Remember netscape?
MS gave explorer away for free and killed that product.
MS has the power to drive real tablet prices far down.
have a nice harcore tablet for $100.00 (with a 10” plus screen)
How would Win8 drive tablet prices down? Why would a $100 Win8 tablet in any way be comparable to an iPad?
MS IE killed Netscape because both ran on the same hardware AND required Windows; MS just included IE with Windows, and few users had any reason to install another product which did the same thing as the already-installed IE.
Different issue with Win8 vs. iOS 5. iPad hardware & iOS are made for each other, so both can be very efficient. Win8 will have to run on anything (including a cheezy $100 tablet), which in turn will have to run any OS (Win8, Android, whatever), a combination with drives up prices in any attempt to match iPad/iOS performance.
Your anecdote and conclusion are contradictory. Apple will win this fight precisely because of the same reason MS won the browser fight: control of the underlying platform, and a symbiotic relationship with what runs on it.
Remember netscape? MS gave explorer away for free and killed that product.
I sure do, and it was a good browser. 
25 years ago, we had Ronald Reagan, Johnny Cash, and Bob Hope.
Today we have Obama, no cash, and no hope!If you can't appreciate the pure beauty of the violin after hearing this, something's wrong with your ears.
Or you can get raw with these strings.
How about this gamechanger from America's Got Talent (which they SHOULD have won).
And finally, this, dedicated to the one and only rdb2, whose eyes are growing dim.
Either way, the violin is sweet yet LETHAL.
Do it!
Well, Netscape was free as well, and the differences between H/W and S/W are HUGE. Amazon is selling the Fire at a loss. They are hoping to make it up on content sales. Not the same model for Microsoft...