Master List - Things Surface RT Inexplicably Incapable of Doing

[WillysJeepMan]

Hi there,

In the interests of providing potential buyers of the newly discounted Surface RT with an honest appraisal of its capabilities, I would like to compile a list of things that all buyers are likely to expect it to be able to do but that it will not do. Had the Best Buy where I purchased mine been large enough to mount a complete listing of its shortcomings in size 8 font on any given wall, I never would have bought it; please assist by contributing to this list as flaws continue to emerge.

Flaws which one might reasonably expect to find in a device if it were given to them for free as an alternative to being smothered in six tons of hot fresh bird droppings rather than having paid for it:

-Display embedded PDFS in IE (Not that big a deal, unless you mind the 5-second wait each time you try to load a new one. If you plan on using Ebrary or another ebook site through a public or university library, this will affect you. Microsoft Support confirms that this is insurmountable and advised me to return my Surface to Best Buy).

-Display certain Flash content in IE: If I had the time to determine what factors influence my Surface's decision to display or not display embedded flash content, I'd use it to get a part-time job and save up for a better laptop. Sometimes what it won't display one day it displays with pride the following day.

-IE is, as it has been for the last 15 years, unstable, slow, and insecure. Tabs crash often, and Microsoft has yet to make it impervious to popup hijacking.

-Consistently behave as either a desktop or mobile browser: It changes, on a whim apparently, and there is no way to consistently make your browser behave as a desktop browser. Nor will it cooperate with the mobile versions of at least three different architectures of academic library websites. It does not matter which one of the two GUIs inexplicably included you choose to use.

-You cannot install another browser - Microsoft has made this impossible.

-You cannot install another operating system - microsoft has used some sort of secure boot nonsense to prevent it, despite the existence of several Linux kernels made for the Surface RT's ARM architecture

-Run 99.9% of the software you could run on a normal laptop, because of aforementioned ARM architecture, even if you do apply the 'jailbreak' which circumvents Microsoft's "Store" software monopoly

-Access settings for software in the same way as you would on a desktop: Many of the programs that have been ported to ARM / Windows RT have their settings gutted to the point of uselessness.

Feel free to add to this list as you become more remorseful for your purchase.

I had a desire to rehabilitate this thread to something that might actually be helpful for potential buyers. But as I read through this list there is an underlying hubris that prevents anything helpful from it... a poisoned tree produces poisoned fruit. I say hubris, because you didn't come here looking for answers to those problems. You simply post that because YOU experienced these issues then it must be universal to the RT experience. Because obviously you are so knowledgeable that it is impossible that anyone else might be able to help with some of those issues. You may indeed be the center of YOUR universe, but that doesn't translate well to other universes.

Having said that, you provide no specific examples of what you have experienced. That makes it impossible to address those issues.

You have failed to explain how you came to your set of expectations for the Surface RT. How can someone who claims to be interested (and knowledgeable, my assumption) in installing alternate operating systems, and aware of Flash, legacy apps, history of Internet Explorer, be so completely clueless about what the Surface RT was BEFORE buying it? That doesn't make sense.

Given this, the only logical conclusion is that you are simply one of the many attention-seekers who enjoys attention whether it be positive or negative. It's sad to think that there are people out there so starved for human interaction.

Well, mission accomplished. I hope this thread has helped you.

 

[dayot538]

The purpose of this thread is to catalogue things that Microsoft nor retailers are going to acknowledge that the Surface RT is incapable of doing. If the mods would like to erase everything after the first post, it might just accomplish this! I take for granted that my experiences would be replicated using any other Surface RT because there is no room for customization of functionality in the OS.

IE mishandles Java-intensive sites, selectively loads Flash (Library sites, youtube, etc) if I don't restart it a few times and go for a coffee and give up first. The library sites may load fine on a surface 2; I don't own one. It switches between mobile and desktop versions seemingly at random, regardless of whether or not I am using compatibility view. The MPEGs it would not load were from a language instruction course pack I was attempting to use to teach - in any other version of Windows, a codec pack would be available to rectify this since MS clearly has not heard of many of the now 10 or 20 year old formats in circulation.

Browser tabs for newspapers (Calgary Herald, National Post, Globe and Mail, Calgary Sun, Al-Jazeera, Huffington Post) often crash and are unreadable.

Many of these problems have existed in the MS support system or knowledge base for a year already, and MS has no intention of fixing them despite the fact that they have had a significant amount of unsold stock to get rid of as a result of these problems (do you think they cut the price of the RT for any other reason?)

This is a seriously flawed product, rivaled perhaps only by the 1st gen Blackberry Pearl, which was not ready for release when it went on the market.

