Microsoft's Sharks Cove Mini PC Now Available to Pre-Order



+ Add a Comment


microsoft just bought nokia and decided to only manufacture windows phones so now they gotta lay off 12000 nokia employees

this looks like a similar bid

strawberry pi has analog and digital inputs and outputs so you can turn things on and off and do timing and control and stand alone control

the only way to access the parallel port in windows xp vista 7 or 8 is with gwbasic

the parallel port was the only way to use a windows machine for any kind of control or perhaps the numlock scrllock capslock leds

this board has only usb ports cant be used with a couple line lcd display

i have a smart card reader (usb) that works great with windows 98
if i put in in the xp machine it cant find the driver if i put the driver from 98 in there its says it must be upgraded

windows 7 needs a little program called "take ownership" so you can access or install programs or even see documents in documents and settings

my new asus motherboard came with driver cd with software from an unknown windows vendor (asus) that must be installed before windows can see the usb ports (except the usb2 for kbd and mouse)

the program manager since windows 95 or so comes with the option checked and recommended {hide file extensions of known types)
so you can rename absoluteformat.exe to HannaMontanaNaked.jpg.exe
and attach it to an email and just see HannaMontanaNaked.jpg

any single board computer ive ever seen works just fine with a terminal, usually has some sort of built in development system,
and only need the terminal until you get your program up and running

windows had qbasic and debug now they are missing or crippled

xbox360 had windows CE possibly the only windows ever that resembled and operating system

xboxone wont work without an internet connection its possible this board wont either

if this is windows 8 will it only work with a touch screen?

there is a dipswitch on the board perhaps there is some hope...



Another big seller for Microsoft!



I think everyone missed the boat here.

The Raspberry Pi is an micro-computer designed for educational purposes (it just happens to allow for tinkering). Yes it's based off the BBC Micro... which was also designed for educational purposes so people wouldn't be afraid of computers (and again, it just happened to allow for tinkering).

This board is meant as a developmental platform for Windows 8.1 and Android on the x86 platform. Much like how Google Glass at the current stage is meant to be a developmental platform (that just happens to be ready enough to be used almost as intended). Judging by the marketing literature, this is more for system software developers in companies and... well if they really want, home users. Besides that, there isn't any way to really develop software on x86 SoC based platforms, especially system level software.

Few people, if any, will buy either of those two with the intention of just using it like a regular PC.

Besides, real embedded developers go down to the metal and code directly for the chip, not the OS. ;)


John Pombrio

Unfortunately, all the hype about the Pi was that it was an inexpensive computer. "You can build a media server!" and "look at this computer for just $35!" were typical headlines. I too thought that the Pi was best used for learning and had little practical purpose. I was always hooted down by Pi lovers saying that I was sadly mistaken. I bet there are tons of Pis just sitting in drawers right now.



To extend the metaphor... looks like microsoft missed the boat on this one.

The whole point of micro-PCs is to have a very small, very inexpensive solution that is still somewhat flexible. When almost all your competition is coming in under a Cnote and your target price point is over three hundred? Hell, even right now you can get a full boat laptop for this price or less. that's all this, plus monitor and speakers and adittional ports.

chum in the water.



Everyone wants a piece of the pi; even Microsoft themselves. Too bad they all miss the point as to why people want these in the first place.

Also, driver development? Seriously?