Microsoft does not make its own hardware products, except, of course, in the rare cases when it does, like the Xbox videogame console, the Zune music player and computer mice. In the PC and phone markets, though, Microsoft has been extraordinarily careful to say it wants to create only the software that powers those devices, leaving the hardware to outside partners.
But the company’s decision to invest in the Nook e-book business of the struggling retailer Barnes & Noble offers some tantalizing clues that Microsoft may be rethinking its position on hardware.
First, there is the Microsoft investment itself in the new Barnes & Noble e-book subsidiary: $300 million for a 17.6 percent stake, plus an additional $305 million in payments over five years. There is speculation that Barnes & Noble, as a result of this investment, will create new Nook devices that are based on Windows 8, a coming operating system designed for devices with touch-sensitive screens. Full article
Google’s online storage service, 
The chief executive of Apple, Timothy D. Cook, has a prediction: the day will come when tablet devices like the Apple iPad outsell traditional personal computers.
If Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive, gets his way, the PC could be on its last legs.
It has been a busy year inside Microsoft: the company is getting ready to introduce an entirely new mobile platform and a new type of Xbox gaming interface that uses the human body instead of a traditional controller. Now it is offering a new kind of Microsoft Office suite, called Office 365, which is based in the cloud.
Microsoft has created a chimera in its new Office 2010 software, part desktop software and part Web app.
There’s a special club of 26 Web sites that pop up when users type a single letter into a search box. It changes with the search engine you use (surprise, surprise!).
Where do Microsoft, Google, Apple and Yahoo compete? Take a look at our handy chart.
