Microsoft officials are not commenting on the features in any part of Office 15; on the planned release-to-manufacturing (RTM) or general availability date; or on whether the technical preview will include a version of Office that will work on Windows 8 on ARM. (I asked about all of these.) Update: Also, for those asking, we also have no idea on platform-support specifics — such as whether this preview also encompasses the rumored Office for iPad; and whether it includes a separate non-touch-centric Office 15 update for those not using tablets/touch-enabled laptops.

I hope that Microsoft is working on an ambitious touch-centric version of Office for Windows 8. It would be odd if it wasn’t. But I’m not sure what the implications will be–is it even possible to create a touch version of Excel that will please a spreadsheet jockey?–and look forward to hearing what Microsoft has to say when it’s ready to talk.

But now I can relive the magic for the first time, thanks to a new version of DONKEY.BAS for iOS. It’s 99 cents, is compatible with Game Center, and includes both iPhone and iPad versions. It seems to be a faithful rendition of the original, complete with blocky graphics and bloopy sound effects, and the same objective: Drive down road, avoid hitting donkeys. And it’s um, just as fun as it must have been back in 1981.

The new version is by Johnny Ixe; I’d love to think that’s a pseudonym for William H. Gates III. Probably not, though, so let’s hope that Microsoft doesn’t issue a takedown notice….

A source at Microsoft has confirmed that the devices are indeed official prototypes of laptops featuring a Kinect sensor. In terms of functionality, there are hundreds of different ways that motion control could be leveraged in a portable. Gaming has the most obvious applications, but a Kinect-enabled laptop could also toggle between programs with the wave of a hand, or media controls could be tweaked with the wag of a finger. What’s more, motion-controlled portables could offer a new way for disabled individuals to interact with their devices.

Kathleen De Vere’s “source with knowledge of the company’s decision” says Microsoft will phase out its points system by the end of the year, and that the change will affect the Xbox 360, Windows Phones and the Zune Marketplace. Mobile developers are reportedly being warned to plan their downloadable content and in-app purchases around the change in policy. Microsoft, not surprisingly, would not comment.

The current Microsoft points system is ridiculous for two reasons: First, the real-world value of points–$1 per 125 points–is confusing, although Microsoft has insisted it isn’t trying to mislead customers. Second, and more importantly, the points system doesn’t always allow you to buy exactly what you need. You can only purchase points in $5 increments, so you’ll always overspend on cheaper downloadable content, movies or music. (It used to be worse. Until April 2010, Microsoft only sold points in 500 or 1,000 increments, so you’d always overpay on a $5 or $10 game.)

Microsoft has been flirting with the idea of ditching its points system for years. In 2009, when Microsoft introduced full game downloads on the Xbox 360, it allowed users to see the games’ full dollar values, and pay the exact amount. When I asked Michael Wolf, Xbox Live’s senior marketing manager, if this was a sign that Microsoft was moving to direct credit card throughout the system, he said “It’s an indicator that we might, yes.” A year later, Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg told G4 that dollar-based billing “ is something that we’re looking at.”

Now, I think it might actually happen. Microsoft is trying to turn the Xbox 360 from a game console into a general entertainment hub. If the company wants a broader audience to buy lots of movies and music, and maybe even apps, it can no longer afford to use a payment system that overcharges users and doesn’t make any sense.

Why’s that? Two phones made their debut at the show, the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II. Both have been getting glowing reviews from the press for their form and function. Finally it appears Microsoft has devices that look compelling. It couldn’t do much worse: there’s only one way and that’s up!

I think a lot of people expected this to happen once the Nokia deal was announced last year. Nokia making such a commitment to Windows Phone was bound to pay off. The designs coming out of the company are just visually striking and beautiful, and complement an already visually stunning user interface.

The Lumia and Titan II’s feature sets are also competitive, another major selling point that Windows Phone devices have been falling behind on.

Picking up my first Windows Phone device last year, I was shocked at how far Microsoft has come — and apparently so are a lot of other journalisst. I’m willing to bet with such positive coverage coming out of CES, combined with what is expected to be a marketing push valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Windows Phone will make progress in the market place.

I don’t think Windows Phone is set to become the new Android, but I do believe this is now a legitimate three-horse race.

I’m sitting in Terminal 2 at San Francisco International Airport. But tonight at 6:30pm PT, I’ll be in Las Vegas at Steve Ballmer’s final Microsoft keynote at CES–and TIME’s Doug Aamoth and I will liveblog it one last time. You can join us at technologizer/ces12, and I hope you will.

Next Monday at 6:30pm PT, Steve Ballmer will give what Microsoft says is the company’s final keynote at CES. I don’t know whether he’ll acknowledge that fact, in either a serious manner or a lighthearted one. But it’s a safe bet that he’ll talk about Windows 8, ultrabooks, Xbox, and Windows phone. And I’ll be in the audience, along with TIME’s Doug Aamoth. We’ll liveblog the event as it happens at technologizer.com/ces12. Join us, won’t you? (And if you need a reminder, head there now: You can get an e-mailed notification when the event begins.)

And Daring Fireball’s John Gruber makes a parenthetical remark that I find intriguing:

(And, as I’ve said before, I think the “Windows” brand hurts them here. Windows Phone 7 doesn’t sound like a new platform. It sounds like an old one. They should have called it Metro 1.0.)

Windows Phone’s market failure to date surely stems from a confluence of obstacles rather than one overriding issue. But there’s no denying that “Windows Phone 7″ and “Windows Phone 7.5″ are willfully mundane monikers for operating systems that aren’t the least bit mundane. They suggest business as usual, when what Microsoft actually did–rather bravely–was to start from scratch.

(Microsoft’s rebranding of Windows Mobile as Windows Phone may have had some significance in the company’s own mind, but it was way too subtle to matter to the masses, or even to people who care about this stuff; to this day, I keep accidentally typing “Windows Mobile” when I mean “Windows Phone.”)

Normally, I’m wary about companies ditching well-known brands; it’s far easier to stretch perceptions than to start over. (That’s why, when I was editor of PC World, I never would have advocated for changing its name to something with a more 21st-century feel.) In this case, though, it’s worth wondering: Would more people take a look at Windows Phone if it were called Metro, or at least something without “Windows” in it?

We’ll never know. And we don’t know whether Microsoft seriously considered such an option, or did any market research on it. After the ill-fated journey known as Zune–not to mention the Kin meltdown–it may have been wary about creating all-new brands. And it may still think that Windows users the world over are at least slightly more likely to consider Windows Phone because of its name.

But I’m inclined to think that a new name would have made sense. It would have made a statement; it would have made the new software sound more like an iPhone-level big deal rather than an incremental update aimed at Windows Mobile users. It wouldn’t have had a meaningful effect on market share all by itself, but it would have gotten things off to a better start.

Of course, Microsoft being Microsoft, it’s not out of the question that it might change Windows Phone’s name yet. But there’s no way to rewrite history and get the big-bang effect that would have resulted from an all-new Microsoft mobile OS with an all-new name.

Footnote: As far as I know, Microsoft hasn’t stated that Windows 8 will ship under the name Windows 8; it’s still a code name. It would be utterly stunning if that radical upgrade shipped with a name that didn’t have the word “Windows” in it. Unthinkable, really, giving how important it is that Microsoft convince painfully conservative corporate customers to give Windows 8 a try. Even so, it’s fun to toy with the notion: What if Windows 8 wasn’t called Windows?