Article: In defence of the Surface RT

[kristalsoldier]

When I first started using my RT I a few months ago I was more comfortable with the desktop mode but now I find myself hardly using it at all.

I would have said the same thing but for the fact that I need the Office Suite - especially Word (and, in the future, Outlook). Now, if MS did release a MX version of Office, then I would not visit the desktop mode at all.

 

[machistmo]

I would have said the same thing but for the fact that I need the Office Suite - especially Word (and, in the future, Outlook). Now, if MS did release a MX version of Office, then I would not visit the desktop mode at all.

Gemini is coming soon to an RT near you. I suspect anyway, who knows at this point there is very little actual information about all this stuff. I do know when it does land - Office Subscribers and RT users will be able to get access to it FOC.

 

[pallentx]

No one needs an iPad, that's for sure.

...

The vast majority of the Surfaces' problems went like this:

(1) Shitty business decisions: "Let's release the Surface RT with slow and buggy preview Office despite the fact that Office is the single biggest killer app suite on the thing." No, really, you should've waited at least a month or something. The first impression is critical, and though I bought my SurRT after the major firmware patches and updates, a lot of other people stick by that hearsay impression.

(2) Shitty marketing. MS, your marketing sucks. Dancing people? WTF? You could take lessons from IBM and Mastercard for great, targeted marketing that makes sense and sticks with you. You should've talked to a lot of students first. You should've marketed to students first. (You should not have even mentioned business for Surface RT without clearly talking about umbrella licensing and putting Outlook in there.)

(3) Shitty information everywhere! I personally don't understand why people got confused that you can't install desktop applications on Windows RT, but clearly the ball was dropped in multiple places.

(4) Shitty reviews based on shitty information or incorrect use cases.

Is the product itself shitty? No. Neither Surface is a bad product--they fit particular use cases. And only when a person finds the combination of hardware and software fits their lifestyle does it become the perfect device. It kills me when idiots buy any product and find it doesn't fit their use case and then blames the product itself. Crap marketing had a lot to do with it here, sure, but really the only time you blame the product is when it genuinely fails what it should do--like a camping backpack's seams ripping. In the case of Surface, the common types of complaints are more like "I bought a Honda Fit, but it's a piece of crap because it's not a Subaru Forester."

Absolutely right on. I would also add that the biggest killer to RT sales was the lack of apps. RT was tied exclusively to the new ecosystem that was pretty weak at launch - yet MS priced the Surface RT on par with the iPad - a device whose greatest selling point is the abundance of apps available for it.

 

[Nick M]

Guess maybe I'm dense as I don't understand the desktop versus Metro issues. Turn on my RT, log on, tap Outlook and I'm ready to rock & roll. Tap PowerPoint, load my presentation and I'm ready to promote our products. Simple to me.......

Our enterprise IT does not support Surface, but it does support Win7 on 200 plus laptops at HQ and in the field. They also support MacBook Air for the EVP staff as well as iPad for the field sales engineers along with iPhone for all employees. We even have apps for internal and external use as well as SAP support on all machines. It took them several years to adopt Win7 because XP was so stable for us. Our new corporate owners use Lotus Notes on 130k+ laptops and will be converting to Outlook over the next few months for all employees that were on Notes.

So as it stands now I am on my own with the RT but it serves my purpose for my travels and IT hasn't pushed back yet. I was one of the first iPad adopters in the organization when we were about 7k employees and now there are over 200 "officially sanctioned" iPads and several hundred unsanctioned iPads. I don't expect us to adopt Surface in the near future, the mother ship is tied too close to Lenovo but are severing ties with IBM and Notes.

People who still believe iPads are toys, not tools should never fly again, many airlines are converting cockpit crews away from the huge black bags full of charts and are moving to iPad. MS missed this boat. Many Mercedes dealers can write your sales contract from an iPad, pretty good for a toy.

If MS decides to stay in the hardware segment they have the staying power to take market share, eventually. It will be a long uphill battle but they will be aided by Android which will likely implode due to the many variations and security holes.

Just my 2 cents worth.

 

[machistmo]

Guess maybe I'm dense as I don't understand the desktop versus Metro issues. Turn on my RT, log on, tap Outlook and I'm ready to rock & roll. Tap PowerPoint, load my presentation and I'm ready to promote our products. Simple to me.......

