Microsoft is showing off its Smarter Retailing initiative this week at the National Retail Federation (NRF) convention in New York. Several Microsoft partners are announcing products based on, or supporting, Windows Embedded for Point of Service, a specialized version of XP Embedded aimed at the retail and hospitality industries .................. Hewlett-Packard -- will offer Windows Embedded for POS on its rp5000 POS device, a PC-like device with additional functionality to support POS requirements. ............. Microsoft claims that Windows Embedded for POS will be the first retail-optimized software platform to provide plug-and-play functionality to enable retail peripherals to be easily installed...