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Microsoft Is Throwing A Big Bash On Monday For Its iPad Killers

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ballmer windows 8 tablet
Illustration: Ellis Hamburger

The party starts Monday in L.A. That's when Microsoft will formally show off its Windows RT tablets, says AllThingsD.

(We were invited to the event, but won't be able to make it.)

Microsoft has been talking about its new tablets, which run on ARM processors, and spilling out a few details at a time but it hasn't formally shown off the lineup or let the public give them a try.

So far, we've only had a few sneak peeks. For instance, Asus trotted out its Tablet 600 Computex show in Taiwan last week.

Windows RT tablets will be different from Windows 8 tablets that run on Intel chips. RT will not run any older Windows 7 software -- all of its software will use the new Metro interface. These tablets are clearly aimed at the same consumers who would buy an iPad instead of a desktop or laptop.

There's been some controversy over how expensive these devices will be. Analysts say that Microsoft is charging a lot of money to device makers for the operating system -- like ~$80 dollars -- and that means these devices will be WAY more expensive than similar Android tablets and maybe even higher priced than the iPad. However, Microsoft plans to include a version of Office on RT tablets and thinks people will decide that Office is worth a some extra dough.

Are you a current or former Microsoft employee with an opinion on Windows 8? We want to hear it! We are discreet. jbort@jkmperu.com or Julie188 on Twitter.

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Julie Bort was Business Insider's Editor at Large for the Tech team. She loves investigating stories and shedding light on the tech industry's most amazing people.Here's a small sample of some of Julie's work.Former Pinterest employees describe a traumatic workplace where managers humiliate employees until they cry, Black people feel alienated, and the toxic culture 'eats away at your soul'Sex, tequila, and a tiger: Employees inside Adam Neumann's WeWork talk about the nonstop party to attain a $100 billion dream and the messy reality that tanked itInsiders say WeWork's IT is a patchwork of cheap devices and Band-Aid fixes that will take millions to fixWeWork's toxic phone booths were created in-house by its Powered by We business70-hour weeks and 'WTF' emails: 42 employees reveal the frenzy of working at Tesla under the 'cult' of Elon MuskElon Musk works so many hours at Tesla, employees are constantly finding him asleep under tables and desksHow this woman went from a Pizza Hut employee to a founder of a $4 billion startupAn Oracle insider explains how some salespeople gamed the system to sell more cloudTHE TAKEDOWN OF TRAVIS KALANICK: The untold story of Uber's infighting, backstabbing, and multimillion-dollar exit packagesMicrosoft is in talks to buy GitHub, a startup at the center of the software world last valued at $2 billionThe alarming inside story of a failed Google acquisition, and an employee who was hospitalizedInside Facebook's plan to eat another $350 billion IT marketHow a registered sex offender wound up living in an Airbnb hosting unsuspecting guestsA controversial ex-banker is the person who really runs Twitter — and he's gambling the company's future on one risky betSecret passages and skipped meals: Oracle's CEO gave us a rare peek at what it really takes to run a $37 billion companyHP told some employees to choose between becoming contractors with no benefits or being fired without severance'I felt like we were being extorted': Customer says Oracle tried to strong-arm him into a cloud saleHow the queen of Silicon Valley is helping Google go after Amazon's most profitable businessAirbnb host: A guest is squatting in my condo and I can't get him to leaveLIES, BOOZE, AND BILLIONS: How one of the fastest-growing startups in Silicon Valley history raised $580 million then spiraled out of controlGitHub is undergoing a full-blown overhaul as execs and employees depart — and we have the full inside storyWhen she's not writing for Business Insider, Julie can usually be found on the trails, on my mountain bike, or on my skis, if you know where to look.