MEPIS Community Forum

I can imagine that Microsoft hopes so.

But, Win 8 RT won't run applications that run on x86 versions of Windows (XP, Win 7 or Win 8 ). So, that means anything you want to use on Win 8 RT will need to be ported to ARM, or developed from scratch. Of course, you'll need to get the Win 8 RT apps via the new Microsoft Apps store, too.

As for the "Pro" version of the Tablet (running Win 8 versus Win 8 RT), which is using a new Atom CPU (Atom 2670), it's going to be underpowered for many things. It's just a dual core Atom that's newer than found in many other Win 7 tablets now (and other tablets will probably upgrade to it, too).

You can already buy similar Tablets for Win 7. So, I don't see it as being unlike existing Intel based tablets running Win or XP (and there are a number of them already on the market from Dell, Asus, Acer, etc.), and I'd expect upgrades to existing tablets to use the same Atom CPU that the new Microsoft Pro tablet will use.

Some of existing tablets have higher performance compared to others. For example, some of the existing Samsung Tablets shipping with Win 7 on them have Core i5 Mobile CPUs, that will outperform the just announced Microsoft "Pro" Tablet using an Atom CPU (and Microsoft hasn't even demo'd the Intel version of it yet, which will be larger and heavier than the AMD version running Win 8 RT, and in line with existing Win 7 Tablets for size/weight). The cheaper [existing] tablets running Win 7 are using existing Atom CPUs versus the new one. But, they'll be upgraded to the same one Microsoft plans on using, too.

So, I can't figure out why everyone is getting excited about the announcement (Microsoft releasing it's own tablets). From recent news stories, they're probably just taking that approach to try and "jump start" interest in Win 8, in the same way Google released OEM versions of phones running Android, to try and get more manufacturers on board with producing tablets with Win 8 preinstalled.

But, I think most users are going to be upset when they figure out that apps that run on the x86 versions of Win 8 won't run on Win 8 RT (the ARM version). Just because the UI is similar doesn't mean the underlying kernel is the same. Again, tablets running Windows with Intel CPUs are not new either if you want to use the x86 version of Win 8 instead. There are lots of them around now from Dell, Asus, Acer, HP, Samsung, etc.

Why is Microsoft, a software company, producing hardware? Because Microsoft can't count on anyone else to make mobile devices that will run Windows 8. Sales of desktops and notebooks are declining, along with revenues from Windows 7 and Office. The computing paradigm is shifting with all of the growth in the mobile/tablet arena, and Microsoft desperately needs to get into that market in order to sell Windows 8. Introducing Surface seems like grasping at straws, and if I owned Microsoft stock I'd be selling it.

I don't think Microsoft has any other excuse for FUBAR-ing the Windows interface in Windows 8...

Otherwise I don't fully subscribe to this kind of argument "why X company that does Y decided to do something else then Y". This can apply to Apple "why does a computer company decided to go into music", or "why Apple, a computer company gets involved in mobile telephony" we all know who that worked for Apple...

It's easy to explain why Apple got into music and telephony. Apple's main focus was personal digital devices; first computers, then music players, then smart phones, then tablets. Apple achieved dominance in the music player market, in part, by supplying the "software" (music) used by the iPod. Over and over again, Apple cleverly used synergy of providing software to support the sale of hardware. The iPhone was an extension of the iPod, and the iPad was an extension of the iPhone.

On the other hand, hardware was never Microsoft's forte. It has been predominantly a PC software company, whose products were installed on PCs manufactured by many different companies. Microsoft was able to dominate the PC software market by making sure that Windows was installed on every PC sold, using whatever means necessary to achieve that end. That business model worked well for Microsoft for many years until the appearance of mobile devices that use operating systems and software that Microsoft does not produce. There would be literally zero demand for Windows 8 for mobile devices unless Microsoft produced its own device, so that's what Microsoft did. Using hardware to support the sale of software is a different kind of synergy than Apple's, and I'm not too sure it will work.