"Microsoft has for the first time realized that the ultimate device will function in BOTH modes and to be efficient the OS on that device also needs two distinc

"Microsoft has for the first time realized that the ultimate device will function in BOTH modes and to be efficient the OS on that device also needs two distinct methods of interaction. And this I think is what is brilliant." I hardly think this is the first time they or anyone else has realized this. A swiss army knife would be in principle the ultimate tool if it were as good at each of its functions as a dedicated device, but in practice it turns out not to be. Anything great is built to meet constraints, perhaps even transcend them, but not to try to be all things to all people. Much of what you say is compelling, but here I think you're drinking Kool-aid. "You'll never see an iPad as the primary device on an office desk in its current form and UI. Your accountant or DB admin or whatever will always be more productive with a keyboard and mouse when it comes to heavy "business" style applications. This is what the existing touch UI's can't provide." This immediately reminds me of people who said EXACTLY the same things about the Mac UI relative to the command line. In a sense they were right, because the Mac UI evolved. But they were wrong in a much more important sense, because the UI they considered indispensable simply became a tiny little-used relic tucked in the corner of its successor. In the end, a computer is a device that provides information to a user and allows that user to make and express decisions. There are fundamental bandwidth arguments we can make about UI "paradigms" -- e.g. mice are spectacularly more precise at pointing than fingers, and keyboards allow a user to input textual information far more quickly than other devices. Imagine when displays become cheap and flexible enough that your entire laptop is a display, so keys can change their appearance and so can your trackpad. Which UI paradigm will adapt better to this situation? Or imagine if your display could subtly change its tactile properties to eliminate most or all of the text entry advantage of keyboards. Anyway, you've made good points.