The Earth-shattering Microsoft announcement we've been waiting for is finally here. As several
pre-event rumors suggested, Microsoft is indeed building its own tablet.
A 10.6-inch device running Windows 8, the "Surface" tablet borrows its name from Microsoft's
table-sized computer that's been an impressive yet niche product for the past few years. In announcing the new tablet, CEO Steve Ballmer stressed that Microsoft has been a hardware company for decades, with mice, keyboards, webcams, and of course the Xbox, among many others.
