That's a really important point, I think. Looking back over the past 25 years, what has Apple consistently done better than any other technology company? Snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. What has Microsoft consistently done? Just as you say, they consistently deliver a couple of turkey drops, and then start to get it right in version 3.
It's not clear what "version 3" of MS's tablet strategy really is, or whether their product-development effort has reached that level yet. But if history is any guide, we'll know it when they ship it. Most likely, it will happen around the same time that Apple's proprietary, grasping nature starts to become self-defeating.
