How do you reinvent the PC for the tablet era? Asks Time.com. Microsoft, not surprisingly, has been spending a lot of time mulling over that question in recent years. Its touch-centric new operating system, Windows 8, is largely devoted to answering it. And for the first time ever, the company decided to show us exactly what it thinks a modern PC/tablet hybrid should be by designing and selling its own Windows computer, Surface. Except it didn’t come up with one Surface — it built two of them. The first version, Surface Windows RT, shipped in October, simultaneously with Windows 8. Technically speaking, however, it isn’t a Windows 8 machine: It uses a power-efficient ARM processor and a special version of Windows called Windows RT which only runs new programs designed for the touch-friendly “modern” interface, not all the apps written for conventional PCs. Starting at $499, it’s the closest thing Microsoft has to a direct iPad competitor…
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Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
How the tablet came to disrupt the PC industry
Personally, I believe change is good. If I look at the history of the computing industry, I can point to countless changes and paradigm shifts that led us to where we are today, says Ben Bajarin for Time.com. However, most of the change we can point to have been more evolutionary than revolutionary. Most of the change we’ve seen hasn’t been disruptive—until now. The PC industry is observing one of the most significant times of change it has ever seen. If I am being entirely honest with myself, I do not believe every company will survive this disruption, or at least continue in their current form. For years, the PC industry, which we would classify to include desktop and notebook sales at a worldwide level, was growing…
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