Windows 8 Tablet PC Edition

Years before there was even the slightest hint of Apple making its first iPad, Microsoft was already hard at work building the software and hardware ecosystems around a Tablet PC version of Windows.

Approximately six years ago, in excess of 300 independent software vendors were building solutions for a slate flavor of Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2).

Acer, Fujitsu, HP, NEC, RIM, Toshiba and others, no less than 40 manufacturers were building Windows Tablet PCs.

It turns out that it was the watershed moment of Windows XP Tablet PC edition, released concomitantly with Windows XP SP2.

Years later, the world applauded Apple as the innovator behind the iPad, the product that catalyzed a consumer slate frenzy.

The Cupertino-based company announced earlier this month that it had sold 4.69 million iPads in the last fiscal quarter alone, falling short of expectations by a few millions only because it could not meet demand.

Meanwhile, while Windows 7 is already available on some Tablet PCs, the software giant might find it difficult to brag about sale numbers. The fact that there’s really nothing to brag about might have something to do with it.

Was Windows XP Tablet PC Edition ahead of its time when it was launched in 2005? Was Microsoft’s strategy to bring Windows Tablet PCs to the market less than stellar? Can the Redmond company reclaim the lost ground on the slate market?

I remember the feeling of enthusiasm that leaked details about the Courier prototype from the software giant, so I really don’t thing that there’s a mindset among consumers that would cause them to ignore a Tablet PC from Microsoft.

But alas, Courier was shelved, with speculation indicating that the demise of the project was related to the fact that the device failed to take Windows at heart.

But could in fact be platform the main problem with Windows slates? Windows XP did not become the Windows XP that users love today until after the release of SP2 in 2005.

So in this regard, I dare say that Windows XP Tablet PC Edition wasn’t released at an opportune moment, causing the Windows Tablet operating system not to gain traction with consumers.

Moving to Windows 7 and onward to Windows 8, Microsoft’s strategy doesn’t appear to have changed all that much, at least not at this point in time.

The company still wants Windows to power slates, and not only this, but the fully-fledged Windows operating system, making Tablet PCs less like next generation form factors and more like traditional PCs.

While I’m sure that there are users that want the full desktop Windows experience on their slate, I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of consumers would settle for the core components of the operating system necessary for content consumption scenarios.

Now obviously, I coined the moniker Windows 8 Tablet PC Edition based on the now dead Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. I can only hope that Microsoft will prove a tad more imaginative than me.

A successful Windows 8 for Slates release should start with a brand that’s not connected in any way to a failed past label.

At the same time, Tablet PCs should not be made into full PCs, but rather optimized for content consumption, since that the core usage scenario.

And it’s also necessary for Microsoft to control, at least to some degree the hardware design process for Windows 8 slates, since it should be obvious that the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition devices should not be making a comeback.