Surface RT for Schools?

[pallentx]

Where are even the basic apps, IMDB, Facebook etc (not that this is school relevant, just saying). Developing apps started way before the platform was ever released...
My wife works for the government, certain sections develop apps (both for employees and public), platform? Apple... not even android... despite android being more popular than apple over here...
When is Metro even going to be considered...

There's a few things going on. For one, there isn't as big of a demand for apps like Facebook or IMDB because you have the full website available. An app would be nice, but you have complete access to the service already.

No way to answer when Metro will be considered. The Apple-first mentality is going to be hard to crack as you've seen - even when it doesn't match the user base.

 

[beman39]

I wish people would start to get out of this "APPS" mentality when we have a WORKING full web page for facebook and imbd and other things... just stop with the android/apple mentality and you will enjoy the RT immensely...

 

[deavod]

I wish people would start to get out of this "APPS" mentality when we have a WORKING full web page for facebook and imbd and other things... just stop with the android/apple mentality and you will enjoy the RT immensely...

Exactly. You can just pin the web page to the start menu and call it an 'app' if you want. I do that for FaceBook No need for a separate "app" when I have a full browser.

 

[BruceBanner]

You know what, I feel stupid for bringing up fb and imdb (when u have a full proper working browser) lol, and it sounds even dumber but I never even thought of using IE10 pinning webpages to start menu... :| (<<<< brainwashed)

Ok, so more to the point then, how are people finding IE10, the 'desktop' mode/Office interface via touch/Surface RT? Anyone getting by just fine using the onscreen keyboard? Is the touch keyboard absolutely necessary?

Couple more questions;

1) If buying this will it work using the usb port? What about drivers? Are we going to see the logitech icon bottom right hand corner in the task tray so that we can configure said items (such as scroll speed etc)?

2) How's the RT from a purely entertainment perspective? For instance, If i copy (or plug in via flash stick) a 1080p.mkv file is it going to cope with it? In my win 8 machine I use MPC-HC as my media player of choice, we can't do that here, so what are our options? (i'm thinking purely selfish reasons here, in case I want to get one myself.. etc)

3) In desktop mode we talk of Office and IE10, what else can we take advantage of here?

4) Can we have different users on one surface? Like logins etc?

I just wish to say you have all been very supportive and helpful so far. Tomorrow I will actually visit a store and have a play with one

 

[beman39]

to answer your questions I find IE10 (desktop version) works amazing and is very fast!! never had trouble on any web pages so far and I go everywhere with IE10 on my RT!
and as for question #1 yes that keyboard and mouse will def work! so no worries there, BUT me personally I would go with a Bluetooth set up so as to free up the usb slot for other things, I'm sure you can find a cheap BT keyboard and mouse on ebay..

#4 yes you can have upto 4 other users on the RT...maybe more I think but I'm not sure/

and as for the other question let me answer them with these vids as they will be able to tell you more than I could! lets just say I was blown away on what the RT can do!! check em out!

[video=youtube;9somrcpcuF4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9somrcpcuF4&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

part 2
[video=youtube;H7FUherhyvI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=H7FUherhyvI[/video]

and part 3!
[video=youtube;jQN0o9lyqTU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jQN0o9lyqTU[/video]

 

[Omni]

1) Almost all keyboards and mice will work with the Surface RT. The extra software for them cant be used though but Microsoft generic ones work fine.

2) Not sure on your exact needs but I think you can play .mkv files via an app. Someone will let me know what or do a search in the store. Or you can convert them on your pc first.

3) Desktop mode is great for when your using a mouse and keyboard. Just seems more natural to me. You have Office and IE and the file explorer were all used to as well.

4) You can have as many accounts as you want just as you wound on any Windows PC.

 

[beman39]

1) Almost all keyboards and mice will work with the Surface RT. The extra software for them cant be used though but Microsoft generic ones work fine.

2) Not sure on your exact needs but I think you can play .mkv files via an app. Someone will let me know what or do a search in the store. Or you can convert them on your pc first.

3) Desktop mode is great for when your using a mouse and keyboard. Just seems more natural to me. You have Office and IE and the file explorer were all used to as well.

4) You can have as many accounts as you want just as you wound on any Windows PC.

btw to answer #2 yes you can play MKV format and the RT plays it beautifully but you need an app to play it as the stock doesn't play MKV which I purchased "mobile HD" and it can even stream my MKV movies from my other computer on my homegroup! very very good app and worth the money

also I would suggest installing splashtop on the rt and computers and you can use almost any DESKTOP application from your desktop on your RT...like sometimes to edit some pics I use paint.net that's on my desktop through my RT very cool app!

 

[BruceBanner]

to answer your questions I find IE10 (desktop version) works amazing and is very fast!! never had trouble on any web pages so far and I go everywhere with IE10 on my RT!
and as for question #1 yes that keyboard and mouse will def work! so no worries there, BUT me personally I would go with a Bluetooth set up so as to free up the usb slot for other things, I'm sure you can find a cheap BT keyboard and mouse on ebay..

Good point.

#4 yes you can have upto 4 other users on the RT...maybe more I think but I'm not sure/

and as for the other question let me answer them with these vids as they will be able to tell you more than I could! lets just say I was blown away on what the RT can do!! check em out!

