It takes two - the Surface Duo

 I'm a bit of a Microsoft fan these days.  That wasn't always the case - I can recall a time when I felt they were dominating the world and I have an aversion to monoliths.  Now it seems that the world is divided into four or so massive monoliths I'm never going to win that particular argument.

In the  past I've backed the underdog - for a while I was a Palm champion, extolling the virtues of their products.  I wrote a large part of the Journeymen on the T5 while shuttling between north Wales and Arkansas on a project using a Palm keyboard.  It was the tiniest laptop you ever saw.  I loved the T5, arguably the precursor to the smart phone that was smashed by the iPhone appearing at about the same time my T5 was dying.  Repairs were impossible, new models unlikely, so for a while I played around with middle-market Android phones.

Then I jumped on the Windows phone - surely the kiss of death when I adopt.  I bought a top end HP Windows phone to complement first my Surface RT laptop, then my first Surface Pro.  The RT didn't die - my son-in-law is trying to get it to run on Linux at the moment, but it did become a problem as nobody was supporting the ARM chipset, hence the move to a grown up Surface Pro.

I'd evaluated the first instance of the Surface Pro for a former employer as a device to use carrying out fire safety audits of commercial premises and at the time thought  it too bulky and heavy - the later generations addressed that.  I'd still have my Surface Pro 4 if it wasn't for the paving stones outside my front door.  Them and gravity.  So I bought my second Surface Pro a while back, a V6.  I've also found  myself on my third keyboard - unintentional experiments with the first two demonstrated that Coors is a poor lubricant and single malt whisky even worse.  I'm still using the original Surface Pen but the nib is looking ropey these days - since lockdown I've been teaching engineering students science and maths on the Surface Pro with the assistance of Microsoft Whiteboard. That pen has seen some use and is soon to be replaced.

Anyway, back to the Windows phone - I loved the way it worked, how it integrated with my Surface Pro, my diary, my life.  I stopped writing books on mobile phones a while back but if any phone would support that, the HP would.  I guess I got what Apple aficionados get with the Apple environment but without the crowds or the self affirming back slapping and knowing glances.  I don't think I met more than half a dozen other Windows phone users in the time I was using the HP, and none seemed as keen as I was.  Eventually the first HP went the way of the first Surface Pro - landing face down on my patio out back.  Is it me, or is it just gravity?  Newton has a lot to answer for in this household.

I bought a second hand model on eBay and that worked but eventually Microsoft gave up on the Windows phone idea, which was a bummer for me, and then WhatsApp stopped supporting it.  I replaced it with a OnePlus T8, which is kind of cool, love the pop-up selfie camera and I've skinned it with a Windows overlay so it works as an Android but fits in with my MS toys - sorry - equipment.  I've still got the second-hand HP in a drawer in the shed, it hasn't even hit a hard surface or had alcohol poured over it.  There's still time.

Microsoft have seemed to come to terms with exiting the phone software arena, and have embraced Android in an anti-Apple kind of way.  They produce the skins I mentioned that lets  me use my Office 365 software seamlessly, access the OneDrive and apart from a lack of Windows tiles makes me feel all Microsofty inside.  And after a few years of leaks, rumours and even an official announcement ahead of the pandemic, they're returning to the fray with a Surface branded phone.

Patent leaks over the last few years showed Microsoft were interested in creating some sort of folding phone but they've moved away from the Samsung approach and in a ballsy way have bucked practically every trend by linking two screens together with a brace of hinges.  They are, it must be noted, very good at high tech hinges as anyone who has used a Surface Pro or a Surface Studio will attest.  They don't even call the new device, the Surface Duo, a phone.  It's clearly pitched as a computer with two screens, smart features and - oh, by the way, it takes calls too.  Finally someone has realised that the majority of phones today are used for anything other than making and receiving phone calls.

Given the spec it is feasible that I could end up writing my next novel on a Duo, a la Palm T5, but at the current price - about £1400 in the UK - I would need something in addition to the current offering.  I know Microsoft make a special hinge for the Surface Studio - they call it the anti-gravity hinge - given my track record with tech I could do with that technology being extended to the rest of the device before I shell out that much money!

An alcohol repellent product would be a boon, too.

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Has Microsoft Got Apple Rattled?

The release of the new Surface tablets, especially the Surface Pro, seems to have started a bit of a measured round of verbal tennis between Apple and Microsoft.  The fact that the rhetoric is restrained indicates that they are playing a serious game here.

Apple are talking up the iPad Air and are touting an Office-like clone that will run on the iPad.  That has to be a way forward and takes the iPad out of the serious toy world into real productivity arena.  Like Microsoft or loathe them, they've forced this agenda.  I've been saying for the last two years that the lack of productive uses for tablet computers has been the elephant in the boardroom.  Sure there's a lot of serious applications for the likes of the iPad and its Android cousins, but until Microsoft launched the Surface earlier this year complete with the ability to run Microsoft Office and to connect to a secure network (for the Pro version anyway), the elephant roamed unchallenged.

