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Despite it being the Surface packing the worst of Windows 8′s mixed-up UI (desktop Office, really?), without the benefits of being able to, you know, actually run Windows applications, the Windows RT-packing Surface could be your perfect tablet. Maybe. Now you can actually buy one in the UK, on the High Street too.
Well, you can buy one if you can find one. Right now John Lewis is showing both the 16 and 32GB variants as sold out online, so, yeah. Despite us really, really wanting to love it, our advice is to wait for the Surface Pro, which seems like it’ll be here sooner rather than later. [John Lewis]
Thanks Jeff!
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The desktop UI is there for a reason.
So people have a place they already know to manage the device, aka the control panel…. and so you can use the file explorer to manage files. Something you cant do anywhere near as easily in other tablet OS’s
I Agree, some of us use these things for work, and the closer the mobile device is to a desktop rig then the easier it is to teach my users how to use it.
Please Sam, I like most of your articles but please think about how these devices are used in the real world sometimes.
Let’s just get one thing straight. Windows RT is NOT viable for real-world use. At least in regard to the use of it like you would a Windows machine. I’m not kidding, we’ve tried to use it as a laptop replacement, several times, but because you can’t run x86 apps it’s just hamstrung. In fact, the only thing you use the desktop for in RT is Office, Windows Explorer, and Control Panel, none of which need to use the desktop.
And yes, I think it’s absurd that Microsoft hasn’t created proper Metro versions of Windows Explorer, Office, and hasn’t added everything you can do with Control Panel into the Settings Metro pane, but there you are.
So, you see, I’m not slagging Windows 8 off at all, just Windows RT, as the desktop is useless on Windows RT. Having the desktop on Windows 8 on the Surface Pro will make sense though.
Sorry Sam I disagree. Based on real world use I say that Surface RT tablet is a perfect travel laptop replacement, for my requirement.
When traveling my users require e-mail, word, excel and internet. That’s pretty much it, viewing video, playing music is a bonus, but not required for work. Accessing x86 apps would be nice, but 99% of the time is not needed for traveling. The form factor, the price, the battery life of this is great, but the killer app it has over all other tablets is real MS Office, because that what people tend to use.
I agree that this tablet is not a laptop replacement, but no-one ever said it was. As a travel laptop it’s perfect, maybe not for everyone, and maybe not for a journalist, but in my experience it’s filled a great niche.
Also Desktop on Windows RT does make sense at the moment because that’s they way the user is used to seeing Word and Excel. You are a tech journalist, so for you using something new isn’t a big deal. But for most of my user, if it’s too different from what they know before they just won’t use it, they will not take the time to learn it, and they will request what they where using before. So without Desktop on windows RT, I could not get them to use it. You might see it differently, but in my experience this type of change will need to be done in baby step.
PS I would love a Metro version of Office, and I hope the next version is Metro.
Put it this way. My opinion is Microsoft should have stuck to its guns and made RT “Modern” only — x86 Win 8 is fine the way it is, but Microsoft shouldn’t have chickened out at the last minute. I also think Microsoft should have launched the Surface and Surface Pro simultaneously, and then maybe we wouldn’t be having this disagreement.
Yes, they should of launched both version together, it’s silly to launch them months apart.
Also the surface tablet should be every shop right now. I wanted to feel it and play with one before I purchased one, and I’m guessing that people would buy if they got to use it first. That and the cover should be included in the price also, just silly not to include it as part of the package.
Basically I think Microsoft screwed up the launch, but the basic product is pretty good, well for business users anyway.
Desktop on RT doesn’t make sense — if we take the view that we should integrate legacy interfaces, at the expense of a simple and unified tablet UI, we’ll never move anywhere. If you have a problem with Metro being too jarring a change, that’s a different matter; to have a half-way house, where the user is constantly being thrown between the two, doesn’t make sense. It’s jarring, and it makes it far, far harder to adjust to the new interface.
