Bill Gates Backs Microsoft's Surface Tablet Solo Venture

Windows 8 tablets will replace the desktop, says Bill Gates.

Former chief executive and current chairman of Microsoft Bill Gates knows exactly why the company seemingly punched its partners in the gut with the introduction of the Windows 8-powered Surface tablet. Even more, he thinks Microsoft has done the right thing by going solo, and that Windows 8 is going to kill the traditional PC. Whoa.

Bill Gates made this revelation on Charlie Rose Monday night as he talked about Microsoft's decision to make its own tablet. As previously reported, Surface will arrive in two flavors: x86-based featuring Windows 8 Pro, and ARM-based using Windows RT. It will feature a unique cover that also serves as a super-thin keyboard, and go head to head with other Windows 8 tablets manufactured by HP, Dell, Asus, Lenovo and others.

"I actually believe you can have the best of both worlds," he said. "You can have a rich eco-system of manufacturers and you can have a few signature devices that show off, wow, what's the difference between a tablet and a PC?"

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What OEMs desperately need to learn from Microsoft's Surface

Microsoft is not throwing its OEM partners under the bus. It is pushing them out of the way of an onrushing freight train.

See what I did there? I substituted one violent transportation-based metaphor for another. That was deliberate. So was Microsoft’s unprecedented decision to cross a line it has maintained for three decades.

See also: How the tech press reacted to Microsoft Surface

Why now? What changed? Why did Microsoft decide the time has come to compete directly with its OEMs? Why design its own line of tablet PCs, to be sold in Microsoft stores under the Surface brand?

Back in 2006, Microsoft and the OEM community collectively failed with Windows Vista. Microsoft delivered a messy glop of code that didn’t work well until Service Pack 1, and the OEMs were embarrassingly unprepared with drivers and designs. The OEMs also insisted on packing their products with performance-sapping crapware...

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With Surface tablet, Microsoft breaks tradition

t’s the end of an era. Or maybe the start of a new one.

Microsoft — a company that traditionally has relied exclusively on its PC partners to provide hardware powered by its Windows operating system — is trying out a new business model with next Windows release.

The company is going to offer two Microsoft-branded tablets of its own, both of which are branded as Microsoft Surface.

Mystery solved: Microsoft’s new Surface tablet (pictures)

Microsoft isn’t actually manufacturing these new tablets itself — just as it doesn’t actually “make” the
Xbox or the now defunct
Zune media player. But it will be putting the Microsoft name on these devices. And this, many have speculated, will set up Microsoft as a head-to-head competitor with its own PC maker partners.

Pricing or any information on availability is not available yet. All officials are saying, via today’s press release, is that “suggested retail pricing will be announced closer to availability and is expected to be competitive with a comparable ARM tablet or Intel Ultrabook-class PC. OEMs will have cost and feature parity on Windows 8 and Windows RT.”...

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Microsoft Charging OEMs $85 for Windows RT

Microsoft reportedly isn't planning to offer Windows RT at a reduced cost considering the cheaper tablet form factor.

ZoomIt was presumed that Microsoft would offer its ARM-friendly version of Windows 8 -- aka Windows RT -- on the cheap given that both Microsoft and tablet manufacturers want to push Apple's own iPad into a dark little corner of the tablet market. Achieving this would not only mean providing a AAA experience, but a low price tag. Even more, Google doesn't charge manufacturers anything at all to use its Android platform -- the search engine giant makes its money off advertising, app and other media sales.

But apparently offering Windows RT for a reduced price isn't on Microsoft's list of goals. Various reports claim Microsoft is charging manufacturers between $80 and $95 USD for an OEM Windows RT license to be used on a tablet. That's roughly the same pricetag required for the OEM version of Windows 7 Home Premium for desktops and laptops...

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Asus Can Keep Selling Tablets Using "Transformer" Label

Asus can continue to use the "Transformer" label for now, says a federal judge.

A federal judge has ruled in favor of Asus in its battle with Hasbro over the use of the "Transformer" label, allowing the company to continue selling tablets using the robotic name. Hasbro filed a lawsuit against Asus late last year, claiming that the use of "Transformer" was trademark infringement, and causes consumer confusion even though the tablet doesn't convert into a truck or a bright yellow Mustang.

In the lawsuit, Hasbro said that it contacted Asus about the original Transformer tablet sometime around its release, requesting that the company not use the Transformer name. But according to the lawsuit, "Asus refused to comply." The lawsuit also points to December 2011 ads promoting the Transformer Prime which use imagery that "closely resembles imagery used in Transformers movies and video games, in particular evoking the Transformers home planet of Cybertron."

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Dell Streak 7 4G Tablet Launches on T-Mobile

 We went hands-on with the Dell Streak 7 when it was unveiled at CES. It was a nice little device with Tegra 2 muscle, but it was strange to be using a smartphone version of Android on it when we knew that Honeycomb is right around the corner.

Nevertheless, the Streak 7 was today announced to be hitting U.S. consumers thanks to T-Mobile. It'll be rolling out on February 2 as T-Mobile's first 4G tablet device.

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