Scratching The Surface

Shortly after I bought my Surface Pro 2, Microsoft announced that they were having a “small” event during which there would be some type of announcement relating to the Surface line.
The immediate speculation was that they were going to announce an 8” Surface Min, and a lot of user-generated renders of what such a device might look like began to, er, surface.
Though I don’t have any particular need for such a device, I was somewhat interested, and decided that, if it hit the right price point, I might consider picking one up as a companion device.
Coincidentally, the day of the event fell on a day that I had taken off from work, so, while I sat drawing (or more to the point, failing to draw) on Odin, my desktop PC, I fired up the webcast of the event on my Surface.
The rumored Surface Mini was nowhere to be seen, however, and it turned out that MS was actually announcing the launch of the Surface Pro 3.



Despite the rumors, I had considered this possibility beforehand and had already worked through my annoyance at the launch of a new and improved Surface Pro so soon after my purchase of the 2, but even so, the announcement did cause me to sigh and shake my head.
While many of the specs represent only incremental improvements, there were some significant changes that I found appealing, such as a higher resolution and a different aspect ratio, which makes the device like a traditional piece of paper in terms of overall size and shape, and an overall decrease in thickness and weight.
They also demonstrated some cool new features of the pen, particularly with regards to One Note.
As an aside, I use One Note a lot, but I feel like there’s more I should be doing with it given its capabilities, but I just can’t seem to find the appropriate use case.
Of particular interest to me was that they managed to all but eliminate the parallax when using the pen.  That is to say that there is virtually no offset between the physical tip of the pen and where it appears on the screen.
However, there was one thing in the announcement that struck me as odd:  a reference to the pen having 256 levels of pressure sensitivity.
Why did this strike me as odd?  Well, my older-model Cintiq has 1,025 levels.  Current-model Cintiqs – including Wacom’s own Cintiq-branded Tablet PC – have 2.048.
My Surface Pro has 1,024 levels, just like the Surface Pro 1.
So why the downgrade?
In reading some of the more in-depth coverage, particularly around the new pen, I found the answer, and even more than the reduction in pressure sensitivity, it gave me pause.
Unlike the previous generations, the SP3 does not come with a Wacom active digitizer, opting instead for a product from N-Trig.
…
Some of you may recall my experiences with an N-Trig device.
Suffice to say that they were not positive experiences.
Many people online expressed concern about the drop down to 256 levels.  While I did find that troubling, I know from experience that 256 levels still works pretty well – on a Wacom device.
Gabe from Penny Arcade did a post addressing the 256 levels issue (TL; DR is it’s not really an issue).
However, I still have little or no confidence in N-Trig.
A lot of Microsoft-related sites – run mostly by non-artists, for what it’s worth – bundled the concerns about the pressure sensitivity reduction and the shift away from Wacom together and simply dismissed the misgivings expressed by the commentariat as the ravings of neckbeards who are resistant to change.
That’s not it.  At all.  Again, I’m not terribly concerned about the 256 levels thing, though I will say that perception counts, and regardless of how well it works, this looks like a step backwards, and while more knowledgeable users might recognize that it’s not a dealbreaker, the average consumer – regardless of whether or not he or she even understands what it means – might see that change in specs and immediately assume that it’s bad.
But the real issue, for me, is that name:  N-Trig.  And this isn’t because I’m a Wacom fanboy; I would very much like to see Wacom forced to square off against some real competition, as they pretty much own that space (and their prices reflect that fact).
I have no doubt that N-Trig has improved since I last used one of their devices.  That would pretty much have to be the case, otherwise I don’t see how they could still be in business.  I also have no doubt that MS has made absolutely certain that their new flagship device works properly.  Well, I have some doubt, given that hey released the first generation of the Surface Pro without a driver that supported pressure sensitivity in Photoshop, so it’s not like it’s unheard of for them to drop the ball on something like this.
(Speaking of Photoshop, the one piece of good news for me during that event came when a representative from Adobe came out to show off an upcoming update to Photoshop that is more touch-centric.  That is, of course, great for the SP3, but the update will also find its way to everyone with a Creative Cloud subscription, so at some point I’ll benefit from that as well.)
In any case, despite my misgivings about N-Trig, I do understand the reasons for selecting them as a vendor, particularly given that their digitizers are slightly thinner and lighter than Wacom’s, and I do hope that N-Trig can prove to be the competitive force that’s so desperately needed in that market.
But I’m still rather wary.
That said, it’s still not a dealbreaker for me; the fact that I just bought the Surface Pro 2 is what’s keeping me from shelling out the cash to pick up the SP3.
If I were in a position to shell out the money for a Surface Pro 3, I would most likely do so happily, despite my misgivings, as it does provide a lot of compelling advantages over its older sibling.  Still, while considerable progress has been made, MS hasn’t quite nailed the formula yet and it’s not quite perfect.  The typing experience, by most accounts, still needs some improvements, particularly if you are one of those people who takes – or has to take – the term “laptop” literally (I personally tend not to be one, as an extended period of typing with a keyboard, any keyboard, placed in my lap is unworkable), and even setting aside the physical issues of typing via the Touch or Type Cover, there’s the issue of the cost; Type Covers need to be included in the base purchase price.  Period.  No debate.
I understand the position MS has taken; people like being able to choose different colors for their Type Covers, so they don’t want to bundle them with the Surface.
I also think that position is bullshit.  They’re no reason that they can’t bundle them together and still have different color choices. 
But even if they can’t, they still need to drop that cost down to $0.  You have money to spare, Microsoft…eat the cost.
Because what you don’t have is mindshare, and as long as the keyboard is a pricey add-on, you’re not going to get it.
Yes, I know; iPads and Android tablets don’t include keyboards, but, per your own marketing, that’s not the segment of the market you’re trying to compete with.  The Macbook Air got mentioned a lot in the Surface event.  And guess what?  The keyboard for that isn’t optional.
Again, eat the cost.  There are plenty of avenues for making up the cost via accessories, such as replacement pens, docking stations, power covers, and so on.  Whatever happened to that whole Blades concept?
You also need to figure out a better method for storing the pen.  The loop included for it on the – optional – keyboard cover isn’t a solution, nor is the simple magnetism that holds it in place in various locations on the Surface itself.
Start addressing these concerns – and develop a good marketing strategy – and you’ll definitely have a winner on your hands, one that has the potential to redefine computing for years to come.
And you’ll also have a basis for expanding the Surface family of products.  What about a Surface All-In-One?  How about a Surface-branded Windows Phone?
In fact, if you were to say to me that you would be releasing a 5” Surface Phone with a high-resolution screen, active digitizer with pen (with integrated storage), and VaporMg casing, I would say to you, “Yes, please.”
With all of that said, while I won’t be picking up a Surface Pro 3, I hope it does well enough for me to have the option of picking up a Surface Pro 4 when the time comes.
And, you know, if some wealthy reader were feeling generous, or if Microsoft said, “Here, Jon, have a Surface Pro 3 on us,” I certainly wouldn’t object…

