“They are finding that even on the scaled-down hardware of the small notebook PC platform, Windows is running smoothly and delivering the experience consumers are asking for because it just makes things simpler and tasks easier,” said Guggenheimer.

An example of new devices is in the broadening class of consumer Internet devices, which fall somewhere between smart phones and the full-featured small notebook PCs running Windows today.

“This next generation of smart, connected, service-oriented devices will give people mobile access to a rich set of media and information,” he said. “Using Microsoft technologies such as Windows Embedded CE, Visual Studio, Silverlight and Expression Blend, we can enable devices such as personal navigation devices, portable media players, set-top boxes and networked TVs to provide a rich browsing experience and a dynamic, immersive user interface.”

Guggenheimer said the first such devices will connect to what Microsoft calls consumers’ “digital lifestyles”, such as files, pictures, music and video, that are currently stored primarily on Windows-based PCs.