If you saw the Apple iPad 2 and wanted to wait to see Microsoft response, you may have to wait a long time. A report out of Businessweek suggests that a true Microsoft iPad competitor will not hit the market until the back-to-school time in 2012. Yowza.

We already know that Microsoft tablet strategy is Windows has said this multiple times and it will stick with it. The problem is that no matter how much UI goodness you do to Windows 7, its not great on tablets because its not optimized for a multitouch experience that users demand.

So, that means the Microsoft iPad competitor will be running Windows 8, which is rapidly being developed. I expect a beta of Windows 8 to hit later this year with the full version landing in the Spring of 2012. We have seen the leaked Dell roadmap which has a Windows 8 tablet scheduled for the second quarter of 2012 to further cement this report.

Still, that seems like a long, long time for a Microsoft iPad competitor to really hit the market. Yes, we are still in the nascent stages of the tablet market and the software giant will argue that much was made about Linux dominating the netbook space in the early years before Windows came and dominated it.

The problem is that the tablet space is a bit different. Not to parrot Steve Jobs, but this is a post-PC era and patterns and purchasing decisions may be made earlier. Even if the Microsoft iPad competitor rocks our socks off, at least 30 million tablet users will be locked into the Apple ecosystem without an easy way to transition. Throw in the similar lock-in effect of apps with Honeycomb, webOS and Research In Motion and Microsoft may have a tough row to hoe.

Microsoft has released the service pack for Windows 7 right on schedule. SP1 include all important updates to date plus some new ones, but nothing major.

You can download the SP1 via the Windows Update service or from the Microsoft website. OR Use your Start menu to check for updates, STEPS:

Windows Update is included in Control Panel. In the future, to check for updates :

  Click the Start button, click All Programs, and then click Windows Update. 

What do you know, it turns out that Windows 8 may be surprisingly close a leaked roadmap has led to speculation that Windows 8 could turn up in beta form at Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in September. Which is just in time, if the rumors about the Dell Peju tablet coming out in Q1 2012 are right.

About 10 days ago, some leaked Dell roadmaps sparked our interest they showed upcoming Android and Windows Phone 7 handsets and a few droid tablets. Tucked in at the bottom was "Peju", a Windows 8 tablet, scheduled for the first quarter of next year.

Now, Microsoft aficionado Mary-Jo Foley is talking about a new roadmap for Windows 8, which shows that the second of three milestones for Windows 8 should be ready tomorrow. Work on the third milestone starts next Monday and if it takes as long as the second one it should be ready by September. Thats just on time for a beta version of Windows 8 to show up at the PDC, or at least a more details on the progress so far.

Of course, that would be followed by another beta and a release candidate, so the middle of 2012 is the rough target for when Windows 8/Next should be released to manufacturers. As for the ARM port of Windows, Mary-Jo says its unlikely that it will be ready by January, so the Dell Peju may just be a developers platform. Anyway, if we do not see it this September, CES 2012 is the next possible event for Windows 8 to officially break cover.

Steve Ballmer is most definitely one of the more belicose CEOs on the planet, but when it comes to Microsoft latest baby, Win Phone 7, he is been uncharacteristically quiet. Well he is started doing something about that in an interview with USA Today, in which he claims Windows Phone 7 has the best looking handsets in the business.

"There is a lot of competition, but we have got the best-looking phones on the market. We have got the greatest range of alternatives, the phones, the software, the craftsmanship. It is as good or better than anything out there. We have a lot of work to do. But, we are in the game. We sold 1.5 million into the carriers."

Ignoring the opening line hyperbole he does actually make a good point in terms of being able to offer customers a range of products. This has been one of Android greatest strengths, the ability to fit different types of customers, something not so easy for iOS with its single handset. Microsoft has done this whilst also maintaining a commonality amongst the different handsets through a standardised OS and standardized hardware specifications.

Of course it is early days for Windows Phone 7, but Ballmer clearly feels the platform has come out of its shell enough for him to start bagging it up.

Video calling was initially seen as being a killer 3G app that would wow the punters with its futuristic appeal. Of course that did not happen, rather it fell flat on its face and few, if any, actually used it. Fast forward to the iPhone 4 with FaceTime and suddenly, despite cheesy advertising, video calling is back in vogue. Enter Microsoft. Apparently the Big M is working on a video calling app of its own that will seemingly be integrated into Microsoft's Live services and be available to various Windows powered devices.

There are suggestions that the app would be a closed loop meaning that users would only be able to video call other people also using the same app. Its also worth pointing out here that currently no Windows Phone 7 powered smartphone has a front facing camera so this app, if it proves true, would presumably be for future hardware and thus may also come with a change in the minimum hardware specifications for Windows Phone 7.