[video=youtube;9somrcpcuF4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9somrcpcuF4&feature=player_detailpage[/video]

part 2
[video=youtube;H7FUherhyvI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=H7FUherhyvI[/video]

and part 3!
[video=youtube;jQN0o9lyqTU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jQN0o9lyqTU[/video]

Perhaps I'm not as blown away as you are, but that's maybe cuz I already have my Nexus 7 act as a remote control for foobar2000 (music) and MPC-HC. I am also familiar with splashtop so could see the remotedesktop stuff happening. Still nice to see it in action.

btw to answer #2 yes you can play MKV format and the RT plays it beautifully but you need an app to play it as the stock doesn't play MKV which I purchased "mobile HD" and it can even stream my MKV movies from my other computer on my homegroup! very very good app and worth the money

Nice to know. So are you saying if I share my 1080p.mkv movie file folder the RT should be able to access them and play them? I have a HD Media player already setup to do this, but nice to know that this could do it also.

------

Still not hearing much back tho in terms of what 'Desktop' mode can do. I'm hearing Office and IE10, and File Explorer (to gain access to Skydrive etc), what else would you use File Explorer for (except access to usb thumb drive)? There are no other programs in the desktop mode are there?

 

[jnjroach]

Good point.

#4 yes you can have upto 4 other users on the RT...maybe more I think but I'm not sure/



Perhaps I'm not as blown away as you are, but that's maybe cuz I already have my Nexus 7 act as a remote control for foobar2000 (music) and MPC-HC. I am also familiar with splashtop so could see the remotedesktop stuff happening. Still nice to see it in action.



Nice to know. So are you saying if I share my 1080p.mkv movie file folder the RT should be able to access them and play them? I have a HD Media player already setup to do this, but nice to know that this could do it also.

------

Still not hearing much back tho in terms of what 'Desktop' mode can do. I'm hearing Office and IE10, and File Explorer (to gain access to Skydrive etc), what else would you use File Explorer for (except access to usb thumb drive)? There are no other programs in the desktop mode are there?

Desktop is really there because the Office Team didn't have Office Gemini ready (delayed to 2014). Office Gemini is the Touch First (Modern UI) Office App Family. On the RT, you use Desktop for Office, IE on some sites that still choke on Modern UI IE and Windows Maintenance tasks, control panel, explorer, admin tools. Oh and I use Notepad and Calculator on occasion. Eventually I think we will see the desktop disappear on RT, 8.1 has introduced Modern UI Explorer and Expanded the Control Panel in the Modern UI as well...

 

[oion]

Still not hearing much back tho in terms of what 'Desktop' mode can do. I'm hearing Office and IE10, and File Explorer (to gain access to Skydrive etc), what else would you use File Explorer for (except access to usb thumb drive)? There are no other programs in the desktop mode are there?

IE on desktop and in Metro are a bit different; a session in one IE will not carry over to the other mode. There have been some complaints, but I personally see it as a security layer, like having two browsers installed.

As for other things to run in desktop mode... command line, my side-loaded SSH/SFTP programs, deep PC settings (not available on the charm bar PC settings)...

Desktop mode is a traditional MDI interface, meaning it's easier to switch tasks and manipulate window layouts (I'll keep a little Notepad window in the corner while doing something else, and so on). Metro* is more of a modified SDI interface, where MS took it a step further with snapping in 8.1. The underlying processing abilities are also different. In Metro mode, because it's basically SDI, MS didn't want people to have so many apps open that certain things like audio would continue to play, and a user would have to find the app to close it; so in Metro, you cannot make use of all the screen area for background processes like music without snapping. iOS and probably Android are the same way. Because I like working with music in the background, I'll typically stream something in IE desktop and have Word maximized, for example. These are details you only figure out while using the device. May not be relevant in a primary school setting.

Even with MS Office made touch-friendly for Metro in the future, though, I believe the mouse will still be necessary for fine-broad manipulations (like zooming out of Excel and selecting a print area in the tiny cells).

*I refuse to call it "Modern," stupid change by MS...

 

[pallentx]

Explorer is also good for access network shares. You can map network locations to a drive letter - basically everything you do on Windows. If you email a link to a network file, it opens. The other use for the classic desktop is access to the Control Panel. 8.1 is bringing more settings into Metro, but a lot of more advanced stuff is still in the Control Panel. This also brings up another nice thing about using a Windows tablet - you have all the Windows Control Panel options available to you. Mounting disks, managing local users and groups, ODBC database connections (for MS products anyway), scheduled tasks, performance monitors, event logs, firewall settings, network settings, etc... I don't know any other tablet device that gives you this level of control.

 

[BruceBanner]

I never got a solid reply on asking about the streaming capabilities of the surface from a Win 8 pc. If i have set up 'shared folder' on my Win 8 machine, can the surface see those files and access them (provided they are compatible and have an app or program to open them, excel, word docs etc), and what about accessing a 1080p.mkv file? I have never managed to stream 1080p without stuttering wirelessly, that's why I have my HD Media player Ethernet connected to browse media files on the pc.
I would be impressed if surface could access media files on the pc and stream them successfully, that would mean I could connect the surface to a larger tv, connect better sound to it and enjoy it as a second HD Media player, or at the very least a portable one (in my house that would be a welcome benefit but of course this has nothing to do with schools lol. Well not entirely true, knowing the surface can do this allows it to be taken advantage of...).