Thoughts on Windows 8 for tablets
The fact that the demo of Windows 8 requires laptop-grade Intel CPUs to run smoothly doesn’t bode well for Microsoft shipping tablets in at least 12 months time with good battery life at an affordable price to compete with the iPad.
Sure it has the full Windows OS, but in the same way that consumers hate netbooks, they’ll hate the traditional Windows experience on a tablet even more. Microsoft can do all they like to make their own software suitable for a tablet, but unoptimised software that people already own will be problematic to use on the tablet. This means that for someone to have a good experience with a Windows 8 tablet, not only do they have to spend money on the tablet itself, they’ve also got to spend money on new tablet-optimised software.
I think people would rather stick to a laptop.
The Metro UI is brilliant, and a bold move for Microsoft. But bogging a tablet down with the full traditional Windows OS will just make it more expensive, power-hungry, problematic to use with a touch screen, and far less appealing than an iPad. I think they’d be better off narrowing their scope and ship a Metro-only version of Windows 8 for low-power tablets that can compete directly with iPad.
