I'm not sure I understand "lack of apps/development" at least not from a practical/functional perspective anyway.  I mean how many apps does a device/ecosystem need doing the same/similar thing?  For me personally (and yes I use my devices for business) Windows Phone 8 has the most complete offering in terms of functionality out of the box and interoperability with my desktop/notebook/tablet over any other device(s) / ecosystem(s).

Intel sells chips. the target audience for this reference design are OEMs. 

there might be some manufacturer that maybe builds a tablet that looks similar (although probably thicker and heavier as a battery needs to last longer than the 2.5 hrs of the first Surface Pro). you will not be able to buy this or any other tablet by Intel though.

I agree totally with the review. 

Trouble is if you want to run a windows application on a tablet you need full windows 8.1. If you need to send someone out in the field with wizzy web based apps any tablet is fine but when they say how do I run this Windows 98 app or open up an excel spreadsheet with 6 sheets and macros, ermm. Either that or you pay for Citrix to push it out business wise. 

For home use buy an apple or android, both are good but in opposite ways, personal choice. Small Business Windows 8 tablet is good stop gap but I often think why not just have a bloody laptop and a good smart phone. 

What do people do with their tablets, We have two at home and I never pick one up I always use the 5 inch phone or go to the PC/Mac or smart TV, where does your tablet fit in?

And yep windows phone is just Office 365, but then the apps on Android and IOS have similar functionality. 

Sigh.

You said that Android phones sell really well. I pointed out that that's because they're cheap.  You then talk about $500 Android phones...which don't sell nearly as well.  

Sure, you can buy a Galaxy S5 or a Nexus 5 but the OS is still crap and those models don't sell anywhere near what an iPhone sells. 

Anyway, I don't have a Windows Phone but I'd certainly use one over an Android phone any day. Not even a close call.  Ech. 

One day I'll put together a lengthy Android rant (although, like Apple users, Android users tend to get pretty nuts about criticism).

Basically, the OS itself is an architectural piece of crap. While the latest (S5 for instance) has enough horse power to cover up the responsiveness issues (still present in KitKat), it's a sea of inconsistent usability, poor polish, and muddled software compatibility (at least once you move outside the mainstream).  

Its basic issues stem from the fact that it's a derivative of Linux which itself is pretty crappy when it comes to its display system.

Windows Phone is a much better OS but I don't enjoy using it and it lacks sufficient software support.  I wish I could combine the Windows Phone architecture with Android's customization with iPhone's dev support and user experience.

Yup, got it in a nutshell.

Wouldn't that be amazing! Appreciate the commentary on Android. Thanks!

I'm also interested in following the FirefoxOS. I doubt it will ever be a big player, but it will be interesting to see what new ideas and options it brings to the table, as well as how it influences (or not) MS, Google and Apple.

I agree with your sentiment. If the OS can do it, who needs an app?

What I'm referring to is when apps aren't available for that platform. At my job we have several vendor solutions with apps that are iOS-only and no hope to come to Android (let alone Windows Phone). Apps seem to be the preferred interface for things nowadays (I prefer HTML5 myself), but until vendors can easily port between different platforms or the various manufacturers ease the challenge to do so, lock-in will be inevitable. Your choice of device could be determined simply by app availability. And this is why I don't see Mozilla being able to compete as well against the big three companies. However, they do have much more of a developer focus and would probably do a good job in making their system available and documented. It's their lack of other resources that would hurt them here, but it's still a bit too early to tell how this will all play out.

I run into the lack of a launchbar all the time when I use a machine with a fully fleshed out Metro setup that has lots of junk on it.  It always remembers where it was when you last were on the metro screen so I end up having to either return to the front of the list (if you want to organize things) or pick through the list of stuff.

Let's face it, 90% of the time you're using a browser, email program and some sort of office app.  I want a bar to get to that.