More about Windows 8, the Microsoft Surface and etc.

A few days ago, I wrote a short piece about the introduction of the new Apple products and made the observation that the intro was timed to occur just before the introduction of the new Microsoft Surface, tablet/computer and the formal introduction of Windows 8. My comments were apparently disturbing to some of my readers. Especially my note that early reviews of the Surface tablet/computer were negative. Since writing the short note I have gone back and viewed additional Surface reviews. There are really two products that are being introduced as Surface tablets/computers. By the way, the reason I do not put the Surface into a single category is that the two products run different operating systems. The first Surface to be introduced today along with the introduction of Windows 8, will run a version of the Microsoft system called Windows RT. Hardware reviews are uniformly positive. It is looking like a great machine. Software reviews are mixed. There is apparently another more powerful tablet that is really a laptop computer in the works for later release that will run the full Windows 8 operating system.

From a practical standpoint, I received a notice from Parallels Desktop, the program I use on my iMac to run Windows 7, that their program is not yet compatible with Windows 8 and that I should not upgrade yet.

I am sorry if my opinion of the upstaging done by Apple was a little too strident for some. The media is always too eager to predict the fall of Apple or to snipe at Microsoft. I should have been more balanced in my approach. But I will note that you will always get adversarial reviews of any product. I have used both Apple and Microsoft operating systems for the past years as they have developed. I used Windows exclusively for work and Apple OS for graphics and design. They are different and obviously some people prefer one over the other. I am firmly in the Apple camp. But I have a PC running Windows sitting within arm's reach.

As to the products from Microsoft. I will have more to say when I have had the opportunity to see and use them. I will upgrade to Windows 8 as soon as Parallels Desktop fixes their program. Change is inevitable and change in the computer world is ever more than inevitable. Since I already have an iPad, I am not certain I am in the market for another tablet, but who knows.