The market watchers at Gartner agree, noting that Computer sales are flat year over year on a global level but dropping in the key US market.

Does it include the pro version of Microsoft’s upcoming Surface tablet, which will contain Intel processors, and run Windows 8 Pro.

The Computer industry is hoping that Windows 8 is the catalyst needed to jumpstart the market, but it’s becoming clear that Microsoft isn’t so sure that it can rely on the OEMs to buoy sales of its new operating system.

Excludes tablet computers such as the pro version of Surface from its tabulation of the Computer market.

The Microsoft executive’s vague definition of the market suggests the company is being conservative in forecasting how much its upcoming Windows platform can make the crossover from traditional computers to touch devices that use flat screens as the main interface.

QUESTION: In past Windows cycles, commercial and retail licensing and inventory rebuild have enabled you to outpace the Computer market.

How should we think about those factors around Windows 8 and are you including (original equipment manufacturer)-related tablet sales in your Computer market forecast for next year or should we be excluding those like Surface.

He underscored rising sales of the thin and light Ultrabook product category as a growth driver throughout 2012 and reminded everyone that Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) should boost computer sales of every ilk — from tablets to servers — when its Windows 8 software arrives in the fall.

RESPONSE: (Chief Financial Officer Peter Klein) “On the first question, we will go back to the guidance we gave.

Obviously, we said it was going to lag a little bit in the first quarter pre launch and for the full year would be roughly in line, so obviously that means the remainder of the year slightly ahead.

And also think about some of the emerging markets versus developed markets and what that means for the overall growth of Windows relative to the hardware market.

On the second question on the Computer market, we would say when we talk about the Computer market, we are largely consistent with how other third parties would report on the Computer market traditionally.

Steve Branson is a business journalist based in London, UK. Steve has a passion for financial markets and breaking news stories and loves writing about business news, stock market, and economic opinions that matters most to its audience. Steve spends a lot of time discovering and researching latest financial markets and industry news stories in order to make sure the latest and greatest stories are brought to you first on BigBoardNews.com.