I've never been a fan a Microsoft, but by chance on December 31 I visited a Microsoft store in Bellevue, Washington, found a device that looked identical the Apple's iPad, and became very curious. I talked to a store employee and learned interesting stuff:

This device (identical to the iPad, in appearance), is actually a true computer that allows you to upload any program you want - any program that you would be able to run on a Windows computer. In particular:

• It comes with Microsoft Office (Outlook, Excel, Words, PowerPoint, Visio etc.)
• You can install Perl and Cygwin if you want - or Java, Python, C# etc.
• You can install R, SAS (Windows version) and any analytic software
• You can install IE, Firefox, Chrome etc.

You can take it on a plane on your way to one of your clients, and make a software demo of your product, or a powerpoint presentation.

Two things I don't like:

• The model I've seen, at about $1,200, is still too expensive, but price will go down.
• I'm very bad at using a touchscreen keyboard. But I hope to find classes to improve my typing skills.