Microsoft: No Tablet OS Until We Can Be Different
There's no point doing the same thing as everyone else, right?
Several companies have announced plans for tablets based on the upcoming version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, Windows 8. While planning so far ahead can sometimes backfire (tablets shipping with Gingerbread or Froyo just seem out of date now that Honeycomb is here), it seems Microsoft has no immediate plans to develop a tablet OS.
Speaking to Pocket-Lint, Microsoft UK managing director Ashley Highfield said the company won’t be releasing a tablet or a tablet OS until it can offer customers something different than what’s already available.
"We won't do anything in the tablet market unless we can be distinctive," he told Pocket-Lint.
As we mentioned, several companies have confirmed they’re planning Windows 8 tablets for release early in 2012. Currently, there’s a number of Windows tablets available running Windows 7, which has been optimized for touchscreens. Highfield didn’t discuss the possibility of a tablet running Windows Phone 7, so we’re assuming that’s not in the cards just yet. But, hey, you never know.

They're strategically falling behind the competition so they can make a comeback in a few years just to be told "you waited too long"..
Of course it is creating a tablet OS. That's Windows 8. It's being ported to the ARM processor so it can be run on both phones and tablets.
After which, the current Windows Phone 7 will be discontinued.
Makes sense...
me was a cash in, nothing more
vista was a failed os from the start
win 7 is vista and xps love child, and it got most of the vista traits
Windows needs a name change.Yeah.I'm serious.How about actually pulling that stunt when Win 8 gets out? Get the long lost cool tech cred back.Hey it's as good as Apple's unicorn dust
Meaning that to come up with a new name, it's only logical and natural to base it upon a radically new set of OS philosophies and core design decisions.Biggest gorilla should be able to deal with the biggest calculated risk.
Tablets in current real world usage scenario haven't really reached critical mass yet despite what any feverish iPad toting ranter will tell you.At best tablets are just good for media consumption and not much else probably some tweeting here and there but that's it.To create serious content on tablets now are just still a ways to go.Granted but has anyone ever looked at what's out there beyond Windows?
I don't wanna be yet another desktop Linux distro preacher but it has to be said.Aren't you amazed by what's mostly "Hey if you can please donate to us?" desktop Linux initiatives had come up with?I mean really there are distros out there that fits netbook environs comfortably and already beaten MS to tablets.Joli OS got the netbook cloud game and Bodhi Linux with their E17-centric approach to tablets.These guys runs on donations if that ever happens regularly it's just mind boggling.I don't get it tbh?How come MS with all of its billions and their own horde of arguably some of the world's best minds of devs simply can't come up with anything better sooner?
This. Microsoft hasn't made an OS that won't consume an incredible amount of resources for their background crap since windows 3.1 They're good at refining their product, but when it comes to having it run smoothly on a limited amount of system resources microsoft always fails to deliver. Unfortunately for microsoft, the mobile market requires that it's sleek, attractive and slim, and i'm not just talking about the exterior design.
They're essentially getting squeezed in. You have the two unix-based OSes on the mobile end growing up and slowly encroaching on windows territory, while linux is hammering away at windows in the server segment. If linux can manage to find itself as appealing in desktops as it does in servers, or android can step into big boy shoes and start shipping on lappies then microsoft's outlook (ha!) will be much more grim.
Doubtful, There was a signficant development effort put into WinMo 7. They will use it as a foundation and try to develop something from there. Windows 7-8 would be terrible as a tablet OS and the reason MS is not going there just yet is because they tried about 6 years ago and fell flat on their face.
No one is buying tablets with a general purpose OS that is clunky and hard to use because the OS was not designed for that form factor. There is only so much hardware that you can put in a 10 inch device while making it thin and light.
Um, tablets like that has been out for years... A quick search for window tablet on ebay shows hundreds, but they been nothing but a niche market until apple came along.
100% Correct, These devices have been around 7 years now with OS's from Windows XP to Windows 7. They are absolutely worthless pieces of crap that no one buy's cause they don't work. The only one that ever showed any promise was a the Sony VGN-UX390N but it was ranged in price from $1600 to $2500 and was a pain in the ass to use practically. Cool gadget though. The rest of them completely sucked ass.
Here's the point, why spend a year and millions of dollars creating a me-too tablet OS just to kill it immediately?
By the time Win8 hits shelves tablets will be powerful enough to run it... so they're just going to develop Win8, hopefully with a lightweight and modular ecosystem, and hit the tablet market when tablets become powerful enough to be taken seriously.
At this point there is no reason to have a tablet with a dock, but once tablets are running Win8 with Office in the cloud you will only have your tablet. You will dock it at home or at the office, whatever. Same computing device, take it everywhere, files in the cloud, no need for tablet plus laptop plus blah blah blah.
Win8 full featured OS plus cloud apps for the next gen of tablets. That is the take-off point. Right now they are toys, and MS isn't interested in throwing away millions to power toys for six months before the big wave hits.
My 2 cents, anyway.