If you buy a Microsoft Surface, it probably won't be because of the price

Earlier today, Microsoft announced the prices for its Surface for Windows RT tablets. The entry-level Surface for Windows RT tablet comes with 32GB of storage and sells for $499 (U.S.); the same model with a black Touch Cover keyboard sells for $599. The 64GB model bundled with a black Touch Cover sells for $699. If your tastes run to a more colorful Touch Cover, those are available separately for $119; if you prefer a more conventional keyboard design, the Type Cover is also available in black only, for $129.

Several months ago, there were some rumors that Microsoft would try to underprice Apple with an entry-level Surface tablet priced as low as $199; those rumors were disproved today. Microsoft has taken pains to point out that it's pricing its 32GB model where Apple prices the 16GB third-generation iPad, and the 64GB bundle is priced the same as Apple's 32GB model without a keyboard. Microsoft's prices are very competitive, but Windows RT will only have a tiny fraction of the apps available for iOS or Android when it and the Surface tablets are released next week.

Microsoft seems to be at a loss to describe exactly what the Surface is--according to Windows business unit president Steve Sinofsky, it's neither a tablet nor a notebook computer. Microsoft's new television ads don't help--they show people dancing around with Surface tablets as they connect and disconnect keyboards, but they don't actually show anyone doing anything useful with the devices. That's the trap that tablets like the Motorola Xoom and BlackBerry Playbook fell into--Motorola and RIM showed their tablets playing videos and games, but not doing anything useful.

There's not going to be a lot that consumers will be able to do with Surface tablets when they first ship, at least in comparison to iPads and Android tablets. It will take time for developers to build up a competitive catalog of apps, and developers won't bother until they see Windows RT gaining market momentum. By themselves, Microsoft's prices will do little to stimulate sales.

In addition, I believe that we're going into the Christmas of 7" tablets: Apple said that it plans to make an announcement, most likely of a 7" iPad (among other products,) on October 23rd. The focus this holiday season will be on tablets selling for $199 to $299, not $500 or up. Consumers will be comparing the small iPad to the big iPad, or the small iPad to Amazon's Kindle Fire HD, Barnes & Noble's Nook HD and Google's Nexus 7. They're unlikely to be comparing anything to the Surface for Windows RT.

Microsoft may believe that Android, on tablets at least, is highly vulnerable to being displaced. Under this scenario, Microsoft's goal would be to make Windows RT the credible alternative to iOS, and then wait for Apple to make a serious mistake, just as the Xbox 360 capitalized on Sony's mistakes with the PlayStation 3 to become the video game console market leader. (It's the "I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you" idea.) If that's Microsoft's approach, all they have to do is beat Android, not take away a significant number of iPad sales. If Microsoft fails, however, people will be comparing the Surface not to the Xbox, but rather, to the Zune.

Blackmagic Design adds software audio mixer to its ATEM production switchers

When doing live video production, it's easy to give audio short shrift. If you're traveling light or have limited space, there are many times when you'd prefer not to carry a separate audio mixer, or use an A/V mixer that often compromises both audio and video capabilities. Blackmagic Design announced today that the software audio mixer that it recently added to its ATEM 2 M/E production switcher is now included at no cost with both its ATEM 1 M/E and ATEM Television Studio switchers.

Blackmagic's ATEM Switcher 3.2 Audio Mixer uses the embedded audio from SDI and HDMI cameras attached to the switcher, and from the switchers' built-in audio interfaces (AES/EBU in the Television Studio, and a breakout cable in the 1 M/E and 2 M/E.) It can also accept audio from any audio interface connected to the computer running the audio mixer software, and in the case of the 1 M/E and 2 M/E, from the switcher's internal media players.

The audio mixer software communicates with the production switcher, so that in Audio Follows Video (AFV) mode, audio automatically crossfades when the video input changes. Or, selected audio inputs can be permanently mixed into the program output. The new audio mixer is integrated into Blackmagic's ATEM Control Panel software, which runs on both Windows and OS X, and is accessed through a tab in the Control Panel. ATEM Switcher 3.2 Audio Mixer is available now for free download from Blackmagic Design's website.

HP to focus on Intel-based Windows 8 tablets, skip ARM-based Windows RT tablets

Bloomberg reports that HP has decided to focus on building Intel-based Windows 8 tablets and not release an ARM-based tablet running Windows RT. HP was one of the vendors given early access to the Windows RT platform by Microsoft. As fewer manufacturers commit to Windows RT, more pressure is being put on Microsoft's Surface tablet to be successful. If Microsoft ends up being the only company with a first-tier Windows RT tablet, it will make any chance of successfully competing against Apple almost impossible.

Microsoft just made all Windows Phone 7.X smartphones obsolete

Earlier today, Microsoft gave a technical preview of Windows Phone 8, the new version of its phone operating system. There were two big pieces of news, one good for developers and future Windows Phone buyers, the other very bad for current Windows Phone owners.

The good news is that Windows Phone 8 will be based on the same kernel, and many of the same drivers, as Windows 8. That means that it will be much easier for developers to move apps from Windows Phone 8 to Windows 8 and vice versa. I suspect that it won't be quite as smooth as Apple's iOS environment, where the iPhone and iPad run the same operating system, but it'll be much better than Windows' current situation, where there's virtually no commonality between Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7.X.

The bad (really bad) news is that owners of Windows Phone 7.X devices will not be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 8. All those folks that bought Nokia Lumia 900s, 800s, 600s and any other Windows Phone 7.X device are out of luck--no Windows Phone 8 for you. Microsoft will offer them a consolation prize, Windows Phone 7.8, with some of Windows Phone 8's user interface improvements, but with no way to run Windows Phone 8 apps.

