to our friends of the german toy-union Verdi. Seems your agitprop-squad has found it's way to ElReg now. How does Red Frankie like his stay in Seattle to protest "in front of Amazon headquarters"?

Re: Fair play to them.

As stated, the right thing to do is to negotiate better wages for the logistics workers. But Hermes (Amazons german competitor Otto's "outsourced" logistics), DHL, DPD, ... might not be happy with it. And might make Verdi feel that. So Verdi does the cheap cop out and tries to blackmail Amazon.

If everybody is lucky Amazon just shrugs and ignored the Chiwawa. If the workers have bad luck Amazon will handle Christmas 2014 logistics from Poland

Re: Fair play to them.

Amazon Logistics pays well above the rates that VerDi negotiated for the logistics business and well above the 8.5€ thrown around as minimum hourly salery.

Re: Cultural Differences

The Entsendegesetz is not important here since Amazon Logistics pays all people employed by it the same wage anyway. The "Leiharbeiter-Scandal" (rented/hired workers scandal) that you might refer to had more to do with the security company and our "neutral and reliable" ARD reporters (assuming you are politically left-wing) and our competent Minister von der Leyen (who's reality distortion field could put a fundamentalist tree huger or southern creationist to shame) way of reporting on it

Re: Cultural Differences

VerDi hopes for press coverage (sadly worked) and new members (didn't work). As for loosing support - VerDi is made up of ÖTV and postal union functionaries in the core. They are used to loosing support (and having to accept lousy deals in the end), just ask the garbage men

Re: Whatever happened to "Sod that, Imma changing muh job"?

Amazon Logistics, the sub-company under attack by Verdi, pays well above the collective bargaining agreement for the logistics sector. That one isn't all that great to start with but blame that on Verdi

Just to put the "VerDi" press release that is, sadly, transcribed rather unreflected here:

The average number of protesters per location is below 10 percent of the workers. And that is IIRC not counting the part timers hired for Christmas. Sure, all VerDi members might be on strike. Problem for VerDi is - most workers at Amazon Logistics are not premium payers<<<members of that funny lil pseudo-union.

VerDi needs a "success" and his boss a few strokes for his ego so they go up against the "evil capitalist from the USA". Too bad that they attack Amazon LOGISTICS, a company that pays well above the labor contract for the logistics industry. A LOUSY contract but one haggled out by - VERDI.

So now VerDi tries to put Amazon Logistics into the "Versandhandel" and force AL to accept that contract payments. And Amazon says "Thanks but no thanks". Rightly since the majority of work AL does is "take stuff from storage, put in package, put package in truck" - simples form of logistics (with matching quality of education in many workers)

The RIGHT think for VerDi to do would be to improve the LOGISTIC Workers labor contract. Sadly THAT would put them in serious problems with some very big and powerful GERMAN companies and those might take a VERY close look at VerDi and it's "Tariffähigkeit" that is wether VerDi is actually a proper representation of the workers / the proper contract partner.

This is basically VerDi's equivalent to a "Banzai Charge". If they fail at least the current leadership will suffer a "sudden illness" - not that it would hurt Verdi to get rid of the old ÖTV and postal union parasites.

Google Glass pics will BAFFLE admirers: Nudge nudge, WINK WINK

Re: Cue lots of pictures appearing on the internet

Please tell me where you (roughly) live. I'd like to give away non-functional "Glasses" look-aliked to local

Skinheads

Punks

Rockers

....

and than wait for the funny videos showing the lone "defender of privacy" doing a "Danger Seeker"

US military's RAY-GUN truck BLASTS DRONES, mortars OUT OF THE SKY

Re: Not quite the first thing to take out...

If with the airborne laser you refer to ole YAL - sorry that is a BOOST phase interceptor. Aiming at the rocket, a thin-walled cylinder filled with highly reactive chemicals. And "ballistics" != ICBM, even brown Wernhers firecracker was a ballistic missile.

SDI had lasers for the free flight part of the intercept when the "bus" or, even worse the single warhead (some Sovjet ICBM "NORAD busters" used a single head) and it's fleet of decoys had separated from the explosive part of the system. Totally different scenario.

Not to mention that it fills up a 747-200 so it will weight up to 100to - almost the LEO capacity of a Saturn V.

Re: Not quite the first thing to take out...

I talked with old Martin from next door. He's not to impressed with US technology. If he hadn't been around with his Reichsflugscheibe to tow him to Mare Tranquilis this Armstrong guy woul have never made it. Shoddy work he said, really shoddy work. Looked like somet of the firework rockets that kiddo in Penemünde was playing with back in the 40s

Re: Not quite the first thing to take out...

Sorry but this Laser is light years away from what SDI lasers need to do:

Judging by the vehicle used the system is heavy, the HEMMT has a 10t capacity

It can only kill drohnes (frail and full of explosive fuel) and mortar shells (thin walled and full of explosive) not even the thicker walled artillery shells. And even then the shells only get rendered inert.

