Jan 4, 2011 16:07 GMT  ·  By

Building a new graphical user interface for the Tablet PC flavor of Internet Explorer should be on Microsoft’s mind. This became obvious today as Opera Software delivered a sneak peek at Opera for Tablets, and announced that a preview will be introduced at the 2011 International Consumer Electronics Show which is scheduled to open in Las Vegas this week, on January 6th, 2010.

Just make sure to watch the video embedded below in order to get the first taste of Opera for Tablets.

“At the annual upcoming Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas we will unveil the first public preview of Opera for tablets.

“The Community Manager for Opera Software USA will be at the tradeshow to make sure you get all the news about the latest technology from Opera and the tech industry,” Opera Software’s Espen André Øverdahl stated.

There have been many voices both unofficial and official, including Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, revealing that the software giant and its OEM partners are preparing to unveil a range of slates at CES 2011.

The new Tablet PCs will sport Windows 7, and will be offered to customers in 2011, with additional details bound to be offered to the public this week.

Windows 7 comes with Internet Explorer 8 by default, and IE9 has been tailored for the operating system as well.

But as far as I’m concerned, after seeing Opera for Tablets, neither IE8 nor IE9 are very well tailored to slates.

Just looking at the Opera for Tablets UI, it’s clear that this version of Opera has been adapted to a multi-touch interface.

Aside from the Back and Forward buttons on IE9, I really see users struggling a lot to hit Refresh, Stop, or Home.

Not to mention that IE9’s menu continues to be best suited for usage with a mouse, but not so much with the finger, let alone with a fat finger.

Sure enough, when it comes down to Windows Tablet designs, Microsoft has been constant in offering a stylus to users, and is might be the case moving forward.

But I still say that an UI overhaul is necessary for the slate flavor of IE, and that the Redmond company should not wait for Internet Explorer 10, or whatever the next version of the browser will be, to deliver.

And the company better not think about simply porting the UI from the IE version that ships with Windows Phone. Users deserve better!

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Beta is available for download here.

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 7 (PP7) is available for download here.