Windows 8

Whether they’re ready or not, America’s fighting men and women are about to be powered by Windows 8. Business Insider reports that Microsoft (MSFT) has just scored a major win by signing a three-year software licensing deal with the United States Department of Defense that will deliver Windows 8 to 75% of its 450,000 employees. Business Insider notes that this new deal marks “the first time that three major DOD agencies — the Army, Air Force, and Defense Information Systems Agency — have entered into a single agreement with Microsoft,” so this really will be a big boost for the new operating system. Of course, since Windows 8 is such a dramatic shift away from the traditional Windows interface, it’s likely that Microsoft will need to undertake a massive training program to make sure that Pentagon employees understand the ins and outs of the operating system. The last thing we want to see is a raid on al-Qaeda botched because someone on the support team was too busy looking for the Start button.

Windows 8 has failed to draw the excited masses that some earlier versions of Microsoft’s (MSFT) PC operating system had attracted, according to a report published Sunday by The New York Times. Microsoft and its partners hoped the new platform would be a catalyst in a weak PC market, but earlier reports suggested Windows 8 might not have a real impact on sale for quite some time. Now, Acer’s president for the Americas region Emmanuel Fromont tells The Times that Windows 8 sales are off to “a slow start, there’s no question.” Acer is not the only Microsoft partner that has publicly complained of slow sales. Speaking with The Times, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst A. M. Sacconaghi predicted that global PC shipments declined 3% in 2012.