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I don't see how MS can make something better and cheaper while this far behind. Especially without an established 'ecosystem' and cloud services.

If Microsoft wants to get my attention this late in the game, I'll need to see built in USB ports and an SD card slot. Just saying.

Decide whether they want to sell tablets or not, and make them inexpensive enough to compete cheaply. Sell them for hardware costs, plus a small amount. The software is written, so they do not have to charge as much for that, as if they were selling it to someone else to use.

Not sure how they can make it cheaper. But they already made it better (typing from Samsung series 7 tablet running windows 8)

edelbrp, on 17 June 2012 - 11:21 AM, said:

You know, that's what people said about Windows vs. Mac OS originally too..and Apple was FURTHER ahead back then. It took only a few short years to utterly destroy Apple in market share, to the point where he we are today, decades later, and Apple has only 5% global market share of laptops/desktops. Never, ever underestimate Microsoft, even with an idiot like Ballmer running it.

If the interface is as good as Metro currently is, MS could indeed do well, as it's much quicker and easier to use than Android or iOS, and makes both look about 5 years behind the times.
People want something easy to use.

edelbrp, on 17 June 2012 - 11:21 AM, said:

That is exactly what people said about the Xbox. Many thought that the gaming console market was a two horse race between Sony and Nintendo...

And Microsoft does have various cloud services in place...

I do not know how many people will even buy Windows ROT, but there are a few fans of Microsoft that will.

MkieConners, on 17 June 2012 - 11:56 AM, said:

Agreed, I shouldn't be too quick to discount MS. It would be interesting to see what they come out with.

My caution is that MS tablets have already been around for over 10 years now, and they simply haven't sold except for niche markets. A consumer variety would indeed be something new, though. It is going to be difficult to pull something out of thin air that has cloud services (like iCould), a good app market, a mature OS, etc. and have it be cheap. But, who knows?

edelbrp, on 17 June 2012 - 12:15 PM, said:

"Especially without an established 'ecosystem' and cloud services."

I just hope you were joking. No ecosystem??? Win8 can run "all" the software Win7 can run, which is millions and millions of applications, what else do you need?? Cloud Services?? MS had cloud services before Apple and pretty everyone except Amazon. Skydrive, LiveMesh, XBOX Live,..... I think you don't anything what you're talking about.

JuanitoTantan, on 17 June 2012 - 12:23 PM, said:

ANDREWdioc, on 17 June 2012 - 12:43 PM, said:

Sorry to disappoint you but Windows RT will only run Metro Apps.

Speculating: The tablet market for Enterprises remains unclaimed. If anyone thinks Apple has that space they do not understand the security and other issues in an Enterprise that ERP's deal with that Apple does not. A MS tablet that can integrate with Office, ERP's would be huge.

edelbrp, on 17 June 2012 - 11:21 AM, said:

Ever use Skydrive?

I thought when our university switched to .live, "oh crap," then discovered the 18gb Skydrive cloud service...and it's been pretty useful since.

As long as Microsoft think that all they have to do is put some form of Windows on a tablet, then Apple and Google will win.

And back when Ms won the OS battle, the sales went to mostly new users - thats not the case today.

Now its about different things.

And the security for enterprise? All phones and tablets on all os's can be made totally secure with ease - this is NOT your Grandpa's world.

5000 iPads in a company, all controlled by the IT guys to do certain distinct tasks. Thats the future and Apple has it NOW.

JuanitoTantan, on 17 June 2012 - 12:23 PM, said:

Oh, if you want a Windows tablet that runs traditional Windows apps, you can go out today and buy one. They've been around for like 10+ years. I think we're talking about something more consumer oriented.

What I'm talking about as far as 'ecosystem' (which is a bit of a vague term) and 'cloud' services is really three different things: 1) Good interoperability between devices. Things like Airplay. 2) App store. I'm not talking about buying traditional Windows apps, but tablet specific apps. Also might mention media (music/movies/etc) 3) The 'cloud' and what I'm referring to specifically is iCloud. For example, you can take a picture with an iPhone or make an Address Book update on a Mac and they magically appear in the iPad within just a few seconds. Also, it is particularly useful (especially in keeping costs down on the tablet) to stream all but the most critical content. There'd be no way to store my entire music and video library on my iPhone or iPad, for example, but that's where iCloud comes in.

Disclaimer, I do have an iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro, but they were all provided by work. I would also like to mention that I've spent most of my weekend installing and fiddling with Win7, WinXP64 and OpenBSD mostly for giggles, so don't call me an isheep just yet. ;')

dithers, on 17 June 2012 - 01:18 PM, said:

LOL. I believe Microsoft has an even bigger market share in the business world than they do in the consumer market. Can you edit an iPad's software to lock it down at the kernel level to prevent it from doing certain tasks? No! "The IT guys" prefer Windows...it's familiar, it's usable, and it wouldn't take much to implement.

Could this be the Courier that looked so sweet on Gizmodo. And if it runs Office apps, you'll get my vote.

Microsoft is under the impression the desktop is dying, and everything is moving to console and mobile... they are wrong as usual. Its unison of all 3, and they will show up a day late and dollar short as usual. They will kill their own product with the OS license fee alone pushing their gear into the 300+ dollar range. The average person doesn't want to spend more than 200, or 150 for the matter.

Tablets they had done in the past and they sucked. Tablets today are a luxury item anyway.

When tablets are 99 bucks and double the hardware of today they might be worth the effort.

Why would the average person spend, 200+ on smartphone, 250+ on a tablet, 500+ on laptop, 250+ on console, and 500-1000 on a Desktop?

Its just overblown marketing crap.