Microsoft Surface, Will it kill the i-pad? Options

[Licentia Per Ori...]

So unless you have been hiding under a rock for the last couple of months you will know that Microsoft are planning to jump into the tablet space.

This is currently dominated by Apple.
Will Microsoft take apples crown?

many people are of the opinion that it's going to give apple a serious kicking, and will migrate more people to the microsoft eco-system, resulting in lower future sales of i-phones and i-pods to boot.

Personally i think it will do more, It has the capabilities to dominate the tablet market.

my reasoning is that.
1. It works at work.
I pad is great and that, but if you work in an office chances are you use windows there. You will use MS office,
The i-pad does not work well with Windows, The surface will be designed to work with it seamlessly.

2. It out specs the i-pad.
Microsoft are releasing two versions with the pro version packing an Ivy bridge i5!
It's a serious but of kit.

3. the keyboard.
Yea it's a tablet, but putting the keyboard on it.
(and crucially giving it away for free)
make the windows tablet a true contender for laptop replacement.
Even the biggest apple fan-boi out there will admit that the i-pad is good for consuming content (watching and reading things)
but is completely crap when it comes to creating content (like forum posts)

So what are your thoughts?
are Microsoft going to dominate in the hand-held market?
the i-phone 5 is launching, and no one is excited about it.
But the new Nokia phones are far more exciting,
and will having your PC, Tablet, Phone and Games console all operate on a single integrated eco system attract customers to Microsoft?

[The Welsh Paddy]

The only time an Apple product has appealed to me, was back when I was in college studying music technology and saw its potential when it came to recording and making music. Before I studied music, I studied art, and I remember my graphics tutor saying how an Apple Mac is much better for making graphics than a PC. Not knowing any better, I believed him, and for a while I did want an Apple Mac.

As for the i-Pod, i-Phone, i-Pad and what have you... I have never owned one, and have never wanted to own one. When it comes to listening to music, I always depend on my trusty CD walkman (Which I have been using excessively for the past 15 years). When it comes to phones; so long as I can call and text people on it, and it's sturdy, then I'm happy. With tablets... I've never owned one. Never really seen the appeal in them except for e-readers (Only because I read so much and have an insane amount of books that are taking up so much space).

With said Apple products, they have never appealed to me simply because I don't go out and buy something because someone tells me that it makes you cool. Everything I heard hasn't been even remotely appealing to me. It's mostly been cosmetic bullshit that appears only to serve to make it look cool and futuristic. Other than that, all I here is about all these pointless apps you can buy for it, and then how easy they are to break and how impossible they are to repair.

With Windows, I have already expressed me opinion about how pointless the upgrades have been getting post-XP in another thread. Vista and Windows 7 seems to be crammed full of crap I will never need that takes up a lot of ram. I hear that Windows is very buggy, but I haven't come across any problems that could be resolved relatively simply.

As for the Microsoft Surface, I doubt I will ever buy one, for the same reasons I have gone over above. I won't ever need one. It won't serve any purpose to me. Or at least, not any more use than a much cheaper tablet would serve.

By today's standards, I'm probably stuck in the stone age when it comes to technology. I still use a CD walkman, I use a phone dated back to when they started using MP3s for the first time... I'm far behind most people, and I really don't see the point in progressing because I have yet to see something that would do anything new that I would want to do.

To me, Apple is already notorious for feeding people aload of bullshit and (to my dismay) people just seem to eat it all up. Gladly, at that. And now Windows seems like it's about to go down that same path, and I bet people will follow along like sheep... again. I think all these tablets and whatnot are a complete waste of money.