Is Surface Microsoft’s confession that Windows 8 isn’t really cut out for tablets?  

Windows 8 exposes the great danger of Microsoft’s vision: a software environment that forces you to go “PC” when all you want is the “Plus” bit. If the iPad has taught us anything at all, it’s that there’s a lot of people out there who are happy with pure tablets, and actively desire pure tablets.

This is exactly what makes me wonder if Microsoft may have shipwrecked themselves with Windows 8. I’ve always stood by the thought that people want an iPad, not another PC.

“Windows 8 gets a lot right, but its PC side is still there, and it’s inescapable.” #

The PC is associated in the mentality of most users with a special kind of hell that includes viruses, tune ups and other things that users hate doing. Viruses almost non-existent today, but users still don’t seem to understand that a banner online offering free smilies isn’t legit and could change the way their computer operates.

An iPad “just works” because it’s got a limited set of tasks to perform and it does those extremely well. Users don’t really care about the PC part on tablets because without it, they work in an extremely simplistic and reliable manner, and that’s how it’s marketed. Nothing can really go wrong, because it’s sand-boxed. You can use the entire device, full time, without a keyboard, too.

Do users really want a PC for a tablet, where virtually anything can happen because it’s got such a vast feature set? I still don’t think so. Why would they?