Deal of the day: Windows Tablet w/Office 365 $79

[JustRalph]

I'm going to see.........or not......

[TonyMLake]

I gotta side with Clocker. I'm DONE with subscription based software, so, for me, Office 365 is OUT OUT OUT.

There's always OpenOffice, it has everything MS-Office has (for the general purpose user). But then... if you can break away from Microsoft like that, you're not limited to a Windows tablet...so, you may want to weigh your options.

NOW, THAT SAID, I'm a programmer and many of my friends are programmers, and although I do NOT have a Windows tablet (I'm running an Android), my friends who have Windows tablets LOVE them. They have reported they were pleasantly surprised. Consumer Reports is your friend here.

So, there's a balance to be found just about everywhere.

[JustRalph]

Just for the record, I own several tablets. Apple, Android etc

I just thought this a great deal. I should get them tomorrow.

If I don't like the first one I open, I can gift the other two.

We offer prizes to employees etc. for this price, no sweat

[Dick Schmidt]

Got the tablet in just a couple of days and have been enjoying it. Still trying to get programs to behave themselves, many of them want mouse clicks or use keys the tablet doesn't have (Windows key for instance.) On the other hand, I do have my trading program up and running, though I'm having trouble hooking up with my desktop using the USB port. I have a Micro SD card coming from Amazon so I can get some custom indicators and templates into my trading platform. Have high hopes that this will become a handy little gizmo that will travel much better than a laptop. We'll have to see. Wonder if I can upgrade this to Windows 10 later this year???

Dick

Alas, I know if I ever became truly humble, I would be proud of it.
- Benjamin Franklin

[PaceAdvantage]

I've used this on my 8" tablet...it does the job

http://www.lovesummertrue.com/touchmousepointer/en-us/

[raybo]

Originally Posted by TonyMLake

I gotta side with Clocker. I'm DONE with subscription based software, so, for me, Office 365 is OUT OUT OUT.

There's always OpenOffice, it has everything MS-Office has (for the general purpose user). But then... if you can break away from Microsoft like that, you're not limited to a Windows tablet...so, you may want to weigh your options.

NOW, THAT SAID, I'm a programmer and many of my friends are programmers, and although I do NOT have a Windows tablet (I'm running an Android), my friends who have Windows tablets LOVE them. They have reported they were pleasantly surprised. Consumer Reports is your friend here.

So, there's a balance to be found just about everywhere.

You are free to state your opinions, of course, but for some here, who have invested 15 or 20 years automating their horse racing analysis in MS Excel, the decision to be made between spreadsheet apps is a no brainer, and OO is not even close to being an alternative. So, for them, Windows based mobiles is the only choice.

[JustRalph]

Started playing with it this afternoon

Screen is surprisingly nice

So far the responsiveness is very impressive

Right about 20 gigs available after adding Chrome

More to come......

[Dick Schmidt]

PA, thank you, this is perfect. You solved about 90% of my problems setting up my trading software. Now I'm just left with trying to get my tablet and desktop to talk to each other using the USB connection. Still looking for a solution but I'm sure Google has one somewhere.

Dick

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by Dick Schmidt

PA, thank you, this is perfect. You solved about 90% of my problems setting up my trading software. Now I'm just left with trying to get my tablet and desktop to talk to each other using the USB connection. Still looking for a solution but I'm sure Google has one somewhere.

Dick

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Dick, mine wouldn't do anything via usb until I hit the "network" icon. This is a Lenovo laptop with Win8.1

It asked for credentials. I put in the same logon as the HP Stream and it allowed me to browse the Stream from the Lenovo. Total access it appears

Fyi, there is some lag time

[TonyMLake]

Originally Posted by raybo

You are free to state your opinions, of course, but for some here, who have invested 15 or 20 years automating their horse racing analysis in MS Excel, the decision to be made between spreadsheet apps is a no brainer, and OO is not even close to being an alternative. So, for them, Windows based mobiles is the only choice.

... you're right. And you didn't even mention MS-ACCESS... how much of a labyrinth it would be to try to rewrite some of those ODBC calls to change an Access database over to Open Office or some other alternative.

