The factual errors alone in this commentary are too many to mention. Like many MS centric writers you make erroneous assumptions or statements out of hand and apparently without even a modicum of research. The first Pad or Tablet devices were the Apple Newton and then the various Palm Devices, Microsoft as almost always was both very late to the party and then tried to kludge their Windows Be-All, End-All OS into a device which they never either understood or analyzed how people might actually use it.

Steve Jobs actually was forced out at Apple largely for trying to prevent Apple from releasing the Newton as he recognized the technology was too immature and the cost factors were too high for widespread adoption and John Scully (the then CEO of Apple) in a show of amazing hubris forced the co-founder of Apple out in a power play that almost destroyed the company.

There are many issues with Steve Jobs, he is egocentric, driven, convinced that his way is the only way and often unable to see alternative points of view - But and this is the key factor in Apple's success since Steve's return - He is unrelenting in demanding an extraordinary customer experience, in not releasing a "good enough" product, but waiting until it is actually "Right". How many years were there rumors of a coming Apple Tablet device, and how many years did Jobs and Apple not pull the trigger. Steve demanded if not perfection, then at least extraordinary performance, design, usability, stability and as in almost all Apple products the "It Just Works" factor.

As long as Microsoft is able to continue to leverage their monopoly power with Windows (and Office which is a monopoly solely because MS was able to leverage control of Windows to consistently break competing products during Office's formative years prior to its achieving market domination) and they remain the cash cows they are, Microsoft may never be forced to actually build products that "Just Work". And the entire IT world will continue to suffer with OS bloat and watching as all the new, faster, more powerful hardware capabilities are eaten up by the demands of a voracious Operating System that gobbles ever more resources, becomes ever larger and less elegant and never really allows users to benefit from the ever more powerful machines on their desktops.