Ever since release I've been post-obit Microsoft'due south Surface tablets, and when I say following I mean I've bought a few of them. I recently upgraded to the Surface Pro 3 and so my older Surface ii (based on Windows RT) has been gathering dust. It is with sadness that I'll put it upwards for sale, the Surface two was a wonderful device that exceeded my expectations.

This got me thinking about the Surface. It's a nifty device, yet did and so poorly in the perception game. What could Microsoft have done differently with a mulligan?

When the Surface RT was launched aslope a Surface tablet running full Windows, Microsoft's haters and fans could hold on something for once: Surface RT had no future. What was the point of a device that had both the limitations of Windows (no tablet apps) and none of its strengths (no PC apps)?

So I got the Surface Pro. With time, still, I realized I but did 3 things with information technology: one) browse the web, 2) play media, and three) work with Office. If not for Office, I wouldn't fifty-fifty demand the desktop. Moreover, the Surface Pro was just too thick and heavy.

That's how I arrived at the Surface 2. The Surface 2 fulfills those 3 needs well and in an amazingly portable course factor likewise. Information technology was also a lot cheaper!

What if Microsoft had just branded the Surface every bit an Function-dedicated device? Office was (is) the only reason to get a Windows RT device, and so why not but get all in on that fact?

Why not call it the Microsoft 'Officebook'...

It's the thinnest and lightest portable reckoner for total Part. Information technology'south not a device for tech geeks; it'due south a device for the boilerplate consumer with elementary requirements, and Office.

Here's the pitch to someone walking into Best Buy:

Need something that can run Role? The Officebook is designed only for that.

Y'all tin acquit this matter everywhere: it's the lightest and thinnest device for Office and it has all-twenty-four hours bombardment life. It'south great for browsing the Internet and watching movies, too, considering you tin can use it as a tablet. Run across? And when you want to blazon in Word just put the keyboard dorsum in. There are also games and other apps that you can download from the shop.

All this for but $499. Keyboard and Office included, of course. An amazing toll when you consider how sparse and light this is compared to that beefy Dell laptop there.

Try holding information technology -- encounter how it feels.

And if they ask:

It doesn't run total Windows, it'due south a special reckoner Microsoft built just for Role.

I would brand a few changes to the software, too. There shouldn't be a desktop. It should just be the Modern environment plus Office. Fifty-fifty if technically Part would run in the desktop, coincidental users don't need to know that.

On the Kickoff screen, users tap on the Part tile. They are taken to desktop which looks nothing like the desktop we know -- there's no Windows push, there'southward no time and date on the bottom right, no volume control, and then on. There'due south only a taskbar -- set up to combine simply when full -- reskinned in the Mod flat style with five icons: Outlook, Discussion, OneNote, Excel and PowerPoint.

Ok, make it six with File Explorer, except it's not the Explorer we know, it'due south Office Explorer and it simply shows Role files in the user'due south directory. Role Explorer is not how you browse photos -- go to the Mod Photos app for that. The Function Explorer is just for opening Function documents.

In other words, the desktop is disguised to look like a defended Function app. Every bit far as the user is concerned, there is no desktop. There's just Office.

I would not allow users to admission the Control Panel or any other arrangement settings bated from what'due south in the Mod side. No command prompt either. At that place'southward only one browser and that'south Modern Net Explorer.

The Officebook is for the average office person, not the IT geek.

The Officebook wouldn't have been this weird, Frankenstein thing that nobody understands -- it would be a device with a clear purpose, a specific target market place and backed past a differentiated product that can really deliver.

It's obvious why yous'd buy the Officebook instead of an iPad or Chromebook. It's the best portable Role feel yous can get for under $500.

I think the Officebook would have done quite OK actually.