“Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates told CNBC on Monday that the software giant is trying to gain market share in the Apple-dominated tablet market,” Matthew J. Belvedere reports for CNBC. “Personal computers are still a big business, he said in a ‘Squawk Box’ interview, appearing from Omaha, Neb., with fellow billionaire Warren Buffett. Gates, a board member of Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, added that it’s going to be harder to tell the difference between the tablets and personal computers.”
“‘With Windows 8, Microsoft is trying to gain market share in what has been dominated by the iPad-type device. But a lot those users are frustrated. They can’t type. They can’t create documents,’ he added. ‘So we’re providing them something with the benefits they’ve seen that has made that a big category but without giving up what they expect in a PC,'” Belvedere reports. “‘If you have Surface or Surface Pro, you have the portability of the tablet but the richness of terms of the keyboard, Microsoft Office of the PC,’ said Gates, referring to Microsoft’s tablet.”
As per “documents,” we use Pages, Keynote, and Numbers, of course – just like the rest of the iPad working world. There is no need for the expensive, bloated Office, as Microsoft, by keeping it off iPad in a misguided attempt to sell their Surface flops, is proving very nicely to the world.
You know little old Microsoft’s desperate when they trot out the irrelevant Gates to talk up fellow anachronisms like physical keyboards and Office.
My wife bought a bluetooth wireless keyboard for her iPad on Amazon for $25. Works great! If that is all Bill Gates can claim, then he knows they are in real trouble. Also, if you are a texter, then push and hold the keyboard show or no-show button and select split, then text out the kazoola with your thumbs like on your phone.
I have my Logitech iPad keyboard which also serves as a cover. I only use infrequently when I want to type a long document but seriously, the virtual keyboard is what I use 95% of the time if not more.
Well, Bill’s right to a point. iPads and their ilk, IMHO, are consumption devices, not content devices. Personally I enjoy grabbing mine and lounging, reading whatever, popping off quick email replies.
But I MUCH prefer my 11″ 2012 MB Air for serious work. It’s very powerful and the form factor is very similar to an iPad, especially once you bastardize the iPad with some form of keyboard attachment. Travelling with the MBA and an iPad mini is very convenient.
Didn’t we hear this exact same thing from Steve Bullmore back in ’07? “That is the most expensive phone in the world, and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good e-mail machine.” They’re just cloning stupid comments now….I like their strategy, I like it a lot!
I don’t know why everyone is bashing Gates here. He has a point. Users are so frustrated with the iPad and so happy with the Surfaces. That’s why nobody is buying the iPad and the Surfaces are selling like crazy… oh wait, nevermind.
How does that man get away with lying so much? This is by far not the first time. The interviewers are not doing their job if they don’t call him on this stuff.
In the next season of The Walking Dead, I want to see a collection of zombies called The Working Dead, mostly composed of old school IT types, all of them slaving away at Wintel PCs, and who are repulsed by the sight of an iPad. One of them could be Chairman Bill but he would be just a head in a jar, rasping out the same old tired messages like the ones we read about here.
Typing on the onscreen keyboard is passable, and easy on the wireless keyboard, but selecting, cutting and pasting with a finger is crap. I use my Mac for anything more than a few lines – no way i would attempt to type a big document on my ipad. Where’s the mouse?
While I find places on screen that the “hold your finger to drag the insertion bar” really doesn’t live up to the vision, I think the tap to select, and drag the selection handles relieves a lot of the pressure.
“If you have Surface or Surface Pro . . . .” That is a pretty big “IF.” And Microsoft’s problem is that almost no one has a Surface or Surface Pro and few want to have one. So it is likely to remain a pretty big “IF.”
Then, there is the entirely different problem that the “IF” is totally wrong and without any basis in fact.
Also, “A lot of iPad users are frustrated because their iPad does not make a clicky sound. Microsoft is coming out with an iPad accessory with a little switch on it that will make the clicky sound. You can sign up for 2 years of “Clicky” for only $15 dollars a month, you have to be on-line in order for the click sound to work properly. That’s innovation, what people really want is the click.”
Looks like Bill Gates never left MS. He claims to have little interest in software anymore but I think I can totally see it now: the Surface and Windows 8 is all Bill Gates’ vision.
He’s partly right. It can be a huge pain in the ass to type productively on iPad and it will never match a real keyboard. But that won’t help the surface and it won’t keep people from buying iPads. Most don’t care if its slower they want their iPads for other reasons.
And while on the subject, where the frak is the forward delete key function ?!?! Should have been there since day 1. It would be really simple to implement and it would go a long way to making iPad and iPhone typing not suck ! Lack of it is one of the only reasons I have to stop typing and touch the screen all the time. Because I can’t forward delete like on a real computer.
Its just one of those Apple-stubbornness things and proof Apple doesn’t always get productivity.
I find the breakdancing-hipster boardroom Windows tablet commercial to be the most annoying commercial on television. I dive for the remote any time it comes on….
Bill Gates is right. Typing a lot of stuff on an iPad (or any other tablet with a “keyboard cover” or typical tiny table keyboard) can be frustrating if you’re doing a lot of typing. That’s why Apple invented the Mac Book*
.
My wife bought a bluetooth wireless keyboard for her iPad on Amazon for $25. Works great! If that is all Bill Gates can claim, then he knows they are in real trouble. Also, if you are a texter, then push and hold the keyboard show or no-show button and select split, then text out the kazoola with your thumbs like on your phone.
