In a bid to give its hardware partners "greater design flexibility," Microsoft has cut the minimum screen specs needed to win a "Designed for Windows 8" logo. Previously requiring a 1366×768 screen, Windows 8 hardware can now be built with a 1024×768 display.

As reported by Ed Bott of ZDNet, Microsoft made the change to its certification requirements earlier this month. To get the Windows 8 logo on these low-resolution devices, OEMs must also include a clear disclaimer that the low screen resolution disables the "snap" feature that allows two Metro apps to run side-by-side.

During Windows 8's development Microsoft blogged that the operating system was designed for screens of about 10 inches and up. Those decisions likely reflect the company's consistent viewpoint that tablets are merely another kind of PC and are productivity devices just as much as they're consumption ones.

Since then, a number of successful sub-10 inch tablets have found varying degrees of success—the Google Nexus 7, the Kindle Fire HD, and of course, the iPad Mini. These devices have screens that are about 7 or 8 inches big, and accordingly low resolutions (1280×800 for the Android pair, 1024×768 for the Apple device).

These lower resolution tablets are cheaper than the 10 inch ones, and selling well. But it's a market that Windows 8 as Microsoft originally envisaged can't really enter. The new lower resolution could be a step toward remedying that.