Microsoft Hooks Employees Up With Free Surface Tablets And More

Overall, yesterday was a good day to be an employee of Microsoft. Microsoft had a big meeting at KeyArena in Seattle where notoriously sweaty CEO Steve Ballmer stood on stage and talked many things. I can only imagine that there were a number of employees sitting in seats, glossy eyed, and surfing Facebook until Ballmer started talking free stuff.

Microsoft announced a nice new package of tech gear for all employees of the company, including new Surface tablets for everyone. Along with the announcement that workers are getting new Surface tablets, Microsoft also announced that it would be accelerating the refresh cycle for the employees work computers moving everyone to Windows 8 PCs made by hardware partners.

According to reports, Microsoft typically refreshes computers every three years, but the software giant wants everyone on Windows 8 at the same time. All employees will also get new Windows Phone 8 devices for use at home and at work. Microsoft reportedly did the same thing in Windows Phone 7 launched.

As for the tablets, every single Microsoft full-time direct employee is getting a free Surface RT tablet for use in the office and at home. Step back and consider how many free tablets and smartphones Microsoft is talking about here. The software giant has 94,000 global employees.

[via Geekwire]