Flash on Surface RT

[BruceBanner]

I've been entrusted to look into tablet solutions for our primary school here in oz. ipads are a contender but they don't support flash.

Just how well does Surface RT do flash? Currently they have an amazing offer of $220/unit (for schools), if they can do this website properly then that's relevant.

Cheers,

Bruce

 

[Gerke]

No Flash
Why do you want Flash?
We have HTML5, so no need for Flash anymore

The website does work on my Surface RT

 

[dellaster]

I don't have an RT, but I did read that Flash is enabled in its IE 10 for those websites included in Microsoft's "whitelist". You can get around the whitelist limitation if necessary, I understand.

 

[jnjroach]

Flash works on 95% of sites on RT, there are a few Blacklist sites that prevent Flash due to malware. Early on (February IIRC) MS switched from a White List for Flash support to a Black List, opened up much more compatibility with the web. If I were choosing a tablet for any educational institution I would go with the RT device, they can be managed by InTune support quick refresh and include Office. My son uses his RT for school and is able to much more than his peers with iPads.

The site you reference on my desktop uses Silverlight though and if it uses that rather than Flash then RT will not work.

 

[deavod]

I've been entrusted to look into tablet solutions for our primary school here in oz. ipads are a contender but they don't support flash.

Just how well does Surface RT do flash? Currently they have an amazing offer of $220/unit (for schools), if they can do this website properly then that's relevant.

Cheers,

Bruce

Hi Bruce,

The Surface RT is flash capable. As others mentioned there is a 'black list' that Microsoft uses to prohibit some sites from working. Otherwise the vast majority of flash-enabled sites work fine on my Surface RT.

I was able to connect to the readingeggs.com.au site and I was able to do the preview lesson just fine. "B and AD make BAD!!" I also saw they are now advertising 'compatible with iPad' on the site and there are links to the AppStore.

So I'm sure the RT will work for you and for $220 you'd get an almost-full version of Office (minus Outlook until the 8.1 upgrade) basically for free. If that price includes the touch keyboard you would have a great deal

HTH,

Dave

 

[BruceBanner]

No Flash
Why do you want Flash?
We have HTML5, so no need for Flash anymore

The website does work on my Surface RT

It seems some places still use flash and haven't crossed over yet to HTML5 (such as this website).
Could you also head over to LEGO.com Games and try a couple of games/flash content.. is it working ok? I figure lego is a good tester for flash, none of it works on the ipad2 we have.

Flash works on 95% of sites on RT, there are a few Blacklist sites that prevent Flash due to malware. Early on (February IIRC) MS switched from a White List for Flash support to a Black List, opened up much more compatibility with the web. If I were choosing a tablet for any educational institution I would go with the RT device, they can be managed by InTune support quick refresh and include Office. My son uses his RT for school and is able to much more than his peers with iPads.

The site you reference on my desktop uses Silverlight though and if it uses that rather than Flash then RT will not work.

Could you please expand on what yer son is able to do more with his RT more than his peers with ipads, this would be very relevant information to pass on to the committee.

"The site you reference on my desktop uses Silverlight though and if it uses that rather than Flash then RT will not work";

The readingeggs site? It seems to be fine for some others reporting back all ok... :S

Hi Bruce,

The Surface RT is flash capable. As others mentioned there is a 'black list' that Microsoft uses to prohibit some sites from working. Otherwise the vast majority of flash-enabled sites work fine on my Surface RT.

I was able to connect to the readingeggs.com.au site and I was able to do the preview lesson just fine. "B and AD make BAD!!" I also saw they are now advertising 'compatible with iPad' on the site and there are links to the AppStore.

So I'm sure the RT will work for you and for $220 you'd get an almost-full version of Office (minus Outlook until the 8.1 upgrade) basically for free. If that price includes the touch keyboard you would have a great deal

HTH,

Dave

It doesnt involve the touch keyboard, that would bump it to $279. I was thinking I could grab some cheaper logitech wireless mice and keyboard sets for less, the ones that use a 'Unifying' usb stick, would that work tho on the RT?

Thank you for letting me know the site seems to work fine on the RT.

In summary I have ipad2, android (nexus 7, note 2) and also run win 8 myself on pc. I'm just trying to get best value for the school, $220 (surface rt) vs $500 (ipad), but this is a primary school also tho, perhaps the surface is more suited to High School users...

My biggest concern is the app market for Metro, compared to Apple and Play Store it looks 'dodgy'. Apps rated 5 stars... 1 review (prolly developers mate!). I hardly use any Win8 Metro apps myself...

I was hoping Surface would trump ipad in terms of flash support, that would be a big +1 in it's corner vs ipad, but then if reading eggs has finally somehow become compliant with ipad...

 

[GreatWindows]

I've been entrusted to look into tablet solutions for our primary school here in oz. ipads are a contender but they don't support flash.

Just how well does Surface RT do flash? Currently they have an amazing offer of $220/unit (for schools), if they can do this website properly then that's relevant.

Cheers,

Bruce

Flash works just fine on the RT, but I would recommend waiting on the RT 2. Should be arriving soon.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express

 

[Gerke]

It seems some places still use flash and haven't crossed over yet to HTML5 (such as this website).
Could you also head over to LEGO.com Games and try a couple of games/flash content.. is it working ok? I figure lego is a good tester for flash, none of it works on the ipad2 we have.

Those games do work, unfortunately they are very slow here in The Netherlands

 

[BruceBanner]

I prolly linked you to australia portal for lego, you could try your european version, see if it's any better.
I plan to see a Surface RT in store this Saturday morning, hopefully its online and i can test myself..

 

[Gerke]

I prolly linked you to australia portal for lego, you could try your european version, see if it's any better.
I plan to see a Surface RT in store this Saturday morning, hopefully its online and i can test myself..

Now on the Dutch version, alot quicker
All the games do work on the RT

 

[BruceBanner]

Interesting...

Thanks for letting me know. Perhaps I should now create a new thread discussing the pros and cons of the RT from a educational perspective.

 

[pallentx]

Here's a few off the top of my head...

Having a full Office - Word, Excel, Power Point is a much better experience than you will get on other platforms.

RT can be setup with multiple user accounts. You can even apply Family Safety controls on content and apps if you set it all up. This might be a lot of work for a lot of students, but its possible.

You can install printers as a device - its windows. Printing is full-featured and not some app workaround.

Shared network resources can be mapped as local like a Windows computer. File management with familiar Explorer.

Two apps at once. You can have your homework/pdf up, and a calculator/music player, whatever open side-by-side.

USB for peripherals.

MicroSD for more storage.

You can have a mouse.