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Wired's Review of the Microsoft Surface
- scottscanlon 14y agoYeah, it would be nice for tablet diversity but it still feels like it doesn't know what it wants to be... haven't used it yet though so I'd be willing to be swayed.
- LaRakel 14y ago>"doesn't know what it wants to be" You could just as well say that about smartphones.
- tvon 14y ago> Yes, you can use it as your only computer. I would never have made that claim about an iPad or Android tablet. But if you only need to live in Microsoft Office and the web and e-mail, and use your computer for media consumption, you’ll do great with this. So an "only computer" requires Microsoft Office, everything else is negotiable.
- steverb 14y agoFor 90% of the working world, I'd say that is a true statement. I personally need compilers and geeky utilities, but my boss could probably get by with a browser and a copy of MS Office just fine. My bosses boss definitely could.
- freehunter 14y agoI work deep in IT (information security) and spend 90% of my working time in the browser looking at our security monitors. Another 5% in Word preparing memos or taking notes. The rest is split between the command prompt (nslookup, ping, basic stuff), Excel, OneNote (time/project tracking), SSH, and that's about it. Everything else I do at work is personal stuff done on personal time at the office. I'm not a boss of anything or manager of anything. Programmers will always need computers targeted to whatever they are programming to, but I would guess that most other IT workers would be fine with a browser and Office (except stupid legacy apps that your office makes you use that were written in Java, talking to VB6 which really only interfaces with a database. You know what I'm talking about).
- cubicle67 14y agoyes, "only computer" is incredibly dependent on what your needs are, and there's a very diverse range of those. My inlaws have been using an iPad as their only computer for about 4 months now and doing fabulously (they love it), but for myself I need a unix terminal and good text editor It's why the old "which is best" argument is completely useles without a qualifier "for ..."
- seanx 14y agoFor our CEO and GM, that's true. Add a citrix client and it could be an only computer for the rest of our staff except for me.
- joejohnson 14y agoThe review starts out comparing the Surface to the iPad, saying both are better and worse than the other in different ways. But then the review goes on the trash almost everything unique to the Surface. It sounds like a rather splendid failure. I doubt we will be talking much about this product in 2-3 years.
- monkeyfacebag 14y agoThat's not the conclusion I came away with. He wrote at the end "this is a great device." Obviously the jury's out on whether or not this thing will actually sell (and thus be worth talking about 2-3 years from now), but he clearly doesn't conclude that Surface is a failure.
- bitsoda 14y ago*2-3 months. It's been stated a dozen times around here and elsewhere on the web, but with the Surface, Microsoft has realized the old Native American adage: "chase two rabbits, catch neither". The Surface misses the mark as a "no compromises" device. The tablet experience is stunted by the awkwardly long screen in portrait mode, anemic app ecosystem, and size/heft. The laptop experience fumbles with that kickstand that really only works on a hard, flat surface. The deceptive Windows desktop will be hostile to unwitting users of the Surface with Microsoft Windows RT edition -- since they will assume the desktop environment is backwards compatible with their existing apps. On the bright side, it looks like a good first effort in terms of hardware and build quality. I'd really like to see Microsoft "go all in" and shed the Desktop environment altogether in its next iteration of the OS.
- Steko 14y agoWell all the speculation can be put to rest, the keyboard cover works and fantastically.
- joejohnson 14y agoIt sounds like it just works. And after "[struggling] mightily with typos and finger placement for the first 24 hours". Who's going to put up with that?
- colinplamondon 14y agoSomeone that just spent $600 on a new tablet is probably gonna be just fine spending a few hours getting used to a new keyboard.
- brc 14y agoTo be fair, I still struggle with my ipad keyboard after months of use. It frustrates the life out of me, because the keys shift depending on context.
- hessenwolf 14y agoThe keys shift depending on the context? Would you mind expanding? (guy who touch types, with a bazillion typos, on a samsung galaxy s)
- brc 14y agoFor example when you're typing in an email field, the @ symbols appears in the main key set. Not sure what it replaces , but something disappears.
- hfs 14y agoSame thing as on Android phones - you get different characters in some places depending on what type of input you're in. If you're in a URL box, you'll get forward slashes and colons. An e-mail, you'll get @.
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- ctdonath 14y ago22 paragraphs before getting into what the thing actually does. 22 paragraphs dominated by nobody noticing it, the kickstand is pretty good, and at first coerced glance people prefer iPads. Then it gets into what the tablet isn't: Windows as you know it.
- emehrkay 14y agoThat guy was slamming the keyboard and tablet around pretty aggressively
- hnriot 14y agoWow, looks awesome and for business, the ability to use Microsoft office is the "killer app", as much as I dislike ppt and word and wheel they are the staples of most companies so the lack if office on iPad is hurting it for business users and this will be just what they are looking for. I am glad to see a new player (although msft are well experienced at touch computers) and excited to get my hands on one. They hit the pain points of the iPad out of the park, can't type for toffee, and lack of msft office for work stuff. Google docs is great for trivial things but not for getting real work done in a team where everyone else has Office.
