incrediBILL - 5:07 pm on Jun 19, 2012 (gmt 0)

This is a total game changer.

Now that the tablet can be the primary computer, which is where Apple and Andoid bungled with special OS and a whole different suite of software apps, MS is poised to rock the computer world.

This tablet is a netbook killer and potentially the end of the traditional laptop as we know it.

Since it's a full blown Win 8 device, and assuming it can just plug into your home network like any other Windows PC and use all your existing software, this thing is plainly going to rock.

I want it and I want it NOW!


Microsoft is just delivering a full blown computer dressed up like a tablet, exactly what we wanted in the first place, end of story, sold. Of course I've wanted it since I held my first Windows tablet/pen computing device way back in '91 and it finally looks like they've pulled their heads far enough out of their tailpipes to deliver it.

Apple should finally be nervous.

The kb is an addition/option, for those that prefer a kb

That's how you replace netbooks and kill laptops all in one swoop, make peripherals available from the start as a planned part of the product and not a clunky aftermarket add-on.

The fact that it's Windows may mean it'll operate MS software tools

Not just for corporate types, for all of us with investments in Windows software.

Having to switch from Windows to Android to iOS or whatever is a big old mess and leaves lots of room for incompatibility and buggy transitions which a unified Windows platform easily solves and reduces the overall software investment. Also, since Surface is a real computer, you could theoretically run an Android emulator and port all your existing Android apps to Surface. Even Apple doesn't have a clean transition with the Mac and iStuff, so if MS doesn't bungle this they could regain the upper hand.

FWIW, if all I had to do was dock this thing with a 24"+ screen (or two or three) to be able to use it as my primary computer, then the desktop as we know it would be essentially dead.

I'll title this episode in computing history "The Empire Strikes Back"