Our enterprise IT does not support Surface, but it does support Win7 on 200 plus laptops at HQ and in the field. They also support MacBook Air for the EVP staff as well as iPad for the field sales engineers along with iPhone for all employees. We even have apps for internal and external use as well as SAP support on all machines. It took them several years to adopt Win7 because XP was so stable for us. Our new corporate owners use Lotus Notes on 130k+ laptops and will be converting to Outlook over the next few months for all employees that were on Notes.

So as it stands now I am on my own with the RT but it serves my purpose for my travels and IT hasn't pushed back yet. I was one of the first iPad adopters in the organization when we were about 7k employees and now there are over 200 "officially sanctioned" iPads and several hundred unsanctioned iPads. I don't expect us to adopt Surface in the near future, the mother ship is tied too close to Lenovo but are severing ties with IBM and Notes.

People who still believe iPads are toys, not tools should never fly again, many airlines are converting cockpit crews away from the huge black bags full of charts and are moving to iPad. MS missed this boat. Many Mercedes dealers can write your sales contract from an iPad, pretty good for a toy.

If MS decides to stay in the hardware segment they have the staying power to take market share, eventually. It will be a long uphill battle but they will be aided by Android which will likely implode due to the many variations and security holes.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Right on... Well said . Well spoken B.G.

 

[beman39]

The Enterprise cares. We tested them and found converting the licenses to from Home and Student to a business license looked like just one more reason not to go in the RT direction. It was not the deal killer but it was discussed on more than one occasion in the whole of 0 meetings needed to determine that we would not being going with the RT. Strangely the RT attracted us because it was on lockdown and could only install apps already inspected and signed off on by Micorsoft. Every other single about it however lead us away from it. I agree that it should have been marketed to Students more heavily but in the end the iPad has all the latest apps and EVERYONE and their mom has one... Its pretty much hard to say 'Heres office, love our underpowered device' as is evidenced by the dismal sales of the RT and I agree with Oion on most of his points I just dont think they go far enough and so decided to share those points I saw in the Enterprise killing the RTs chances there.

Any reason I should not share my experiences?

We never even had a meeting around the RT. We bought three devices. I was given one, my boss got one, which he promptly decided to give someone else as he had an iPad and hated the Surface after minutes with it, and my VP got one, which he promptly gave to our network security guy who I think uses it to hold up books on his shelf. After a month or so I sent mine to a co-worker and never heard another word beyond his request for assistance getting it connected to our hidden network. It should be noted that when the device my Boss had was given to another employeee, he promptly ordered a SFF lenovo desktop PC in order to remote into via the RT... Just not ready for prime time... Period. Hence my comments. And hence my comments that the device "never really got any traction in our organization" because it didnt and it didnt even require a meeting to determine its fate... It did that simply through end user experience. Of 6 of us that tried the units, one is still using his, the guy with the extra PC bought, staged, and put into production simply so that he can remote in to it sitting literally 1 foot away... Its all very ridiculous. No, its RIDONKULOUS...

My VP is currently using the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet2 and I think continues to use it because it is so portable and runs 8 PRO. He hates it otherwise and we have already had to replace it and the keyboard ( quite possibly the worst tablet keyboard EVER designed ). Touch Sensor on the tablet went bonkers after a month or so.

So if our experience with the devices is any indication of others in the Enterprise, just how much of 900 million in lost sales do you think the Enterprise side acocunts for, because the consumer market resoundingly hated the RT?

Anyway - you asked - Answered.

FYI here is what analysts are saying about it:

Right now, the average consumer most likely considers the Surface RT to be good for little more than surfing the Web and running Microsoft Office. At $349 for a 32 GB model—$150 more than the Nexus 7, which will be refreshed soon—the Surface RT just looks like a rotten deal. However, a 32 GB Surface RT is now $250 less than an iPad, a fact that Microsoft points out in its [video=youtube;wE7AQY5Xk9w]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE7AQY5Xk9w&feature=player_embedded[/video]. Will the recent price cut make up for a much weaker app environment? I'm not sure. The Windows RT brand appears heavily bruised.Google's Nexus 7 tablet.Microsoft must demonstrate the value proposition of the Surface RT tablet, pronto. To its credit, it’s done so with its latest commercials, emphasizing Office. But even with the value that Office brings, a further price cut looks inevitable to bring it in line with competing solutions. But if it does so, it looks even weaker than before. It’s an ugly situation.

