Microsoft's chief operating officer, Kevin Turner, took to the stage at the company's Worldwide Partner Conference earlier today to stir up the crowd and discuss Apple's idea of a post-PC era. "Apple makes great hardware," admitted Turner, "the reality is in the OS we see things differently." Turner went on to discuss the company's upcoming Mountain Lion operating system and some mixed press reaction to the future of OS X. "We believe that Apple has it wrong," says turner. "They've talked about it being the post-PC era, they talk about the tablet and PC being different, the reality in our world is that we think that's completely incorrect."

Turner then went on to describe this new era as a "PC+" period, one that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates predicted back in 1999. "We actually believe Windows 8 is the new era for the PC plus," says Turner. "We believe with a single push of a button you can move seamlessly in and out of both worlds. We believe you can have touch, a pen, a mouse, and a keyboard." Turner also showed a brief slide of two quotes from former Apple CEO Steve Jobs and current CEO Tim Cook, both discussing the PC ecosystem. "The reimagined Windows is a game changer," says Turner, referring to the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. Whether or not Microsoft's approach to the increasing popularity of mobile and smartphone devices is the right one will play out over the course of 2013, but the company's executives are clearly bullish about Metro and willing to bet Microsoft's future on it.