But the tablets that Microsoft have launched, along with similar hybrid devices based on Windows 8 by other manufacturers, have changed the game.  Although the RT version of the Surface seems to have stalled, it still represents an amazing amount of productivity for very little cost - around the price of a lesser spec iPad, but weighing only about an ounce more.  You get the touchy-feely iPad-like environment with the tablet, but also the ability to write novels, update spreadsheets, produce PowerPoint presentations with the magnetic clip-on keyboard.  Add SkyDrive with its free 7GB storage and the WiFi connectivity then you have something that is more than the sum of its parts.  The weakness is the apps; Windows 8 is playing catch up with iOS and Android, Windows 8 RT is going nowhere fast.  Because RT has only the Microsoft store available to access apps and won't run legacy Windows 7 or earlier programs it is struggling to convince.

However the Pro, at admittedly nearly twice the price of the RT, can do all of the above and more.  It is heavier, though, and thicker.  I've been using one this last week to see how it compares with traditional laptops when out of the office.  The jury's out at present, but for those situations where a mix of legacy software and business applications are required, the Pro may be the solution.  Connection to a secure intranet seems seamless and the machine is fast in use.

So can Apple catch up with the iPad Air?  Well, one area the Surface Pro is struggling is in the weight department - it is relatively heavy in use.  Apple have a track record of addressing weight issues.  The Pro does have a minimalist approach that Steve Jobs would probably approve of - power button, volume button and one USB port but when used with the new dock it seems to expand nicely.  Apple have yet to get over the USB port concept, which may hold them back.  The unknown quantity is the Office-like software being suggested.  There are a few Office clones around, with Open Office being the best well known.  It works reasonably well and produces MS Office compatible files, but I always feel I'm wrestling with it (I use it on a netbook).  Apple have an uphill battle to create an Office replacement that works on the iPad and makes users feel it is worth the effort. And good luck with printing - after two years we're still struggling to print from an iPad at home, but I find my Surface RT prints wirelessly without any apparent effort, although I suspect that was part of the 8.1 upgrade as I did struggle before.

So Microsoft have challenged Apple and their responses this week suggest that they have struck home.  Apple are getting serious about making the iPad serious.  It should also make Microsoft sit up too - Apple are a very capable company with a track recode of delivering - if Microsoft want to keep their lead in this serious tablet arena then they have more work to do.  Hopefully by the third iteration of the Surface Pro it will have the weight and thickness of the first generation RT.

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Windows 8.1 for RT is available

Following the sudden removal of Windows 8.1 from the RT store the other day, Microsoft have quietly slipped it back on.  I might have been looking the other way but I didn't see  any announcement by Microsoft that the software was back available on the store, I just tripped over it when taking a wander through the other night.

To be fair, it is in-your-face if you open up the store.  You're not going to miss it, that's for sure.  I reckon the software was taken off the store for probably no more than 48 hours, but seeing as Microsoft slipped the software off as quietly as it returned it, there has to be a touch of guesswork.  Whatever the timeframe, it seems that the problems that Microsoft were sorting weren't as extensive as they sounded.  I don't know if those who rushed in when the software was first launched have solved their blue screen of death problem, but if that's you and you're reading this on another PC I would suggest contacting Microsoft and downloading the new improved files.

Anyway, in a moment of rashness I pushed the download button and was initially impressed in the visual indications on progress, then a little irritated because they were actually demonstrating lack of progress.  Of course, like most if not all Surface RT owners, I'm a little spoiled because RT comes pre-installed on the Surface.  I have no idea about how long it takes Microsoft to load RT onto each Surface they prepare for sale, and care very little to boot.  Until I'm watching a very slow update progress bar creep along the screen. 

It's not just visual but numerical, too.  The progress screen kept me advised on how much percentage progress had been achieved, to save me measuring the horizontal bar.  Eventually, after about an hour, the download was complete and was advised that it was preparing files for installation.  More percentage advisement followed by one or two more screens mentioning that it was 'just one more thing'.

Somewhere along the way Microsoft text you a code to validate your license, using the mobile number you registered when you first logged onto your Surface, or possibly when you first obtained a Microsoft account.  It may be worth checking that detail before you start your upload if you registered with Microsoft some time ago and you're in the habit of changing your mobile number.  I think you can alter it on the fly, but as I cling to my mobile number for dear life that wasn't a problem.

Eventually - allow at least 90 minutes - the upgrade was complete.  A bit of admin and Windows 8.1 is installed and running.  I'm just getting used to some of the features, such as the search anywhere function that doesn't ask you to select apps or Bing or your computer - it searches the lot.  I'm trying to find Bing at the moment because there are times when you know it's an internet search you need and Bing preserves your most recent search.  The new ways of splitting the screen is proving useful as I like to see  multiple applications running concurrently, although of course on the Surface you're going to struggle for real estate.  I was going to load Outlook on, but the general mail application has been updated and I'm playing with that first before I engage Outlook - it may sit comfortably side by side with the mail app but that's unproven right now.

The only issue I've experienced so far is running Blogger - it keeps telling me I should be using Chrome.  Now I ran Blogger successfully under Windows 8 and I can't find Chrome in the Windows store.  It does hang a bit, but if you're reading this I guess it isn't the end of the world

Ultimately the upgrade went seamlessly, if a little long winded.  Time will tell if it is a real benefit over basic Windows 8, but at least it didn't end up with the blue screen of death!

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Is Microsoft Killing RT?

It's no secret that RT, the ARM based version of Windows 8, isn't winning the battle.  The problems identified a day or so ago with upgrading existing RT Windows 8 to 8.1 certainly hasn't helped.

