The Woz speaks up on Microsoft’s Surface tablet

The outspoken Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak usually has an opinion on many things, be it Siri and her reliance on a network connection, Facebook IPO (he said he’d invest regardless of opening price), patent war fallout, the iPhone 4S battery life and Android march and what not.

His latest comment from a a press conference at Entel Summit in Chile last week concerns Microsoft’s Surface tablet, unveiled with much fanfare on June 18

The Woz, everyone’s ultimate geek known for using both Apple’s devices and Android smartphones, supports Microsoft’s plan to enter the tablet race with its own branded slate. It’s a heartwarming indication of a new Microsoft, he opined at a presser:

I’m glad that Microsoft is starting to show maybe they’re a different company than before, I don’t remember this sort of thing happening in a long, long time with Microsoft, so I’m very happy.

And on Steve Jobs coming back reincarnated at Microsoft:

Microsoft’s latest products have such a strikingly good visual appearance which is a lot of what Steve Jobs always looked for, the art and technology; the convergence of art and technology. And usually It was visual appearance of things. So I made a joke that Steve Jobs came back reincarnated at Microsoft.

Here’s that clip, it runs four minutes and 33 seconds long.

[tube]1wg7og1kM-0[/tube]

Being a hard-core engineer, of course Wozniak is eager to try out the Surface once it comes out later this year.

I do want to see the Surface. I want to own one, I want use one but I prefer to judge things I really know and not just what I’ve read about.

The video also has Woz talk about Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom and Google’s Minority Report-style Glass project.

I don’t know about you, but I’m kinda also interested to get my hands on an ARM-powered version of the Surface.

What about you?