ConsumerIT - For Europe's High Volume PC Retailers, Distributors & Builders

Microsoft might not have a retail presence in European markets yet-- but the performance of its stores in the US might be key to the company's retail entry in our lands.

According to the Financial Times Microsoft will open European stores sometime in 2013, but only following “an assessment of how its US stores are performing”.

It also reports Microsoft is in talks with landlords in the UK, where it has already registered a private limited company in preparation.

Microsoft is currently fairly aggressive when it comes to US retail-- during the holiday season it opened 32 pop-up stores (in 20 US states and 3 Canadian cities) as part of the Surface tablet launch.

Microsoft retail locations are fairly similar to Apple Stores and sell a variety of OEM hardware as well as Xbox, Windows and Surface products.

If the FT is correct, we will learn one fact from the Microsoft decision to take on European brick-and-mortal stores-- is its retail strategy is working or not?

Go Microsoft in Talks on European Stores (FT.com, registration required)

The only people happy with this news will be the local system builders...

Microsoft's digital crimes division tells the court malware is being installed on PC machines in China before they’re even released from the factories.

What? That's right, your customers who import direct from China may be buying Trojan Horses. Even European importers who bring in unknown Chinese brands could be affected-- unless the importer (like many larger distributors already do) sets up his own security control.

Microsoft investigating counterfeit software in China purchased 20 new computers via retail only to discover malware pre-installed on 20% of the machines tested, with pirated Windows versions present on each of the tested machines.

According to Microsoft’s Patrick Stratton, a manager in the company’s digital crimes unit and the author of the court testimony, the discovery of a machine pre-loaded with the malware Nitol was the most disturbing.

“As soon as we powered on this particular computer, of its own accord without any instruction from us, it began reaching out across the internet, attempting to contact a computer unfamiliar to us,” he wrote. As soon as a thumb drive was plugged into the machine, Nitol copied itself onto that drive and then, when that drive was attached to another machine, copied itself onto the new machine as well.

All this news comes from a lawsuit filed by Microsoft against a man behind a web domain used by the malware-- a Chinese businessman known as Peng Yong. The lawsuit alleges “3322.org is a major hub of illegal Internet activity, used by criminals every minute of every day to pump malware and instructions to the computers of innocent people worldwide.”

Peng denies any wrongdoing but security firm Zscaler pinpoints 3322.org as responsible for more than 17% of malicious web transactions in the world in a single year.

Why this matters is that ecommerce lets Asian makers direct compete with local system builders. Tablets touted on the internet at cheap prices can be had by the public. But no one is verifying the security of their supply chains. An Asian maker need not be directly involved: a handy bribe could inspire a factory worker.

Indeed this could happen in Europe as well... but at least when discovered here the consumers would have strong local recourse for damages. The ancient Romans had it right: Caveat emptor or "Let the buyer beware."

Go Read Microsoft's Frightening Testimony on Unsecured Supply Chains

HP's revenue losses for Q4 2012 might total $6.9 billion, but that might be the least of its trouble-- the company faces an impairment charge worth $8.8 billion from 2011 acquisition Autonomy.

The company blames the majority (over $5bn) of the non-cash charge on "serious accounting improprieties." Meaning HP alleges Autonomy cooked its books by billions before it was bought by then CEO Leo Apotheker for $12 bn.

"There appears to have been a willful sustained effort" to inflate Autonomy's revenue and profitability... This was designed to be hidden," HP CEO Meg Whitman says. On the other hand Apotheker makes suitably disappointed noises, claiming "the developments are a shock to the many who believed in the company, myself included."

Finland-based mobile developer Jolla finally shows off the fruit of its labours-- CEO Marc Dillon appears on MTV 3 Finland with a live demo of Sailfish, its MeeGo-based smartphone OS.

Running on what looks like a Nokia N950 developer device, the OS looks rather interesting. It has a tile-based UI, with running apps showing up on the homescreen as large, interactive widgets.

A "pulley" menu allows users to control music playback or answer/end calls, without need to open separate apps. Customisation is automatic through "ambience," a system generating the look and feel for a device via photo analysis.

The company promises the OS runs many Android apps "unaltered" (via Myriad Alien Dalvik), while other apps will need tweaking. It also has partnerships with at least one vendor (ST-Ericsson) and a mobile network (Finland's DNA) for future Sailfish mobile devices.

Jolla first made an appearance on July 2012 as a collective of ex-Nokia employees from the MeeGo N9 division. Named after a kind of sail boat, it hopes to create an alternative to Android and iOS using MeeGo, the shortlived OS merging Intel's Moblin and Nokia's Maemo projects.

Watch Presenting Jolla

Go Here is the New Sailfish Operating System

Go MeeGo Sails on in Jolla