WSJ: Microsoft discounting Windows 8 licenses

The Microsoft discounts are particularly tailored for portables with small displays that would likely appear this fall, these people said.

Such discounts could help reduce the price and increase the appeal of laptop computers running Windows 8, which was released last fall and offers a new touch-based computer interface. Analysts say sales have been slow, hobbled in part by the lack of devices equipped with the kind of touch-based displays that are common on tablets.

To be fair, it sounds like Microsoft is only discounting Windows 8 licenses for smaller tablets. It’s also possible this is actually for the new Windows Blue we’ve been hearing about lately.

Microsoft is trying too hard to make the future happen now

Me:

…the problem is Microsoft is trying too hard to bring us the future today, and technology hasn’t caught up with an ambitious product like the Surface Pro. The Surface Pro had the potential to be as disruptive to desktop computing as the iPhone was to mobile phones, but in order to get it out the door within a reasonable period of time following the Windows 8 launch last fall, Microsoft had to fudge key features that people really care about such as battery life.

Key graf from my Surface Pro review

But that’s a small added value for a laptop replacement that doesn’t do a great job at replacing your laptop.

You can’t rest the Surface Pro comfortably on your lap without it flopping around. You can ‘t adjust the angle of the screen when it’s propped on a table with the built in kickstand. You need to spend at least another $100 to get the full laptop-like experience with one of the special keyboard covers. At 10 inches, the screen feels a bit small for traditional desktop computing. The cheapest model only has 23 GB of free storage, so you’ll have to buy a separate memory card because you’ll definitely need more than that.