Microsoft's willingness to shift strategy on Windows 8 is a test for Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, whose leadership has been criticized by some investors.
Whichever theory you think is right, with the No Glass Ceilings motif index, which returned 10.1% year to date, you get a litmus test for this tectonic sociological shift occurring in our society and economy through the progress of 19 companies currently headed by female chief executives.
But a bigger test of Asian governments' resolve to shift the balance of growth from exports towards domestic spending is whether they will allow their exchange rates to rise.