Windows 8 and Best Buy, a marriage made in......

You get the point, what pairing could be worse?  An operating system people hate being in featured in a store people hate to shop.  Only Microsoft could come up with this one.

The theme of Microsoft’s latest ads is “Windows Everywhere”—and if you visit a Best Buy store in the near future, you’ll certainly understand why.

Best Buy will be partnering with the software giant to add stores-within-a-store to 500 selected locations within the United States, plus another 100 more within Future Shop and Best Buy locations in Canada. And the size will be in your face as well: 1,500 square feet to 2,200 square feet, on par with the size of the homes into which those PCs will be installed.

Inside each “store” will be a mixture of Microsoft devices: Windows-based tablets and PCs, Windows Phones, Microsoft Office, the Xbox console, and more. Microsoft said that each space will also include examples of how Windows services straddle those devices, and showcase the latest ultramobile Windows-based PCs, both from third parties as well as its own Surface. The Best Buy stores will be installed from late June through September.

The idea is to put Windows back in front of shoppers’ faces in time for the preview and eventual (re)launch of Windows, with Windows 8.1. Microsoft is rolling out the preview release of Windows 8.1, sometimes known as “Windows Blue,” on June 26, at its BUILD conference in San Francisco. But it’s also been on a media blitz of sorts, spacing out the new features of Windows 8.1 in a bid to attract media attention, launching ads, and generally promising to meet nonplussed consumers halfway.