 

[jnjroach]

I can't understand how you can say that IE mishandles JAVA intensive sites as JAVA is a plug-in that isn't supported (Which is a big YAY from me!!!). I use YouTube all the time, a few weeks ago Google made some changes that broke IE across the board, but is fixed now. You want this forum to allow you to post a your equivalent of Luther 95 Thesis on the virtual Wittenberg's Door and expect no push back?

Many of the site you list have Apps available in the Windows Store.

And if IE is switching between desktop and Modern UI on its own...you've messed up your machine as I used the RT for a year, and now the Surface 2 since launch and have never seen this. As far as the rest of complaints...RT is a walled garden, just like the rest of the Mobile OS's in existence.

You need an x86 Device, you purchased the wrong tablet, it doesn't make the product bad, it makes the product wrong for you.

We see that you're an academic of some sort which surprises me by you black/white view of the situation. Please return your RT and get an x86 machine that you load all of the legacy codecs, plug-ins and applications you need...

 

[kristalsoldier]

I can't understand how you can say that IE mishandles JAVA intensive sites as JAVA is a plug-in that isn't supported (Which is a big YAY from me!!!). I use YouTube all the time, a few weeks ago Google made some changes that broke IE across the board, but is fixed now. You want this forum to allow you to post a your equivalent of Luther 95 Thesis on the virtual Wittenberg's Door and expect no push back?

Many of the site you list have Apps available in the Windows Store.

And if IE is switching between desktop and Modern UI on its own...you've messed up your machine as I used the RT for a year, and now the Surface 2 since launch and have never seen this. As far as the rest of complaints...RT is a walled garden, just like the rest of the Mobile OS's in existence.

You need an x86 Device, you purchased the wrong tablet, it doesn't make the product bad, it makes the product wrong for you.

We see that you're an academic of some sort which surprises me by you black/white view of the situation. Please return your RT and get an x86 machine that you load all of the legacy codecs, plug-ins and applications you need...

LOL!!!! That was a nice touch!!!!

 

[kristalsoldier]

The purpose of this thread is to catalogue things that Microsoft nor retailers are going to acknowledge that the Surface RT is incapable of doing. If the mods would like to erase everything after the first post, it might just accomplish this! I take for granted that my experiences would be replicated using any other Surface RT because there is no room for customization of functionality in the OS.

IE mishandles Java-intensive sites, selectively loads Flash (Library sites, youtube, etc) if I don't restart it a few times and go for a coffee and give up first. The library sites may load fine on a surface 2; I don't own one. It switches between mobile and desktop versions seemingly at random, regardless of whether or not I am using compatibility view. The MPEGs it would not load were from a language instruction course pack I was attempting to use to teach - in any other version of Windows, a codec pack would be available to rectify this since MS clearly has not heard of many of the now 10 or 20 year old formats in circulation.

Browser tabs for newspapers (Calgary Herald, National Post, Globe and Mail, Calgary Sun, Al-Jazeera, Huffington Post) often crash and are unreadable.

Many of these problems have existed in the MS support system or knowledge base for a year already, and MS has no intention of fixing them despite the fact that they have had a significant amount of unsold stock to get rid of as a result of these problems (do you think they cut the price of the RT for any other reason?)

You don't have to work at Apple for be a douchebag or any of the other number of things strangers have insisted I must be/do to see that this is a seriously flawed product, rivaled perhaps only by the 1st gen Blackberry Pearl, which was not ready for release when it went on the market.

You really have a problem in comprehending things! For the nth time, RT does not allow for modifications. The Surface RT/ 2 platform does not allow for the loading of a second or a third OS - this is what x86 machines do (try out the Surface Pro and Pro 2). And no... your experiences are not replicated by any other using Surface RT/ 2 machines!

Btw, the list of sites that you mentioned in a previous post work very well on my Surface 2 - go figure!

 

[bluegrass]

I would bet a dime to a dollar that if dayot538 get's a Pro or Pro 2, he will be dissatisfied with the many bumps he'll encounter in trying to accomplish what he believes it should be able to do without a flaw.

The bottom line, is there are enough people using the Surface RT/2 that are happy with them and get plenty of good use of them. I really feel for very non-technical people that don't have a family member or a friend that can give them good counsel on what equipment will fit their need. It's obvious that dayot538 didn't have one.

How about a thread about what RT/2 Surface's are good far and what they aren't good for and maybe throw in when you should purchase a Surface Pro or Surface Pro 2 instead.

 

[ChemCat]

I would bet a dime to a dollar that if dayot538 get's a Pro or Pro 2, he will be dissatisfied with the many bumps he'll encounter in trying to accomplish what he believes it should be able to do without a flaw.

