My background:
I'm a 26-year old translator. I've been into PCs since I was about 8. I vaguely remember the blinking white cursor on a white background in MS DOS, and my dad laughing at Microsoft's claims that their new systems would be free from freezes and such. Until Windows XP, which - as we all know - was actually pretty good and reliable software for the average Joe.
Being a translator I don't have high expectations towards my system. When seeing the Surface in the store, and eventually buying it, I highly appreciated it for being this compact, having a decent battery, beautiful hi-res screen and very stylish Burgundy keyboard that fits my furniture nicely. But, besides that, I just needed a working computer I can rely on, for doing my business in peace and harmony with the outer world. Without having to curse the company that produced my work tool every single day. In fact, I shouldn't even care about who made this thing or even keep thinking about how much it cost me - as long as it served the f... purpose it was bought for.
My story:
I've been with Surface Pro 2017 for over half a year now, so I guess I might be called a relatively "early adopter". And so maybe the below 28-items list of bugs which I started composing some several months ago (after I had became infuriated with how poorly designed the product's system was) shouldn't be surprising. I've been planning on publishing it after some longer time, until it reaches maybe 50 items, but today I broke down after seeing a bug that's been there on day 1 and has not been fixed ever since, despite several major updates.
List of bugs noted in the period of several months, from two SP units (but mostly just from one, since I work on my PC a lot more than my wife who basically just browses the web). Most of them are pretty critical to the system's overall stability and functionality, while other only reveal how retarded and annoying the Windows environment is:
1. copy-paste function breaking down in Edge - ISSUE REPORTED ON THE FORUMS BACK IN 2015
2. took 2 days to finish update
3. Word crashed when trying to turn on invisible characters displaying
4. Word displays several empty documents after restarting Surface
5. Calendar couldn't start properly after connecting to Dock due to some scaling bug, but succeeded in turning on with the use of the button on the Mail app
6. Excel occasionally doesn't work until resetting
7. Surface won't start normally - loading circle keeps rotating forever. Hard reset required. Lock screen wallpaper changed after reset.
8. entire system just froze on me when trying to annotate a pdf
9. battery icon occassionally untappable with a finger (only with the mouse)
10. file downloaded in Edge won't show on desktop until restarting Windows
11. system occasionally won't wake up until disconnecting from Dock
12. I try to open RMB drop-down menu on desktop, and all that displays is an empty vertical bar
13. I click on Add Bluetooth device and nothing happens. Needless to say it works after rebooting...
14. Can't open touch keyboard when saving txt file
15. Erasing text in Edge with screen keyboard lags like it's 1980s
16. Sometimes Edge will load a single page for about 10 seconds (other times it won't load it at all, or the attempt will be too long for me to wait)
17. I ACTUALLY had to type the full phrase "internet radio" instead of just "radio" in Store, because otherwise it wouldn't show any results. SO 1990s.
18. Every new window opens "beneath" Edge, as if it was minimized...
19. After restarting Surface, Bluetooth adapter won't pair until resetting Bluetooth
20. Edge: clicking zoom button simply does nothing... Worked after refreshing page.
21. Sometimes Mail will send seemingly dispatched email only after refreshing, causing delays in responding to clients and actually ruining my business
22. While docked, the Surface screen will change between cooler and warmer screen color (probably color profile change bug) depending if I'm working on the main screen, or the secondary screen. By the way, color profile toggle doesn't do anything, even after rebooting - must've gone nuts with some of the recent Windows updates...
23. Can't open any PDF file, resetting required; RMB drop-down menu for the files again disappeared, instead displaying just a vertical straight line
24. Pressing brightness change buttons doesn't actually change brightness, but adjusting the brightness slider IS possible with a mouse
25. The above happened to be just part of a much bigger problem that caused the entire system to malfunction completely, which required another restart
26. I click "Reject" on a Windows notification and nothing happens
27. Trying to open Mail app, nothing happens
28. In Calendar app, when you press the view mode selection buttons, year 1910, or - like today - 1785 (!!!) sometimes comes up. What the f... . These bugs are getting more and more ridiculous.
A video showing two bugs I experienced AGAIN today - having first experienced it half a year ago after purchasing the product:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhTXDUN3cAU
It's actually pretty darn hilarious that I originally had intended to show you just the first bug (seen on the vid on the left Surface) which I then wanted to reproduce on the other one (to prove to you that it's not just my unit that's wicked), but --this time-- the right-hand side Surface actually provided an opportunity to show you another bug in the system, which - by the way - had been there a long time too.
