Sure some apps in Windows 8 tablets will look ugly but at the end of the day, backwards compatibility with legacy Windows apps isn't a drawback -- it's a feature, because that's what the market will demand.

You can say that and say that but it doesn't make it true. Again, if that's what the market has demanded, then why has Apple sold millions of iPads in the last year while Microsoft has struggled to force Windows-based tablets down the throats of users for a decade, only to have them hacked back up in its face?

There really couldn't be a more classic example of Microsoft thinking: "You should totally wait for our tablet. It won't be available for a year or more but it'll do ." And somehow it'll do everything without sacrificing on cost, or performance, or user experience.

Now, would be a magical tablet.