The bottom line, is there are enough people using the Surface RT/2 that are happy with them and get plenty of good use of them. I really feel for very non-technical people that don't have a family member or a friend that can give them good counsel on what equipment will fit their need. It's obvious that dayot538 didn't have one.

I used to counsel family members and friends on technical things since I'm the only technical person they know. Then one day I realized that I should really stop working for free. So, I started recommending mac computers, ipads, and iphones. This way, whenever they came to me for help, I'd tell them I don't know anything about macs, ipads, and iphones. Perfect! Because now they are someone else's problem.

For example, my ex's parents both got ipads. They then came to me for help because they didn't know how to transfer pictures into their new ipads. I told them I don't know anything about it. And that was the end of that. Nowadays, they still can't do anything with their ipads beside web browsing and email.

The moral of the story is the people you should be feeling for are the feel technically inclined people that have to work for free everyday to lug along the technically illiterate masses.

Recommending apple products to everyone who came to me for help was the best decision I ever made in my life. Don't get me wrong. They still couldn't do anything with apple products. But now they're not my problem anymore. They're apple's problem. What's that? You can't watch videos on your brand new ipad? I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about it. You should go to the apple store for help. What's that? The apple people tell you you can't watch your son in the olympics on your ipad because ipad doesn't have flash? I'm sorry but there is nothing I can do.

See how much better my life is by pointing them to apple?

 

[dayot538]

Math isn't my field, but let me throw an equation out there: Surface RT =/= Surface 2, Ipad, Android, Boiled Potato, Vatican City, or anything else we might draw into conversation because we all have a significant amount of free time.

The Surface RT does not allow for the installation of a different operating system. I'm going to keep including this in posts, and kristalsoldier can keep missing the point and responding with 'hey idiot! don't you know that the Surface RT does not allow for the installation of a different operating system? huh? idiot?'

jnjroach, I haven't messed up my Surface RT because I can't mess up my Surface RT as it has been pointed out several times.

There is no program to allow the viewing of embedded PDFs, a basic feature in academic usage of a computer/laptop/tablet/cellphone/abacus. This would reside in IE, if it existed. It does not.

I will restate the problem in a series of point-form steps to make it easily digestible:

-Standard Windows (XP, 7, 8, 3.11 for Workgroups) is dysfunctional to varying degrees in its attempts to provide an all-encompassing suite of programs for basic home and office use. This has not stopped them from trying to foist these programs upon users, which has in the past led to antitrust lawsuits.

-Standard Windows is aware of its own shortcomings, and allows supplementary applications to be developed because one developer simply can't do it all (and certainly not properly).

-Windows RT, a comically irritating derivative of Windows 8, a comically irritating rip-off of MacOS, does not allow this supplementation. It comes with a suite of applications insufficient for basic home/office use, and restricts the development of good software to alleviate this. IE has always been insecure, Outlook has been the epicentre of viral shitstorms since the nineties, and Office worked so spectacularly well that someone peed in the coffee pot of their UI dev team and begat the nightmare that is Office 2010.

Cue kristalsoldier saying 'hey! it's not a laptop!'

I know. take the day off. However, any time I attempt to do anything more complex than stare at the new UI and write letters to MS congratulating them on giving the middle finger to more people at once than a Superbowl streaker, I have to call MS/read a forum/use a laptop, tablet, or paper copy of a newspaper. And I'm talking about web-browsing and word processing and basic document functionalities. Take your Surface RT (I repeat, Surface RT, not Surface 2, Cessna 172, or C-3PO) and navigate to Calgarysun.com and try to open a few tabs. When you've restarted your browser, come back here and tell me about it. Go to the U of A library site and search for an ebook facsimile of a text printed in 1800 (yes, attempt to use the search feature), find one from Ebrary, and after you've closed Reader or Adobe reader because they lack a useful UI, come back here and tell me about it. Try to remedy any of the problems you encounter, and come back and tell me I'm unreasonable in expecting a web browser to browse a web that has not become rapidly more advanced or resource-intensive in the last 12 months. The thing should have been sold with a proper tablet included, as a least other tablet manufacturers are capable of producing a web browser.

 

[oion]

-Standard Windows (XP, 7, 8, 3.11 for Workgroups) is dysfunctional to varying degrees in its attempts to provide an all-encompassing suite of programs for basic home and office use. This has not stopped them from trying to foist these programs upon users, which has in the past led to antitrust lawsuits.

-Standard Windows is aware of its own shortcomings, and allows supplementary applications to be developed because one developer simply can't do it all (and certainly not properly).

