Just ordered the EXOPC Slate

[Graham]

Originally Posted by harryE123

so instead of getting a proper app (most of them dead cheap or free) such as zinio for mags or the kindle reader amongst the hundreds available, and getting your content there, just remove the drm in the glorious windows 7 with the ...

Both the Zinio and Kindle applications are also available for Windows, Harry.

EDIT: I might have misunderstood what you were saying here.

BTW, I didn't read CuGuy's comments as an intention to commit piracy, more that if he uses something like Calibre on his ExoPC he might want to remove the DRM from his own, purchased books to help him organise them and maintain the metadata, then to read them with his reader of choice.

Spyke

[Graham]

I must admit, although I'm waiting to see what the Android 3 tablets have to offer at the turn of the year, one of the really great advantages of something like the ExoPC would be being able to carry and play the piles of games I've collected over the years. It should be able to cope with most releases up to perhaps about four years ago, including some real classics, particularly strategy games.

Going further back it would be ideal for the great LucasArts point and click adventures, like "Day of the Tentacle" and "Sam and Max" running under SCUMM. I've got a number of these that I never finished and there's no point buying them again when/if they get released for the new platforms.

Spyke

[Graham]

I've just realised that another good reason to look at a Windows 7 slate for me would be that I could run my music score-writing software on it. That might even be easier with a touch device than when using the mouse! And I could sit the tablet on the piano, with a midi cable running from one of the USB ports.

And I could run Cubase on it, and DI my guitar straight in, again with the tablet on a stand, and without having to buy any new hardware or software.

Hmm. I'm beginning to convince myself!

Spyke

[EowynCarter]

just read above what cyguy it's saying, hey you can steal content and break drm right on your device...great, so the authors can live on peanuts...

If you find yourself in need to remove DRM, it mean that you have paid for the book. Illegal copies don't have drm. The publishers can say tanks to the peaple making de-drm scripts. I wouldn't buy drm infected books otherwise. I don't want to lose my books, or be prevented to read because my device is not activated.

My sister, not so long ago, though her illiad dead. Then what. Admitting she could find a new reader that read, it wouldn't have the same pid.
So two choice :de-drm, and voila. ; Or re-download every book one by one after adding the new pid to the list. Ouch !
And the current situation would mean converting her books to ePub. Mobi being kind of dead. How do you do that with DRM ?

While getting rid of drm to put the file on the internet is bad, i have no problem whatsoever with getting rid of it, so I can read the books I paid for. And keep it forever, no mater what happen to my reader.

So tell me, in what making sure you can keep the things you bought stealing ?

[CyGuy]

Originally Posted by harryE123

(case in point just read above what cyguy it's saying, hey you can steal content and break drm right on your device...great, so the authors can live on peanuts...

Put words in my mouth again and I will do my best to get you banned.
Why don't you just get out of this thread already, the points you keep trying to make get shot down over and over yet you still try. You are like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum because you don't get your way.

[Graham]

Oh dear, the ExoPC's getting its hooks into me. I've just realised that as the game/networking site I spend most of my time in at present runs on Silverlight 4, I'd be able to use a Windows 7 tablet to access that while I'm travelling (which is a lot). At the moment that wouldn't be possible with an Android tablet.

Graham

[weateallthepies]

Originally Posted by harryE123

What's all it's glory flash? How about tapping twice to get a proper page width view of the sentence? How about all the glorious flash that wont function because it can't understand touch?

Sure, flash, java, greasemonkey scripts, games engines, download managers, media players, thousands of browser addons, a huge choice of browsers and other web clients. Yes in all it's glory, pretty much how I like it.

I've not actually come across any flash problems. I imagine there are some games not designed for touch but that's not really a great criticism of the technology. The web hasn't so far been designed from the ground up for touch technology so of course some things won't work, just because Apple block the things which might not work doesn't mean they are not worthwhile or useful.

Most of the new browser betas are including multi touch functionaility but the web is still going to be full of stuff not designed for a touch interface, that's not a problem of the software or OS just a fact. It will no doubt change as more and more sites have mobile/touch friendly content.

Originally Posted by harryE123

Guys let's not stoop this low, the app store has been the biggest success for users and developers alike, everyone is copying it and jumping on the bandwagon, any research you read will tell you that app store buyers pay multiple % over what the average pc user is willing to pay, or has ever paid for applications on their computers...that's just the way it is, you may not like it but we can't change facts for fiction. Even if you haven't read the studies about how much more willing app store buyers are to buy apps I am sure you have a lot of friends that you know for a fact have downloaded tons of cracked pc apps from torrents and the like, but have paid instead for apps on ios as well as books, music, videos, spoken word etc. etc.... (case in point just read above what cyguy it's saying, hey you can steal content and break drm right on your device...great, so the authors can live on peanuts...

I don't think anyone is arguing that the app store isn't a successful idea and one that makes the content creators and Apple wealthy. I just disagree that it's somehow better than me just being able to install software. Breaking DRM != stealing content, I strip the DRM of most of my purchases because I like to consume it on a number of devices some of which don't support the DRM. I pay for lots of software and content on my PCs, not sure I get your logical leaps here, it's quite easy to jailbreak an ipad and steal software if you want too.

Originally Posted by harryE123

so instead of getting a proper app (most of them dead cheap or free) such as zinio for mags or the kindle reader amongst the hundreds available, and getting your content there, just remove the drm in the glorious windows 7 with the high-ish resolution non ips screen and lowish battery life, and above all keep those $$ coming to Balmer and co. and fudge everyone else including developers, content providers, authors and musicians. Brilliant, that's the way forward.