Ladies Of The Legion: The Collage

So I've been messing around on the tablet PC a lot, and found the "Windows Touch Experience Pack," which has several little toys for playing around with touch, such as a 3D map program, some games, a screensaver that lets you scare fish in a pond by creating ripples in the water with your fingers, and Microsoft Surface Collage, a photo viewer based on the Microsoft Surface technology that lets sift through, stack, and shuffle your pictures as if they were on a table in front of you. You can rotate and resize them, and save the results as a collage, as I did with these pictures of the lovely ladies of the Legion of Super-Heroes:
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Scratching The Surface

I have to say that going grocery shopping this morning was…well, not a pleasure, exactly, but certainly much more pleasant than usual: minimal crowds, hardly anyone getting in my way, and pretty much the bare minimum of crying/screaming children.
(Crying/screaming children are pretty much a given in any public space.)
I’m not sure if it was because people are all shopped out, are still off visiting family, or if it was just a fluke, but whatever the cause, I was happy with the effect.
After getting home and putting everything away I watched TV for a while, ate lunch, and took a nap.
Then I got up and…honestly, I’m not sure what I did. I guess I watched more TV.
Meh, it doesn’t really matter.
Eventually it occurred to me that I should probably write a blog entry.
So here we are.
In my entry about seeing The Day The Earth Stood Still I mentioned that significant portions of the movie seemed like a commercial for Microsoft Surface, and I said that I had some more thoughts on Surface that I would post in an entry.
Today the prophecy will be fulfilled.
If you haven’t clicked on the link above, Surface is a multi-touch screen technology developed by Microsoft that, honestly, is pretty damned cool, especially for Microsoft.
Microsoft began publicizing Surface at around the same time that Apple released the iPhone, so naturally it was met with a lot of jeers by Apple fanboys, including some parody videos, which essentially boiled down to “You can’t carry it in your pocket!” and “It can cost as much as $10,000!”
Both of these things are true, but to the first one I say, “So what?” Are you suggesting that every technology has to be pocket-sized in order to be useful or cool? Really? Okay, well, you’ve got your iPhone, so I suggest you get rid of your TV, your MacBook, your DVD player, and anything else that won’t fit in your pocket. Apparently you don’t need them and they suck.
Honestly, don’t be a retard. If you can’t see the possibilities of such a technology, you’re the one with the problem.
As for the second point, yes, Surface products are ridiculously expensive, but what new technology isn’t? Browse the Web sometime and see how much a hard drive cost back in, say, 1987.
For that matter, there are still flat panel TVs that can cost as much or more than Surface.
Beyond that, in its initial deployment, Surface isn’t really intended for home use. The target markets are for commercial uses, such as information kiosks at retail outlets, and in the hotel and gaming industries.
Here’s a demo of one of the commercial applications of Surface:



(More videos can be seen by following the link above)
Undoubtedly over time the technology will, in one form or another, find its way into consumer level devices and have a much friendlier price tag.
While some of the demo videos I’ve seen have shown off some of the creative potential of Surface, such as “finger painting,” I haven’t seen anything indicating that Microsoft has any plans to develop Surface specifically for graphic design and image editing, but it’s my hope that they will.
It would be seriously cool to have Surface in a drafting table form factor running a version of Photoshop designed specifically for the Surface interface. My mind boggles at some of the possibilities: using real paintbrushes whose real-world effects are simulated on-screen, keeping a “stack” or images off to the side and sliding them over to your workspace for editing, having the ability to mix colors on a virtual palette…the list goes on.
So, yeah. The possibilities of Surface are extremely appealing. And, again, it pretty much amazes me that it was Microsoft that came up with this product. Not that they’re alone in this. I’m sure Apple intends to do more with multi-touch screens than what they’re doing right now, and I know there are other companies working on similar technologies.
Despite the fact that I think it’s cool, the lengthy commercials for Surface in The Day The Earth Stood Still were pretty obnoxious and obtrusive.
And don’t take this as being an extended commercial for the product, or me shilling for Microsoft. I’m sure they will, as has been the case with pretty much every product they’ve ever developed, find some way to totally cock it up.
Even so, I just find the product and the concept genuinely interesting.
Anyway, that filled up an entry pretty quickly.