By the way, some reports, probably including my last post, may imply that the whole Windows 8.1 upgrade has been pulled by Microsoft.  It hasn't and if you are running version 8.0 on a laptop or desktop, or on a Surface Pro, then it seems there is no reason why you shouldn't upgrade and plenty of reasons why you should.

But the RT version is a different beast and is a compromise.  It's designed to run on a mobile phone processor so there is inevitably some areas that it is going to underperform.  To be clear, if you like the form factor of the Surface, virtually the same size as an iPad, literally one once heavier, with the touchy, feely interface that the iPad has championed but you don't want the RT, then buy the Pro.  But be aware that although you're going to get a faster machine that will run legacy Windows 7 programs you are going to have to fork out a lot more cash.  And if you want to do something productive, such as using Word or Excel (and let's face it, if you don't hanker after that level of functionality, why aren't you looking at an iPad or Nexus?) then on the Pro you'll have to pay for the license.

But with the RT you get iPad-like functionality, Office 365 to run and edit your Office documents and, should Microsoft get the update to 8.1 sorted out, Outlook as well for much the same price as an iPad.  It should be a no-brainer unless you're computing requirements are limited to Facebook and surfing, in which case perhaps 'no-brainer' may be literally true.  If you want to write using a real word processor, calculate using formulas, produce PowerPoint slides that can be used on any PC in the world then perhaps RT isn't looking too shabby.

However it still doesn't seem to spin a lot of wheels, even now it's being discounted ahead of the Surface 2 launch.  The reason is the lack of apps.  Full fat Windows 8 is doing OK, but the developers are fighting shy of expending effort on the RT version.  And there's the problem; until the apps reach a critical mass, sales of the RT based machines will be slow.  While they are slow, development of new apps will lag.  A vicious circle.  Microsoft have been flashing the cash lately, and have even offered serious cash to developers to jump on-board.  Perhaps they need to do more.

One way would be to set up an app development team that worked with the major app producers; give them a financial incentive to develop RT based apps or offer talent to do the development specifically for the RT on their behalf, still providing cash incentives.  Make the offer time limited; sign up before a certain date or take a risk that the well will be dry.

Whatever Microsoft do, hopefully they won't give up on RT.  Unless they can produce a full featured version like the Pro at RT prices the world will be a poorer place and we'll just have to stand by and watch Google and Apple slug it out.  Microsoft have offered  the possibility of a third way, an alternative route that makes tablet computing grow up and act like adults.  Without this level of competition there's no reason for the other two to make their devices suitable the grown up world.

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One Step Forward

Regular readers will know that I purchased a Microsoft Surface RT earlier this year when I was let down by the self destruction of my Google Nexus 7.  For those who haven't read all of my posts, here's an abridged bitch about how I ended up spending £400 on the Microsoft machine.

I was given the Nexus for my birthday last year, just after it was launched and to be honest it was a good machine.  It went everywhere with me - which is reasonable as it is a portable tablet.  I do have a generic case for it, but often it was carried around naked in my jeans pockets - did I mention it was pocket sized as well as portable?  Anyway, after a not too taxing bimble around the Lake District earlier this year I pulled my Nexus out of a side pocket to while away a few moments while crossing a lake on a steamer when I realised that somewhere along the way the screen had spontaneously self destructed, cracked from arsehole to breakfast time.

A quick search on the internet using my wife's iPhone revealed that this was a fairly common experience.  Anyway, to cut a long story short, Asus (manufacturer) will only consider looking at such damage if the owner parts with £50 and will only refund that if it decides (without arbitration) that the fault is a manufacturing one.  If they throw the bones down and decide it is user induced, they keep the money and offer to repair at an exorbitant cost.  Somewhere between the cost of a new Nexus and the ticket price on a Virgin Galactic flight.

So I decided to walk away from Google branded equipment and bought a Surface RT instead, hoping to find that replacement screens and digitisers come down in price in the near future.  I'm still waiting, and the near future is now a distant memory. As an aside, while in Boston, MA the other week I came across a stall in a mall offering to repair a variety of broken screens on iPhones, iPads, Galaxies, other machines.  Average price seemed to be about $60 all in.  I spoke with the young man at the stall to ask if they repaired the Nexus - I didn't have it with me, why would I take a broken tablet on vacation?  Anyhow, said young man pulled a pained expression when I asked if the Nexus could be repaired - he answered yes and started to fiddle with some spares he'd been collecting together, not really making eye contact.  How much? I asked.  About $200, he replied.  And he agreed that you could buy a brand new 16GB Nexus 7 for much the same amount, he just couldn't do anything about the price.  So if you're in the market for a pocket sized portable tablet then by all means consider the Nexus, just don't expect it to be portable or suitable for putting in your pocket.

Anyway, I bought the RT and it's been very good in general - it does have a habit of installing updates and rebooting without warning - we're talking Microsoft here remember - and I have had a few occasions when it didn't want to wake up at all, eventually rebooting.  Either it's a teenager, I'm interrupting an unannounced update or I've an intermittent fault on my machine.  On the upside, I've typed around 50,000 words on the snap-on keyboard and it's still working like brand new.  Outside of authors I suspect most users won't use the keyboard as aggressively.

