Panos Panay, who led the development team for Microsoft Surface has described the genesis of the Tablets of the early concepts to finished product. Speaking to The Verge, he reported the problems to be overcome.
Surface RT was developed under the code name Georgetown. A key requirement was that nothing was prematurely leaked on Microsoft's own tablet plans. Second, it should necessarily concurrently with Windows 8 on the market. "The goal was to, Windows 8 to life," said Panay.
Panay had earlier on desktop computers Pixel Sense (previously also known as Surface) work. He started the tablet trend with a small team of 12 employees, which grew later to 30 and eventually more than 80 employees. Although there from the beginning was to go to a tablet, and other form factors were considered. When the development of Surface began exactly, could be not elicit Panay. The official explanation is that the design concepts of Windows 8 already stood firm before Apple introduced its iPad.
Strict secrecy was the software giant important because it does not disturb its Windows 8 OEM partners wanted. On the other hand he did not trust the hardware manufacturers seem to not to create exactly the type of device that should be about it. Companies like Acer and Lenovo were later naturally angry and accordingly expressed from the well.
The concept of Surface can be explained according to Panay in one sentence: The users should therefore take longer than competing tablets. Clear requirement was also that the device had to remain thin and lightweight. When the first prototype tested the developer rounded backs and edges before they decided on a flat back and angled edges.
A particular challenge proved type and attaching the cover. You should be very thin and protect the tablet surface well. The team decided to use a removable protective cover that was to attach with a magnet. After numerous prototypes were TouchCover and Type Cover, each of which was created by different people. With only a 3 mm thin envelope holding the team the original target to develop a protective case, with less than 4.5 millimeters thick.
Work on Tablet Surface Pro began under the codename Georgetown X three months later. According Panay that's the only reason why the Pro version was only delivered three months after RT Surface. "It was really just an employee, and time availability." Delaying or product problems had not occurred.
The developers are busy now with future generations of Surface. "I'm talking about generations, not just one," said Panay. "The teams are working hard on them and are excited by what they achieve. I think it is still better -. And hopefully exactly what you expect from us ".
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