Microsoft is getting into the hardware business. It’s so confident in Windows 8 and Surface, its own branded tablet that will run on the mobile-optimized OS, that it is willing to risk a huge backlash from its biggest OEMs. And this week we learned just how serious the software kingpin, and perhaps soon to be hardware giant, is with its plans in this space.

Chief exec Steve Ballmer was quoted to say that he expects Surface sales to be in the millions, but in the long run the device will be coupled by other  tablets that will make their debut in the enterprise rather than the consumer space: and fairly big ones too.

At the Worldwide Partners Conference (WPC) yesterday Microsoft announced that it acquired Perspective Pixel for an undisclosed sum, a maker of touch-sensitive LCD displays.  Pixel sells 27-inch, 55-inch, and 82-inch screens that are used by companies such as CNN, and according to a statement from Microsoft already support Windows 8. The catch is that they cost a lot with price tags hovering around the $80,000 mark, but Ballmer had a say on this matter as well.

“It’s just a very big Windows 8 tablet, but people ‘Ooh and ah’ at it,” Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said at the conference. “Our challenge is to make that technology more affordable.”

Surface and this latest acquisition represent a very big undertaking that the vendor will have to pull off very smoothly in order to justify the investment. Earlier this month we’ve learned that HP, Microsoft’s biggest manufacturing partner, won’t be installing Windows 8 on its upcoming tablet line-up. Dell and several others are still in it, but the channel will only grow more disapproving as this year’s big hardware push will start to unfold.