But Windows 8 is far from perfect, so Microsoft have been working feverishly on a new version, Windows 8.1. Highlights are a Start button (I can't get too worked up about that - it lets you toggle between the old desktop and the new tiled interface, so what?).  It does allow unlimited web pages to be viewed by your machine - I expect there is a limit, but the current limit is way too small and the random culling of web pages is a little irritating, although the pinning facility means they are relatively easy to restore.  You can view up to four web pages side by side with the new OS, which is likely to be a little challenging on an RT screen, but useful on an extended screen.  Two pages maximum on the RT is considered the maximum that is practical.  It also allows a 50:50 split on screen - Windows 8 allows a 1/3:2/3 split, which has it's place but is often not a great choice.

Perhaps the biggest update is the inclusion of Outlook to complement the existing Office 365 that gets bundled in for free. 

So, what's the catch?  Well it seems that Microsoft pulled the upgrade off its store within 24 hours of launch.  There are a few sites out there that obtained the code to download but the way I look at this is if Microsoft are worried enough to pull the OS so soon after launch, why would I want to risk messing my machine about.  Plus some of the instructions to upgrade take me back to my maths degree - if you've got to resort to coding just to upgrade a piece of software then something is seriously wrong.

The upgrade sounds like it could be worthwhile, but I'm going to hold fire until I hear that Microsoft have re-launched the OS and then I'll let it stabilise, maybe 48 hours this time.

And the Nexus?  Well,  I'm convinced I'll get it up and running, it just may find itself in a different housing with a different function.  I'll canvas those inventive persons at B L O'Feld Megalomaniac Industries, I'm sure they will have a few evil suggestions that will make Google sit up.

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Could Microsoft Buy Nook?

Barnes & Noble are fighting an uphill battle, as are many of the traditional bookstores world-wide.  To be fair to B&N they recognised that the future of literature involved a heavy helping of eBooks and consequently invested in their eBookstore and launched generation after generation of ground breaking Nook eReaders.

The only mis-step I can see is that they took too long to establish themselves in the UK.  We may not be the largest eBook market on the planet - that's the US - but we're pretty big players.  They had an opportunity a year and a half ago when they were being wooed by Waterstones, a  UK bookseller filling a similar market segment to B&N.  I have no idea what went wrong - possibly they were a little too alike - but B&N didn't sign up and Waterstones started to stock Kindles, for goodness sake.

That brief outburst of frustration is not that there is anything wrong with Kindles - I have one and think it's great, I use the Kindle app on my Microsoft RT too. Technically I have it on my Nexus, but as I can't get past the cracked startup screen I don't count that one.  No, my frustration is due to Waterstones badmouthing Amazon and their overt attempts at ruling the eBook world.  If I didn't know better, I'd say I was writing copy for Waterstones back then, certainly I didn't have the monopoly on concern over Amazon.  But, the deal with B&N apparently gone south, Waterstones jumped into bed with Amazon even though their online eBookstore sells ePubs, not Kindle books.  Talk about mixed messages.

Anyway, B&N are struggling, have been for a couple of years.  They design their eReaders in-house, which is ballsy for a bookseller - it must be all those electronics books on the shelves - and they've been building them themselves too.  Now that does surprise me - I assume they are the first tier in the production chain, working with whichever factories produce their products, but now they are looking for someone to take over the whole production process.  They're still going to continue to design them in-house though, at least for the time being.

They'd be long gone, I reckon, if it hadn't been for a couple of handouts - or investments as the market probably calls them - and one of these was from Microsoft.  But the road is still very bumpy and there's a lot of concern about the future viability of B&N eReaders.  Speculation is that Microsoft may be muscling in for a takeover.

It makes a lot of sense, assuming B&N are truly up to their neck in muck.  Microsoft would get a foot in the eBook market, another step towards erasing the Apple differentiation and one that sits well with the Xbox music.  Also, the platform could be used to launch further Windows 8 tablets - maybe there's still life in RT after all?  And it keeps B&N as a viable entity in the eBook world and I for one would be grateful.  I'm unlikely to buy a B&N product right now - as I said they left it late launching in the UK and I'm up to my ears in Kindles, Microsoft Surfaces and cracked Google Nexii right now, but in another time I might consider it.  As an author who sells a proportion of his books through the B&N network to their clearly discerning readers, I want them to continue , if only to challenge Amazon.

The sale price is rumoured to be in the region of $1 billion, which suggests B&N aren't out of the game yet.  My guess is that Microsoft will be looking to get in before the main holiday sales push - there's only one real time to gain market share and that time is coming up in a few months.  So we should know before September  is out.

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Facing Up To The Charges

Keeping your phone charged is a daily problem.  Most phones these days will survive a full day of normal usage - checking Facebook, Twitter, reading emails, even sending texts.  Throw in a few decent phone calls, though, and you may struggle to read your eBook on the train home.  It's the same with tablet computers too, but without the phone calls.  They're just too darned useful for watching films and Skyping, I guess.

There's been a few attempts to address the problem, most noticeably through better batteries and by making the devices more efficient in use.  That makes a lot of sense, but despite the best endeavours they still seems to fail some of us some of the time.

And of course the remote charging idea is floating around out there.  I've written about this before and although I believe it's coming I'm still a little sceptical that it will prove to be a major benefit.  For example in our house we leave the RT, an iPad and a HTC phone charging on the breakfast bar overnight.  It works, the cables are tidy thanks to an enlightened electrician who persuaded me to fork out for twice as many sockets than I thought I'd ever need when he rewired our kitchen.  Now, to move to contactless charging would require me buying a contactless charger large enough for all of these devices, assuming that we replaced them with models that supported contactless charging and they all used the same system - because just like in the bad old VHS/Betamax tradition there are competing versions being produced.  So at home I'm unlikely to use contactless charging and the big push is to mount these charging devices into the table tops of overpriced coffee emporiums so I can sip a latte while staring at my inert mobile remotely charging in front of me. 