Source: Man the lifeboats! The Surface RTitanic is sinking fast | PCWorld

oh please! this licensing problem only precludes to YOUR situation and that of YOUR company, please don't try to include the rest of the world of RT users for the licensing situation YOU had. maybe all of you weren't smart enough to make the license problem work? Also the mere fact you mentioned your boss owning an ipad and then given an RT and THEN giving only 2 min to really use the device and get to know how it works, THEN giving it to his collogue only after 2 min screams ipad fanboy! he didn't even give the RT a chance because he's either too stubborn to give a real try or chance OR he's just a bloody fanboy! and the reason everybody and their MOM has one is because they been out a lot longer and because it is idiot proof, even kids of 3 years old can use an ipad! (press static icon, app opens up..oooohhhh!) also another fact is your not taking into account or ignoring of why the RT didn't do as well as the ipad from all the facts that Orion pointed out above (which you acknowledged yourself!) and now your totally ignoring them! make up your mind because your starting to give me whiplash!

"Right now, the average consumer most likely considers the Surface RT to be good for little more than surfing the Web and running Microsoft Office"

that is such a Bullshit statement from an "unkown and untrusted source" that you make me laugh! again your taking false info and trying to make a point in here with it and your just perpetuating the same ol BS! seriously get over yourself and the SELF reasons why the tablet isn't right for YOU! because I use the RT than just more than what your "source" says what we're gonna use the RT for!

here is what I use the RT for, lets see if it coincides with your "source"

FULL IE10/11 web surfing (duh!)
twittering/facebook
GAMING! with an Xbox controller!
office/business
VPN into my other computers when away from home
watching movies (streaming from my other computers or Netflix)
listening to music, also set up in my car BTW!
emails
ebook reading
wow! looks like I'm doing ALOT more than what your sources are claiming! huh? and I'm willing to bet a million bucks others are doing the same thing as myself AND more because I feel I'm not using the tablet to its full potential! so are you getting my points yet?

also what does the Lenovo thinkpad have to do with the Microsoft Surface RT? they're both different tablets and don't have anything to do with your point! ok so the Lenovo pad has some problems with hardware and the keyboard, doesn't mean you have to involve the RT into it! again your trying to spew BS into your reasons of why the RT isn't good!

Another thing you seem to not bring up (which I will!) is a lot of the ipad users are complaining on a massive scale that the ipad doesn't come with certain attributes that the people want, which is 1 there is no added memory capability! 16/32 gb is not a lot of space! 2 no usb slots to add...ANYTHING! 3 no full web browsing capability and no flash! html5 is ok but what about all the flash sites? apple doesn't think YOU need it or want it! and there is a couple of other things I'm forgetting at the moment..

 

[machistmo]

Pc World is an unknown, untrusted source ? Are you 13? Cupcake, Cupcake calm down, BREATHE in BREATHE out. My points are valid and true real world cases of 5 of 6 people that work in IT not having any interest in the Surface RT. Call that what you will, it is what is and as they say in California, according to a guy in the woods in Georgia, have a nice day.

 

[machistmo]

wow! looks like I'm doing ALOT more than what your sources are claiming! huh? and I'm willing to bet a million bucks others are doing the same thing as myself AND more because I feel I'm not using the tablet to its full potential! so are you getting my points yet?

also what does the Lenovo thinkpad have to do with the Microsoft Surface RT? they're both different tablets and don't have anything to do with your point! ok so the Lenovo pad has some problems with hardware and the keyboard, doesn't mean you have to involve the RT into it! again your trying to spew BS into your reasons of why the RT isn't good!

Another thing you seem to not bring up (which I will!) is a lot of the ipad users are complaining on a massive scale that the ipad doesn't come with certain attributes that the people want, which is 1 there is no added memory capability! 16/32 gb is not a lot of space! 2 no usb slots to add...ANYTHING! 3 no full web browsing capability and no flash! html5 is ok but what about all the flash sites? apple doesn't think YOU need it or want it! and there is a couple of other things I'm forgetting at the moment..

My point about the ThinkPad Tablet2 is that it has issues too. All the MS tablets do. The iPad is the market leader right now. Face the facts. Though I will note again that I gave my iPad3 w/4g away in disgust. It was the best and most polished tablet experience I have had and it drove me crazy. I agree that Apple is forcing you to make sacrifices and they always will. No file system? iTunes deciding what digital stuff I own and don't, god knows how it does that but F%$# Apple and the horse it rode in on.

Still cant change that Apple is easy to use and people love easy, people love stupid, want proof? Here Comes Honey Boo Boo: TLC ENOUGH SAID. As long as there are shows like that there will be a huge iPad community.

