I'm sure many like the concept of Windows on a tablet. However, to date, nobody has liked Microsoft's implementation of that concept. Will Windows 8 be different? Who knows? One thing is for certain, they are facing an uphill battle as they are essentially late to the game. We're not seeing Windows Phone 7 get much traction. Tiles are interesting and different (kudos for that), but certainly nothing game changing. The only way WP7 will upset Android will be through legal battles. Only if it becomes completely unpalatable for OEMs to use Android, will WP7 get traction.

Why talk about WP7? Because that's the UI (Metro) that Win8 is betting the farm on. Microsoft will be challenged with keeping the required specs for a Windows tablet low so that it can possibly at least be price competitive with iPads. Though I find myself interested in Microsoft's direction with Windows 8, I'm still pretty far from convinced that it will dominate anything other than the traditional desktop where it already has lock-in at the enterprise level. They need to move quickly though because more and more execs are asking for iPads by name, not generic Windows based tablets.

Well, a year and half from now when such tablets are finally available, we'll see. In the meantime, there's the iPad and Apple has time to do at least two hardware and software revisions before any of these hypothetical Windows 8 tablets appear. So, all the breathless excitement over WIndows 8 (THIS time it'll be different!) is a bit premature. Windows 8 and the underlying hardware won't be competing with today's iPad, but one that's been much further refined.

In the end, iOS and Windows tablets may coexist, and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it would be a good outcome to see Microsoft do a little better in that space than their current irrelevance in phones. Apple and Android need the competition.

Not sure why some are attacking the survey with such zealous intention. To see a prime example of bending the facts to portray things in a positive light, you could no worse than look at a keynote speech by some of the major tech players. Any one will do, and some are worse than others.

@BananaJr

Microsoft tax? There is no such thing... You are confusing Microsoft with Apple.

@Zakharin

Ever see a commercial for a Windows slate? I certainly haven't. People in the real world don't know something exists until they see an advertisement for it.

@argraphics

While it is just a survey, notice how Windows is #1, iPad is #2, and Android is dead last.

Let's take Windows out of the equation, and the iPad becomes #1 and Android #2. Let's compare that to the current tablet market... Would you look at that? No one is buying Android tablets, and many are purchasing an iPad.

The survey makes no mention of price. Can a Windows 8 tablet sell for less than an iPad? Will consumers pay a Microsoft tax if it doesn't?