Consider this the first salvo in what could be a potential battle between Microsoft and its hardware alliance partners.
In a published report by the BBC, Taiwanese computer maker Acer said it has pushed back the release of its Windows RT tablet products following launch of Surface along with some mixed reviews from high tech community.
Acer said its now looking at April for a release target date.
When Microsoft announced that it was going to produce a competing tablet product running Windows 8, the vendor partners grudgingly accepting it.
Since Microsoft would only sell the Surface at the Microsoft store and online, the vendor alliance partners were still going to get the lion share of sales through channel partners.
With Acer deciding basically not to participate it sends a message to Microsoft that it needs to play nice with those vendor partners who helped them become a software giant.
Acer is considered to be the fourth largest PC maker in the world and these delays will not have too much impact.
