Some call it the “Post-PC” era. I don’t know why, as my desktop is still here and getting better every upgrade. Aside from that, the computer is actually becoming more personal these days. ZDNet has said that Microsoft has pulled off it’s biggest reinvention ever with the release of Windows 8, Surface and Windows Phone 8. The golden Trifecta of Microsoft products. Do you think they pulled it off, or is this just a magic trick slight of hand to look like they did?

Personally, I think they have done well. The Surface has been accepted as a very promising and well made product (Windows RT vs. Pro is a different argument). Windows 8 has it’s naysayers, but all in all it’s a very good product that can benefit from some extra refinements (supposedly incoming). Windows Phone 8 is a large improvement over WP7 in nearly every way. They’ve taken customer feedback and integrated into the new mobile OS. I think I may end up buying one when they are released on Verizon next week.

The existence of Surface (and the Windows RT and Windows 8 devices on the way) will at least give those buyers an option for a Windows tablet that hasn’t existed until now — in which case, it’s done its job. And as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, hardware is a key way of owning the relationship with the consumer, so being in the hardware business with the Surface (and most likely Microsoft-built phones in future) is now essential.