Microsoft Surface: a gentle kick in the teeth of the OEMs
If you want something done properly, as the old adage goes, you have to do it yourself.
For the longest time, the failure to produce a good, usable Windows tablet was twofold. Microsoft lacked an operating system usable with finger input, and the PC OEMs failed to produce devices that were thin enough and light enough to be comfortable when handheld.
The first problem is, to a greater or lesser extent, addressed by Windows 8 and its ARM counterpart, Windows RT. But the software is nothing without the hardware to run it on. PC hardware is plagued with mediocrity, but to a large extent it can get away with it. The simple fact is, the PC is an entrenched, dominant tool. It doesn't have to wow anyone or win them over, because it already has.
