Last week during the introduction of Windows 8, Stephen Sinofsky, president of Microsoft Windows unit said that the “demos we are showing you today are equally at home on ARM or x86,” according to Informationweek.

A Microsoft representative later clarified that statement saying he “was referring only to so-called Metro apps — touch-based applications that are designed for tablets but which also will run on Windows PCs.”

“We’ve been very clear since the very first CES demos and forward that the ARM product won’t run any x86 applications,” said Sinofsky.

Tonight, Mary-Jo Foley said this on ZDNet:

Part of the reason for all this confusion is Windows 8’s terminology, in my opinion. The “Desktop App” in Windows 8 is the classic Windows 7 mode. Not all Metro-style apps are going to be consumer apps, nor are all business/enterprise apps going to run in the Desktop App mode. Business apps — whether they’re written in HTML5/JavaScript or in C++, C#, Visual Basic and/or using XAML — can adopt the Metro look and feel. And consumer apps can technically be Windows 8 Desktop apps.

Clear as mud.