Don't take this the wrong way Starbucks, but I'd rather you left me to sort my own charging problems out and reduced your prices instead.  And paid your taxes.

However a French startup, SunPartner Group, has taken a different look at the problem.  They've worked out that although many of us insist on popping our mobile phones in our pockets for much of the day, we actually pull them out more often than we might like to admit - you know, double checking for those missed calls that we didn't get, sneaking a look at our Facebook timeline, posting the odd informative tweet - just been to the loo, again - and sending the occasional text or fifty.  And unless you're a contortionist you probably hold the mobile face up with the screen facing you. 

They've come up with a way to embed solar charging panels in the front screen of the phones.  It's a tricky process that involves stripes of sensors alternating with clear screen.  The stripes are very thin and it seems the clear gaps, while helping with the day job of reading your phone screen, help to focus the light anyway.  Obviously you can't expect to get all those solar panels in front of you without some light transmission loss and currently it stands at 82% transparency, which doesn't sound too bad.  The aim is to achieve 90% which means you may need to boost the screen light levels by a fraction, hopefully not enough to negate the extra charge gained through this process.  The cost of the screen is expected to add less than $2.50 to each phone.

If it works then I expect it might be adaptable to tablet screens as well - let's face it, they could benefit from a little extra charge while on the go.  And maybe they'll provide a bit more anti cracking resilience to the blighters. 

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iTunes Races Ahead

There's a lot of competition for your music spends these days.  Apple started it with iTunes, but there's plenty of others wanting a slice of the action.  Google are hustling their Google Play, Amazon want to sell us music and Microsoft, through its Xbox Music is making a pitch, though it's far from pitch perfect.  It's a tough market to break into.

For example I've been playing around with Xbox Music for the last month, seeing as it comes pre-loaded on the Microsoft RT as an app.  It seems pretty comprehensive in its range of music, although that is difficult to gauge without being able to compare lists.  You only know what you know, and I've only looked for what I've wanted to find.  I guess evaluating music streaming services puts Donald Rumsfeld's statement 'there are things we know we don't know, and things we don't know that we don't know' into sharp relief, and seems more relevant somehow.

There are gaps, though.  There are some artists I have a lot of material of in my collection, and some of the albums I'd like to see on Xbox music seem to be missing.  But right now I'm having a ball looking up artists and albums from my youth that I've only got on vinyl - as I write this I'm listening to a group called 'The Undisputed Truth' that got hi-jacked by one of the most under-rated talents ever to come out of Motown, Norman Whitfield.  Norman was a writer and producer, who produced some of Motown's most adventurous music, most notably with The Temptations, but it was through groups like the Undisputed Truth that he found he was able to extend his creative talents.  Thanks to Xbox music I'm catching up on their discography.

It's far from perfect, though.  Sometimes it only plays one or two tracks even though I've told it to play the album.  That gets a little frustrating.  In addition there does appear to be track skipping, as if the streamed recording is from a dodgy CD.  Of course, because I'm only using the free version I have to put up with the occasional advert, which is usually ten or so seconds plugging an obscure new artist.  Additionally they stop streaming every so often, just to remind me that there is a paid service I could use. I have to accept, grudgingly, that is the price cheapskates like myself have to consider sometimes.

But the leader of the streaming pack has to be iTunes.  They've just announced that they are currently adding about half a million new iTunes accounts a day and that they are on track to have added over 100 million new accounts this year by year end.  It's the volume of accounts that give Apple the revenue they seem to love.  It seems that each iTunes account, and there are over 500 million of them now, generate about $3.20 a month for each account, on average.  Clearly some households buy more music than mine does.  It's probably Bruce Willis skewing the figures.  It seems that he's not suing Apple, by the way.  It's not in dispute that he's unhappy that his extensive iTunes collection reverts to Apple when he dies, but he's not taking the legal route to sort it out with them.  Having seen how he sorts out organisations that piss him off in the Die Hard series I'm really keen to see the next step in this long running dispute.

Anyway, some analysts think the revenue per account is cause for concern because it's about half the revenue each account generated back in 2009.  Back then there was a paltry 100 million accounts - hell, I wouldn't get out of bed for numbers like that, let alone write a daily blog.  Get your counting fingers out and you'll soon realise that 500 million times $3.20 is a not unreasonable $1,600,000,000 a month, whereas $6.40 times 100 million is about 2.5 times less.  I had to double check the numbers because it seems a mind boggling amount even for Apple, but of course they only skim a profit off that and pay the owners of the music the bulk. However if those numbers do represent the state of the download music industry then it's clearly healthier than it cracks on to be.

It's difficult to imagine Google, Amazon or Microsoft, and all three are major players in the industry, making any serious inroads into iTunes anytime soon.  None of those have built up an infrastructure that challenges iTunes' ecosystem.  Microsoft might be on the right track - giving the music away initially to rope you in.  Their paid for service, at less than £90 a year which seems to allow you to download albums to listen to off-line too, isn't too expensive either.  As long as they can stop the tracks skipping and improve the range of albums available, then I might consider paying for a subscription.