Apple's had this "make your new operating system compatible with your old devices" thing down for a few years now, and I marvel at why neither Google nor now Microsoft can do it. Microsoft will undoubtedly argue that smartphones need new hardware to take advantage of Windows Phone 8, but that doesn't explain why the company didn't anticipate the problem when drawing up the specifications for Windows Phone 7.X devices. Did the Windows and Windows Phone teams not start talking to each other until a few weeks ago?

When Nokia launched the Lumia 900, it ran commercials in the U.S. with a spokesperson telling people that the "beta test is over"--they could buy the first "production" smartphone, the Lumia 900. Unfortunately, Nokia and Microsoft customers who bought that line now know that they were merely participating in yet another beta test.

Windows 8: Destination unknown

Earlier this week, Microsoft formally introduced Windows 8 to its developer community at its Build conference. The new operating system was well received--so much so that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had to caution people who downloaded the developer preview version that it's very early software and should in no way be used for production environments. Windows 8 is, in a way, Microsoft's answer to both iOS and OSX from Apple: It will run on PCs, notebooks and netbooks, like Windows 7, but it will also run on tablets, like iOS. It'll run on Intel processors like Windows 7, but it will also run on ARM processors like iOS. It runs all the Win32 desktop-style applications that Windows 7 does, but it also has a touch-oriented user interface and supports touch-based applications like iOS.

Windows 8's "secret sauce" is a new touch-oriented user interface called Metro. Metro is based on the Windows Mobile 7 operating system's user interface for smartphones, which is in turn based on the now-defunct Zune user interface. It does the sliding, zooming and selecting kinds of things that you'd expect from iOS and Android, but it does it on top of Windows. That represents both an opportunity and a problem.

The opportunity is that one operating system, Windows 8, could service both the legacy PC market and the new tablet market. Most observers believe that Apple will eventually unify iOS and OSX; Microsoft has done it with Windows 8. It's much easier for developers to build and support applications for one operating system instead of two.

Windows 8 supports two different kinds of applications: Win32 and Metro-style. Win32 applications are the programs and user interface elements that we've seen on Windows since Windows 3.1. They've been refined and updated over the years, but a Windows XP user shouldn't have any difficulty using a Win32-style program on Windows 8. Win32 apps are designed for a keyboard and mouse, and will work poorly, or not at all, with a touch interface. Metro-style applications, on the other hand, are all full-screen, use a radically different user interface, and are optimized for touch. You can use a mouse and a keyboard with Metro-style apps, but you probably won't want to do so.

Windows 8 systems will open into the Metro user interface, using a touchscreen. If you want to run a Win32 app, you'll switch back to the old user interface, using a keyboard and mouse. You'll then go back and forth between user interfaces as you switch from program to program. You can configure Windows 8 to always use a Win32-style GUI, but then you'll lose access to the Metro-style apps. That's the problem with running both Win32 and Metro-style applications on the same device.

Apple knew that tablets were going to be used very differently from desktop computers, so it optimized iOS for touch on smartphones and tablets. iOS doesn't try to run OSX-style keyboard-and-mouse applications; it offers similar functionality, but the user interfaces are very different. Windows 8, on the other hand, wants to be equally good at desktop and tablet applications, even though the use cases are very different.

For existing Windows users who want to continue using Win32-style apps, from what Microsoft showed this week, there's not much value in upgrading to Windows 8,  other than cutting down on boot times. Customers who are primarily interested in Metro-style tablet apps will find that app developers are starting from scratch, and it may take years for Microsoft to reach parity with the selection in Apple's iOS App Store. Customers who want to use both types of apps, and switch back and forth, are likely to get frustrated very quickly with dealing with two dramatically different user interfaces.

My suspicion, sitting a year or more away from when Windows 8 formally launches, is that Metro-style apps will be used almost exclusively on tablets, and that desktops, notebooks and netbooks will almost exclusively be used for Win32-style apps, despite Microsoft's goal of getting touch-enabled displays on every kind of computing device. This approach will allow customers to avoid switching between user interfaces, but it won't do much for Microsoft's growth prospects. Windows 8 on conventional PCs and Windows 8 on tablets will represent two different markets, and on the tablet side, Microsoft won't be able to leverage its huge PC installed base. It'll be starting from zero. Given that Apple will probably be on the iPad 4 and Google will be on Android 5 by the time that Windows 8 ships, that's not a good place for Microsoft to be.

Flash Player 10.2: A big improvement?

Like many users, my experience with Adobe's Flash Player hasn't been a happy one, and it's gotten worse as Adobe has "improved" the player over time. Video playback using the Flash Player in both Firefox and Internet Explorer has gotten so bad for me on Windows that I've switched to Google Chrome for viewing Flash video. Adobe has apparently been paying attention to the criticism, and the beta of Flash Player 10.2 November 30th that the company released on its Adobe Labs website is the first version in a long time with significantly better video performance for virtually all users, not just those with dedicated H.264 acceleration.

Flash Player 10.2 is the first public implementation of Adobe's Stage Video architecture, which makes better use of whatever video acceleration (usually in the GPU) is available in the user's computer. Adobe claims that Stage Video decreases CPU usage by up to 85%. As a practical matter, Flash videos are playing cleanly, without stuttering or dropouts, on Windows using Flash Player 10.2 in both Firefox and IE. Windows 7/IE 9 users will also benefit from graphic acceleration using any available hardware rendering capabilities. If you're using Flash Player 10.1 or earlier and you don't need to continue using it for development purposes, I strongly recommend uninstalling 10.1 and replacing it with 10.2.