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Windows 8 is key to the future, the Surface computer.

Windows is probably the most important product in the entire PC industry. Everything we do in terms of supporting touch, new hardware, accessibility has incredible impact.

With Windows 8, Microsoft is trying to gain market share in what has been dominated by the iPad-type device. But a lot of those users are frustrated. They can't type. They can't create documents.

With the general availability of Windows 8/RT and Surface, I have decided it is time for me to take a step back from my responsibilities at Microsoft.

When we think about Windows, we want to think of it as a broad platform, from wearables to industrial IoT platforms to PCs and tablets.

In my view the tablet and the PC are different. You can do things with the tablet if you are not encumbered by the legacy of the PC.

A lot of the really good features of Windows 10 - things like Windows 10 Hello, where you have facial log in and you don't have to use all your passwords, the Start screen and your ability to go through that, the touch usages of gaming, as the new games come to this product - those are going to run with PCs that have the latest features.

I'm quite certain the Windows 8 team is preparing to market IE 10 - and by extension, Windows 8 - as the safe, privacy-enhancing choice, capitalizing on Google's many government woes and consumers' overall unease with the search giant's power.