Microsoft launched both Windows 8 and its own Surface tablet in the U.S. early Friday morning at 12:01 a.m. ET with the opening of the Microsoft Store in New York City's Times Square.
People waited for hours to be one of the first to experience the new tech, including Glenn Acosta, who had the No. 1 spot in line.
"It's definitely worth every penny I spent on it," said Acosta, shortly after his purchase (the Surface starts at $499). "When they first announced that they were going to make [the Surface], I said 'I'm going to research this thing, and I'm going to buy it."
Acosta may have waited for hours and paid hundreds of dollars for his new Windows tablet, but there are perks to being one of the first to buy on in person. Some top Microsoft executives were on hand to autograph the boxes of the first Surface units sold, including Panos Panay, the general manager of Surface.
"We filled up Times Square pretty good," Panay said. "The excitement is riveting — we're very humbled by it."
Microsoft also supplied the people in line with refreshments, and some lucky ones (including Acosta) even got Surface jackets.
It's apparent that, especially with the Surface, Microsoft is trying to capture the enthusiasm that goes hand-in-hand with many high-profile tech launches, particularly from Apple.
How do you think they did? And do you hope to see more Microsoft products in the future, such as a phone? Share your thoughts in the comments.
BONUS: Microsoft Surface Is a Tablet Windows Users Will Love
This is the Surface tablet with Touch Cover in place.
Microsoft's boxing is as clean and well-designed as anything from Apple.
Details about Surface can be found on the back. Notice that our unit is the 64 GB model.
This is all there is inside the Surface box: A Tablet and AC power adapter.
Underneath the Surface is this tiny instruction booklet.
It has just enough instruction to get you started.
A closer look at the instruction booklet.
Removing the Surface for the first time.
The metal kick stand flips open with a flick of the finger.
This USB 2.0 slot works with most of your Windows peripherals. Here, I stuck in a Bluetooth connector for my Microsoft Arc Mouse.
The magnetic power jack is convenient, but the magnetic plug doesn't always click in that smoothly. Also, is this really the best spot for a micro-SD slot?
This tablet is built with a keyboard in mind. Both the Touch Cover and Touch Keyboard snap into this channel with a resounding "click!"
Front and back cameras shoot 720P video and just above 1 MP stills.
The volume rocker has an interesting trick: Press up or down volume twice and the volume will zoom all the way up or down on its own.
We got the $699 64 GB Surface and Touch Cover bundle. This is what the Touch Cover looks like in the box.
The Touch Cover, which is the same width as the Surface tablet, easily accommodates my two largish hands.
This is the welcome screen. A swipe up or tap on the space bar brings up the log-in. Just like traditional Windows, Windows RT supports multiple user profiles.
You can alter Windows RT just as much as you can Windows 8 and its predecessor, Windows 7.
While I had some trouble finding a decent drawing app in the Windows app store, Fresh pain is a powerful, virtual media app.
Yes, you can draw on this tablet with your finger, but it did not work particularly well with a stylus.
This racing game's start screen was far more impressive than the actual game.
IE 10 in Windows RT is, like IE in Windows 8, a full-scale, touch-friendly redesign.
Amazon has built a native app for Windows RT. Of course, if you build an app for Windows 8, it should work for everything from Windows Phone to Windows 8 to Windows RT.
Windows RT Start Screen looks and works exactly like Windows 8
If you want to share in Windows RT, you have to dig under People to find Twitter and Facebook.
I love how easy it is to connect to a Homegroup printer and print right from within Windows RT.
Search is ubiquitous and contextual.
So are settings.
RT has a file system that's quite easy to navigate.
Searchable across files is easy, too.
Underneath RT is a very familiar Windows Desktop and Explorer like file manager.
A swipe down at the top of the screen reveals all your open browser windows (in thumbnail form).
A swipe up from the bottom opens a contextual control bar, in this case for email.
You have your photos on the device and those you're sharing with the Skydrive cloud,
The Task Manager is simplified, but still there in Windows RT (so is the Registry).
Got too many tiles? Pinch and Zoom to get 30,000 ft view.
This is the Surface tablet with Touch Cover in place.
Microsoft's boxing is as clean and well-designed as anything from Apple.
Details about Surface can be found on the back. Notice that our unit is the 64 GB model.
This is all there is inside the Surface box: A Tablet and AC power adapter.
Underneath the Surface is this tiny instruction booklet.
It has just enough instruction to get you started.
A closer look at the instruction booklet.
Removing the Surface for the first time.
The metal kick stand flips open with a flick of the finger.
This USB 2.0 slot works with most of your Windows peripherals. Here, I stuck in a Bluetooth connector for my Microsoft Arc Mouse.
The magnetic power jack is convenient, but the magnetic plug doesn't always click in that smoothly. Also, is this really the best spot for a micro-SD slot?
This tablet is built with a keyboard in mind. Both the Touch Cover and Touch Keyboard snap into this channel with a resounding "click!"
Front and back cameras shoot 720P video and just above 1 MP stills.
The volume rocker has an interesting trick: Press up or down volume twice and the volume will zoom all the way up or down on its own.
We got the $699 64 GB Surface and Touch Cover bundle. This is what the Touch Cover looks like in the box.
The Touch Cover, which is the same width as the Surface tablet, easily accommodates my two largish hands.
This is the welcome screen. A swipe up or tap on the space bar brings up the log-in. Just like traditional Windows, Windows RT supports multiple user profiles.
You can alter Windows RT just as much as you can Windows 8 and its predecessor, Windows 7.
While I had some trouble finding a decent drawing app in the Windows app store, Fresh pain is a powerful, virtual media app.
Yes, you can draw on this tablet with your finger, but it did not work particularly well with a stylus.
This racing game's start screen was far more impressive than the actual game.
IE 10 in Windows RT is, like IE in Windows 8, a full-scale, touch-friendly redesign.
Amazon has built a native app for Windows RT. Of course, if you build an app for Windows 8, it should work for everything from Windows Phone to Windows 8 to Windows RT.
Windows RT Start Screen looks and works exactly like Windows 8
If you want to share in Windows RT, you have to dig under People to find Twitter and Facebook.
I love how easy it is to connect to a Homegroup printer and print right from within Windows RT.
Search is ubiquitous and contextual.
So are settings.
RT has a file system that's quite easy to navigate.
Searchable across files is easy, too.
Underneath RT is a very familiar Windows Desktop and Explorer like file manager.
A swipe down at the top of the screen reveals all your open browser windows (in thumbnail form).
A swipe up from the bottom opens a contextual control bar, in this case for email.
You have your photos on the device and those you're sharing with the Skydrive cloud,
The Task Manager is simplified, but still there in Windows RT (so is the Registry).
Got too many tiles? Pinch and Zoom to get 30,000 ft view.
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