In the meantime, I think Apple can breathe easy.

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Microsoft to Discount RT OS

Microsoft are in the game for the long run, that's for sure.  In fact anyone who has watched Microsoft over the years will realise that the one thing they do really well is the long game.  I guess Alpha testing is in the other camp seeing as they always leave the really tricky testing to the likes of you and me.

Historically they've tended to be a one product company - Windows 95 replaced Windows 3.1.1, ME unfortunately replaced Windows 95.  Somewhere along the way Vista came and went, thank goodness and Windows 7 replaced it.  XP, still used by many, was officially dumped by Vista and that has to be the cruellest fate for an OS ever.  Then about a year ago Microsoft did something that they've not tried before, they launched two operating systems simultaneously, or as near as dammit. 

They launched Windows 8 and Windows RT, which is a cut down version of Windows 8.  In fact, it's not the Windows 8 functionality that's the cut down part, it's the compatibility with Windows 7 that's missing.  And on the whole Windows 7 is still a major player in the PC world - let's face it, unlike Vista, it ain't broke.

But that's not to say you shouldn't be looking at Windows 8, if you've got a smart screen enabled PC.  Probably you don't have many right now, but I'm guessing that we're not going to be able to buy anything but in the next few years, so as your old laptops and desktops fall by the wayside, or your monitors spontaneously fry, you'll be buying smart screen replacements and the logic of Windows 8 will become more obvious.

In the meantime Microsoft want to establish Windows 8 with us all - that static desktop image is so last year - and they think that RT, cut down version that it is, is the way to do it.

I'm using RT right now, on my Microsoft Surface RT, and it's working for me.  But then again my range of software requirements are fairly minimal - I use Word and Excel, Internet Explorer, I search for stuff using Bing and Google, I use webmail and I use the various tools that Microsoft provide like calendar, Bing Money, Weather and a few items I've downloaded for free from the Windows App store.  Oh, and I'm loving the Xbox music app to stream free music.

Now Microsoft want to push RT out further.  It's designed to run on mobile phone type processors using ARM technology and they think that some of the seven inch tablets appearing on the scene should be using RT.  I agree, especially if they throw in the Microsoft Word and Excel options because that's something nobody can compete with and takes tablet computing into grown up territory.

They're not winning the battle at the moment - that would be Apple iOS and Android, but my guess is that any device capable of running Android can be reconfigured to host RT fairly easily, although a dual boot option might be one for the techies out there.  The fact is that the next big sales period is in the third quarter, with the Holidays being the big time for deciding what is going to lead the pack.  Did I mention Microsoft are in this for the long haul?

I expect that RT will be pushed with a little help from Microsoft discounting the OS, probably big time.  Because people who have RT on their tablet are more likely to want Windows 8 on their laptop and, because Microsoft have thought this through, on their mobile phone too.

Once RT becomes a viable alternative to Android we may see some really dirty competition starting in the tablet market.  And that, for me, is a good thing.

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Microsoft Office Coming to Android

The one big advantage of Windows 8 loaded on a Microsoft Surface, RT or Pro, is that as well as being a functional tablet computer it runs a version of Microsoft Office.  This productivity is the elephant in the Apple and Android offices.  Sure, both companies are trying to address the issue with bits of apps and opening up their development environment to encourage developers to create solutions, but ultimately Office is Office.

That was one of the compelling reasons why I picked up a Surface RT a week ago and although I've spent more time typing on Google's Blogger interface than on Word I have played a little with the Office 365 applications loaded on the RT and they're refreshing in their familiarity.  The only fly in my personal ointment right now is the lack of a viable print option.  As mentioned in my earlier posting on the RT, Epson haven't developed a driver for my model right now, but as my RT and my Acer laptop are both connected to my Skydrive account I can produce a document on the RT anywhere I want to and then print off from the laptop without physically transferring any files  Not the best solution, but workable in the interim.

However Microsoft are playing one of their famous long games.  They've announced that a version of Office is going to be available for Android machines by producing Office Web Apps for the Google OS.  Don't go searching the Google Play store any time soon, though, as the apps are very much in the concept stage.  It used to be called vapourware in the olden days, but with the stakes high and the resources backing it, I guess this will happen.  Microsoft are talking about a release in maybe twelve months' time, so set your watch, diarise in Outlook if you have access, but forget about Access as that isn't included in this.  Confused? My work is done.

My guess is that Google are getting close, in Microsoft's presumably humble opinion, to producing enough functionality in their own apps to make users consider migrating.  Open Office, the open source office software, should have done that but has failed, however Google is quite persistent at these sorts of things.  What Microsoft probably fears is that Google, with its Chrome browser and entry price Chromebooks might put a visible dent in Microsoft's Windows 8 product and, more importantly, its dominance of the Office software market.  Particularly as Google have indicated that they intend to migrate their Chromebooks to an Android version so that there's compatibility between mobile phones, tablets and their laptops.  That could start to affect the Microsoft dominance in the way that Linux hasn't.

So making Office applications that will allow users to produce Office compatible documents on their Android tablets makes a lot of sense.  It allows users to port documents across devices but will keep the Office dominance centre stage.  I guess many of us will like to draft a Word document on the fly on our tablets, perhaps on the train home from work, but will then transfer it to our computers running full fat Office to top and tail it.  So the Microsoft initiative makes a lot of sense.

