On Friday, October 26, New York's Pier 57 witnessed software giant Microsoft launching a campaign for the latest version of its Windows operating system - Windows 8 OS - as well as the company's own branded Surface tablet.

The newest Windows 8 OS marks the most drastic change ever to the company's Windows software which has been the market-leading OS over the last almost 17 years.

With Microsoft having designed Windows 8 and its touch-enabled interface with the key objective of thinning the line between PCs and the increasingly-popular tablet computers, the new software is essentially the company's response to the mounting challenge from the Apple iPad.

Meanwhile, the Surface tablet chiefly marks Microsoft's foray into the computer devices arena; and is scheduled to hit the markets - along with a number of other Windows 8-based computers and other tablets - on Friday.

Microsoft's Surface launch event came in the midst of a horde of other tablet offerings coming up in time for the holidays - like the newly-unveiled Apple iPad Mini; and the forthcoming bigger versions of Amazon's Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble's Nook.

However, indicating that Windows 8 devices will offer substantial competition to their rivals, the software biggie said that it has certified 1,000 devices for use with Windows 8 OS and its Windows RT version which runs on devices with somewhat low-energy, phone-style chips that are used in iPad and Kindle tablets.