Actually, when MS decides to produce their own tablet, several OEMs have complained (Acer, HP, Dell, etc). These few OEMs are big players where x86/x64 OS are concerned.
The pricing is the one critical deciding factor whether they would abandon MS.
Therefore, the pricing of RT will be a gauge of the Pro's pricing and the OEMs' next step. If RT pricing is very attractive, Pro's pricing is unlikely to be unattractive, and they may consider moving to other OSes.
At this stage, Microsoft cannot afford to lose partnerships. Windows 8 has lots of detractors.
As you state, Linux generally won't generate sales. Them moving to Linux is probably not financially wise. But staying with MS is also not wise either, as Microsoft is now competing with them.
if i remember correctly, Acer was indeed not happy with MS coming up with Surface. but before Windows 8, nobody except samsung had an usable tablet. i tried installing Windows 8 on one of the acer iconia, it doesn't work as great. Samsung slate 7 on the other hand was the only tablet at that time which could really function.
In my opinion, MS coming up with Surface is a wake up call for all the OEMs, to let them know how poor their products has been.
for x64, OEMs can't abandon MS. i doubt there is another consumer grade OS that run on x64? Apple will never license out their OS X.
therefore if they have to abandon Microsoft, they will have to close their the PC unit of their business.
lastly in general, i do not like most of the OEMs. i can't even use a brand new PC without having to format them to get rid of all the crap that comes pre-install. that is a serious waste of time. a machine directly from Microsoft will ensure that it is clean.
been looking at the specs page, but still dun quite understand, so a few noob questions...
1. Surface Pro besides being able to run MSOffice, can it run 3rd-party software?
--- They said "can run all of the applications that you’ve used on previous version of Windows", bt i dunnoe if their applications refer to software programmes?
--- I am referring to software like programming software R, SPSS etc.
2. Their 64/128gb is ssd? or flash memory?
actually i want sth like ultrabook X tablet, so dunnoe if Surface Pro is one or not =/
Surface Pro can run whatever you can run on Windows 7 which is why it is call Pro
User friendliness these days = familiarity with that interface. Win 7 is as user friendly as OSX. Many detractors are complaining not because Metro is not user friendly, rather they're not familiar with it.
I've been using Win8 on a TabletPC on regular keyboard & Trackpad for 4 months. Now that I've installed back my Win7 SSD to get ready for Win8 launch, I find the Start Menu so lame.
The Surface will be not upgradeable because everything is soldered on. At least, that's what I can tell from their animation.
Expect Surface Pro 64GB to be USD1000-1200 with Touch Cover. Add USD200 for 128GB version + USD35 for Video-out since most TV don't have DisplayPort.
i don't think i can go back to windows 7 after using windows 8 for months.
i hasn't seen any tablet that is much upgradeable
i could see the Pro replacing some of the ultrabook in the market since the spec is quite on par.
and Surface comes with a magnetic power adapter aka MagSafe which really make it a plus.
MagSafe is really important. i am always tripping on laptop without MagSafe.