FoxNews newsroom now filled with 55-inch Win8 touchscreens

Fox News debuts bizarre, giant tablets in its outrageous new newsroom | The Verge (watch the embedded video after the link)

Interesting setup. Whether people like it or not, it's definitely very different. And if I understand this correctly, this newsroom will be in the background while FoxNews anchors read the news; lots of visibility for this new setup.

Thoughts?

(Please, no comments about FoxNews' political stance or editorial bias; that's against NBR's TOS).

 

I would argue that this is one of the environments where W8 makes sense...

 

Large 55" touch screens, yeah I'll bet with a good CPU/GPU it will make for nice systems............

 

55" would be too big for my tastes; I don't like having to physically turn my head to see from one end of the screen to another. But, say, a 27" screen that rotates down to about 30-degrees from the horizontal? It reminds me of the slanted desks I had in art class in high school, and it's a pretty nice angle (that ergonomically has the added benefit of enforcing good posture, whereas it's natural to slump in front of a vertical monitor).

[edit] I'm thinking of something like the Envy Recline or the Dell XPS 27 with articulated hinge). [/edit]

I did think it was interesting to see a completely different take on what a desktop workplace could look like.

 

What's the point if you're not going to take advantage of all that screen real estate? Looks like they're running those monstrosities at <s>native</s> effective 1080p or something similar.

 

I thought the funniest part was where they call them BATS, big area touch screen. Right, big area, I bet he stumbled on that.

This looks like a paid endorsement.

 

That wouldn't jive with their motto of being "fair and balanced" now, would it?

 

Seriously dude, I had a disclaimer in the first post about these sorts of tangents given NBR's strict "no politics" policy. Don't get this thread locked. This thread is about these devices and their use, not about FoxNews' political/editorial stances.

 

Noted. I'll keep my yapper in check.

 

Thanks very much indeed for the reminder. I'll just say that there's one more reason to dislike everything Windows 8 now.

 

Actually I can't blame them not their policies etc. for using windows 8. They wanted to show off using the latest OS and tech, when they went to M$ to do so I am sure this what they were told is the latest and greatest. As stated in the video there was a huge amount of training done to get the people ready for this.

I am sure it is a customized and regimented setup so that any person can perform from any one of those stations. What you don't see there is when the video feeds are downloaded the editing of the video files or again the productivity work. What it appears is they will be using this just to grab feeds, from whatever source including their own servers.

Windows 8 as a consumption system seems to be fine. The same can be said here as these journalists etc. are using the system just as that where they then can tap into any one of the stations for the broadcast or that wall...................

 

If you watch the part of the video where they're around a table in a conference room, they have Windows 8 on their traditional laptops as well. This makes sense from a training/standardization perspective. In my workplace, half of our office machines are Windows XP and half are Windows 7, and it's a godawful setup because a staff-member who uses XP on his/her daily work machine gets confused when asked to do a task on a Win7 machine. In my opinion, you want the same OS on all machines in the same office.

And as for editing video files, once you launch [insert professional-level video editing software here], it doesn't matter whether you're running Windows 7 or Windows 8; the program itself is the same under both OSes. So I see no reason why they'd keep Windows 7 on their video editing machines when they're using Windows 8 machines in other parts of the office.

 

What a waste. With those huge monitors what's the point? They look like Oompa Loompa's sitting there.

 

The thing is that the video editing people, graphic artists etc. do not need those huge screens etc. Those are just the front end for you to see and the other workers will never get seen nor will they likely ever use those systems. Video editing along with graphic arts etc. usually require multiple tools and programs along with system maintenance audio programs etc. etc. etc. so do not be surprised by what you do not see.

I'll agree though where users have to constantly switch between systems that having multiple OS's is a severe hindrance. It is best to settle on just one and upgrade or change later. Keeps production up and lowers learning curve substantially. Then the operable point is selecting an OS that best suits the operations of the daily business.

 

I think these would be neat for video or photo editing.

It will be interesting to watch the background workers use them during a news broadcast.

 

The prospect of constantly cleaning a 55" panel from fingerprints would make me reach for the vial of cyanide pretty darn quick...but luckilly I don't work there...

 

Depends on the panel. I rarely need to clean my Android tablet. Ironically, if it has a smudge, I can usually wipe it away with my finger.

 

They're [users] all going to need shoulder rotator rework. Whatever happened to ergonomic safety? I don't think even hairdressers and barbers have that much strain.

