>I understand that, Craig. The single paradigm across all devices is exactly what I question.
>
>IMO Microsoft has nearly no chance of overtaking the iPad, or even competing against it credibly. Apple has opened a huge gap in the tablet market.

Microsoft may yet reclassify this as a tablet OS as it should be. Somewhere Microsoft has people smart enough to know that shooting themselves in the foot with another DOA desktop OS (like Vista or ME except worse in this case) is a bad thing. Windows 8 might be nice for some POS apps and the like, but other than that, it's a pad/phone OS.

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>>Touch is a first class citizen and enabled throughout. The Metro UI is the default UI and optimized for touch. WinRT is specifically designed to allow Windows to be run on x86, x64, and ARM processors. If you look at Apple products, it's an entirely different paradigm for mobile devices compared to desktop. Microsoft will have a single paradigm across all devices. IMO, that's smart.
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>>MSFT wants to battle the iPad head on. But there are some things they need to do to succeed.
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>>- Long battery life. 8+ hours
>>- Light weight, thin and powerful tablets
>>- Much lower cost compared to iPad
>>- App store full of great apps that people want, not 500 fart apps
>>- Lots of marketing that is compelling. Throw away everything they've done in the past and start over. The marketing needs to be sustained, not just the first couple of weeks
>>- We're probably a year away from release. MSFT needs to try to figure out what an iPad 4 will look like and target that as their competition.
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>>I read recently in a column that people don't buy tablets. They buy iPads. Microsoft needs to convince people that they need a tablet.
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>>IMO, Windows can become the number 2 tablet, but if they don't do EVERYTHING differntly, it will be just another competitor, mired among the Android tablets that aren't doing anything.
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>>>Not really the issue IMO. They aren't introducing it into the tablet space, they are seating it at the main table. I haven't quite figured out the wisdom of that strategy yet.