Gadgetory

you already know that Microsoft makes hardware it makes the Xbox and it makes weird computers in fact making computers differently is kind of the whole point but eventually Microsoft needs to make other stuff now before we get there though you wanted to see how Microsoft makes hardware to see if there are hints about what's coming next so we came here to Microsoft's design lab and their machine shop to look at everything that they do to make hardware we've talked to engineers and designers to figure out what Microsoft's philosophy is for creating products the occasion for our visit was the design story behind the Microsoft Surface book - weirdly enough a lot of the design stories of these labs ends up boiling down to hinges yes hinges those little bend points are the things that distinguish Microsoft's hardware from everybody else's they make these computers the Transformers that keep Windows relevant when everything else is basically a phone now so Ralph green the head of industrial design at Microsoft spends a lot of time on hinges what you see here it's it's a neat table because it kind of is a great snapshot of how we work ideas travel through these three states from primitive you know you come up with an idea you glue a kickstand on a tablet in the car that's it let's go you think you're almost done and then when you go further you figure out how hard it is to make it right surface book we detach it it is in the end seamless you go into like what we call clipboard morons you know if you ever get close to product development process you will find out that the bunch of ideas most of the ideas don't end up being the final product and and and understanding why not and moving on to the next idea is is essential in order to make progress hanging out at Microsoft's lab I got the real sense that the company has a pretty set system down now here's the obvious question why do they even need that system in the first place well Microsoft wants to sell you stuff but it also has to make hardware to keep improving its software Microsoft can't make Windows better unless it understands how it works on actual machines basically if Microsoft doesn't push the envelope on Windows Hardware nobody else will here's how a Panos Panay the head of Microsoft Surface division puts it you think about Windows and how thinking about writing to the steel how we drive ourselves to increase performance push battery life I think that's what matters because it pushes our innovation story forward but it helps our customer do anything they want and that's that's where we kind of put our energy and I think that's where we start seeing the fruits of it all because people are creating such magnificent things off these devices we have customers that are gonna be able to move in and out of their mixed reality world move in and out of OneNote with a pen and then when they sit back down jump into office jump into machine learning jump into Visual Studio like push yourself where you want to push it I think understanding where the customer is going to take it's important did you hear what he just said Microsoft has to understand where the customer is going to take it and we all know where the customers already are they're taking everything on their phones now Android is the most used operating system on the planet and the best apps usually come to the iPhone first the folks at Microsoft aren't really willing to talk about making phones again not yet but they are thinking a lot about where computing is going we think about how computing evolves right and it evolves with someone like such as setting us into a direction and so there's the you know the the aspects of being mobile where where you want to do you want to make you want to be in your profession where and you choose where that is you don't want to go to your computer your computer should be with you and device is connected across your assets not living on one thing that's spinning but your assets living in the cloud accessible to where you know wherever you go being able to participate your assets or your colleagues right your conversations and so this whole world of moving from things in a box to providing things that I around you in a very digital seamless way that's that I think that's what we what gets us inspired for these it's it's not about making you know pretty shells it's about connecting people right and so that's something who knows okay now yeah that is really all Microsoft can say about phones right now but there are rumors that something new is coming sure they might make a phone again in hell it might even run Android but there's also rumors that Microsoft might be working on something completely new and I'm not talking about the hololens I'm talking about a dual screen tablet that's similar to that courier concept that got killed off a few years ago can they do it well the hardware division certainly can Microsoft has already shown that it can make Windows work on a gaming console and on all sorts of different computer shapes but they couldn't make it work on phones whatever Microsoft does next it's really gotta be something totally weirdly new the company has learned how to make computers in all sorts of different shapes but if Microsoft really has a courier sitting somewhere inside its hardware labs I know for a fact that a lot is going to hinge on its hinges I