Microsoft unveils Surface tablet to rival iPad

[The Smokester]

I wonder if I am alone in thinking that the raft of new announcements from Microsoft will turn the computer world as we know it upside down when Windows 8 launches in October
...
Windows 8 in all its incarnations (i.e. desktop, Surface, Surface for Win RT, and Win 8 for phone) is easily the biggest change in UI since Win 95 was launched. It will be a massive change to how we interact with our computers, and if it catches on - it will be hugely disruptive to the entire industry.
...
The enterprise support in the Windows ecosystem is very strong and unmatched by Apple, which can barely scratch the surface of the corporate world. Furthermore, the ecosystem-wide integration between all the Windows 8 products is much tighter than it is between OS X and iOS, making porting software so much easier.
...

I think you may be right. Integration at the operating system level is a primary key in my experience. In my consulting business I use 5 different platforms--smart phone, tablet, laptop, desktop and server. The last three are powered by microsoft operating systems. The first two are Android (Google). The Androids are synched with kludgy third-party applications to the bigger machines. Works okay, but when it comes to full system backups to the server, only compartible OS's will really do.

As far as compatibility goes, one of my corporate clients use primarily Apple products. Surprisingly often, if they want to trial "serious" scientific software, they are running them on my Windows 7 laptop (at least during the trial period) since there is no iOS version. Then they have to buy a Windows box.