- proee 14y agoIsn't Microsoft planning to release an iOS version of Office sometime soon? Seems there was some leaked screenshots shown last month. If this is the case, it makes the office integration less of a selling point.
- throwaway64 14y agounfortunately, these devices have no AD integration, or other Enterprise deployment stuff that typically makes windows appealing to businesses.
- timthorn 14y agoAgreed this is a real issue, but a professional buying a device personally is unlikely to care about those bits of the puzzle. Compared to the existing tablet market, Windows RT is significantly better in terms of enterprise integration.
- nodata 14y agoHow is it better? RT has zero AD support, Android apparently has lots of app options for centralised management.
- timthorn 14y agoIt does support multiple user accounts (yes, not synced to AD, but better than Android and iOS) and FS encryption out of the box. MDM is baked into the platform; again, no Group Policy, but it can be managed through System Centre. It supports the concept of a mouse, it has USB, it can (I think) integrate with Sharepoint.
- purplelobster 14y agoI don't get the whole "not enough apps in the app store" critique. What are they expecting? The tablet is not even out yet and they expect a million apps or what? Obviously this is a problem with a new operating system... It's a valid critique in a way but there is nothing Microsoft can do short of hiring ten thousand developers to just make apps for it before launch.
- coffeeaddicted 14y agoThey could have allowed running native applications. Not really sure how they expect to sell the Surface RT when it's competing with the Surface Pro. Except maybe the price of the Pro will be far out (I haven't found a price so far for Pro, it's not yet known?). Also if they had supported XNA for that thing formerly known as Metro they would at least have more games now. I'm rather puzzled why they don't support one of their most popular libraries for game development when introducing a new platform.
- freehunter 14y agoWhat native applications are there for Windows on ARM?
- ygra 14y agoProbably time and other resource constraints. I'm pretty sure their wishlist of things they would have liked to have finished by launch date is quite long :-)
- ChrisLTD 14y agoIf you're a prospective buyer, knowing the availability of popular software is valuable knowledge. I, for one, would not want to buy a $500+ tablet based on its potential for running good software.
- pulplobster 14y agoYes, but they're acting as if this is a permanent disadvantage of this device. And again, I think it's a bit harsh to judge before it's even been released. If there were like 10 apps I'd be worried, but there are around 5000 apps already, and Win 8 will be running on plenty of desktops and laptops as well as tablets, so I think this is not really a fair critique quite just yet.
- ashleyblackmore 14y agoThat's almost an Ubuntu logo on the f6 key. :P http://www.wired.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/tablet001.jpg http://www.wired.com/reviews/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/tabl...
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- FrojoS 14y agoSo how long until someone makes such a cover/touch-keyboard, with bluetooth, for the iPad?
- corporalagumbo 14y agoThey've tried. A lot. Newsflash: iOS is a touch-only OS born and bred, and trying to control it with a keyboard makes about as much sense as strapping tits on a bull. Sure, you can type away in an isolated text box and it's sorta alright, but beyond that you're looking at a severely hobbled experience - because that's what you get when you just inflate your apps 'n icons phone OS and toss a keyboard into the mix. Whereas Microsoft has developed their OS from the ground up to mix between different input styles and it shows. Microsoft is simply leagues beyond Apple when it comes to really optimising for productivity. They -get- productivity - Apple doesn't.
- robryan 14y agoThe tech industry is really fleshing out every form factor between phone and full sized laptop now. As others have said this could fill a niche for who only need office in terms of productivity tools and also want the benefits of a tablet. So as well as business people students would fit that niche. Personally though for anything productivity wise I am going to be happy to carry around a laptop, any tablet usage is purely as a consumer.
- darklajid 14y agoCan we enforce a tag or for auto-playing videos with sound, maybe? I'll look into solutions on my side after the second most unfavorable situation because of links with this bull... on HN. But please.. Mods, can't we change the to something helpful in these cases? Something like NSFW (which it very well might be as well)?
- corporalagumbo 14y agoI like this review. It's genuinely quirky, and no bullshit. Honestly despite all the quibbles (across all the reviews) I think this is a big win for MS. The praise for the fit and finish, the feeling of the kickstand, the click in of the covers, the covers themselves - it's astronomical. Words like 'meticulous' and 'remarkable' are massive praise here. This might be revision one, but sounds like it definitely holds its own against the iPad. MS has made a product that is extremely, extraordinarily confident. And that's the most important thing really - because they've lacked or seemed to lack confidence against Apple for a while, and it's been their biggest problem. Gosh I'm excited. This only bodes well, for MS and for us. A reinvigorated MS will be an amazing thing to experience - it's time for an end to this boring iEverything monoculture! I personally cannot wait for Apple to get their smugness rubbed right back in their snotty faces.
- ktizo 14y agoHow is this anything other than a rehash of the Asus Transformer line of tablets, with winRT added? [edit] Off topic - Meh, just realised I've been hellbanninated. Oh well, I might be able to get more work done now.
- asdfprou 14y agoThank you very much for linking to the "view all" page.