And, as I said, my friends who have the Windows tablets love them. I personally would love to have one.

I do NOT like the subscription based Office software anymore, so I use older versions at work, and never write anything new in them.

So, I have no particular axe to grind. I love Windows, Apple, and Android (linux + JAVA) OSes.

[Dick Schmidt]

Originally Posted by JustRalph

Dick, mine wouldn't do anything via usb until I hit the "network" icon. This is a Lenovo laptop with Win8.1

It asked for credentials. I put in the same logon as the HP Stream and it allowed me to browse the Stream from the Lenovo. Total access it appears

Fyi, there is some lag time

Thanks for the help, but I don't seem to have a "Network Icon" anywhere on my Win 7 desktop nor on my Win 8.1 laptop. I can find the network folder on the control pannel, but can't get either computer to recognize the tablet. Tried to go from the tablet to the other computers, but no joy. I have a micro SD card coming from Amazon, so I guess I'll move files that way when it gets here.

Thanks for trying,

Dick

I used to be indecisive. Now I'm not so sure.

[DeltaLover]

Originally Posted by raybo

You are free to state your opinions, of course, but for some here, who have invested 15 or 20 years automating their horse racing analysis in MS Excel, the decision to be made between spreadsheet apps is a no brainer, and OO is not even close to being an alternative. So, for them, Windows based mobiles is the only choice.

I think you should rethink about your application if it really appears to be so tightly coupled to Excel.

The fact that you might have invested 20 years following a monolithic design, does not mean that you have to continue doing the same for ever, instead you need to work towards the next generation of your software adopting more up to date technologies and techniques, something that will bring it up to speed with the current landscape.

One of the most fundamental concepts you need to consider when developing a solution, is to deliver it in multiple tiers. A clear separation of the model – view – controller layers is something that will allow your solution to evolve through time, adopting newer technologies as they gradually substitute older approaches. Following this approach, your solution should be able to easily switch related technologies , which should be seen as implementation details rather than central points. For example, switching from excel or access to mongo or mysql needs to be a very simple choice, ideally configurable through a simple configuration file...

[Robert Goren]

How big does it has to be to be usable like a desktop? and how small does it have to be for a man (Women have purses which allow for bigger tablets) to carry around? Is there an intersecting point?

[raybo]

Originally Posted by DeltaLover

I think you should rethink about your application if it really appears to be so tightly coupled to Excel.

The fact that you might have invested 20 years following a monolithic design, does not mean that you have to continue doing the same for ever, instead you need to work towards the next generation of your software adopting more up to date technologies and techniques, something that will bring it up to speed with the current landscape.

One of the most fundamental concepts you need to consider when developing a solution, is to deliver it in multiple tiers. A clear separation of the model – view – controller layers is something that will allow your solution to evolve through time, adopting newer technologies as they gradually substitute older approaches. Following this approach, your solution should be able to easily switch related technologies , which should be seen as implementation details rather than central points. For example, switching from excel or access to mongo or mysql needs to be a very simple choice, ideally configurable through a simple configuration file...

All this is not applicable to me. My program(s) is/are fully automated, and complete. I have no use for OO at all (or any other app for that matter). Excel is an excellent analysis platform, one of the best that exist. All I do with it is racing related, and as such, serves my needs quite well, and will continue to serve those needs as long as there is a computer that will run Excel.

I have no interest in being able to switch from one platform to another. If that need ever becomes required, I will probably just stop playing the races.

[raybo]

Originally Posted by Robert Goren

How big does it has to be to be usable like a desktop? and how small does it have to be for a man (Women have purses which allow for bigger tablets) to carry around? Is there an intersecting point?

That would depend on your own uses and needs. For me, using Excel for racing, 10" minimum screen size, with the ability to use a cursor/mouse/track pad, connect to traditional (maybe multiple) monitors if preferred or needed, run programs from the web or a thumbdrive (Excel and JCapper to access the HDW site for downloading and converting files), is what I require.

Personally, I don't need, nor do I even care for touchscreens at all, but that's what tablets are all about, it appears.

Your needs may differ, so only you can answer that question.