The information was given out by a Microsoft employee described as being in a key position at Windows Phone 7. The employee was quoted as saying that the app would reach beyond the hand of Skype. If further proof than comments from a mysterious employee were needed then take a gander at the picture below. Its a a screengrab from the Microsoft.Phone.Media.Extended.dll and shows work on a front facing camera system.

You remember Microsoft Surface when it was first showed to the public almost three years ago, Well, at this year CES Microsoft revealed their latest generation of the magic touch table.

This time they have cooperated with Samsung to create a truly impressive user experience, and although Microsoft claim its cheaper than the original and if you badly want one its going to set you back $7,600.

The Surface 2.0 is greatly improved than its predecessor. First of all, its thinner than the original, the computer part of it being only four inches thick. In it there is a full-power PC with an AMD graphics chip and a dual-core processor, again from AMD, running Windows 7. Unlike the first generation of Surfaces that had cameras in them to track your movements and react correspondingly, the new version technology, relying on infrared, called PixelSense. In essence each and every pixel on the screen is acting as a camera and reads what is going on the screen.

I was sure it was only a matter of time before Microsoft launches a full-touch mouse similar to Apple Magic Mouse. And the time has come meet the Touch Mouse. Its not as compact as the Arc Touch Mouse, but supports various gestures thanks to its multi-touch capabilities.

The gestures are quite similar to those on the Apple pointing device you can pinch-zoom, bring the desktop/task manager with three-finger scroll, move through different windows with two-finger gestures or use your thumb to go back/forward.

The Touch Mouse sounds as cool as the Magic Mouse, but I hope Microsoft will do a better job than Apple. I’ve used the Magic Mouse for a while and despite its helpful gestures, it was terrible in recognizing the right-button click. In order to do it right, I had to rest only one of my fingers at time on the mouse, while the others had to stay in the air. Very inconvenient indeed.

Microsoft Touch Mouse is already available on pre-order for $80 and will be released in May. It will be compatible only with Windows 7 and comes with a standalone 2.4GHz USB receiver.

The market was agitated by a report from Bloomberg, which claimed that CES will be used to launch a tablet version of Windows, also available for devices with ARM processors. We do not know any technical details and Microsoft initially planned to adapt Windows 7 for tablets, but it did not happen. Do you remember the project of HP Slate and Steve Ballmer who showed the prototypes in January 2010? The device could not compete with Apple iPad even before the launch and HP cancelled it. Sales of iPad confirmed that the market potential is huge and it is only the beginning. It is clear that Microsoft would like to get its own share of the pie, but it is still unclear what the OS is about. It should be similar to Windows 7.

I would like to remind you of another story. Do you remember why Intel started developing MeeGo? Microsoft declined to create Windows 7 version for Intel Atom, while Intel required the OS for their devices. Free MeeGo emerged, but its development was pretty slow. Microsoft solutions will decrease the popularity of MeeGo for many producers of netbooks and tablet PCs. It will be further enhanced by an ability of Microsoft to sell its products in packages with discounts for particular OS versions. Interests of different companies are so entangled in the segment, that we get a complete helter-skelter. It is interesting to see what Microsoft is going to unveil and how attractive this solution will be for its partners. Their decisions will influence the sales of future devices with different OS on board.

The Micorsoft KIN One and Two showed up, were disliked, discontinued and then brought back to life once again. Tired of this soap opera?

Apparently, US carrier Verizon is tired of it too, so its closing down the KIN Studio onlince service, which means that as of 31 January the few KIN owners out there will only be able use the device for making calls, checking their email, and listening to music.

All the SNS stuff will be gone, such as:

• Feed Reader will stop working
• Search Near me will stop working
• Posting Photos to social sites will no longer be possible
• Most pictures currently on Kin will only appear at thumbnail resolution
• Posting to Social Networks will no longer work
• No comments from the loop
• Social network contacts will disappear
• Loop will stop to work
• Kin Spot will only send to emails
• Social networks only accessed from web browser.

The title says it all, but let us get into some details about the closing of Microsoft KIN Studio, which was the backbone in the cloud for the device.

Evidently, come January 31st, people with KINs will lose the ability to do everything over-the-air, except use your Zune Pass over WiFi and email. Check it:

• Feed Reader will stop working
• Search Near me will stop working
• Posting Photos to social sites will no longer be possible
• Most pictures currently on Kin will only appear at thumbnail resolution
• Posting to Social Networks will no longer work.
• No comments from the loop
• Social network contacts will disappear.
• Loop will stop to work
• Kin Spot will only send to emails.
• Social networks only accessed from web browser.

So outside of making phone calls and playing music, the KIN is really, truly dead. Why even bother after that last, half attempt at a re-launch? We have no idea either. But Verizon is trying to make things right by letting users know now to back up their data now and going one step further, allowing them to pick a 3G phone of their choice for FREE. Offer is valid only through March 31st. Attached are some images from the pamphlet that Verizon is sending out to KIN customers.