 

Usually these artists can not rely on the inaccuracies of a capacitive screen but need digitizers with a stylus etc. So they will most likely not be on those systems................

Edit; this also is just for show. It is so the viewers can see what they all are working on. it will be difficult for them as they will not see the screens in a similar perspective to what the viewer sees. as we scan our screens it will just be our eyes and sometimes even on smallish screens at that. They will have to be moving their heads about never really getting the full picture in one eyeshot. What can look great and readable huge can look like junk in smaller formats.................

 

As a consumption based OS this is where Windows 8 shines the most. I still feel if MS had purposely marketed Windows 8 in this manner and offered two distinct products (Windows Business and Home) people might have had a more favorable opinion of the OS.

In the consumption media space this is where I enjoy Windows 8 the most.

 

Those particular screens, no. Windows 8 machines, yes. Windows 8 has seen the biggest resurgence in the stylus since, well, the Tablet PC first debuted in 2002. At the end of the Windows 7 era, if you wanted a stylus, you could use a Samsung Series 7 Slate or a Thinkpad X230t. That's it. Now there's a dozen or so models on the market, from my Duo 11 to the various Thinkpad convertibles to the Surface Pro to Atom-powered slates from Dell and HP.

So FoxNews would use the "home" version of Windows even though it's a business?

I agree that they should offer more variety in the UI so that people can customize it as they want (though third-party software does a lot in this regard), but I don't agree that touch should be relegated to the "home" license when businesses like FoxNews, and road warriors with convertible tablets, are using the touch version for business.

 

They can use it however they like. The fact remains that in its current form W8 is best suited in a non business environment. That's why many members who are system admins on NBR won't use it. And who's to say FNC isn't getting a kickback from MS?

 

The OEMs seem to sense that the winds are changing. For security and bug reasons, few enterprises will deploy ANY operating system that's less than a year old. But as Windows 8 nears its first birthday, we're seeing more and more business-class Windows 8 machines.

Fujitsu's business-class Win8.1 lineup: Fujitsu beckons businesses with new Windows 8.1 notebooks, convertibles and tablets
HP's business-class touchscreen ultrabook: HP Adds New ZBooks & First Workstation Ultrabook
Lenovo deploys the Thinkpad Yoga along with the Thinkpad Helix: ThinkPad Yoga: Business Ultrabook - 12.5" 2-In-1 Business Convertible | Lenovo (US)

If I wasn't deploying any Windows convertibles or slates, it'd make pragmatic sense to use Windows 7 on traditional desktops. But if you're also going to be using touchscreen all-in-ones or convertibles in aspects of your business, using Windows 8 for all machines makes more sense from an employee training perspective. I think we'll see more companies follow FoxNews' lead in this regard. I'm not saying the desktop employees will be using metro apps--if you watch the FoxNews video, the Start Screen pins are a bunch of desktop programs and directories--but it simply makes more economic sense to have your video editing employees using the same OS as everyone else in the company, and any photo editing software that ran in Win7 runs exactly the same in Win8.

 

I wonder if those are related as Hawaii 5-0's recent episode introduced a new touchscreen table in their base and they use extensively Windows things there, not really forgetting to show/say it when possible

 

Now I wonder if Arrow gonna have one of those too. They also have an obvious MS product placement.
Not that it is bad, but I'm not a big fan of such obvious PP.

 

But that product placement works: it looks so cool that would not have any difficulties accepting one as my livingroom coffee table...
Now that would be cool to play CIV5 with

(donations welcome)

 

Not that sir is a brilliant idea!

 

I don't know how much those 55" rigs costs, but I bet it's a lot, and a Sony Vaio Tap 21 and a Lenovo Horizon 27 could both be set horizontally on an already-existing coffee table for a similar effect with a MUCH lower price tag...

IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC | Multi-user Fun | Lenovo | Lenovo (US)

Sony Vaio Tap 21 - Desktops - CNET Reviews

 

Something like newsroom big-screens with touch sounds like a great environment for Windows 8. Another great use I can think of would be weather reporting, replacing green screens with something like this.

While not a fan of their reporting (though obviously I won't rant, due to the TOS), I don't see anything wrong with Fox using this setup, paid sponsorship or not. Welcome to business. Let's see what the other major news networks will do; stick with their current setups or move over to giant W8 touchscreens.

 

If I EVER get my hands on a large touch screen that has a glass screen, my next acquisition will be a fitting coffee table and an electric saw...