All signs point to the demise of Microsoft's Surface tablet

[RV_]

I am so glad I sold my Surface RT tablet, while I could, early in 2013. Once I tried a Windows 8.1 tablet it was all over. Printing wirelessly just like my laptops that I also sold did, because they can load all the Windows software for the Brother network laser printer we have. And once I found the lightweight Lenovo Lynx with the great IPS screen that beats the x2 in color depth and striking resolution. The problem with the Surface, as opposed to the Surface Pro 3, is that it is not running Windows 8.1, a PC OS, is that it is no more versatile than an Android or Apple tablet, as far as filling both the roles of a PC for productivity, or tablet for consumption. But tablets are not for everyone. Some folks want a laptop or desktop and an Android or iOS Apple tablet and that is fine by me. We all get to choose what we spend our money on. And that is the only way I would have it. I bought a used Surface and would have kept is had MS not really goofed and had no email client that would connect to my IMAP or my wife's POP3 email. They did include an Outlook app that could in August or September of 2013.7 months too late! I had already bought one, then passed it over to my wife and got the x2 hybrid, then got her a new Lenovo Lynx so she could have it all too. Then sold the Surface and all our laptops before April of 2013. She wanted the Surface at first because of the HD screen and stunning, then, colors, because she didn't see herself using a tablet for email. Within a month of getting the Lynx full Windows tablet, and selling the Surface, she asked me to set her email up, and then wanted office on it. She now does much of what she used to use her desktop for only on it.

 

So now, along with the iPod we are seeing two products that are too far behind. The iPod at least got to achieve stupendous success for years. It was new, and did something few other devices could at the time. The SurfaceRT was just another iOS or Android device that could not run either Windows PC full programs, or OSX full programs off the shelf. No new to mp3 players customer from outside of Apple enthusiasts would shell out $300 bucks for a device that only stores 64 GB of music and movies when they can buy a used smartphone and load their music on it's SD card for under 30 bucks. (Assuming like me they have several extra SD Cards) You can buy Straight Talk used but functional phones in small sizes for about 25-30 bucks and a 32 GB SD card for it is only about $19.00 or a 64 GB card for about 30 bucks today! ( http://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-Galaxy-Precedent-SCH-M828C-Gray-Straight-Talk-Smartphone-Clean-ESN-/231465211310?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35e466d5ae )And you have a Camera Wi-Fi Bluetooth, and replaceable battery on the phone. Times have changed. I got one of these in trade for nothing. It was dirty and needed a thorough cleaning but the battery was fine and it charged. I used it strictly for an mp3 player using the SD card, and playing the music over Bluetooth in the vehicles before I decided I wanted a cell like my wife had. That was only 5 years ago and my first one hooked up to actually make calls was only three years ago. for two years I loved the Bluetooth and Wifi but mostly the music. It came in trade, along with my first Galaxy Tab 10.1 for my Toshiba laptop that I replaced for the Windows 8 testing and tried my first SSD in with 8GB of RAM,

 

What I liked about it was it was fast, with WiFi too, and I could watch Netflix on it around the house or listen to Pandora. It was also tiny compared to todays phones. That is just an example why the iPod was such a success and even Apple is seeing it wane now.

 

The Surface will be going first as it never made any money like the tremendous profit in the iPods.

 

Excerpt:

 

"Microsoft is within a whisker of calling it quits on its failed experiment with the Surface tablet, the device powered by the ARM architecture and Windows RT, an offshoot of Windows 8.

 

Last week, the company's own online store showed all configurations of the Surface 2 -- the lone Windows RT tablet still sold -- as out of stock, and that held as of early Monday. Best Buy, Microsoft's U.S. retail partner, also showed no Wi-Fi models available for online ordering, although spot checks had some stores with inventory for in-store pickup. And while giant e-tailer Amazon listed some Surface 2 tablets for sale, many were refurbished units, not new devices.

 

"It is currently out of stock [and] unfortunately we do not have specific dates on when products are back in stock, [so] you would have to check back on the site regularly," said a Microsoft Store sales representative in an online chat Friday.

 

Another tip-off that the Surface 2 line will be dead-ended: Microsoft will not offer an upgrade to Windows 10 for either that tablet or its predecessor, originally called Surface RT and then renamed simply Surface.

 

Instead, Microsoft will provide an unspecified update at some point in the future. But there will not be a path to Windows 10, the operating system slated to release later this year and which will, by Microsoft's telling, be its sole client OS for years to come.

 

Microsoft declined to answer questions about the Surface 2's future and whether sales had officially stopped. "There is still availability at Best Buy," a Microsoft spokeswoman said."

 

Believe it or not there is a bunch more in the article here: http://www.infoworld.com/article/2875146/mobile-technology/all-signs-point-to-the-demise-of-microsofts-surface-tablet.html?phint=newt%3Dinfoworld_tech_microsoft&phint=idg_eid%3D6aa01e18b29f7b6f9149f611f8eac228#tk.IFWNLE_nlt_entwindows_2015-01-28