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Bill Belichick is sticking to his old fashioned ways on one technological front. After the image of the New England Patriots coach slamming a Microsoft Surface tablet on the sidelines in a Week 4 game against the Buffalo Bills went viral, Belichick explained Tuesday why he is fed up with the product. "As you probably noticed, I'm done with the tablets," Belichick said. "They're just too undependable for me. I'm going to stick with pictures, which several of our other coaches do, as well, because there just isn't enough consistency in the performance of the tablets. I just can't take it anymore."
The normally reserved Belichick, who previously has expressed his frustration with tablets, explained his stance for more than five minutes, harping on the unreliable nature of technology. [https://twitter.com/ZackCoxNESN/status/788411998006603776/photo/1]
Microsoft has responded:
"We respect Coach Belichick's decision, but stand behind the reliability of Surface," the statement read. "We continue to receive positive feedback on having Surface devices on the sidelines from coaches, players and team personnel across the league. In the instances where sideline issues are reported in NFL games, we work closely with the NFL to quickly address and resolve."
Also at ESPN, NYT, TechCrunch, and The Seattle Times.
Previously:
Microsoft has Lost $1.73B on the Surface Since its Debut in 2012 (August 8, 2014)
MS Pays NFL $400M To Use Surface, Announcers Call Them iPads
Surface Pros Lose Wireless Connectivity in NFL Championship Game
(Score: 2) by GungnirSniper on Wednesday October 19 2016, @12:19AM
What was our Coach's problem with?
Tips for better submissions to help our site grow. [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday October 19 2016, @12:27AM
Possibly all three.
The twitter image says that there are about 15 moving pieces that all have to work. With that complexity something goes wrong approximately every week.
With pen and paper, it is easy to find a new one if the original get rained on or something.
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday October 19 2016, @12:50AM
I'm guessing it's just the wifi.
There's nothing to stop some random paid hacker from carrying in a wifi jammer or hacking the physical portion of the stadium network.
The tablets themselves are quite good but the screen interface is something you don't want to be dealing with in the middle of s game. A random touch and it takes you somewhere else, or tilt it wrong and it rotates the image. If your hands are wet you have no chance. Meat hooks for hands and no training time? Belacheat wouldn't have a chance.
Most coaches have guys who handle the tablets for them.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by captain normal on Wednesday October 19 2016, @01:42AM
So maybe it's just the UI. Same problem I have with my LG Android phone. Touch the wrong spot on the screen or brush the wrong button and Bam! you're off in some totally unrelated site or screen. Maybe it's not just MS, but the whole touch screen obsession the computer builders are hung up on. Still MS software has become more and more unreliable and unusable. Right now I have been waiting over 4 hours for one 4 MB update to download on a 3.5 Mbps connection (it's supposed to be a 5 Mbps cable connection...but that's another big corp sob story. If only I can figure a way to stream without Comcast..).
AS for MS...by the end of the year all of my computers will be open source.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 4, Interesting) by frojack on Wednesday October 19 2016, @02:29AM
I pretty much agree with your assessment of touch UI. Gimmicky and imprecise. Barely sufficient for phones.
My day job bought me a Microsoft Surface tablet. Nice machine, and quite fast. I sometimes go days without even thinking about touching the screen. Mouse and keyboard and stylus, but the touch screen just isn't convenient.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 19 2016, @04:56AM
This may be good news--or not.
There is device driver support for the Surface 3 touchscreen in Linux kernel 4.8. [linux-magazine.com]
Note: I believe that the Surface 3 Pro is a different animal and is -not- supported.
I may have extrapolated too far on this point, however.
I'm feel certain that a MICROS~1 fan will set the record straight.
So, of the triad of culprits mentioned, it appears that WRT 1 of those, there is a substitute to try.
.
Actually, glancing at the previous stories mentioned in TFS, I'm inclined to go with connectivity as the point of failure.
Snotnose has mentioned a stadium-to-stadium variability.
I think he nailed it.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Wednesday October 19 2016, @03:43PM
I thought my Kyocera phone was a piece of crap until I bought a Samsung tablet. It isn't the hardware, it's the software. The phone often reboots itself when I'm listening to Winamp (they've removed it from Google Play, they say it's temporary, had to use an APK to get it on the tablets). I seldom use the small Samsung, but the bit tablet has locked up twice. Since changing the battery on one is such a PItA I had to let thr battery run down to get it working again.
Android is the worst Linux I've ever used. I'm sure MS is worse, but I wonder about Apple.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 19 2016, @05:13PM
I have the same problem with the touch pad on my newer work Lenovo laptop. Compared to my MacBook pro's touch pad or my previous work Lenovo, the new Lenovo's is unreliable. I've yet to figure out if it's a Windows 8 issue, hardware issue, or both.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 19 2016, @12:28AM
He's a good ol' american, doesn't take kindly to folks who lie cheat and steal their way to success. That stuff is up to the evil ol' nazimericans.
I am Prometheus.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Thexalon on Wednesday October 19 2016, @02:46AM
Maybe he's unable to see the plays the other team's coach is calling? Or maybe the app for determining how inflated a football is doesn't work quite properly?
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.