In fact, my biggest bug-bear of the whole RT experience is having two versions of Internet Explorer, one which can run Flash (limited) and one which can’t. It’s crazy. I have to actively think which version of the browser I need, and if I want to go back to the browser after doing something else, I have to remember which version of IE I was using.
Windows RT is the worst of both worlds. All the buggy crap of Windows, without the flexibility.
Oh, and the updates. Oh. My. God. Seriously Microsoft. What a joke. It took the best part of 5 hours just to update the damn thing the other day.
Surface RT is only a disappointment if you compare it to a full x86 laptop. Its real competition is an iPad. But yes, in RT the Office Apps should have launched straight from the Metro UI, and all the Control Panel settings should have been in Metro, etc, etc..
I just don’t know how Microsoft keep screwing up, they should get the Xbox guys to do their hardware launches (red rings aside) they’ve been excellent.
As for the screw up with a desktop mode on a tablet, well, the contents of a meeting room somewhere needs to be blown to smithereens.
The problem is (as a family member has clearly demonstrated) people will buy this thinking it is Windows 8, and will then realise it doesn’t run Windows programs. By producing a schizophrenic OS, it has a complete Windows 8 look and feel, but it is actually Windows RT underneath. Most non-tech users will expect these devices to be Windows compatible in every way, but you can’t even run Firefox on it. Suffice to say, the family member returned the Surface and an Ultrabook purchased instead.
i agree, they have screwed their own branding, they should have called it Metro_OS and not Windows, then it would have be obvious that its a tablet and not a ultrabook.. no one buys an ipad then expect it to work like a macbook air do they.. Also i think the limited apps here could do a RIM and cause the tablet to fail.. but time will tell
you mean the 8gig and 16gig variants..
at least i can go and touch one now..
A confusing message for your average consumer? For sure I agree. I read somewhere that survey results suggest just that. Many people see Windows 8 and naturally assume it’s the same as the full version and will run existing desktop apps. It’s only the more technical among us that understand why RT can’t do it. A lighter device with better battery life and less heat issues a worthwhile trade off I feel in this case. If anyone needs clearing up what’s not available look here: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-CA/windows/rt-disclaimer
“NOT Viable for real-world use”? I suppose it depends on your definition of real world use but there’s a ton of functionality in there.
You have your ModernUI tablet style apps from the store and as an extra bonus you get MS Office, a familiar desktop to run it in, a well established file explorer (best native on any tablet?), a load of basic windows goto’s such as notepad, calculator (ok I know, big whoop, but it’s there), powershell, control panel, command prompt, regedit, Remote Desktop and VPN.
Surely this makes the tablet better and MORE viable for “real-world” use with the desktop than without.
Let’s not forget that a keyboard and mouse driven desktop interface (evolved over a great many years) have many advantages over a simplified touch interface and make sense when using Office.
I don’t believe a touch only version of Office could be as feature rich. For a start you lose loads of space on the screen to virtual keyboard and icons all have to be bigger and spaced out to allow accurate use via fingertip. The end result is that you can’t pack as much functionality into the screen. As an experiment try using full screen skydrive Office on Surface compared to the desktop version and see which you prefer.
The move to include the desktop, and strongly tie the device to a keyboard and mouse trackpad, was neccessary to give users an Office experience comparable to desktop.
Desktop office is a very mature product that people are used to using. I do alot of work in Office. It is completely viable to use Surface RT for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations. Is there any other tablet that does all of this better right now out of the box?
If you mostly use MS Office and the internet day to day then is this not a perfectly viable device for “real-world” use? It will not replace a full laptop or desktop. How can it? Does an iPad? Is an iPad “viable for real-world use”?
I don’t think Microsoft got their message right on separating RT from Windows 8 full but I also think removing the desktop functionality, and office, would have led to a relatively crippled device for productivity.
Oh and as for Surface Pro, is it not basically an Ultrabook? Should it not be judged as such rather than along side other tablets? It’ll be more expensive, bigger and heavier and have half the battery life of Surface RT. You’ll get better performance and compatability with existing apps for sure, but not without paying the price for that.