A lot has changed since Windows 3.1 gained general popularity in 1991, both in terms of devices available to host an operating system and the bandwidth necessary to connect them. Sometimes Microsoft has blazed a trail, sometimes they have fallen behind, but Windows has always managed to more or less stay abreast of the world of computing.
Tablets are a story of both greatness and woe. Windows XP was tablet-ready, but the hardware world wasn’t. We ended up with five-pound tablets that had a three-hour battery life and required a stylus. Apple and Google surged ahead as soon as the hardware was truly ready for the form factor.