So yeah, I have in my family three SP 2017, and they all have a P-O-S system ridden with bugs like it's a pre-alpha. Never in my life have I had such poor customer experience with any digital product, and we're supposed to be in 2018. The world is supposed to be going forward and such, but that's definitely not true for Microsoft, because they seem to have decided to get back to the pre-XP era. Remember the old video with Gates doing a presentation in which he connected the printer to a Windows PC and it bluescreened on him? A similar thing has been happening to quite many people around in the world some time ago due to the ill-famed auto-hibernation issue of the Surface.
Imagine doing a presentation and the laptop just going to sleep in the middle of it - for no reason. Imagine trying to show something to a business contact and not being able to OPEN YOUR DIGITAL KEYBOARD, because the button just won't respond. This is year 2018, and a $1000+ product's FIFTH release on a system that's been there since the 1980s, after ten-odd firmware and system updates (since release) from the world's most financially potent IT company. Where the hell has Microsoft gone wrong throughout the years?
Now, don't get me wrong. I do work on this product. I need it for work, for which it's actually excellent - when it works properly. Since unboxing I've had to fix dozens of silly problems (including critical ones like auto-hibernation, rapidly discharging battery etc.), and deal with ridiculous annoyances, such as not being able to disable screen password with a native option - but I use it. Despite the fact that - for some reason - Word tends to lag like hell on it in some documents (would never happen on my old desktop). Despite the fact that it occasionally won't wake up properly when hooked to the Dock ($300). And despite several other stupid problems that should never happen (especially after this many updates) and that I'm too tired to even write about.
It's such a bitter-sweet relationship, god. Kinda like with a woman that cheated on you but whom you still love. Or like with a computer that's been so great this week until it suddenly drops Internet connection (happens to me occasionally - I have to restart the WiFi card to fix this) I love Surface when I don't find Edge slightly lagging on text input like it's doing NOW - for some bloody reason I don't even want to consider because of having better things to do in life.
Still, I decided to publish this rant just to ruin Microsoft's reputation a little, so that they know that there is someone in there who actually cares to voice his disgust with how enormously poor their quality assurance is. It (the QA) can't assure anything apart from nearly permanent annoyance, and - unless some fundamental changes in the way Microsoft is managed take place - it probably never will.
Hell, I might eventually try a Mac next time...
I'm a 26-year old translator. I've been into PCs since I was about 8. I vaguely remember the blinking white cursor on a white background in MS DOS, and my dad laughing at Microsoft's claims that their new systems would be free from freezes and such. Until Windows XP, which - as we all know - was actually pretty good and reliable software for the average Joe.
Being a translator I don't have high expectations towards my system. When seeing the Surface in the store, and eventually buying it, I highly appreciated it for being this compact, having a decent battery, beautiful hi-res screen and very stylish Burgundy keyboard that fits my furniture nicely. But, besides that, I just needed a working computer I can rely on, for doing my business in peace and harmony with the outer world. Without having to curse the company that produced my work tool every single day. In fact, I shouldn't even care about who made this thing or even keep thinking about how much it cost me - as long as it served the f... purpose it was bought for.
My story:
I've been with Surface Pro 2017 for over half a year now, so I guess I might be called a relatively "early adopter". And so maybe the below 28-items list of bugs which I started composing some several months ago (after I had became infuriated with how poorly designed the product's system was) shouldn't be surprising. I've been planning on publishing it after some longer time, until it reaches maybe 50 items, but today I broke down after seeing a bug that's been there on day 1 and has not been fixed ever since, despite several major updates.
List of bugs noted in the period of several months, from two SP units (but mostly just from one, since I work on my PC a lot more than my wife who basically just browses the web). Most of them are pretty critical to the system's overall stability and functionality, while other only reveal how retarded and annoying the Windows environment is:
1. copy-paste function breaking down in Edge - ISSUE REPORTED ON THE FORUMS BACK IN 2015
2. took 2 days to finish update
3. Word crashed when trying to turn on invisible characters displaying
4. Word displays several empty documents after restarting Surface
5. Calendar couldn't start properly after connecting to Dock due to some scaling bug, but succeeded in turning on with the use of the button on the Mail app
6. Excel occasionally doesn't work until resetting
7. Surface won't start normally - loading circle keeps rotating forever. Hard reset required. Lock screen wallpaper changed after reset.