Zinio was a windows app before it made it onto the iPad, I was buying and reading mags on it years ago. There is a 'proper' Kindle for windows app, again I buy ebooks from Amazon regularly (I just choose to strip the DRM for portability). I really don't get the insinuation that I'm somehow stealing or doing people out of money by not using Apple's app store.

I get about 7 hours out of my battery, I like my screen. I like iPads too, was using one just yesterday. Just pointing out that Win 7 tablets are quite useable and even have some advantages.

[vaughnmr]

Originally Posted by CyGuy

Put words in my mouth again and I will do my best to get you banned.
Why don't you just get out of this thread already, the points you keep trying to make get shot down over and over yet you still try. You are like a little kid throwing a temper tantrum because you don't get your way.

Hopefully the mods will get rid of this troll (HarryE123). I'm getting tired of his fanboy rants.

[Graham]

And I guess I could just use one of my spare licences for Microsoft Office on the slate, and spare myself both the cost of new apps or Documents to Go, and the hassle of things not quite converting properly. And they'd all work seamlessly with the Dropbox folders.

I'm definitely starting to convince myself here. If I factor in the cost-saving in software it's starting to look pretty attractive! (I don't have a personal laptop, just a locked-down work one, and a lot of my software is licensed to run on both a desktop and a laptop and I've only got it installed on the desktop).

Graham

[montsnmags]

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[volwrath]

Originally Posted by harryE123

What's all it's glory flash? How about tapping twice to get a proper page width view of the sentence? How about all the glorious flash that wont function because it can't understand touch?

Guys let's not stoop this low, the app store has been the biggest success for users and developers alike, everyone is copying it and jumping on the bandwagon, any research you read will tell you that app store buyers pay multiple % over what the average pc user is willing to pay, or has ever paid for applications on their computers...that's just the way it is, you may not like it but we can't change facts for fiction. Even if you haven't read the studies about how much more willing app store buyers are to buy apps I am sure you have a lot of friends that you know for a fact have downloaded tons of cracked pc apps from torrents and the like, but have paid instead for apps on ios as well as books, music, videos, spoken word etc. etc.... (case in point just read above what cyguy it's saying, hey you can steal content and break drm right on your device...great, so the authors can live on peanuts...

so instead of getting a proper app (most of them dead cheap or free) such as zinio for mags or the kindle reader amongst the hundreds available, and getting your content there, just remove the drm in the glorious windows 7 with the high-ish resolution non ips screen and lowish battery life, and above all keep those $$ coming to Balmer and co. and fudge everyone else including developers, content providers, authors and musicians. Brilliant, that's the way forward.

Enjoy your tablets, but let's be real.

Lets be honest. The resolution of the ipad is marginal. The app store has been successful, but good luck finding the app you want due to all the copycat apps. Flash (video and all) runs awesomely on my Android Froyo phone. The competition is forcing apple to relax restrictions.

There are tons of apps in the appstore. 98% or said apps are crap. The majority of authors do not make alot of money, but a relative few make alot. I used to think the app store was the worst thing around but then I met the android market hehe.

Windows makes alot of sense for a tablet. For instance, slingbox costs $30 on the ipad, but is free on the PC. Also its not a true ipad app (as many apps are not) and so it looks like crap. Windows has a lot of freeware which would add up on the ipad. Windows doesnt need a PC to register itself. Windows multitasks (as do certain ipads). You talk about piracy on the PC, but iPad/iphones are rampant with piracy. installous anyone? Also atomic is better than icab

I hate the draconian measures that Jobs takes, and how he markets stupid crap such as the retina display. In fact one could say the retina display was stolen from WinMo and Android, because they had beautiful hi-res screens before Apple did.

Disclaimer: I have an ipad. Its great for what it does.

[wodin]

I've had an Asus eeePC T91MT with Win7 Home Premium for a several months now, and I love it, warts and all. But there are still times that I have to turn the screen around to use the keyboard and mouse pad. It's not that the touch extensions/overlay of the OS are the problem, they're not.

It's when I open an application, and it's not as well integrated with the touch screen as I'd like. Like when the buttons are smaller than my fingers, and I end up closing the app instead of minimizing it. Or when the virtual keyboard overlays the application, and I can't see what I'm typing.

I love Win7, and I love the touch screen, but they both still need work in order to play well together.

The phone OS's like iPhone, WebOS and Android were built from the ground up to be finger friendly, and even Windows Mobile (pre Vs.7) and Blackberry with stylus or trackball are built for the small screen. But Win7 is a desktop OS that they're trying, with more or less success to migrate to a tablet.

[timezone]

There seems to be alot of enthusiasm for tablets/Slates whatever your poison be it ipad, Windows or Andriod. These devices offer so much flexibility but at a higher cost and even the lightest is much heavier than an eReader. I suppose at the prices of eReaders today and if they reach $50 to $75 they should be around for a long time. Certainly the eInk screen is better for reading.

Being able to read ebooks and color magazines, multimedia, etc seems to offer a compelling story for the Slate. Just the fact that I can use Word documents easily is a plus. Right now I always have to convert Word docs to PDF. That gets old after awhile. Being able to read PDF docs is great. I just don't want that to be my only choice. Now of course ePub and Mobipocket can live in harmony. I will also be able to check out the new Blio reader when it is introduced. I don't have to buy an eReader based on the DRM and get locked into only one choice.

With all that in mind and forgetting the Slate wars based on OS does the Slate push the eReader aside?

[volwrath]

I don't think so. I bought my k3 after my iPad.

[Dulin's Books]

ExoPC used by Intel to demo WiDi this morning.

WiDi is wireless display-

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/13/e...nds-on-with-n/

earlier article about the demo

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/13/i...t-at-idf-2010/