The author thinks Microsoft will 'win', but for all the wrong reasons. All you have to do is look at the current offerings to see that the 'cloud' is still not the deciding factor--especially in the way he describes it, as an unlimited, web-based hard drive. That concept has been in use for more than ten years and it's no more successful now as it was then.

No, Microsoft's tablets will rise through one very simple concept: it's integration with the full Windows environment. The simple fact that any app that can run in WinRT will also run in Windows 8 means that information *mobility* is far more convenient and if Microsoft adds an automated synchronization capability between common apps on divergent machines then suddenly mobile computing for the masses is that much easier. The iPad already has this ability and the fact that an iWorks file on an iPad is automatically synchronized to iWorks on OS X for editing and fine-tuning and just as automatically re-synchronized back tot he tablet makes using the tablet a no-thought process. Android's biggest drawback is that it has NO ability to synchronize automatically to any desktop OS--not even Linux. A very quick and simple example of this is when reading a book on an iPad, you can pick up where you left off automatically with any other iOS device on the same user account, including iPhone and iPod Touch; no synchronization trigger necessary.

This is where WinRT will succeed. Over 80% of today's computer users already have Windows at their desks. It is only logical that the Windows-based tablet is the best choice for integration with the habits of the Windows user.