Being on the ground it can use air breathing engines and even an "external" fuel tank

Tracking distance is short and there is no such thing as a decoy

An SDI laser would rely on on-board fuel and being a mid-course system attack nuclear warheads capabel of surviving re-entry. And they had to destroy it because even as a pure kinetic penetrator the average warhead at 300-400kg will cause serious damage

I KNOW how to SAVE Microsoft. Give Windows 8 away for FREE – analyst

Re: Free? it's how Windows became dominant in the first place

The fine details you forget to tell us:

The bundled copy was Win1.x/2.x that required DOS to run

The Win1.x/2.x had a very limited program base

Starting with the Win3.x DOS-Externders they cost money. And the NT line never was for free

Re: This is nonsense of the highest order. (Mad Mike)

@MadMike

Actually there are quite a few tablet pc besides the Surface Pro family and have been for quite some time. Samsung (Ativ 500/700/Tab-3), Fujitsu (Q702/704/Q55x/Q584), Lenovo (Thinkpad Tablet 2, Helix), DELL (Latitute 10), Acer, Asus, HP...

And getting a DELL or Lenovo without an OS is actually just the matter of ordering by phone instead of ordering by web shop. It won't be much cheaper (20-30€ IIRC) but it will be nominally cheaper

Re: Be better...

Any hardware that runs XP and is powerful enough to run Win7 - will run Win8 even better since the system is faster/smaller

Any user that requires new hardware to run W8 - will need that even more for W7.

There is a very small group of cards and external hardware that rely on hardware components that only have XP drivers AND can not be replaced by more modern stuff. Those are about the only ones stuck with Win7 since that still supports the XP driver model.

Windows 7 outstrips Windows 8.x with small November growth

Re: Not pleasant reading for Redmond

Ubuntu guarantees 5 years not 10

RedHead LTS is commercial

Wine is extra effort so why use it instead of Windows? And business users need a LOT more than an office package. And quite a bit of office software demands MS Office.

Games are a non runner than, none of the ones I use run on an XBox or an iThingy

Wacom TABLET != Wacon penabled. The technology is different and drivers for the latter are "Alpha" at best. The support software is missing as well (no MS Journal etc) and the existing driver is "pen as mouse" not "pen with pressure support etc. NTrig is even less supported (and all Sony tablet/convertible units use NTrig)

The Wiki article on Speech Recognition has nice phrases like "currently a push is under way" and "It is possible, though complicated, for advanced developers to create Linux speech recognition software by using existing packages derived from open-source projects". Hmm, Win7 does a decent speech recognition OOB and if I need more Dragon Natural is quickly installed. And both work offline without Aunti Google listening in. The commercial software aims at a different target and costs extra money.

Dev tools BETTER than Windows was the request. If it is equal - why switch? Neither Eclipse nor Netbeans run better under Linux

So - No Benefits in Linux, numerous problems for my use case. I stick to Win8 for my clients and Solaris for the servers

Re: Not pleasant reading for Redmond

I "bought into" Java (invested privat time and money) in 1997/98 and started using it at work in IIRC 2001 (C++ / VB6 in that company before that, C/C++/Fortran/Step5/... in others). Liked the language and the environment a lot and still does. So while my current employer made the decision - I made the decision to work for him. Could have gone to a .NET/C# using company as well (had an offer) or "back to the roots" and C++.

And the big benefit of Java IMHO is not "runs anywhere" (It more often than not actually does). It is "fails everywhere". Ones a system is up and running chances are good an error on the customer side can be reproduced "in house" and debugged.

Re: Not pleasant reading for Redmond

Yawn, the old "you work for MS defence", a FossTard classic. I have a strong dislike for LINUX and the fanatics like Stallman or Kroah Hartman and the FSF "commies". Otherwise (as stated before), I love a good SOLARIS server and likely used more OS than most Linux fans used distributions. Best for each task - Linux never was.

And "easier to install" / upgrade? Where? All stuff these days come in nice packages that install easily on Windows. And some of the products needed (database - Oracle is a must) are very version dependent on Linux with the version it runs NOT the typical client kit

Re: That'll be the sound of the rush

My tablet pc runs just fine under Win8. Well, he did almost as good under Win 7 but I am a pen user and touch is "useless shit / crap causing shiny screens" for me. So does the mobile workstation/convertible I use at the company.

Customers are quite happy with their Dell and Lenovo units (Lat10/TPT2) since they simply run the existing software without a rewrite. Ever tried running a Swing application on an iToy or Fragmentdroid?

