At Microsoft the arrogance compels them to approach all the hardware manufacturers with the latest, greatest idea of what kind of hardware they should all build next for the Microsoft software platform. One of the more notable disasters for all these hardware companies was the Tablet PC. The list of companies that built these things got skinned alive. Now Microsoft has convinced several of them to build a two pound thingy that runs a version of Windows (XP) that is near its end of life and costs about $1,000. I read the comments over at ZDNet today. The mockery is waist-deep over there. A two-handed, 7" display is perfect for various vertical markets but it's way too big, too expensive, too heavy and too general in focus to succeed. Microsoft's starting point for everything they do is a PC running Windows. That is, in today's world, the dumbest idea to build a new product around that anyone could come up with. Every hardware manufacturer who lets Microsoft talk them into designing yet another piece of hardware to run some silly version of Microsoft Windows deserves the failure that they invariably face.