I may have to delay my breakup with Microsoft

I was thinking real hard about diving into a Google Chromebook when they come out. I like the idea of doing all I can on the web. I'd still keep my Windows 7 PC running as long as I could, primarily for editing video. Other than than, I could do everything I wanted on a Chromebook.

Ideally, I'd like a tablet that could work well for creating documents, slide shows and spreadsheet. The iPad is not quite there yet. Mainly because when you are creating those type of documents, you want another document along side -- maybe a web browser with the material you are writing about, etc.

Who, I thought, would be the first one to create a tablet that would be good for serious work, and combined with a keyboard and a flat work surface, meet my needs for serious work as effectively as a laptop?

Who thunk it might be Microsoft?

Not me, until I listened to Windows Weekly this week. Co-host Paul Thurrott said it best about 37 minutes in when he said "Microsoft gets this. I think what they are doing makes a lot of sense." Then he paused and said in a voice of awe, "I never get to say that Leo."

He was talking about Windows 8 shown in the video below. It is a new operating system that runs on both desktops, laptops, and tablets.

Will it succeed in bring the charm and the desirable form factor aspects of an iPad to a tablet capable of serious work?

Or to put it another way, is Microsoft about to stop its slide into irrelevance?

Update 06/04/2011 :Mike Elgan says it well.

It should be out mid-2012. We'll see then.

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