Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate Another Windows 7 s

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Do you think Microsoft should/could develop a touch shell for its Pc maker partners to bring extra standardization and unity to the Windows-based slate space?
It was merely a month in the past that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer showed off a checklist of 21 vendors all mentioned to become operating on “Windows 7 slates” due out in time for this holiday season. (Seemingly, Ballmer;s checklist included slates running Windows Embedded Compact-based working systems, as well. The Embedded Compact 7 release to manufacturing date is still sometime inside the fourth quarter of 2010, last I heard.)
This time, as Engadget;s Computer reviewer extraordinaire Joanna Stern mentioned on August 23,Office 2010 Product Key, the vendor didn;t determine to dump Windows seven for Android. As an alternative, MSI has decided to delay its Windows 7-based WindPad so it could integrate Intel;s Oak Trail processors that are anticipated to offer you much better energy management and battery everyday living. (MSI can be creating an Android WindPad slate,Microsoft Office 2007 Professional, that is still on tap to ship before the finish of this year, by the way.)
Hanvon was supposed to launch its Windows 7 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 further than $1,000. No word if/when the B10 will hit other markets.
Another week, one more Windows seven slate is reduce through the checklist of these slated (pun meant) to ship in time for this vacation season.
Pegatron, the hardware OEM behind the ExoPC, is continuing its work on Windows 7 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, as there is a different “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 that is certainly layered on top of Windows 7,Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate, as well as its own app store for developers who create apps that make use of that interface. It sounds like the Canadian launch nevertheless might happen in mid-late September (?)
“So, here I;ve got an additional 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 seven. And so this particular application is what we call internally Surfboard.”
ASUS is readying both Windows 7 and Windows Embedded Compact seven 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 a single for the Compact seven one).
Hewlett Packard is nevertheless 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 (extra of a tablet without a lid) and not a consumer-focused iPad competitor.
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, establishing market fragmentation and programmer fear and loathing….
It;s looking more and further as though there won;t be many Windows 7 slates available this holiday time. As I blogged just before, sometimes it is greater to become late than lame. If Microsoft uses the next few months to create a much better touch-centric slate reference platform — and maybe even a shell — maybe the delay will be worth it.
Ballmer said 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 far better answer to the iPad. Ballmer insisted that Windows 7 — not Microsoft;s Windows Phone OS or Windows Compact Embedded (which also runs on ARM processors, unlike Windows 7) — would be the best working system for a new line of iPad competitors.
Since Ballmer flashed his slate slide, there;s been further disarray inside the Windows slate market.
What Ballmer and others at Microsoft haven;t addressed is whether Microsoft will give its partners some kind of a standardized touch shell for their slates. Currently, OEMs making Windows-based slates are doing their own things by adding totally different user interface layers on top of Windows 7 to make it a touch-first running system. (Microsoft is offering OEMs some guidelines for optimizing Win7, IE8 and Windows Live for touch,Office 2007 Pro Plus Key, 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 get all about. Microsoft;s Corporate Vice President of Windows Consumer Marketing Brad Brooks mentioned Surfboard in passing during FAM. During a demo,Microsoft Office 2010 Professional, Brooks mentioned: