United kingdom Daily news: Microsoft Surface: Company's insane levels of security to keep their new iPad rival under wraps

Rabu, 20 Juni 2012

Microsoft Surface: Company's insane levels of security to keep their new iPad rival under wraps

Microsoft Surface: Company's insane levels of security to keep their new iPad rival under wraps

By Eddie Wrenn

PUBLISHED: 07:38 EST, 20 June 2012 | UPDATED: 07:38 EST, 20 June 2012

It is supposed to be the tablet that will finally take down the iPad.

So when Microsoft started developing its Surface tablet, it brought in the kind of security one would normally expect at a nuclear reactor.

Engineers working on the project were housed in an underground bunker so that nobody could even see them working away.

When they outgrew the space they moved to another room with windows - but also airlock style doors at the entrance.

Staff could only go through one at a time and had to wait for the door behind them to close before walking ahead.

But now it has come to the Surface: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled the tablet on Monday

The extraordinary measures show how seriously Microsoft took the development of Surface.

Recent Apple launches have been marred by engineers leaving prototypes in bars and restaurants, putting them into the public domain far too early.

According to techradar.com, Microsoft told its Surface engineers that whilst working on the project they would not be working in the lab called the Garage as they normally would.

The site has everything they need including 3D printers and injection moulding machines - but they were all moved to the underground bunker instead.

Even close to the launch the screen resolution and the price were kept under wraps.

The super-slim device has a kickstand and a keyboard built into its case to turn it into a laptop-style machine

Microsoft engineer Stevie Bathiche said that in the privacy of the bunker he and his team made dozens of prototype designs with particular attention to the sound of the hinged kickstand snapping shut.

In secrecy they could concentrate on making it sound like a sports car door shutting to give the user more confidence in the product.

Bathiche said: â€˜We care about the bigger idea, but also the smallest detail.

â€˜It takes iteration to make great devices and each time we made one of those revisions Surface got better and better.â€™

In 2010 the technology website Gizmodo published pictures of a prototype Apple iPhone after it was left in a San Francisco bar, sparking a police investigation and angry demands from Apple to hand it back.

Last September another iPhone prototype went missing after apparently being left in a Mexican restaurant in Silicon Valley and sold on Craigslist for Â£120.