Steve Wozniak on Microsoft Surface: 'Steve Jobs came back reincarnated at Microsoft'

Steve Wozniak on Microsoft Surface: 'Steve Jobs came back reincarnated at Microsoft'

By AppleInsider Staff

Published: 04:40 PM EST (01:40 PM PST) Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak quips Steve Jobs "came back reincarnated at Microsoft" referring to the Redmond-based company's recent design breakthroughs that have culminated in the new Surface, a tablet which sports a marriage of art and technology reportedly befitting of the late tech guru.

Wozniak made the comment during the 2012 Entel summit in Chile, reports Business Insider, and said he is eager to get his hands on Microsoft's latest device after seeing the company's significant strides in design with Windows Phone 7.

"[Microsoft's latest products] have such a strikingly good visual appearance which is a lot of what Steve Jobs always looked for, the art and technology; the convergence of art and technology," Wozniak said. "And usually It was...visual appearance of things. So I made a joke that Steve Jobs came back reincarnated at Microsoft."

Microsoft announced that it would be entering the tablet hardware market in June with the ARM-based Surface for Windows RT and the Intel-powered Surface for Windows 8 Pro.

While industry pundits see the device as a possible iPad competitor, some OEMs are less than supportive of Microsoft's effort. Soon after Surface was announced, Acer founder Stan Shih balked that the tablet is merely a ploy to drum up interest for Windows 8 OS while computing giant HP reportedly scrapped its own plans to build Windows RT units. The reason for HP's alleged actions are unknown though some have speculated the company is reticent to enter a market where Microsoft would have a distinct pricing advantage as it would not have to pay for OS licensing.

Last week Bill Gates said that Apple may need to create a Surface-like product of its own as the iPad simply can't compete with the versatility of Redmond's upcoming tablet which runs a more full-featured operating system than the stripped-down iOS.

"I do want to see the Surface," Wozniak said, "I want to own one, I want use one but I prefer to judge things I really know and not just what I've read about. But I'm glad that Microsoft is, you know, starting to show that maybe they're a different company than before. I don't remember this sort of thing happening in a long, long time for Microsoft so I'm very happy."

During the interview Wozniak also detailed his views on the future of sentient computing and recent legal developments relating to the Megaupload filesharing case and that company's flamboyant founder Kim Dotcom.

Source: http://feeds.appleinsider.com/click.phdo?i=8f901fe365c92c9705fbedc7df396091

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