-Windows RT, a comically irritating derivative of Windows 8, a comically irritating rip-off of MacOS, does not allow this supplementation. It comes with a suite of applications insufficient for basic home/office use, and restricts the development of good software to alleviate this. IE has always been insecure, Outlook has been the epicentre of viral shitstorms since the nineties, and Office worked so spectacularly well that someone peed in the coffee pot of their UI dev team and begat the nightmare that is Office 2010.

Your repeated attempts at trying to cover your own humiliation for not doing your research and buying the wrong device for your use case is pretty amusing, desperately trying to state "facts" based on your specific subjective usage--a symptom of irrationality at its best. "Insufficient for basic home/office use"? Not according to the many 4-plus average aggregate user reviews around the internats. Seriously, do your homework.

Once again, you keep reiterating your ability to miss the point, by spinning your technical incompetence into a raging little shitstorm hoping the rest of us won't see just how bad a consumer you are for your own, embarrassing bad decisions: Windows RT can't be infected by the super-insecure-virus-blahs you're whining about.

You are the guy who bought a Prius C and came to the Prius forums screaming that you can't off-road with it. That's your fault, not anyone else's.

(P.S.: For real technical problems with the browser, you should be posting to the official MS support boards anyway. Who knows what version of IE you're using and if you've patched everything and whatever.)

 

[jnjroach]

Math isn't my field, but let me throw an equation out there: Surface RT =/= Surface 2, Ipad, Android, Boiled Potato, Vatican City, or anything else we might draw into conversation because we all have a significant amount of free time.

The Surface RT does not allow for the installation of a different operating system. I'm going to keep including this in posts, and kristalsoldier can keep missing the point and responding with 'hey idiot! don't you know that the Surface RT does not allow for the installation of a different operating system? huh? idiot?'

jnjroach, I haven't messed up my Surface RT because I can't mess up my Surface RT as it has been pointed out several times.

There is no program to allow the viewing of embedded PDFs, a basic feature in academic usage of a computer/laptop/tablet/cellphone/abacus. This would reside in IE, if it existed. It does not.

I will restate the problem in a series of point-form steps to make it easily digestible:

-Standard Windows (XP, 7, 8, 3.11 for Workgroups) is dysfunctional to varying degrees in its attempts to provide an all-encompassing suite of programs for basic home and office use. This has not stopped them from trying to foist these programs upon users, which has in the past led to antitrust lawsuits.

-Standard Windows is aware of its own shortcomings, and allows supplementary applications to be developed because one developer simply can't do it all (and certainly not properly).

-Windows RT, a comically irritating derivative of Windows 8, a comically irritating rip-off of MacOS, does not allow this supplementation. It comes with a suite of applications insufficient for basic home/office use, and restricts the development of good software to alleviate this. IE has always been insecure, Outlook has been the epicentre of viral shitstorms since the nineties, and Office worked so spectacularly well that someone peed in the coffee pot of their UI dev team and begat the nightmare that is Office 2010.

Cue kristalsoldier saying 'hey! it's not a laptop!'

I know. take the day off. However, any time I attempt to do anything more complex than stare at the new UI and write letters to MS congratulating them on giving the middle finger to more people at once than a Superbowl streaker, I have to call MS/read a forum/use a laptop, tablet, or paper copy of a newspaper. And I'm talking about web-browsing and word processing and basic document functionalities. Take your Surface RT (I repeat, Surface RT, not Surface 2, Cessna 172, or C-3PO) and navigate to Calgarysun.com and try to open a few tabs. When you've restarted your browser, come back here and tell me about it. Go to the U of A library site and search for an ebook facsimile of a text printed in 1800 (yes, attempt to use the search feature), find one from Ebrary, and after you've closed Reader or Adobe reader because they lack a useful UI, come back here and tell me about it. Try to remedy any of the problems you encounter, and come back and tell me I'm unreasonable in expecting a web browser to browse a web that has not become rapidly more advanced or resource-intensive in the last 12 months. The thing should have been sold with a proper tablet included, as a least other tablet manufacturers are capable of producing a web browser.

Surface RT and Surface 2 use the same OS, functionality is identical...

Here is your Calgary Sun Site - 4 Tabs Two Windows....




We get it, you have a disdain for Windows but for some reason are compelled to use it and you had expectations of RT that weren't met, but you're not getting the satisfaction of your complaining because we the users who have been using the devices for over year can't recreate your issues...

 

[ChemCat]

Here is a screenshot of your website. 2 windows, 2 tabs each. Surface RT.

 

[trippma]

OP, the SurfaceRT obviously isn't meeting your expectations so I ask this question with the utmost sincerity- why haven't you simply returned it?