Lost, a bit, among the hype for the new Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems has been the birth of Windows RT. This operating system is designed to look much like Windows 8, but is optimized for tablets and other low powered devices using ARM processor (as opposed to more robust Intel processors).

As such, Windows RT runs specialized versions of several Microsoft software titles, like Office, in addition to accessing the Windows Apps store. RT made its debut on Microsoft's own Surface tablet and will also come as the operating system dejure on tablets from several other manufacturers as well.

Given its somewhat hybrid nature, reviewers mostly greeted RT with confusion. While some embraced the idea of a specialized OS for ARM devices, others argued that it was "half-baked" and not all that user-friendly. Any eco-system is going to rise and fall not simply on the user interface (which, in the case of Windows 8, most reviewers approve of) but on the depth of the apps catalog. Here Microsoft falls well short of the more established Android and Apple iOS.