Microsoft

Roof tile? That's over on aisle 9.

Stretch the analogy a bit. Windows tablets? They're on aisle 9, next to the laptop bags.

I could stretch the analogy even more, where the buyer gets lost amid a sea of generic Spanish roof tiles like Tom Anderson (the early version of Hank Hill) at Home Labyrinth.

Nobody has to ask that question about the iPad. It's front and center at the Apple store.

So, Redmond needs the Microsoft Store -- or similar boutique storefronts where its product can stand out.

This was confirmed for me on Friday when more

With the recent announcement of Microsoft's new Surface tablet, the decades-old network of partners that Microsoft and Intel built just got a formidable new asset-rich competitor: Microsoft.

Like all successful partner networks, Wintel thrived because all of the players -- the two principals, OEMs, the channel and other stakeholders -- benefited individually from the association while contributing to the growth of the network itself. The Wintel platform is still the dominant desktop and laptop computing architecture.

But with smartphones, tablets and the cloud replacing desktops and more

It looks like the Xbox won't be banned from the U.S. just yet.

The U.S. International Trade Commission is putting off a ruling on whether sales of the gaming console should be prohibited in the states owing to infringement of patents held by Google and its Motorola Mobility unit, Reuters reports.

In late May, an ITC judge recommended the ban, based on his ruling that the Xbox infringes patents regarding wireless Net connectivity, video compression, and other technologies. The ITC had been expected to release a decision on the proposed ban in August but has instead sent more

The man who oversees Microsoft's relationship with makers of Windows PCs is leaving that position, Bloomberg reports.

Steven Guggenheimer, who led Microsoft's Original Equipment Manufacturer unit for four years, will take a sabbatical before heading back to the company to assume a new, unspecified role. He'll be replaced as OEM head by Nick Parker, hitherto the head of marketing for the OEM unit, Bloomberg reported.

The move comes as Microsoft has been ruffling the feathers of some PC makers with its more

Perhaps it goes without saying, but we Microsoft watchers still know very little about the plans of Microsoft hardware partners around Windows 8.

Sure, for a couple of years there have been demos of early hardware (mostly x86-based) running Windows 8. At the recent Computex show, there were even a few details shared by Asus and Toshiba about Windows-on-ARM tablets they're planning, which will run Microsoft's Windows RT operating system.

(Windows RT, formerly known as Windows on ARM, or WOA, is a version of Windows optimized for ARM chips from Nvidia, Texas Instruments, and Qualcomm that's largely similar, though not identical to, Windows 8.)more

Hewlett-Packard has chosen not to ARM itself as it preps for the debut later this year of tablets running Microsoft Windows 8.

The big Silicon Valley computer maker confirmed that its first Win 8 tablets will use Intel's x86 architecture, not the ARM-based chips that will run a variant of Windows 8 known formally as Windows RT. HP's first tablet will be aimed at business users, a company representative told CNET.

Windows 8 is the first full-fledged Microsoft operating system designed to run on both Intel and ARM processors. Earlier this month, Microsoft unveiled two self-built Windows 8 tablets dubbed "Surface" more

After last week's deluge of information about the next iteration of Microsoft's new mobile operating system, the company is letting additional details trickle out. Microsoft revealed last week that Windows 8 Phone will be available in 180 countries when it launches later this year, but it didn't tell us which countries that would be -- until now.

In a company blog post today, the software giant released the list of every country that will have access to Windows Phone 8 Marketplace and the App Hub app submission portal when devices featuring the forthcoming mobile operating system arrive. more

Sales of pricey ultrabooks are up at retailers, a market research firm said, indicating that skinny laptops may be competing directly with Apple's MacBook line.

First, the bad news: the overall Windows market for notebook PC sales at retail fell by 17 percent in the first five months of the year, according to Stephen Baker, an NPD Group analyst, who published a research note Thursday.

The good news: sales of ultrabooks -- thin, light laptops that compete with the MacBook Air -- are up in the premium market segment. more

REDMOND, Wash. -- Anyone who's ever tried on a pair of pants, a blouse, or a skirt can testify to the challenge of finding the right size. Medium doesn't always mean the same thing to every company.

"The industry is designing for an ideal body shape that is not us," says Raj Sareen, chief executive and founder of Styku, a Los Angeles-based company that's using Microsoft's Kinect motion-sensing video game controller to solve the problem.

The 1-year-old, nine-employee company has developed a product that uses Kinect to scan a body in three seconds to provide hundreds more