Office Professional What Microsoft isn't saying ab

Some believe Microsoft is becoming coy about its slate strategies. Other people merely feel the provider is becoming clueless. I feel the Redmondians are planting decoys, hoping they;ll give cover for missteps.Here;s my most recent idea as to what;s going on, concerning Microsoft and its answer for slates (or lack thereof). Over the past couple of months, Microsoft execs have gone from saying Apple;s iPad is nothing but a crippled Computer, to claiming that Microsoft and its partners have myriad iPad competition prepared to start any day now. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stated there;d be Windows seven slates out in time for holiday 2010. And in the recent Computex conference, Microsoft execs crowed regarding the lots of Windows slates because of start this drop.If any of these slates had been actually true iPad rivals, Microsoft could be only considerably late towards the slate party. This isn;t the case (generating me happier by the day that I made the decision to acquire an iPad to use as my on-the-go mobile gadget,Office Professional 2010 Key, as opposed to waiting for my longed-for “WinPad.”)The “Windows slates” Microsoft showed at Computex aren;t running Windows 7; they;re running Windows Embedded Compact. That means they aren;t going to be capable to run Windows seven apps and won;t sport the Windows 7 user interface. Rather,Buy Office 2007, each of those Embedded Compact slates will feature its own custom interface.Meanwhile,Office Professional, the Windows 7 slates coming in time for this vacation season are heading to be business-focused products. (HP execs admitted this recently, noting their coming Slate 500 device will be for company users. If there are other Windows 7 slates able to start this drop, I;d expect they also will be business-focused devices. These models will be PCs without lids; tablets without the stylus. They won;t have the long battery life, touch-centric user interfaces or built-in app store capabilities that have created the iPad a success.Microsoft;s real iPad rivals aren;t heading to debut until 2011 — I;d guess mid-2011 at best. Ballmer didn;t state this plainly at last week;s Microsoft Finanacial Analyst Meeting, but he dropped some hefty hints. Ballmer touted Intel;s Oak Trail processors as being key to Microsoft;s iPad alaternatives. The problem is Oak Trail chips aren;t going to be prepared until “early 2011.” Once Pc makers get them in hand, it will take them at a few quarters to build and test slates that use them.I;m curious as to whether Microsoft will continue to try to steer its partners to use Windows seven as the operating system powering these slates. My guess, as I told TechFlash;s Todd Bishop last week, is Microsoft may relent and allow slate makers to make use of the touch-centric Windows Phone OS 7 on these devices. (Microsoft could still claim that these slates were running “Windows,Office Pro Plus,” since it is creating sure to brand all of its operating systems as “Windows.”)Bottom line: “WinPads” are still about a year away,Office 2007 Enterprise Key, I;m predicting. Expect Microsoft execs to downplay the coming Windows Embedded Compact slates and start acknowledging that this year;s Windows seven slates are business-centric devices. In place of risking another Kin debaucle (launching then pulling a misguided product at awesome cost), Microsoft is rethinking its solution towards the iPad. Better late than lame….