[Other TouchPad Development] pflatlyne:
It most certainly is a violation of Microsofts copyrights. WHere do you plan on buying it from? Do you think that MS is going to sell an ARM port of Windows in shrinkwrap for a nonexistant generic ARM PC/Tablet?

Heres how windows 8 works. Manufacturers that supply windows 8 intel tablets will be required to have a lockable bootloader,but will be required to have a way for the user to unlock it. (Sounds weird,but thats what MS is saying to their partners) Manufacturers that supply ARM tablets with windows 8 will be required to provide a lockable bootloader and are PROHIBITED from providing a way for the user to unlock it.

Every windows ARM device will come with a copy of ARM windows,so MS will not be selling ARM windows at all.

Actually,I expect that Windows 8 tablets may be a total flop anyway. First,there will be ARM windows. It will be locked down like any other tablet,and unable to run the same software we run on PCs and laptops,unless the developers of that software specifically compile arm code along side their intel code. The ARM version of the tablet (The RT version) WONT RUN most windows apps,only ones specifically made for ARM. It will confuse customers. It gets even worse.

There will be intel Windows 8. There will also be the "pro" version of their tablet. This tablet will use an intel chip and WILL be able to run normal windows programs including OLDER windows programs. Talk about confusion. Your freind has a shiny new windows tablet and showed you all your favorite programs on it. So you run out and are faced with the choice,RT or Pro version,one at 600 dollars,one at 1000. Well,your not about to pay 1000 dollars for a tablet,so you buy the RT,after all,you dont NEED all that speed and memory,you just want a replacement for your old 1st gen I-Pad,and you love the idea that you can run your windows programs. Its a real computing device rather than the expensive ebook reader/toy the I-Pad was.

You get it home and the programs wont run. After a few hours of trying,you call MS tech support that informs you that you bough the wrong version of the tablet.

Now your pissed,you feel like an idiot,and you feel like MS was misleading you. You take that tablet back,probably getting hit for a 10% restocking fee,and for the next two years,tell all your freinds how horrible Microsofts new windows 8 tablets are. For that matter,you probably dont even buy windows 8 for your desktop PC.

Arm windows on a Microsoft tablet was a great idea. Software developers can make a tablet version of their software by simply turning on the ARM option in their development software and perhaps tweaking the UI a bit.

Intel windows on a MS tablet is ALSO a good idea. Developers dont HAVE to make separate versions,but they can make them tablet aware with the new MS development tools. In fact,widgets and applets will be developed for tablets and people might even run them on their PCs,which is somehting MS has been trying to get people to do for years (The keep brining it back,first in windows 98,then periodically over the years).

Windows on BOTH platforms is a disaster waiting to happen. Your typical end user does not know the difference between the 8MB cache on the CPU,the 8GB of ram memory in his PC,the 500GB of harddisk storage,the 1GB of video ram on his graphics card, and the 16GB on a flash drive.

Anything that sounds similar but is really different confuses the typical end user. Most customers who buy the RT version will buy it thinking that its the same as the "overpriced" Pro version (at least thats what they will call it not realizing its more than just a faster CPU and more memory). They will also confuse it with windows home and pro. "I dont need the pro version,Im not using it for work" will be commonly heard from customers.

Many if not MOST customers will read the reviews,or hear second hand of the reviews of the awesome new Microsoft tablet that can run the same programs their laptops can and run out and buy the RT version,only to find its a COMPLETELY different tablet,that comes in a very similar box and has a similar name to the Pro. They will be very very angry with Microsoft. Microsoft will eventually put a sticker on the box warning people,but really,no one will read it,and retailers will use it as an excuse to say "its your own damn fault" when people try to return it making people even angrier. (they will say the same thing BEFORE the sticker,but the sticker that was made to HELP customers,instead will just make them angrier,as they will see it as petty legalistic fine print made to screw them over). At the end of the day,they will take them back,eat the 10% restocking fee,and go buy an I-Pad,because if it can only run special windows tablet program,its not any better than an I-Pad,so if it costs the same,the choice is simple. Thats the problem HP had. If your going to try to compete with the i-pad,there are two ways to go about it,make it cheaper,or make it better. Not just a little better,becuase an I-pad is still better than a tablet the same price with slightly better tech specs,because its an I-Pad and runs ipad apps.

Then the is the pro version. Those that understand the power of the Pro version will buy it,show their freinds and add to the confusion and anger becuase those freinds will go buy the RT version and then only later realize how it wont do what they expected it to.

Some however will buy the Pro becuase they want the "best one" and a couple of years later,someone will tell them it can run Windows software and they will be all "Wow,thats really cool,I never knew it could do that,I thought it had to run special windows tablet apps from the app store"

Its going to be a mess. And of course,at the end of it all,Microsoft will drop the tablet alltogether,making everyone else who bought one,knew what they were getting and was very happy with their tablet angry. Its a no win situation and all they had to do to avoid it was either go ARM or go Intel but not both.

Their best bet would have been intel,at a price point of around 500 dollars. That would be vastly better than an ipad,becuase it has more software and functionality,and the same price as an ipad. Or,they could make a 200 dollar low end 7" "RT" ARM tablet,and a $300 10" Pro ARM tablet. Its not as good as an Ipad,both hardware wise and software wise,but its cheaper and its backed by microsoft and you can hope there will be a lot of them sold and a lot of software purchased. They could package a "developers edition for 300 for a 7" tablet,and a copy of Visual Studio to kick start it,and perhaps even provide an "upgrade" version for 200,essentially throwing in Visual Studio for ARM for free,to people who already own the full version of Visual Studio. Maybe even make a 130 dollar low end "starter" tablet thats sold at cost (called the LT version perhaps,with a single core chip and a 2gb of internal memory,but with a SD card slot),as well as provide a 25 dollar rebate on ANY MS tablet with any new computer that comes with Windows 8 or OEM or upgrade version of Windows,or a 50 dollar rebate with a full home version,a 75 dollar rebate with a Pro version or a full on free tablet with a Ultimate version of windows.

In other words,use the tablet as an incentive to sell windows 8 and windows 8 as an incentive to sell tablets,and above all else,get those tablets out there so people will develop for them.

Instead,its going to be a train wreck.