 

[machistmo]

oh please! this licensing problem only precludes to YOUR situation and that of YOUR company, please don't try to include the rest of the world of RT users for the licensing situation YOU had. maybe all of you weren't smart enough to make the license problem work? Also the mere fact you mentioned your boss owning an ipad and then given an RT and THEN giving only 2 min to really use the device and get to know how it works, THEN giving it to his collogue only after 2 min screams ipad fanboy! he didn't even give the RT a chance because he's either too stubborn to give a real try or chance OR he's just a bloody fanboy! and the reason everybody and their MOM has one is because they been out a lot longer and because it is idiot proof, even kids of 3 years old can use an ipad! (press static icon, app opens up..oooohhhh!) also another fact is your not taking into account or ignoring of why the RT didn't do as well as the ipad from all the facts that Orion pointed out above (which you acknowledged yourself!) and now your totally ignoring them! make up your mind because your starting to give me whiplash!

"Right now, the average consumer most likely considers the Surface RT to be good for little more than surfing the Web and running Microsoft Office"

that is such a Bullshit statement from an "unkown and untrusted source" that you make me laugh! again your taking false info and trying to make a point in here with it and your just perpetuating the same ol BS! seriously get over yourself and the SELF reasons why the tablet isn't right for YOU! because I use the RT than just more than what your "source" says what we're gonna use the RT for!

here is what I use the RT for, lets see if it coincides with your "source"

FULL IE10/11 web surfing (duh!)
twittering/facebook
GAMING! with an Xbox controller!
office/business
VPN into my other computers when away from home
watching movies (streaming from my other computers or Netflix)
listening to music, also set up in my car BTW!
emails
ebook reading
wow! looks like I'm doing ALOT more than what your sources are claiming! huh? and I'm willing to bet a million bucks others are doing the same thing as myself AND more because I feel I'm not using the tablet to its full potential! so are you getting my points yet?

also what does the Lenovo thinkpad have to do with the Microsoft Surface RT? they're both different tablets and don't have anything to do with your point! ok so the Lenovo pad has some problems with hardware and the keyboard, doesn't mean you have to involve the RT into it! again your trying to spew BS into your reasons of why the RT isn't good!

Another thing you seem to not bring up (which I will!) is a lot of the ipad users are complaining on a massive scale that the ipad doesn't come with certain attributes that the people want, which is 1 there is no added memory capability! 16/32 gb is not a lot of space! 2 no usb slots to add...ANYTHING! 3 no full web browsing capability and no flash! html5 is ok but what about all the flash sites? apple doesn't think YOU need it or want it! and there is a couple of other things I'm forgetting at the moment..

They have 64GB already and they are launching 128GB iPads with the next version.

 

[machistmo]

oh please! this licensing problem only precludes to YOUR situation and that of YOUR company, please don't try to include the rest of the world of RT users for the licensing situation YOU had. maybe all of you weren't smart enough to make the license problem work? Also the mere fact you mentioned your boss owning an ipad and then given an RT and THEN giving only 2 min to really use the device and get to know how it works, THEN giving it to his collogue only after 2 min screams ipad fanboy! he didn't even give the RT a chance because he's either too stubborn to give a real try or chance OR he's just a bloody fanboy! and the reason everybody and their MOM has one is because they been out a lot longer and because it is idiot proof, even kids of 3 years old can use an ipad! (press static icon, app opens up..oooohhhh!) also another fact is your not taking into account or ignoring of why the RT didn't do as well as the ipad from all the facts that Orion pointed out above (which you acknowledged yourself!) and now your totally ignoring them! make up your mind because your starting to give me whiplash!

"Right now, the average consumer most likely considers the Surface RT to be good for little more than surfing the Web and running Microsoft Office"

that is such a Bullshit statement from an "unkown and untrusted source" that you make me laugh! again your taking false info and trying to make a point in here with it and your just perpetuating the same ol BS! seriously get over yourself and the SELF reasons why the tablet isn't right for YOU! because I use the RT than just more than what your "source" says what we're gonna use the RT for!

here is what I use the RT for, lets see if it coincides with your "source"

FULL IE10/11 web surfing (duh!)
twittering/facebook
GAMING! with an Xbox controller!
office/business
VPN into my other computers when away from home
watching movies (streaming from my other computers or Netflix)
listening to music, also set up in my car BTW!
emails
ebook reading
wow! looks like I'm doing ALOT more than what your sources are claiming! huh? and I'm willing to bet a million bucks others are doing the same thing as myself AND more because I feel I'm not using the tablet to its full potential! so are you getting my points yet?

also what does the Lenovo thinkpad have to do with the Microsoft Surface RT? they're both different tablets and don't have anything to do with your point! ok so the Lenovo pad has some problems with hardware and the keyboard, doesn't mean you have to involve the RT into it! again your trying to spew BS into your reasons of why the RT isn't good!

