Here’s the short story: Leaked NDA Microsoft slides that landed on an Italian blog site have spread like wildfire. The content of the slides shows that Microsoft is pushing some innovative technology for Windows 8, but also very much looking to Apple’s business model for inspiration. Here’s some analysis.

First, a tip of the hat to Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet for condensing the story. She sourced the Microsoft Kitchen blog that covered the leak, and that blog, in turn sourced the Italian blog ‘Windowsette’ that scooped the leak, which in turn was picked up by most of the Apple rumors sites that I read. Bottom line? This stuff is everywhere.

But other than the plethora of new features, technology, and 2012 timeline Microsoft has laid out for the release of Windows 8, there’s one very interesting slide in particular.

No, you’re not seeing things. That’s an — allegedly — internal slide from the Microsoft Windows team, asking themselves how Apple does so damn well, and how they can mimic the results. The best part is? They’ve even focused on Apple’s mantra “It Just Works.” What’s more interesting than that is the focus on value and user experience. Windows Vista was a focus on flashier graphics, but didn’t do so hot in the UX field. Windows 7 finally started to nail that down, and my assumption is that Windows 8 will be much more fluid, futuristic and minimalistic-ly modern a-la Mac OS X.

Worth repeating: value is the focus here. Microsoft wants to create something people want to pay for, other than something people simply buy because it’s cheaper or preloaded on a PC. Apple has shown that a price tag isn’t as big of a deal when the product has a high level of worth and desirability and functionality.

Lastly, the above picture of the computer is — dare I say it — an iMac prototype clone for a “Windows” computer running Windows 8. In case you were curious, other leaked slides detail that there may be a Windows App store, plus faster start-up and shutdown time, a refocus on functionality and snappier user experience, easier recovery, restore and reset and a facial recognition system for logging in for enhanced security.

Officially, Microsoft hasn’t made a comment, but we didn’t think they would.

Here’s to Windows 8.

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