Microsoft Stores kicking off Black Friday sales on Thursday

The Microsoft Store will start Black Friday earlier than most retailers by kicking off its sales extravaganza online on Thanksgiving Day starting at 12 a.m. Pacific time. It's not clear if there will be a difference between the sales online on Thursday and those at Microsoft Store locations on Friday morning. Most of the deals run through November 25.

Other retailers are also getting an early start on Black Friday. Amazon is already offering some Black Friday deals online. Best Buy will introduce a number of Black Friday online-only deals on Thursday, and Walmart is also offering its Black Friday deals online starting Thursday. Walmart will also open its doors for Black Friday starting at 8 p.m. Thursday local time, and Target will open at 9 p.m.

You can check out a preview of the Microsoft Store's Black Friday deals on the retailer's website, but it's hard to say whether Microsoft is offering a bunch of good deals. You can pick up a three-month subscription to Xbox Live Gold for $13, nearly half price. There will also be Xbox 360 games for up to $35 off. Cheap video games could be a good bet, but you can find similar deals at practically any big box department store such as Best Buy, Target, and Walmart, not to mention Gamestop.

There will also be $100 versions of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 and Office for Mac Home and Student 2011, saving $50 off the regular price for both. The problem with Office 2010 deals this year is that Office 2013 is on its way for Windows PCs in early 2013. Unlike previous versions of Office, you can buy a subscription for $100 per year that lets you install the software suite on up to 5 devices. Plus you get a ton of other goodies including 60 minutes per month of Skype calling credits, 20GB of extra SkyDrive space, and the right to use temporary versions of Office at public PC workstations.

:story: PCWorld