Another thing you seem to not bring up (which I will!) is a lot of the ipad users are complaining on a massive scale that the ipad doesn't come with certain attributes that the people want, which is 1 there is no added memory capability! 16/32 gb is not a lot of space! 2 no usb slots to add...ANYTHING! 3 no full web browsing capability and no flash! html5 is ok but what about all the flash sites? apple doesn't think YOU need it or want it! and there is a couple of other things I'm forgetting at the moment..

It should be noted that I GAVE MY IPAD3 with 4G away after owning it for about 1 month. GAVE IT AWAY. So do NOT paint me an Ipad fan. I hated that F'in thing. I just couldnt stand the Surface RT or SP any more than the Ipad. Overall - The iPad was the better, more polished experience and IT DROVE ME NUTS.

Yummy Beer. Hoptimum Imperial IPA | Sierra Nevada NOM NOM NOM.....

You're forgetting Apple is overpriced crap... ? But it just works so well, thats what people love, its easy, you can give it to grandma and she will figure it out.

 

[beman39]

ahaha pc world has been known NOT TO BE BIASED in its articles and favors certain products over others and posting articles from over blown complaints from users to use to BASH on a product, just look in the thread posted about the problems with keyboards and how they were splitting and how the articles were written on them bashing the keyboards and blown out of proportion in the end only a very few handful of them were splitting... and I have never in all my posts accused you of being an ipad fanboy, so nice try! What I don't agree with is all your posts bashing the RT when only YOU had your problems with it and constantly saying BS facts and erroneous facts to use as a bashing agenda! we ALL get it your Surface was giving you trouble and you weren't happy with it and sent it back, but this constant bashing is getting tiring! every post you make you have to make some sort of cheap shot against the Surface! get over yourself! also it looks like no device makes you happy so I would suggest to stop buying them!

another thing you mention in your 2nd post is the thinkpad tablet2, it is NOT a Microsoft tablet and AGAIN your using examples that have nothing to with MS to make your point!

at least your smart enough to know that the ipad isn't the be all end all device and it has it's problems also, and the points you bring up are infact legitimate facts! why I say that? because all the facts you mention are also the complaints my friends who own an ipad complain to me also! so I believe them over some article written with some ulterior motive or some fanboy trying to bash a product because they are insecure about and threatened by a new device on the market

yes I give apple points that they make easy products that are "idiot" proof but it doesn't make them more superior product, they just have better marketing people and Microsoft should take notes! my take on it all is this: if MS would have had better marketing, released the Surface at the current price it is, and trained their sales people better they would have blown the other tablets out of the water!

 

[machistmo]

ahaha pc world has been known NOT TO BE BIASED in its articles and favors certain products over others and posting articles from over blown complaints from users to use to BASH on a product, just look in the thread posted about the problems with keyboards and how they were splitting and how the articles were written on them bashing the keyboards and blown out of proportion in the end only a very few handful of them were splitting... and I have never in all my posts accused you of being an ipad fanboy, so nice try! What I don't agree with is all your posts bashing the RT when only YOU had your problems with it and constantly saying BS facts and erroneous facts to use as a bashing agenda! we ALL get it your Surface was giving you trouble and you weren't happy with it and sent it back, but this constant bashing is getting tiring! every post you make you have to make some sort of cheap shot against the Surface! get over yourself! also it looks like no device makes you happy so I would suggest to stop buying them!

another thing you mention in your 2nd post is the thinkpad tablet2, it is NOT a Microsoft tablet and AGAIN your using examples that have nothing to with MS to make your point!

at least your smart enough to know that the ipad isn't the be all end all device and it has it's problems also, and the points you bring up are infact legitimate facts! why I say that? because all the facts you mention are also the complaints my friends who own an ipad complain to me also! so I believe them over some article written with some ulterior motive or some fanboy trying to bash a product because they are insecure about and threatened by a new device on the market

yes I give apple points that they make easy products that are "idiot" proof but it doesn't make them more superior product, they just have better marketing people and Microsoft should take notes! my take on it all is this: if MS would have had better marketing, released the Surface at the current price it is, and trained their sales people better they would have blown the other tablets out of the water!

I was going to respond to this and then I actually read this post. CUPCAKE - CUPCAKE, easy now, easy.... There there... its going to be ok... lay back, breathe in and out ./backing away toward the bullet proof door again...there is always one..