Master List - Things Surface RT Inexplicably Incapable of Doing

[oion]

stuff

I haven't yet run across a website yet where Flash doesn't work. You'd better list your "problem" websites, otherwise everyone will assume you're speaking in hyperbole and blowing stuff out of proportion as a troll. If there are technical issues with specific sites in IE, bring it up with Microsoft on their official boards.

Your entire post, like I said, really missed the point of Surface/Windows RT. ARM was chosen for battery life, and regular Windows doesn't run on ARM, so MS had to make another version. Can and should Mac OSX run on the ARM chip in an iPad? If you answered "yes," I suppose that illustrates your incompetence. You keep talking about the Surface RT line as missing this and that, but the reason why you're completely wrong is because you're comparing it to a Windows 8 machine. Thus you're passing off your bad consumer choice--yes, a character defect on your part--as the fault of the product, all stop. But guess what? When compared to its proper class of mobile OSes, Windows RT can do a lot more than iOS or Android.

Now, if you said you were elderly and weren't technically savvy at all and a salesperson duped you into buying it at the store, I'd feel more sympathy for your plight.

 

[Deleted member 10837]

It is not impossible to install another browser in Windows RT. Windows RT can do some things Android could not but there are also many more things Android can do due to the better hardware across the vast amount of Android devices available.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Why should the Surface RT allow for another OS to be installed?
Which Flash sites don't work? List them please.
My Surface 2 plays Mpeg files. MKV files is another thing.
As per my usage, IE11 does everything I need it to do. So, for me, it does 100% of what it is meant to.
You mention library websites that don't work. Which ones?

It would perhaps be more productive if you could be more precise in your responses.

 

[FFX]

As VLC is just around the corner, video codecs wont be a problem.


Btw, dayot538 is a troll.

 

[SEANT]

Oh yeah, and don't buy a Surface RT.

The OP may have found themselves on the bitter end of a devise purchase but I don’t think the moral of this story should be “. . . . don’t buy a Surface RT”, it should be: Do research before the purchase.

You would have probably discovered that most of your complaints are quite explicable.

A Customer/Consumer has to be their own advocate. Regardless of what Best Buy had displayed in any sized font, regardless of what any Geek Squad member told you, your own research should be the foundation for a decision.

I think this is important lesson, even beyond electronics. You will not be able to trust everything a car salesman tells you, you cannot take a real-estate agent’s statements as fact . . . . you are the only person completely committed to yourself.

 

[CrippsCorner]

I haven't yet run across a website yet where Flash doesn't work.

Have to admit, I've come across a couple in the last week or so. I can't actually remember them now, but I'll be sure to write them down next time. I think one of them may have been BT's wholesale speed testing site.

At the end of the day I think this thread is a good idea, but just created in the wrong frame of mind. He's not wrong on those points though... just look at is as mostly information and not a troll post, and we can get through this fellow Surfacer's

 

[jnjroach]

It also doesn't play MPEG files, nor are there freely available programs rectify this.

Now let's look at this thread:

Beevel says I'm re-hashing the same old complaints. This means that MS has failed to fix problems that have been brought to their attention already; I assure you this is not a character defect on my part. He also got rid of his Surface RT because it wasn't working for him.

Daniielrp says that IE is 60-70% of a functioning browser. I agree. I didn't pay 60-70% of the price for this tablet, though.

kristalsoldier says that Office runs on the RT, which has nothing to do with my post. He suggests I write similar lists for devices that I don't own, which isn't very helpful.

hotphil believes that fully-functional web browsing and functional stability are 'niche' uses.

oion read my post and summed it up as a distaste for ARM. Actually, I'm not sure that he read my post - let's ignore that for now.

jnjroach believes I work for apple (what?) and the Android-loving press (what?) and that I'm afraid of the Surface gaining a market share (what?) and that I posted to the official MS support forums (presumably something very bad, like "How do I make IE display embedded PDFs rather than opening reader?"). No, no, no, and no I didn't. I did however phone them, and it took an hour and a half of humming and ha-ing for the very nice fellow I talked with to tell me it couldn't be done and I should return the device and buy something else.

Talontsi90 calls me a douche for posting legitimate grievances about a device that is sold by attaching several well-recognized trade names to an inferior product. I have no idea what he is talking about with respect to T9 and voice recognition. He suggests I learn new tricks.

The device is non-functional - it is capable of running a version of office correctly, but cannot handle the 20-year old technology of Flash with any consistency nor is it particularly stable. As for being a niche user, here is what I would like to use my device for:

-Web browsing (this includes library websites and other academic sites that use embedded flash and PDF technology, which is OLD, to display content).
-Word processing

In the absence of reliable built-in functionality, which is par for the course with everything MS does, there has traditionally been access to other programs which work as well as the MS programs dishonestly claim to. This is missing from the RT. If it cannot perform a simple task like web browsing properly, it really has no place on the shelves of any shop after 1995. I'm not sure why you're all so butthurt about this; I know for a fact that every flaw I have listed here is identically replicated on all of your RTs as well. If you have nothing constructive to contribute (do you know how to display embedded PDFS? No? I didn't think so), please sod off.

