The platypus, an intriguing creature from Australia’s East Coast, claims to be a mammal but in many ways resembles a hybrid of a reptile and a bird. In a long list of puzzling features is its duck-like bill, a venomous spur and that it lays eggs. Despite this reptilian and avian pedigree it is awkward on land and not exactly graceful in water. But for all its uniqueness in the animal kingdom, it has an unlikely peer in the world of technology—Microsoft’s Surface. Much like the platypus, the Surface combines features that seemingly don’t belong to each other. On one hand it wants to be a consumer-friendly tablet, on the other, it caters to the enterprise with its laptop-like disposition. But like the platypus, it does neither very well. That’s not necessarily a bad thing: Surface is where market trends appear to be heading towards.

Critics’ main point is that Surface lacks focus. Straddling over two distinct segments results in a compromised design, they say. Surface simply cannot address the unique needs of the consumer and the enterprise. But the idea of these two worlds colliding is not as ridiculous as it may sound. We can see the early signs of it in the bring your own device (“BYOD”) trend. It is common now to take your own laptop, tablet and / or a smartphone to work. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. As college students we’ve been primed to use a single device for coursework and personal purposes for years. It would only seem natural that we carry that habit into our professional lives. If this trend continues, thus, the need for a device that’s functional as a laptop and easy and fun to use as a tablet should grow too.

Still, BYOD may be just a fad. In which case, a more established tendency can play a role—technological convergence. History shows that forces of technological convergence can span product categories even farther apart than tablets and laptops. A decade ago we had to use 3 different devices for listening to music, taking photographs and making phone calls. Back then having a single device combining these three functions well enough seemed like a pipe dream. But ultimately the smartphone crushed these three categories. Thus, it proved that even such dissimilar devices like cameras and mp3 players would blend. A viable cross-breed between close cousins like laptops and tablets should be attainable as well. To this end, the Surface may be an important stepping stone for Microsoft, allowing the company to take full advantage of this trend in the future.

Surface may not immediately seem like a good idea but it can succeed in the long run. Its apparent lack of focus can be a response to shifting trends in our work lives and technology in general. As much as it is impossible to predict how the market will look like in a few years from now, history shows there could be a place for a device that combines features from multiple product categories. For all its missteps in the marketplace Surface could prove to be a valuable lesson for Microsoft. Perhaps more a guinea pig than an odd-looking platypus, after all.