Commentary on Microsoft's stand that Tablets are a passing fad

One explanation is that Microsoft is just trying to distract people. I'm not sure why they bother since it just draws attention to the fact they are struggling to keep up.<p>The other explanation is that not enough senior people have spent any time figuring out for themselves what potential the iPad has. <i>Maybe they genuinely don't get it.</i><p>I actually think the second explanation is more likely. It's also much worse for them. It's easy to take a first glance at the iPad and see it as a media player and games console with a browser built in - i.e. A big iPod touch.<p>Paradoxically this makes it easier for them to brush off. "We all know that iPods are successful. Hats off to Apple, the iPod company - the iPad is the new iPod." Which neatly rationalizes away the success of the iPad in a way that's not threatening to the PC business.<p>Analysts, always eager to sell people what they want, are colluding with this by calling the iPad a media tablet.<p>The one thing none of these people are doing (unlike iPad customers) is trying to use them for real work, and discovering where they are strong and where they are weak.<p>I now use my iPad 2 as my only computer at home. This means I often try to push it into doing real work. I've been surprised to find that for some tasks which are very important to me, it's <i>a lot better</i> than a laptop.<p>Specifically, I now use the OmniGraffle on the iPad to do all my brainstorming, <i>and</i> technical diagramming.<p>I'm a long time user of the desktop version and bought the iPad version when it first came out. The combination of the relatively slow iPad 1, and the immature OmniGraffle, made it little more than an expensive curiosity.<p>Over the course of the year, Omni have worked diligently at improving the UI, understanding how to make good use of multi-touch, and improving performance. It was getting pretty good even on the old iPad, but on the iPad 2 it flies.<p>For the first time in my life, I feel as though I have a computer that can really replace a paper notebook for capturing ideas. I can be in the middle of making breakfast, and suddenly a design solution will pop into my head, and I can instantly open OmniGraffle and make a diagram capturing the details - better than I could with paper.<p>It's so good that I'll pick up the iPad to do this even when I'm sitting in front of my top of the range iMac.<p>Anyway - raving about OmniGraffle is really just by way of example. The real point is that step by step, application authors will figure out how to make their iPad versions better than their desktop versions.<p>This process won't take long, and it will establish tablets as the primary computer.<p>I tried similar experiments with Tablet PC's over the years, including using Motion Computing tablet with separate keyboard (i.e. Like a big iPad). It just didn't work, because of the software and the stylus - simple as that.

Like any strong company, Microsoft needs to acknowledge and act upon new trends, not theorize and hope that markets will adjust and have a space open for their Oldies-but-goodies products. If Microsoft wants to stay relevant, they need to have an organized structure of market research, design, and innovation through all levels of the company. If Microsoft continues treading tech water, they will be nothing more than a giant software library, skittishly sucking up new ideas and hoping for the best. Innovation on a broad scale is not easy, but it would keep microsoft in the forefront of the tech industry and set it ahead of their trendy competitors. Acknowledgment of mediocrity is the big first step, and a culture of innovation and design will follow.

<i>In 2007, we have Steve Ballmer’s infamous “It’s a passing fad” reply when asked about the iPhone.</i><p><i>Bill Gates himself made a lofty prediction: “The tablet takes cutting-edge PC technology and makes it available whenever you want it…It’s a PC that is virtually without limits — and within five years I predict it will be the most popular form of PC sold in America.”</i><p>As much as people like to stretch the word "tablet", applying statements made about the "iPhone" to "tablets" is simply going too far. Yes: the article's title says "Microsoft: Tablets are a passing fad", but the article doesn't claim this is Microsoft's "stance" (you don't mean "stand"), so frankly this HN post comes off as link-bait.

I remember loving to read Jean-Louis back in the heady days of Be. He still has a gift:<p><i>Chef Jobs, in one stroke of his whisk, got the tablet mayonnaise to take, after three decades of clotted failures by the best and the brightest in the computer industry, Apple included.</i>

I think of Microsoft like a talking head on TV; they may be interesting or entertaining if I am bored, but they are just spewing opinions and are not directly involved in the topics they opine about. Microsoft has not taken actions proving that it knows anything about how to market a tablet, so its opinion has only entertainment value.

Microsoft (Bill Gates specifically) also thought the internet was a fad.

Come on... Microsoft is just a passing fad. ;-)