Just days before Microsoft's Oct. 26 release of its first ever tablet, the Surface, goes on sale, Microsoft reported disconcerting stock prices Friday Oct. 19.

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Microsoft revenue for the quarter is at $16.01 billion, an 8 percent drop from the same time period in 2011, and net income was at $4.47 billion, down 22 percent from last year.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is convinced Windows 8 will turn things around, though. "The launch of Windows 8 is the beginning of a new era at Microsoft," Ballmer said. "Investments we've made over a number of years are now coming together to create a future of exceptional devices and services, with tremendous opportunity for our customers, developers, and partners."

It's an interesting claim considering Windows posted revenue of $3.24 billion, down 33 percent from last year. Adjusting for the Windows Upgrade offer and pre-sales of Windows 8 to OEMs, Microsoft said the decline was actually 9 percent.

"We've already certified more than 1,000 systems for Windows 8 from our hardware partners, ranging from the smallest tablets and convertibles to touch-enabled ultrabooks and all-in-ones to the most powerful desktop computers," said Kevin Turner, Microsoft's COO.

The bad market outlook comes on the heels of a report released by DisplayMate Technologies which, according to PC World, debunks claims that the Surface's display is sharper than the Retina display on the new iPad due to its use of ClearType technology.

Dr. Raymond Soneira, president of DisplayMate Technologies, was intrigued by Microsoft's claims, put them to the test, and discovered they don't actually stand. Soneira reportedly tested the theory by running the Safari browser on the new iPad, iPad 2, and an Asus tablet with a 1366-by-768-pixel 130 PPI display that uses Microsoft's implementation of sub-pixel rendering, called ClearType.

According to PC World, in some cases sub-pixel rendering can make the screen appear to have up to three times the resolution of pixel rendering, as individual red, green, and blue sub-pixels are treated as independent image elements and are not all bound together into specific pixels.

However, Dr. Soneira's test found "the Windows ClearType 768p display on the Asus Netbook was significantly sharper than the iPad 2 768p display but also significantly less sharp than the new iPad 3 1536p display. It is certainly possible that the Microsoft Surface RT Tablet will perform better than the Asus Netbook, but it is very unlikely that it will turn out to be visually sharper than the new iPad 3."

Windows RT will start shipping Oct. 26 with a 10.6-inch, 366-by-768-pixel display, while the third-generation iPad has a 9.7-inch screen with 2048-by-1536-pixel resolution. The pixel density per inch on the iPad is 264 PPI compared to 148 PPI on the Surface RT.

In a recent Microsoft Surface Q&A on Reddit, the company defended its choice regarding the screen resolution of the Surface.

"Screen resolution is one component of perceived detail. The true measure of resolvability of a screen called Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), not Pixels. MTF is a combination of both contrast and resolution. There are over a dozen subsystems that effect this MTF number. Most folks just focus on one number out of dozens that effect perceived detail. Without good contrast, resolution decreases," wrote Stevie Bathiche, an applied sciences department manager at Microsoft.

According to the Microsoft representative, as resolution/DPI increases, the eye becomes less sensitive, meaning that the amount of light in a room and the reflections off the screen have a huge effect on the contrast of the display. Apparently, a small amount of reflection can greatly reduce contrast and thus the perceived resolution of the display.

"With the ClearType Display technology we took a 3 pronged approach to maximize that perceived resolution and optimize for battery life, weight, and thickness. First prong, Microsoft has the best pixel rendering technology in the industry (ClearType 1.0 and 2.0), these are exclusive and unique to Windows, it smoothes text regardless of pixel count. Second, we designed a custom 10.6" high-contrast wide-angle screen LCD screen. Lastly we optically bonded the screen with the thinnest optical stack anywhere on the market; something which is more commonly done on phones we are doing on Surface," explained Bathiche.

Microsoft's unofficial current ClearType measurements on the amount of light reflected off the screen is around 5.5 percent - 6.2 percent, whereas the new iPad has a measurement of 9.9 percent mirror reflections.

"Doing a side by side with the new iPad in a consistently lit room, we have had many people see more detail on Surface RT than on the iPad with more resolution," stressed Bathiche.

Microsoft Surface tablet features

The RT sports a 1366x768 HD screen, while the PRO has a 10.6-inch Clear type Full HD (1920 x 1080) screen with 16:9 widescreen.

That means they are among the biggest tablets in the market. If you are not satisfied with the typical 10.1-inch tablet, you can go for the Surface tablet. Along with the touch keyboards with the device, you can turn the machine to a small notebook.

The Surface tablet comes with five Touch Covers. Different from typical keyboards, the Surface keypads provide a smoother typing experience thanks to their touch-based surface.

The Surface tablets mount both front and rear cameras. The front camera, named life cam by Microsoft, makes the tablet ideal for video chatting through Skype or other services. Using the rear camera, you can capture images and video clips.

Microsoft puts forward better memory options with the Surface tablets. The device comes in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB options. The 128GB is available only with Surface Pro. Further, you can expand the memory using external memory sticks thanks to microSD card slot. That is, you can store enough data including music, software items and video in external clips.

The 3mm Touch Cover can be connected to your Surface tablet with a single magnetic click, so, now you can type text and send messages quite easily.

The Surface's tablet housing features a revolutionary kickstand. Along with fully functioning keyboard and track-pad, the integrated kickstand helps you place the gadget in both portrait or landscape modes.

According to Bloomberg, Surface will only be able to go online using a short-range Wi-Fi connection. This is a stark contrast to Apple's iPad 3, which has a 3G option, and a faster LTE connection.