AC

Last year I sat down with Mike Angiulo, Microsoft's corporate VP of Windows Planning, Hardware and PC Ecosystem. (Long title, but he leads the team that makes sure Windows software works well with the hardware on which it runs.) Microsoft was about to show Windows 8 for the first time on a Samsung tablet, and Angiulo was walking me through the features and how it worked closely with Samsung to craft the tablet. Somewhere during that conversation I steered off course a bit (as I'm wont to do) and asked him about the current state of Windows 7 laptops. I don't remember the exact question, but it went something like this: "What are you going to do about the trackpad problem on Windows laptops?" He knew what I was talking about. Until now, Microsoft has mostly provided Windows for machines made by other companies -- Dell, Acer, and so forth -- and using a trackpad on one was atrocious in comparison to Apple's MacBook Air or Pro. (Read my reviews of these ultrabooks, and you will see...