Teary-eyed snappers recall the golden age of film

I happily dropped classic film the same place I dropped paper books - on the garbage heap of history. And I was VERY happy I could do that 10+ years ago and I am still today

Like the majority of camera users I do this to have some memories, show some hobby work and general fun. And there the low price per shot and the quick check capabilities outweight everything else. Back in the "bad old days" I never knew if a shot was good until I returned home and had the film developed (hopefully without a screw up). IF the film survived, a associate lost quite a few shots when a film did not make it out of the camera. Not to mention all the things that could go wrong in developing the film, in getting a proper color etc.

With digital systems I can check that "won't come back here in a decade if at all" shots mere minutes after taking them. Fire up the tablet pc, download (actually used a EyeFi card) and check. I can back them up at that time as well, not to mention SD cards being more rugged/easier to use than film. At the same time with an SD card giving me hundrets of pictures between changes AND card changes being quick/cards being small I can "risk a shot". In the old days it was always the "is this good enough to use one of my 36 exposures" thinking and more than one shot was not taken that was latter regretted (or was taken and latter missed).

And LEARNING gets a lot easier/cheaper with modern systems as well. Again, instant check, instant repeat and no hesitation to go out and do 1000 test/training shots - only costs time. And since 90+ percent of photography is getting experience how to use the equipment and how to compose the picture - training got a lot cheaper with digital cameras. Nothing beats a "shoot, check, adjust, re-shoot" set for learning techniques.

That modern digital cameras offer a lot of useful automatisation and support systems like a WaStab<<<Imaga Stabiliser etc. is another benefit.

Inside Steve Ballmer’s fondleslab rear-guard action

Re: No, Liam, I won't be using a fondleslab as my primary computer.

Initially this was a reply to Troller Potts. Then I realised the moron is not worth it. So I changed it

Re: No, Liam, I won't be using a fondleslab as my primary computer.

Windows tablets have shit battery life and gave up on having a proper multitasking OS for that bullshit 8.11 for Fondlegroups "two things at a time, tops" crapfest.

Windows tablets are just as much post-productivity devices as iTat. Not that I'd expect a fairly proven brand tribalist like you to be capable of understanding such concepts. URG SAYS LURV MICROSOFT

UG, UG. MICROSOFT.

===

Oh come on Mr Potts, not that STUPID AND OBVIOUS LIES! again. Thankfully it seems the Reg no longer lets you write "Articles" yet the still give you a platform to spout your "truth" that has not been true for quite some time now.

Thinkpad Tablet 2, Dell Lat 10 => 9+ hours

Surface Pro/2 => 7+ hours

Sony Vaio Duo 13 => 7+ hours

Eat that and choke on your likes Troller

So you bought the wrong tablet. That's all.

I use LaTeX on my tablet pc if I need to set lengthy text. Than mostly coupled with a BT keyboard also in a pinch pen input works. If I write drafts / take notes I do this with a pen in Journal or OneNote. Annotate lengthy Word documents or PowerPoints. And the T-Series convertible is, when docked, my primary workstation (M-Series CPU and 16GB, all that with 7+h on battery)

The end product will be an electronic format. 12+ inch tablet pc or tilt-able monitors for reading save useless waste of paper.

Re: Consumer vision

A Trevor the Troll is at it again.

Remind me to tell Lenovo, Sony, Fujitsu,... that the units they offer for sale actually do not exist because "nobody will build them". Strangely their shops insist I can buy those units.

And they are multi-tasking systems that can be docked or used as a tablet pc. Touch/Pen/Keyboard/Voice - you want it, they support it. Out of the box.

Re: No, Liam, I won't be using a fondleslab as my primary computer.

Just use the right tablet (pc) and the units can do multi monitor. Since the last decade actually. Because - all WINDOWS tablets are at the core x86 based PC with a full powered OS. Surface/Pro, Sony Tab 11, Fujitsu Q-Series etc. - they all can drive multi monitors, many have a docking station just like a high end notebook (That they are from the hardware PoV). What they offer is an extra amount of flexibility because I can leave dock, mouse and keyboard behind and still have a useable device for conference rooms or customer meeting. Or for attending a conference and taking notes - I don't need to balance my unit on my knees ever afraid it might drop - mine is handled like an A4 college block and pen

It's only the toy breeds from Apple or VEB Plaste and Elaste that can't do it properly. Even in the rare case ("Note series") that they have a proper inductive digitizer the support software is still a piece of shit compared to what Windows has OOTB.

Re: So that's one fondleslab

Paperless - not yet, there are some dinosaurs left that insist on printed stuff.

Very little paper - yes. A nice Windows tablet pc with Wacom pen replaced A4 college blocks, postIt notes etc. almost completely. And being Windows the notes taken are easily shared with basically every Windows PC (all since Vista, XP needs to download a viewer).

At 12'' (privat) and 13''(company) the units are "close enough" to DIN A4 paper for all practical purposes. And if I need more screen - docking station and I have a core-i based workstation. In the conference room it is WIDI to the beamer / conference call screen and notes are taken using the tablet pc rather than a flipchart.