Dear Steve: My Microsoft Tablet wishlist

OK, so yesterday we once again get Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer promising us that Windows tablets are on the way. Well, I know that Microsoft along with all the OEMs who must be involved only have a few weeks left until the holiday spending extravaganza kicks off, but I still think there's time for me to get my tablet wishlist in ...

... after all, the holidays are a time for magic ...

OK, let's get going.

Dear Santa Steve,

For years now I've wanted a really good Windows tablet PC. I know that some already exist, but they suck. Suck big style.

With that out of the way, here's my wishlist for a Windows-powered tablet.

1. Fast boot up In fact, I shouldn't really need to "boot up" the thing more than say once a month. The rest of the time I should just be able to press a button and it switches on instantly. I know that to Microsoft "switching on instantly" is a foreign concept, but a certain fruit company can pull it off.
2. Not run a desktop OS I know that Microsoft has mostly abandoned innovation and now living off the earnings of a couple of one-trick ponies ("ponies" rapidly heading for the glue factory), but tablets are a new thing, and that demands fresh thinking. That means NOT just coming up with another device that can run desktop Windows. One of the most refreshing thing about the tablet that that fruit company makes is that it's abandoned the concept of legacy. I don't want monolithic (and expensive) applications. I don't really care about the file system. I don't want it to have a registry that I periodically have to go wading through. I just want a tablet that works.
3. I don't want to worry about the battery Battery life will need to be awesome. I'm talking double-digit hours here. Don't try palming off anything less than 10 hours on me.
4. Apps! Yes, it's gonna need apps. I don't want to have to buy another license for Office and so on. Tablets are not desktops.
5. I want a clean design Have a look at the tablet made by the fruit company. Notice how clean and smart it is. There are no fiddly little plastic port covers to break off or lose. There's no horrid stickers. There are no confusing hell stew of buttons. Keep it simple!
6. The price has to be right The price range has already been set for you - $499 to $829. Don't tell me that I'm going to have to spend over $1,000 to get a decent tablet, because I know I don't have to.
7. OS has to be tablet ready, not just touch ready That's right, and OS designed to be used with fingers, not the microscopic tip of a cursor. And the apps have to be just as usable. As do third party apps. I don't want to have to put my fingers through a pencil sharpener to be able to navigate through the UI.
8. "Reinstalling the OS" needs to be a thing of the past I don't ever want to have to think about "reinstalling" the OS on my tablet. I still want OS updates, but I want a simple way of downloading and applying them. I'd prefer these updates to come in the form of complete OS updates.

Bottom line, I want Microsoft to come up with a tablet OS, but I don't want that OS to be Windows 7. I really don't want a brand new class of product buried in legacy right from the start.

Unless you're planning on releasing a product that has these features, I suggest that you don't pollute the whole Windows tablet pond with junk and hold off until you can give customers a quality product. A good Windows tablet experience needs more thought that just cramming the Windows UI into a device with a small screen.

Oh, and yes, I have been good this year.

Thank you!

A