Whether it'll stop the Google Juggernaut remains to be seen.  The one year lead in time leaves Google with plenty of time to make their own offerings more appealing, so we have a technical race on. Hold on to your hollyhocks.


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RT, But Not Farty

I've spent the last few days getting to know my new tablet, the Microsoft RT.  In many ways this has been a voyage of discovery as I'm learning a new way of working with a tablet and with a new OS.

The first impressions of the RT are very promising - clearly someone at Microsoft has been paying close attention to Apple as unpacking the RT is very much in the same vein as unpacking an iPad or any other Apple product, down to the white packaging and the carefully laid out compartments for each item.  Also in keeping with Apple products, the RT comes with minimal instructions or indeed any other peripheral equipment.  Basically it is the RT and the charger.  The one thing that does strike you, though, is that the RT is a solid piece of hardware - it feels solid and does weigh a bit more than an iPad in my estimation.  The screen size is figured to be larger than the iPad, too, but due to its widescreen format it may or may not appear to be.  The screen format is designed around watching films.

The keyboard is an optional extra - you can use the RT like any other tablet, but I would expect you wouldn't be getting the best out of the supplied Microsoft Office package if you decided against a keyboard.  With my purchase the keyboard was supplied in the price - £399.99 or about US$650. There is a choice of keyboard - they have a flat keyboard with no moving parts that senses when you tap the keys and is essentially waterproof - possibly a good option for those who need to type in a pub.  The alternative is a micro-keyboard that's quite tactile and is the option I took up.  Being a touch typist I find it works very effectively and can recommend it, but please note it is quite clacky in use.

Placing the keyboard close to the RT allows the magnets to do their stuff and the keyboard attaches itself effortlessly and firmly.  Removing and reattaching is a breeze and the keyboard itself doesn't have its own power supply - all power is derived from the Li-Ion battery supplied in the tablet.  Initially, though, the keyboard won't be recognised until you've started your RT and set it up.  However the keyboard provides protection for the screen when it is closed up, and given my recent experience with the Nexus screen cracking spontaneously I can be forgiven for being a little protective of it, even though the guys at the Microsoft stand at the Gadget Show did insist that the screen is Gorilla Glass, as per the iPad.

It's worth recognising at this point the differences between the RT and its big brother, the Surface Pro.  Apart from the price - and for reasons that I haven't worked out I could have bought the same model, with the same keyboard in the same shop for £150 more than I did. Naturally I resisted. The Pro would have cost a lot more, no matter what deals they were doing.  The RT is basically based on mobile phone ARM processor technology and comes in 32gb and 64gb flavours.  I chose the 32gb version which comes with MS Office, the Windows 8 OS and a handful of apps installed and I have about 16gb left to play with.  However there is a micro SD card port that takes up to 64gb cards - one on its way courtesy of eBay for £12.50 including postage - so there's no real need to fill the hard drive up with photos, music and documents.  And of course it automatically links to your SkyDrive account so anything you have up there in the cloud is available on the RT.

So, we have a mobile phone processor.  What else is different?  Well, the biggest issue anyone might find is that you can only load native Windows 8 software on the RT, whereas on the Pro you can load Windows 7 software.  There are some obvious gaps in the limited software that I like to use, including some Apps that are freely available on Android and iOS, unfortunately including Sherlock, the feature of a recent posting.  I've checked with Everett at Kaser Towers and he's not interested in supporting the RT OS while it's still a niche OS..  However this is a new OS and support is building.  For example my printer, an Epson all in one WiFi model, isn't currently supported but Epson state on their site that they are working on making their products Windows 8 compatible.  Until then I'll have to transfer any documents I want to print to the laptop via SkyDrive.  However, as I said in an earlier posting, this device does address the issue that Apple and Android have failed to tackle with their tablets and that is making it a machine you can do useful work on as well as play.  Until Office is available for those other OS machines, this is the most practical option open.

But this is supposed to be about what the difference is between the RT and the Surface Pro, well one major difference between the two models is that you have to pay for MS Office on the Pro, so that makes the RT even better value.

In use the Windows 8 OS is different from any previous Windows interface, but a couple of years of using iOS and Android devices has prepared me for many of the features and I didn't even look at the on-line manual for the first six or so hours of playing with the RT.  As I'd had a preview at the Gadget show I knew to swipe from the right hand side to get the charms, as MS call them, visible.  The most useful charm is the Windows 8 charm which takes you to the Start screen.  From there you can look at your emails - although you need a Microsoft email account to access the on-line features of RT it does allow you to link other email accounts such as Yahoo to it - or one of a dozen other tasks straight out of the box. 

The browser does take a little getting used to - MS were late to the field with tabs in earlier versions of IE and in the Windows 8 browser they appear to have disappeared again.  However, when viewing any webpage, if you swipe down from the top of the screen you reveal all the open webpages and can toggle freely between them.  You can close down ones you no longer need to keep things tidy, but you don't need to - Windows 8 will close down ones you're not using after a decent period.  It's the same with Apps - they stay running until the system decides you're not playing any more, then it closes them down in the background.  You can also save webpages by pinning them to the Start screen.  So if you always open the same webpages every morning you can pin them and you can open them straight off.

