Windows Slates
Microsoft says that Windows 7 Slates are coming:
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the 14,000 partners during his July 12 keynote at the Worldwide Partner Conference to expect new Windows 7 slates before the end of this year.
But, here's the question: will those slates just be Windows in a different form factor, or - as Apple has done with the iPhone and iPad - will they be running a variant of the OS that's specifically tunes to the form factor? Will it be "Office on a Slate", or will there be an app store?
The funny thing is, they have the infrastructure for a store, with the Zune and the Xbox - but will they put it all together, or continue to have a set of very disjoint products?
Comments
Re: Windows Slates
[W^L+] July 12, 2010 22:51:24.978
I know you don't believe in anti-trust law, but Microsoft's reality is that they are being scrutinized by both DOJ and the EU. While political contributions may buy off DOJ, the Europeans would love to turn the screws to a US-based company.
Apple is at the government agencies saber-rattling stage, which could mean a similar fate awaits its iDevice / iAppstore business
Now, if MSFT would divide itself into about five separately owned businesses, some of this would go away and their products could be more competitive again.
Re: Windows Slates
[James Robertson] July 12, 2010 23:46:59.732
... and if no one had turned the screws on MS, as you say, there might be actual competition in the tablet space. So hurray for the EU and DOJ, they've done a great job here. Not.