Microsoft Job Listing Outs "Next Generation Surface"

In more than a dozen job listings on the Microsoft Career site spotted today by TechRadar, the Redmond, Washington technology giant let slip a hint that its Surface tablet releasing on October 26 this year won't be the last of its kind. A post on the Official Microsoft Blog echoes the sentiment, calling Surface "our new family of PCs".

While this could be a case of some bad or antiquated terminology (possibly referring to the already-announced Surface as the next generation of PixelSense, for example), the listings were posted after the reveal of the tablet on June 19.

The listings themselves also imply that these new positions will involve working on a different set of devices, as one listing mentions "understanding of touch display architecture and experience in mechanical integration of large touch displays into electronics products". "Large" is a relative term in the world of displays, but it could refer to a desktop monitor or integration with TV monitors.



If these listings do represent a new breed of Surface devices, then they may well feature some unique components mentioned in to the job requirements. "Alternative power sources" seems to imply that the next generation will be even greener than the first, though another listing does include AC/DC power expertise, which means battery-powered machines.

As much as Microsoft has lauded the already-announced Surface tablets for their unique cooling architecture, new developments in "passive and active cooling thermal designs" could further innovate on those models and allow for more powerful processors.

Whatever the next Surface looks like, it's no surprise that Microsoft is getting an early start on preparing it for consumers. Given past software cycles, its likely that these newer Surface devices would still run Windows 8, and that third-party hardware manufacturers will still get shafted as Microsoft dives headlong into the hardware space.

Source: TechRadar.com