Dubbed Redmond’s “riskiest product bet” by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Windows 8 certainly does have a lot riding on it. No wonder a lot of people, especially those who occupy key positions within the computer industry, have an opinion on it. Peter Hortensius, president of the Lenovo Product Group, is one such guy. In a recent interview with AllThingsD, an excited Hortensius called Windows 8 “a big, bold move” on Microsoft’s part. Hit the jump because there is more.

Now that app stores have almost become de rigueur, it isn’t hugely surprising that even the next iteration of Windows is widely anticipated to have one. It also makes perfect sense considering the fact that Windows 8 is also being optimized to run on media tablets (even including those powered by ARM chips). While the alleged screenshots of Windows 8’s app store UI that were released a few weeks back eventually turned out to be fakes, some Russian enthusiasts now claim to have uncovered a couple of references to the store in a leaked Windows 8 build. Find out more after the jump.

Acer rode the netbook wave to coast past Dell in the global PC market in 2009, but its stay at the number two spot was brief as Dell came back in the second quarter of 2010 to retake that position. If one fad led to Acer’s sudden rise in 2009, another triggered its slide past Dell in 2010.

According market research firm iSuppli, Acer continues to slide in face of some stiff competition for its consumer-focused computer products from iPad and other media tablets, affording second-placed Dell an increasingly stronger sense of comfort. Hit the jump for Q4 2010 PC shipment numbers from iSuppli.