8. entire system just froze on me when trying to annotate a pdf
9. battery icon occassionally untappable with a finger (only with the mouse)
10. file downloaded in Edge won't show on desktop until restarting Windows
11. system occasionally won't wake up until disconnecting from Dock
12. I try to open RMB drop-down menu on desktop, and all that displays is an empty vertical bar
13. I click on Add Bluetooth device and nothing happens. Needless to say it works after rebooting...
14. Can't open touch keyboard when saving txt file
15. Erasing text in Edge with screen keyboard lags like it's 1980s
16. Sometimes Edge will load a single page for about 10 seconds (other times it won't load it at all, or the attempt will be too long for me to wait)
17. I ACTUALLY had to type the full phrase "internet radio" instead of just "radio" in Store, because otherwise it wouldn't show any results. SO 1990s.
18. Every new window opens "beneath" Edge, as if it was minimized...
19. After restarting Surface, Bluetooth adapter won't pair until resetting Bluetooth
20. Edge: clicking zoom button simply does nothing... Worked after refreshing page.
21. Sometimes Mail will send seemingly dispatched email only after refreshing, causing delays in responding to clients and actually ruining my business
22. While docked, the Surface screen will change between cooler and warmer screen color (probably color profile change bug) depending if I'm working on the main screen, or the secondary screen. By the way, color profile toggle doesn't do anything, even after rebooting - must've gone nuts with some of the recent Windows updates...
23. Can't open any PDF file, resetting required; RMB drop-down menu for the files again disappeared, instead displaying just a vertical straight line
24. Pressing brightness change buttons doesn't actually change brightness, but adjusting the brightness slider IS possible with a mouse
25. The above happened to be just part of a much bigger problem that caused the entire system to malfunction completely, which required another restart
26. I click "Reject" on a Windows notification and nothing happens
27. Trying to open Mail app, nothing happens
28. In Calendar app, when you press the view mode selection buttons, year 1910, or - like today - 1785 (!!!) sometimes comes up. What the f... . These bugs are getting more and more ridiculous.
A video showing two bugs I experienced AGAIN today - having first experienced it half a year ago after purchasing the product:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhTXDUN3cAU
It's actually pretty darn hilarious that I originally had intended to show you just the first bug (seen on the vid on the left Surface) which I then wanted to reproduce on the other one (to prove to you that it's not just my unit that's wicked), but --this time-- the right-hand side Surface actually provided an opportunity to show you another bug in the system, which - by the way - had been there a long time too.
So yeah, I have in my family three SP 2017, and they all have a P-O-S system ridden with bugs like it's a pre-alpha. Never in my life have I had such poor customer experience with any digital product, and we're supposed to be in 2018. The world is supposed to be going forward and such, but that's definitely not true for Microsoft, because they seem to have decided to get back to the pre-XP era. Remember the old video with Gates doing a presentation in which he connected the printer to a Windows PC and it bluescreened on him? A similar thing has been happening to quite many people around in the world some time ago due to the ill-famed auto-hibernation issue of the Surface.
Imagine doing a presentation and the laptop just going to sleep in the middle of it - for no reason. Imagine trying to show something to a business contact and not being able to OPEN YOUR DIGITAL KEYBOARD, because the button just won't respond. This is year 2018, and a $1000+ product's FIFTH release on a system that's been there since the 1980s, after ten-odd firmware and system updates (since release) from the world's most financially potent IT company. Where the hell has Microsoft gone wrong throughout the years?
Now, don't get me wrong. I do work on this product. I need it for work, for which it's actually excellent - when it works properly. Since unboxing I've had to fix dozens of silly problems (including critical ones like auto-hibernation, rapidly discharging battery etc.), and deal with ridiculous annoyances, such as not being able to disable screen password with a native option - but I use it. Despite the fact that - for some reason - Word tends to lag like hell on it in some documents (would never happen on my old desktop). Despite the fact that it occasionally won't wake up properly when hooked to the Dock ($300). And despite several other stupid problems that should never happen (especially after this many updates) and that I'm too tired to even write about.
It's such a bitter-sweet relationship, god. Kinda like with a woman that cheated on you but whom you still love. Or like with a computer that's been so great this week until it suddenly drops Internet connection (happens to me occasionally - I have to restart the WiFi card to fix this) I love Surface when I don't find Edge slightly lagging on text input like it's doing NOW - for some bloody reason I don't even want to consider because of having better things to do in life.
Still, I decided to publish this rant just to ruin Microsoft's reputation a little, so that they know that there is someone in there who actually cares to voice his disgust with how enormously poor their quality assurance is. It (the QA) can't assure anything apart from nearly permanent annoyance, and - unless some fundamental changes in the way Microsoft is managed take place - it probably never will.
Hell, I might eventually try a Mac next time...
While there are some Surface issues most of this is Windows 10 issues AFAIK. Although the Surface line may exacerbate some issues due to advanced power management and poor unruly drivers that step on each other and pretty much everywhere else.
