Microsoft (MSFT) and its partners are reaping big rewards from the $300 million Windows marketing campaign.

That’s my conclusion after reviewing February U.S. retail PC sales data released by NPD on March 16. Apple’s (AAPL) steep U.S. retail sales declines continued in February, comparatively worse than January’s already dismal showing. Meanwhile, Windows PC sales continued their recent year-over-year growth rally.

The contrast is startling. U.S. retail Windows PC unit sales rose 22 percent year over year in February compared with a 16.7 percent Mac sales decline. By revenue, Windows PCs posted modest 1.4 percent growth, compared with a stunning 23.3 percent Mac revenue decline. It’s not a Mac bloodbath, but massacre.

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Microsoft (MSFT) made a stunning announcement during today’s Professional Developers Conference: a lightweight Web-based version of Office.

Earlier in the day, Microsoft debuted Windows 7. Windows 7’s core feature focus is making content more easily accessible across devices, PCs or services.

Takeshi Numoto, general manager of Office Client, demoed Office Web early this afternoon, during today’s PDC keynote.

Office Web is a stunning concession to Google and other Web 2.0 platform developers offering Web-based productivity applications. Office Web will come with lightweight versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. But the announcement is about what Microsoft has today. A technology preview will be available later this year. Microsoft plans to offer Office Web with release of the next desktop version, code-named Office 14.

The timing clearly is deliberate. Google has picked up some recent, high-profile converts to Apps from Office, such as Washington, D.C. By announcing Office Web now, Microsoft gives some organizations considering Google Apps reasons to delay and wait. This is a longstanding Microsoft tactic: announcing early as means of creating uncertainty and doubt about whether an enterprise should wait or switch to a competing product.

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It’s the seventh inning, and Microsoft finally hits a marketing home run. Is it a gamer winner? If the competition were Apple, which surged to 8.5 percent U.S. PC market share in the second quarter, the answer would be yes. But Microsoft faces its toughest competitor ever: Itself. I spent some time this morning reviewing the candid—and arguably craftily edited—”Mojave Experiment” videos. As I explained yesterday, Microsoft conducted a focus group with people with negative attitudes about Windows Vista. They were shown what was supposed to be new Windows version “Mojave,” but it really was Windows Vista. Microsoft’s new “Mojave Experiment” Web site, which went live today, is the resulting marketing collateral.

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Live Mesh is so messy to explain, I can’t cover everything in this post. But simply: Microsoft is launching a synchronization platform that the company claims is technology-agnostic. That absolutely is not true. Live Mesh is Microsoft’s attempt to turn operating-system and proprietary-services platforms into hubs that replace the Web. It’s the most anti-Web 2.0 technology yet released by any company. Microsoft is building a services-based operating system that transcends and extends Windows and also the function of Web browsers. It’s bold, brilliant and downright scary.

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Windows’ enterprise adoption declined in 2007, with the gains going to Linux and Mac OS. Vista is a bust. Forrester published the data on March 27, but only released it publicly today. Forrester surveyed a whopping 50,000 users at over 2,300 large to very large enterprises throughout 2007.

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Wall Street went bonkers Tuesday over a comScore report indicating that Google paid-ad clicks growth had literally collapsed. Is that good or bad for Microsoft’s Yahoo acquisition? The answer is complicated, in part because there remains uncertainty about the decline’s cause. If the problem is contained to Google, Microsoft could greatly benefit depending on execution. But if U.S. economic uncertainty is the cause, Microsoft could be buying Yahoo at both a good and bad time.

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Can Microsoft really put together the concepts “interoperability” and “principles?” That’s the question to ask following Thursday’s announcement about Microsoft’s so-called new “interoperability principles.” For quick clarification: The principles aren’t really new–the European Union’s Competition Commission required the principles’ framework, in response to Microsoft’s March 2004 adverse antitrust ruling. The timing also is suspicious, given the potential public-relations bang Microsoft could get about a week before a key vote will determine whether or not ISO adopts OOXML (Open Office XML) as a standard.

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Forgive me for doubting Microsoft’s bean counters, but Yahoo is one hell of a risky acquisition. Better said: Microsoft is about to bet the company on Yahoo. It’s a winner take-all, loser take-nothing strategy. For a company that typically resists big acquisitions, Yahoo is a $44.6 billion potion that’s either heap big medicine or pure poison.

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Microsoft finally found a way to get Google Desktop software off Dell PCs. What’s that saying about a little charity going a long way–or starting at home?
Last week, Microsoft and Dell unveiled three (PRODUCT) RED, or (RED), computers. When people buy one of these computers, the companies donate money to the Global Fund. Little problem for Microsoft: As part of a previous $1 billion marketing agreement, Dell computers ship with Google Desktop software and other goodies. No problem: Microsoft representative Brandon LeBlanc has instructions for fixing up that (RED) PC, and in the process axing that dreaded Google software.

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