It’s the Surface users that can’t create documents… no storage left after that bloated OS install.
I have to agree with Gates here. I hate touch screen devices. Give me a Macbook Pro any day. I prefer a keyboard and mouse over a stupid touch screen.
He’s obviously never used Pages to create a handsome doc.
And meanwhile, the iMac is 15 years old today.
I’m sure Gates and Co. were complaining of its lack of floppy drive back then.
Wanna relive the moment were Steve unveiled the transparant bondi blue iMac? Watch it here: http://everystevejobsvideo.com/original-imac-introduction-apple-special-event-1998/
I have my Logitech iPad keyboard which also serves as a cover. I only use infrequently when I want to type a long document but seriously, the virtual keyboard is what I use 95% of the time if not more.
Sorry Billy-Bob, you be speakin out yer ass boy!
Bill who??
A lot of Microsoft users are frustrated period.
Well, Bill’s right to a point. iPads and their ilk, IMHO, are consumption devices, not content devices. Personally I enjoy grabbing mine and lounging, reading whatever, popping off quick email replies.
But I MUCH prefer my 11″ 2012 MB Air for serious work. It’s very powerful and the form factor is very similar to an iPad, especially once you bastardize the iPad with some form of keyboard attachment. Travelling with the MBA and an iPad mini is very convenient.
Same here (11″ MBA + iPad).
But Bill just can’t come to use Steve’s analogy. Keyboards are like trucks: Essential when the job calls for it, not so much the rest of the time.
Didn’t we hear this exact same thing from Steve Bullmore back in ’07? “That is the most expensive phone in the world, and it doesn’t appeal to business customers because it doesn’t have a keyboard, which makes it not a very good e-mail machine.” They’re just cloning stupid comments now….I like their strategy, I like it a lot!
I don’t know why everyone is bashing Gates here. He has a point. Users are so frustrated with the iPad and so happy with the Surfaces. That’s why nobody is buying the iPad and the Surfaces are selling like crazy… oh wait, nevermind.
How does that man get away with lying so much? This is by far not the first time. The interviewers are not doing their job if they don’t call him on this stuff.
well, he is just practicin’ for when he becomes president of the United States.
New toilets and condoms for all?
Or let me rephrase that to say New toilets and free condoms for all. ; )
In the next season of The Walking Dead, I want to see a collection of zombies called The Working Dead, mostly composed of old school IT types, all of them slaving away at Wintel PCs, and who are repulsed by the sight of an iPad. One of them could be Chairman Bill but he would be just a head in a jar, rasping out the same old tired messages like the ones we read about here.
Typing on the onscreen keyboard is passable, and easy on the wireless keyboard, but selecting, cutting and pasting with a finger is crap. I use my Mac for anything more than a few lines – no way i would attempt to type a big document on my ipad. Where’s the mouse?
While I find places on screen that the “hold your finger to drag the insertion bar” really doesn’t live up to the vision, I think the tap to select, and drag the selection handles relieves a lot of the pressure.
“If you have Surface or Surface Pro . . . .” That is a pretty big “IF.” And Microsoft’s problem is that almost no one has a Surface or Surface Pro and few want to have one. So it is likely to remain a pretty big “IF.”
Then, there is the entirely different problem that the “IF” is totally wrong and without any basis in fact.
Also, “A lot of iPad users are frustrated because their iPad does not make a clicky sound. Microsoft is coming out with an iPad accessory with a little switch on it that will make the clicky sound. You can sign up for 2 years of “Clicky” for only $15 dollars a month, you have to be on-line in order for the click sound to work properly. That’s innovation, what people really want is the click.”
Isn’t it ironic that a guy who bans iOS devices from his children claims to have exposure to what frustrates iPad users?
Imagine how the kids’ blogs read:
“Many Gates children frustrated by iOS ban”
BILL GATES IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT.
“……a lot of people own iPads..”
Looks like Bill Gates never left MS. He claims to have little interest in software anymore but I think I can totally see it now: the Surface and Windows 8 is all Bill Gates’ vision.
He’s partly right. It can be a huge pain in the ass to type productively on iPad and it will never match a real keyboard. But that won’t help the surface and it won’t keep people from buying iPads. Most don’t care if its slower they want their iPads for other reasons.
And while on the subject, where the frak is the forward delete key function ?!?! Should have been there since day 1. It would be really simple to implement and it would go a long way to making iPad and iPhone typing not suck ! Lack of it is one of the only reasons I have to stop typing and touch the screen all the time. Because I can’t forward delete like on a real computer.
Its just one of those Apple-stubbornness things and proof Apple doesn’t always get productivity.
The Surface is the love child of a netbook and an iron.
Steamy sex?
I find the breakdancing-hipster boardroom Windows tablet commercial to be the most annoying commercial on television. I dive for the remote any time it comes on….
Must be true – they’re selling so many Surface devices
Bill Gates is right. Typing a lot of stuff on an iPad (or any other tablet with a “keyboard cover” or typical tiny table keyboard) can be frustrating if you’re doing a lot of typing. That’s why Apple invented the Mac Book*
The main weakness of the iPad is in not having a file system and a system of transferring files on and off the iPad independent of the app.