It was only a month ago that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off a checklist of 21 vendors all stated to be functioning on “Windows 7 slates” due out in time for this holiday time. (Seemingly,
Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, Ballmer;s checklist included slates running Windows Embedded Compact-based running systems, as well. The Embedded Compact 7 release to manufacturing date is nonetheless sometime in the fourth quarter of 2010, last I heard.)
This time, as Engadget;s Computer reviewer extraordinaire Joanna Stern mentioned on August 23, the vendor didn;t choose to dump Windows seven for Android. Instead, MSI has made the decision to delay its
Windows 7-based WindPad so it can incorporate Intel;s Oak Trail processors that are expected to provide greater power management and battery daily life. (MSI is also developing an Android WindPad slate, which is still on tap to ship just before the end of this 12 months,
Office Pro 2010 Key, by the way.)
“So, here I;ve got one more slate form factor and again running Windows 7 and I;m going to pop open an application here that we;ve been, this is a prototype application we;ve been working with at Microsoft and using to help train our ecosystem about how to create touch-first application on Windows 7. And so this particular application is what we call internally Surfboard.”
Do you think Microsoft should/could develop a touch shell for its Pc maker partners to bring a lot more standardization and unity to the Windows-based slate space?
Pegatron, the hardware OEM behind the ExoPC,
Office Professional Plus 2007 Key, is continuing its work on Windows seven slates which will be private-labeled (best I can tell) by various partners around the world. The Canadian partner is Ciara-Tech, which will market the slate under the name Ciara Vibe (be careful searching that name,
Office 2010 Pro Plus Key, as there is another “Ciara Vibe,” images of whom are probably not safe for work). No other OEMs have been announced. ExoPC had created its own touch user interface which is layered on top of Windows seven, as well as its own app store for developers who create apps that make use of that interface. It sounds like the Canadian launch still might happen in mid-late September (?)
Since Ballmer flashed his slate slide, there;s been further disarray within the Windows slate market.
Another week, an additional Windows 7 slate is lower from your listing of those slated (pun intended) to ship in time for this vacation period.
I;d think Microsoft would have learned its lesson with Windows Mobile as to what happens when its hardware partners are allowed to customize extensively on top of a Microsoft-provided working system. As Android developers are discovering, as well, the result is often a bunch of incompatible platforms that don;t support applications in a common way, developing market fragmentation and programmer fear and loathing….
It;s looking significantly more and a great deal more as though there won;t be many Windows seven slates available this vacation time. As I blogged before, sometimes it is greater to get late than lame. If Microsoft uses the next few months to create a far better touch-centric slate reference platform — and maybe even a shell — maybe the delay will be worth it.
Hanvon was supposed to launch its Windows seven slate in April but best I can tell it became available in limited markets and quantities (in China and Australia) in August and was priced at extra than $1,000. No word if/when the B10 will hit other markets.
Ballmer mentioned at Microsoft;s Financial Analyst Meeting (FAM) in late July that Microsoft and its partners were counting on Intel;s Oak Trail to give them a superior answer to the iPad. Ballmer insisted that Windows seven — not Microsoft;s Windows Phone OS or Windows Compact Embedded (which also runs on ARM processors, unlike Windows 7) — would be the best operating system for a new line of iPad competitors.
ASUS is readying both Windows 7 and Windows Embedded Compact 7 slates/tablets, but they aren;t likely to hit until very late 2010 or early 2011 (and at a $1,000 price point for the Windows seven model and a $400 to $500 1 for the Compact 7 1).
What Ballmer and others at Microsoft haven;t addressed is whether Microsoft will offer its partners some kind of a standardized touch shell for their slates. Currently,
Office 2010 Discount, OEMs making Windows-based slates are doing their own things by adding distinctive user interface layers on top of Windows 7 to make it a touch-first operating system. (Microsoft is offering OEMs some guidelines for optimizing Win7, IE8 and Windows Live for touch, but is not providing an actual shell they can use.)
Microsoft execs dropped hints at FAM that they are aware of these problems and are thinking about the optimal ways to make Windows a touch-centric user interface. That;s what the Microsoft “Surfboard” prototype touch application seems to become all about. Microsoft;s Corporate Vice President of Windows Consumer Marketing Brad Brooks brought up Surfboard in passing during FAM. During a demo, Brooks mentioned:
Hewlett Packard is still promising a Windows seven slate for the fourth quarter of 2010, but it sounds like that product will be marketed as a business-focused product (further of a tablet without a lid) and not a consumer-focused iPad competitor.
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