The paradigm shift happened already with the introduction of the iPad. What MS is trying to do is go backwards, not forwards. They want to you and everyone else to keep using their desktop OS because that's what they know. They've clearly convinced you that is the way forward. And my point, if I haven't been clear, is that a desktop/laptop program is not designed around a touchscreen device, but MS wants you to use them this way, because what they really created was simply a laptop with detachable screen.
And if you think consumers have been enamored with their crappy home pc's to the point where they want to take them with them everywhere, you must be living in another universe, because that's not what I'm hearing or seeing from people. I hear things like "I just want to be able to have my emails, pictures, music, documents, calendars, etc accessible on whatever device I use". That doesn't mean people want the OS to be the same or even that they give a hoot about the OS at all. I'll make a generalization here, but most people, I believe, just want things to work. That's what Apple has been providing and MS is struggling to get to that point. That's been the basic difference between Mac and PC over the years.
Certainly the paradigm shift happened with the ipad, I think I said that about 10 times. Apple deserves credit for single handedly causing that paradigm shift.
Programs can be designed for both touchscreen and traditional mouse keyboard use. There are a lot of laptops and even desktops which are coming out now that have touchscreens and the possibilities are infinite. The problem is that Microsoft is doing a piss poor job of integrating touch with traditional computing, the idea is sound but the execution is horrible. You keep trying to split up tablets and laptops, but the point is that you can have them BOTH. I understand the software is still very young at this point, but when iOS first came out no one ever imagined what it would be capable of a couple of years later. There is a divide between touchscreen programs with big buttons and sliders, and desktop programs, but worrying about this is a serious lack of foresight. Certainly software developers will strive to unify the experience in meaningful ways. Windows 8 is trying to do that, even Apple is trying to do that in incorporating iOS elements into OSx, you don't think they see the writing on the wall? It will take time as people catch on, but the UI will evolve into something which allows both touch and traditional computing to make sense at the same time.
You sound like someone in the 90s saying "Laptops will never catch on".
As for wanting a simple, or better termed "dumb" tablet, I don't understand that argument. A windows tablet will easily fill that "dumb tablet" role for the SAME price, size and battery life, but you also get a full OS if that's what you want. I can set up my Windows tablet to just watch videos, pictures, music, etc and do it just as easily as the ipad, along with cloud capabilities. Basically there is nothing the ipad can do that a windows tablet cannot do just as easily, but the reverse does not hold true. At this point it's mainly a fashion show, it's much more trendy and cool to have an Apple product than to have a MS product, this is evidenced by sales of something as lackluster as the ipad mini for example.
As for PC versus Mac and things "just working", that's such a fantasy I won't even go into it that much. I'm assuming you meant PC versus iOS though, but even then I don't get it. In my experience with a windows 8 tablet everything "just worked" just as much as it did with my ipad which choked on web pages, didn't run flash, etc etc. This is a fantasy that is perpetuated by fanboys which is just not true.
What MS is doing IS the way forward. The ipad will forever remain something which introduced another OS and another device to carry around, instead of consolidating existing devices it created another one. What I hear, if you want to give weight to anecdotal evidence, is why can't I take notes on this thing? Why can't I edit my Office documents on this thing in a productive way? Why can't I draw on this thing? Why can't I run photoshop on this thing? Why can't I run Windows software on this thing? But someone with a Win8 tablet will never say Why can't I look at pictures, why can't I watch movies, why can't I listen to music, because they can. So if your argument is that the ipad is more functional then I challenge you to tell me what the ipad can do that a windows tablet can't do.
Now with that said the caveat here is that MS is really really borking their chances with an unfinished OS and a fragmented market with RT. The strategy is sound, but they may end up failing because of their execution. At the end of the day a windows tablet may not be for you, you may prefer the "dumb" tablet execution of purely media consumption, but as you've already admitted you don't even own an ipad so you can't even anecdotally make a case either way, especially if you haven't even tried a windows tablet.
