In with the new, and out with the old, ASUS says.  The company is ditching Windows in at least one of its upcoming EeePC tablets and switching to the increasingly attractive Android OS from Google.

ASUS is preparing two tablets for launch -- a 10" display, 675g (1.5 lb) chassis model and a larger 12.1" display variant.  Both devices were demoed at Computex 2010.

The larger tablet used a full install of Windows 7 Home Premium -- that much remains unchanged, as of now.  The smaller tablet, though, was first shown off with a Windows Embedded Compact 7 operating system, which now appears to have been ditched in favor of Android.

The 10" Eee Pad 101TC is reportedly currently running Android 2.2 "Froyo", but will ship with "Gingerbread", also known as Android 3.0.  Android 3.0 is expected to land during the holiday season.  ASUS may even opt to wait till CES 2011 to announced the final production plans, according to some rumors.

For ASUS the upcoming tablet series is critical.  The company, which launched the netbook craze, has seen the torch stolen by Apple, as the market cools to netbooks and heats up to tablets.  Apple itself has been vocal in predicting the demise of the netbook movement.  However, if ASUS can craft a more functional, cheaper alternative to the iPad, it could well return to glory.

ASUS is not the only key player opting with Android over Windows -- Dell also is using Android for its tablets.  Meanwhile HP's tablets are expected to run on webOS from its recent acquisition Palm.  That means that the 12.1" Eee Pad EP121 may be an endangered species -- the only high-profile upcoming Windows tablet from a major manufacturer.  Despite that, Microsoft insists that it hasn't given up on tablets.