Checking what Apps you do have open at any time requires a nifty swipe from the left hand side of the screen, arcing around and returning to the side of the frame.  At that point the left hand side turns into a column of icons showing you what Apps are open.  Touching the App you want to work on opens it up full screen.  if you decide to stick with the App you're currently viewing, just swipe the column back into the side.

Clearly I've only just scratched the - er - surface of the RT but early impressions are very favourable.  I've written this blog entry with the supplied keyboard and RT sat on my knee while sat on a sofa.  I have a wireless mouse plugged into the USB port and I'm currently streaming Joe Bonamassa tracks from the Xbox channel for free, listening through my Sennheisser wireless headphones with no latency issues.  The sound through the built in speakers is pretty good too.  All in all the RT is living up to the promise it makes in the adverts, although I have got over the novelty of clicking and unclicking the keyboard on and off.


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Nexus 7 - Not All It's Cracked Up To Be

I've just paid a flying visit to Ambleside, in the Lake District.  Regular readers will know that I rate this part of the country very highly and Ambleside in particular.  The occasion was a visit to Zefferelllis Jazz Bar to listen to a blues band and to take in a few strolls in the countryside.  As is my habit I popped my Nexus 7 in a side pocket and had a full day of strolling around Lake Windermere.  I've travelled many miles with the Nexus carried in this manner - it's one of the attractions of a pocket sized tablet is that it fits in a pocket.

Anyway, on the last leg of the day, heading back to Ambleside on a lake ferry, I pulled the Nexus out of my pocket to read an eBook and found the screen cracked in multiple places and the device unresponsive - it turned on but the touchscreen didn't work so I couldn't unlock the device.  Basically it's just showing my background photo and the PIN keyboard.  I've rotated the device through 360 and tried the keyboard on all four rotations - nothing doing.

Back in Ambleside I Googled the fault using my wife's iPad and it appears that it isn't that uncommon.  In fact, if you follow the message boards from product launch to today you'll find a couple of trends.  Initially the main problems appeared to be around light leakage from the body, put down to loose screws holding the back away from the front.  Then the screen cracking reports started appearing.  Now they seem to be the main complaint about the Nexus 7 and by all accounts I've been quite lucky getting nearly nine months out of mine.

Of course you've got to take the reports with a bit of caution - devices that haven't had a fault of any kind won't have generated the kind of report we're talking about, and the Nexus does appear to have been a fairly successful product.  So it's difficult to decide how big a problem this is.  However there are some common threads filtering through and one, worryingly, is that the screen is not covered by the warranty.  The other, and I've verified this through searches on Google and sites such as eBay, is that the screens are expensive to replace. In fact, to pay ASUS, the manufacturer of the Nexus, to repair it costs about the same as buying a new device according to many reports.  From instructions posted by techies it also looks to be quite a problematical task as well, which is possibly one reason why ASUS levies such a high labour charge.

I contacted the store I bought the Nexus from, PC World on-line.  I say contacted, I mean I listened to a series of menu choices and when I got to the bit that referred to ASUS products I received a phone number and a suggestion that I should really phone them.  Did I not hear them, put the bloody phone down, why don't you?

So I phoned ASAS.  Here's a thing - calls have to be between 0900 and 1700 and cost at least 5 pence a minute on a BT landline, an undefined amount on a mobile, no idea about over the employer's VOIP.  So an early stack and back at home I worked my way through another menu - eight choices to listen to and I still got it wrong.  For anyone going through this, choose the EEE option, which I think is option 2.  There I spoke to a polite man who explained how it works.  First you need to find the serial number on the Nexus - I'm still looking.  It's on the transparent sticker at the bottom of the device on the back and the writing is both miniscule and virtually as transparent as the sticker.

I explained the situation and he said that if it was assessed to be user damage my warranty wouldn't cover the repair, but if it wasn't my fault, it would.  That sounds reasonable, so I asked for what to do next, apart from using a scanning electron microscope to read the serial number.  Well, it seems you log onto the ASUS repair web page, apparently UK.ASUS.com/RMA and fill in a form.  After a few days you receive instructions on how to courier the device to their authorised repairers who will make an assessment on who is to blame.  By the way, this isn't a conversation, let alone a debate.  They decide and that's that.  If they determine that it is a warranty repair you'll get your device back and working within a month or so.  If it isn't a warranty repair then you can have it repaired - cost currently unknown apart from rumours on the web, but expected to be about the cost of a new device, or you can have the damaged item back.  However if you take the damaged item back you do have to pay for the courier and the labour charges which are estimated to be about £50.  And you agree to this as soon as you fill in that form and start the ball rolling, so you may find yourself having to choose to pay the price of a new Nexus to get a repaired Nexus, or a third of the price of a new Nexus to get an inoperative model back.

I did speak to my household insurance and they're quite happy to cover this item for accidental damage, even when I told them that I didn't believe I'd damaged it.  But I do have a £150 excess on accidental damage claims, so it hardly seems worth it as that's the price of q new Nexus 7.

Whatever happens over the Nexus I'm certain that I'll be without it for a while - the repairs seem to take weeks according to many reports, and I'll likely only be doing that if it's agreed that it is a warranty repair.  In the meantime I've picked up a Microsoft Surface RT with a tactile keyboard so that will be my go-to tablet from now on.  It's day three and I'm still getting to grips with the new Windows methodology, but it's clearly a versatile machine  A first impressions report in tomorrow's blog.


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