I understand your point entirely, but I also think if RT is turning out to be such a terrible mistake for them as you or I think it is, they might be better off cutting their losses in order to protect what they still have in regards to a "good name". I'd honestly just kill the line off entirely, fire sale whatever is left after saying "RT is over" and let it be. I compare it much to the Apple Newton fiasco, I'd just kill the damned thing off, take the jokes people will inevitably make, and cut my losses. I'd quit playing the charade and take a bullet on it and just dump the things off at $99 a pop and never mention "RT" again.
RT is a disaster, and I'm convinced were it not related to Windows Phone so tightly and MS still trying to merge RT and WP8, they would have axed it long ago. It's terrible. I've heard people make jokes comparing it to Blackberry 10, but it's actually far, far worse. BB10 is too little too late, where as RT as far as I am concerned is a very ugly wolf in sheeps clothing that I honestly consider that Microsoft has been actively deceptive in the marketing of it. I *DO* know people that have bought an RT tablet off the shelves of Best Buy, having seen the things priced reasonably, the sales staff and in store documentation boasting about it "being Windows!", then they get the thing home and it runs no real Windows software. A friend of my mother's did exactly that, looking for a little tablet to take on vacation to email her grandkids and also to play the little games she plays on her Windows PC. At least she can still email with it, lol. Otherwise it's a rather expensive doorstop.
RT has been worse for MS than the Zune, the Kin, than pretty much ANYTHING, lol. People saw a "Windows" tablet in stores, went out and bought them, only to find out they do not run "real Windows" in the least.
RT is far different than the Zune, however. I owned a Zune. I loved the hardware - just LOVED it, but MS were too late to the game and I got sucked into the Apple ecosystem where I can find everything I could ever possibly want. RT is just plain bad, it's not "too little, too late", it's just plain bad.
Try one, I dare you.
Better yet, go to Best Buy, grab any various Windows Desktop App off the shelf, wander up to the RT tablets, wait for a Salesman to ask you if you need help. Show him the boxed software, mention you want to run it on "that" tablet. I'm willing to put 75% odds that he'd sell you the software and the RT tablet without blinking, and all the wishful thinking won't let you run that copy of say Elements on the Surface RT.
Money isn't that important to MS. They lost billions over the years on the Xbox line, only starting to get above water after the 360 eventually became profitable.
It's been estimated that losses between Windows Phone, Skype and Xbox collectively may cost MS $2.5 in losses a year. MS can eat those losses easily if their numbers show that the offerings in that sector will eventually become profitable. WP is gaining traction, but it's still a loss. Skype, I have no doubt it will become profitable, but I also fear MS will screw it up long before that happens - it's bad enough already. Xbox division I think will be flogged off to someone else entirely. Xbox One is bleeding money as well, they underestimated Sony and over estimated Kinect, for one.
I'd give RT the proverbial Viking Funeral it deserves. I don't think the Surface 3, the full version will fare much better market share wise, but there at least *is* some market for it in Enterprise.
If I were MS, I'd simply give up the ghost and drop the hammer to save face. Just admit RT was a mistake, flog what is left off for cheap, if they sell, great - if not, oh well. I'd consider that the "right" thing to do rather than the rather evasive and deceptive marketing they have been doing with RT.
