Another day, another ‘leaked’ document, and this time it’s a leaked set of slides from a Microsoft presentation on Windows 8 – mapping out the company’s design and feature goals for the upcoming OS – that is causing a stir on the interweb.

There seems to be widespread good vibes for the rumoured directions the company is said to be taking however, this is tempered with plenty of (in our opinion, knee-jerk) concern that Microsoft may have been paying a little too much notice of what Apple is doing.

“Microsoft’s successor to Windows 7 is taking shape – and that shape looks suspiciously like an iPad supplementing a diet of media with online services,” says The Register, echoing the views of several others, including Cnet’s Ina Fried.

But just what was on those slides, which supposedly come from a company presentation in April? Well, they indicate that the next version of Windows, expected to be released to the world in 2012, may offer:

* Fast startup: A new feature combining Logoff and Hibernate to result will give the look and feel of boot/shutdown be faster;

*Slates mentioned specifically as a target form factor: “It will be interesting to see how Microsoft distinguishes between slates running Windows Embedded Compact and slates running Windows 8,” notes Cnet;

* Push-button reset: A button “that will essentially reinstall Windows while maintaining all of your personal files, applications, settings, etc. without the need for the user to back all of that stuff up,” as Stephen Chapman of Microsoft Kitchen apparently describes it;

* Support for facial recognition as one of the ways identity management/log in will be handled;

* IE 9, with another confirmation of August as being the target for the first beta;

* More thorough help and support, enabling users to do more fixing of issues on their own;

* A Windows App Store.

There’s no comment from Microsoft so far but as regards similarities to Apple products,  Fried notes one slide in particular is titled ‘How Apple Does It: A Virtuous Cycle’, in which Microsoft talks about the need for simplicity in design. “The Apple brand is known for high quality, uncomplicated, ‘it just works,’” the slide says, adding that, “this is something people will pay for!”

Is Microsoft simply playing it safe, with memories of the public rejection of Vista still relatively fresh in their memories (even if Windows 7 exorcised many of those demons)?

Well, first off we should emphasise that even if all this is 100% real and was the focal point of a high level meeting on Windows 8, all Microsoft is doing is looking through ideas for the next version of the OS, not committing to all of this. This may be just one document among dozens where ideas for Windows 8 are kicked about, and wouldn’t it be foolish to ignore what Apple is getting right anyway?

Come 2012 we’d imagine there will be more of a Microsoft stamp on the product than this one leak suggests.