Banking on Office for Suface Success is a Bad Move

Brian Madden makes some valid points in the linked article that Microsoft is relying on the Office brand to sell the Surface.  If this is Microsoft’s thinking then the Surface is doomed from the outset.  The issue is that the current version of Office is not suitable for the touch interface as anyone who has used it virtually on a iPad will a test to.  Microsoft will most  likely state that this the reason that they are providing the keyboard with the Surface but if the keyboard is required and the pricing is near an ultrabook, then why wouldn’t one just buy an ultrabook.  One of the points in Madden’s article is that Office will come for free on the RT version of the Surface.  However, call me skeptical, but I doubt that Office will be free to the enterprise because nothing is ever free from Microsoft.