Dude...what do you expect? You enter into an enthusiast forum (look around before posting) and post a bunch of dribble. Most of us use our Surfaces everyday and this board has more RT/Surface 2 users than Pro/Pro 2.

It looks like you wanted a cheap traditional Windows Tablet that had all of the legacy stuff enabled, RT isn't that and even the Bay Trail Atoms (Dell Venue Pro) are locked down from other OS's. Flash works consistently, have you done all of the updates? If you are still running stock RT RTM then your Flash support is based on a Whitelist, MS changed to a Blacklist in January 2013 and has been that way for a long time.

Why doesn't IE open PDF in a browser you ask? Because the number one way the Windows Machines are compromised now are from vulnerabilities in Adobe or Oracle Software (PDF, Flash, Shockwave, JAVA). Windows RT is sandboxed and a Walled Garden for a reason, it is a compute appliance design to work and not be burdened by Malware, Virus and Ransomware. We give up some of the old school tweaking culture to have a reliable piece of kit.

You ask us to contribute but you obviously haven't done your homework. For most of us here we've found a great device that we enjoy using. For the small things that don't work like the old way we've adapted.

 

[ChemCat]

Have to admit, I've come across a couple in the last week or so. I can't actually remember them now, but I'll be sure to write them down next time. I think one of them may have been BT's wholesale speed testing site.

At the end of the day I think this thread is a good idea, but just created in the wrong frame of mind. He's not wrong on those points though... just look at is as mostly information and not a troll post, and we can get through this fellow Surfacer's

No, he's not wrong on those points. But the whine list is like buying a motorcycle and list all the things that it couldn't do but a car could.

Things that a motorcycle can't ever do.

Carry more than 2-3 people.
Haul heavy objects bigger than 2 feet.
Keep the rider warm in the winter.
Keep rider from getting wet in rain.
Allow rider to listen to music comfortably.
Keep rider from harm of lightning strike.
Etc.

Therefore, the motorcycle is crap and we should all get iCycles.

 

[dayot538]

Library sites that don't function properly:
University of Alberta
University of Calgary
Mount Royal University

No, not all MPEG files work. And VLC being 'just around the corner' doesn't make up for the fact that microsoft failed to build in support or expandability to support some very old, very fundamental usages. The same goes for IE - it is comically insecure, it always has been, but it has in the past been at least passably functional. I wouldn't slap a Honda emblem on a shopping cart and sell it to you as a discounted Honda, would I?

My RT is fully updated, this is irrelevant to its uselessness. I could give a rat's ass whether it was ARM or X86 if MS hadn't instituted direct disincentives to developers making software products superior to their own to develop ARM ports - Firefox is a superior program, and they have been told it will not be allowed on the Surface RT and consequently have not developed it.

'Windows' as a brand is purchased with the understanding that it includes all the functionality you require to visit meatspin.com and crash Internet Explorer. It survives on a constellation of supplementary programs made by far more skilled developers, and this has been prevented with the Surface RT, leaving owners with the ability to browse (60 or 70 percent?) of the web, and use Office. Let's add to this the disrespect for productivity inherent in RT's forced shutdowns and lengthy update times, why don't we? If I wanted a television, I'd have bought one - I have non-CPU intensive reading and writing to do, and this platform fails to deliver, no matter what a bunch of butthurt fanboys have to say about it.

 

[dayot538]

It cannot meet its advertised capabilities, I'm not asking anything unreasonable. If embedded PDFS are too insecure, how about a UI for Reader or Adobe Reader that lands a little closer to functional?

 

[kristalsoldier]

Is this the University of Alberta Library page that you are referring to? >>> University of Alberta Libraries

Here is an example of a search I did on the UoA Library page: http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detai...ssionmgr111%26vid%3d1%26resultId%3d_resultId_

If yes, it appears to be working fine on my Surface 2 (though, I am visiting this as an outsider with no log in facilities). I also searched for a book in the new catalogue system and it returned my searched item(s).

If I get a chance, I'll try out the other sites and post my experiences.

Re: Mpeg files: Have not come across one that cannot be played on my Surface 2. Maybe you should save the file somewhere on the could and provide a public access link.

 

[ChemCat]

First of all, yes I was bullied in HS. Nowadays, these same bullies work in minimum wage retail while I'm an engineer.

Anyway, I'm not a fanboy of anything. Meatspin.com, a shock site that I didn't know about until now, works fine for me on rt.

Edit.