Though Surface is clearly a tablet device, Sinofsky pointed out that the process of developing Windows 8 (on which Surface's Windows RT operating system is based) started in the summer of 2009, when there was no Apple iPad as a reference point (though it remains unclear if Microsoft began working on its tablet at that time).

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However, on the Windows RT variant of the system - which will power cheaper tablets running on ARM-based chips - app publishers will only be able to sell their products through the Windows 8 store designed for the touchscreen interface, with all its associated restrictions.

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Also, as on the RT model, the Windows 8 system files take up a huge chunk of available storage.

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The Surface RT and the Windows 8 operating system were both released on October 26, so Microsoft is more than four months into its grand experiment.

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Researchers at the Cornell University Nanobiotechnology Center are combining RT-PCR with a nanofluidics-based system for separation and identification of genetic material from different organisms.

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Mr. Ballmer styled the new tablet device as a vehicle to exploit its forthcoming Windows 8 operating system, and a variant called Windows RT that relies on different kinds of computer chips.

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That means it's more powerful, of course, but more importantly, since this is an x86 system it runs full Windows 8 instead of Windows RT.

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Mr Pitcher's view is that it is precisely the Rt Rev Justin Welby's relative inexperience as a bishop that could allow him to change the system.

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The next crop will run the new Windows 8 operating system, but this first, less expensive, line will run the stripped down Windows RT on an ARM chip.

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