Back in 2008 when Microsoft revealed Surface in CES, there was much excitement around what this Minority Report age device could bring to the market. Now after 4 years of hopeful waiting, Microsoft comes up with yet another post-PC device, the Surface Tablet. Choosing a second-hand name and renaming the old thing is itself a curious matter.
I have to admit there is much to like about it, but it will need impressive Metro apps to become actually worth buying is what makes the next year or so quite interesting for Microsoft. Remember Blackberry Playbook?
Thinking positively, there are tribes of superstar .NET developers and Microsoft might be able to take back what Apple stole in the enterprise market with the recent iPad fever among executives. Office, Sharepoint, Dynamics, and other Microsoft flagship business software could really help Surface to get momentum. The enterprise deserves a nice and fully functional tablet that offers more than merely glits.
On the other hand, with the radically new Metro UI and having already both users and developers scared enough, we should just wait and see if this whole new “Cool Microsoft” revolution will steal the show or will be another Vista fiasco.
Speaking of fiasco, Microsoft competing with other vendors, could become an itchy situation between old friends who were buying the expensive and mostly underwhelming Windows OS for years.
At end of the day, I think the big dinosaur will survive. Microsoft looks at RIM as a cautionary tale (I hope). You can fail from trying too hard as much as you can fail from not trying at all (read RIM). I really hope that Microsoft pulls this one off successfully and get creative in their marketing department, who I suspect were hired from another galaxy.