Microsoft hopes the Surface will generate badly needed customer excitement when the first, ARM-based version of it lands in stores this fall. (A more robust Surface running the full Windows 8 software on Intel chips will follow about three months later.)
The device was a clandestine project at Microsoft: A small, handpicked team -- including several Xbox veterans -- worked in stealth to develop the company's first ever self-designed computer.
Microsoft designed its own PC for the first time in its nearly 40-year history.
