For its next trick, Microsoft diminishes the iPad with just a driver Microsoft has issued a new driver to “enhance mass deployments” of its Surface 3 typoslab. Redmond says the driver will “bring the Surface 3 deployment experience in line with its more business-oriented sibling, Surface Pro 3. The update includes new and enhanced features including those expected in a larger-scale commercial …
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I frequently use a 20" touch screen while reclining (medical issues) and Windows 8 is very nice. Update and 8.1 actually made things more difficult. Oh, and typing on the the touch screen is decent when I have to drop to any of the shells in use here. [Sacrilege I know, but even makes a case when used with Windows Server 2012 R2 as a workstation. If you didn't think me insane before, you need not look for further proof.]
Bad pain day, I need several - - >
Possibly - but the human element of 'Look at this cool new piece of tech I've got' could work in MS's favour here; iPad's are so ubiquitous that they're not nearly as effective as a show-off device as they used to be, whereas Surface's are very rare, and this is a class of person who is well accustomed to ignoring flaws if it means they can brag.
>and those middle managers who want to do something useful
Yep those spreadsheets endlessly reporting status to people that actually make decisions won't write themselves. Actually that takes care of an hour of the day. The rest of the day is spent in useless meetings with other middle manager buddies all trying to justify their bureaucratic existence along also some time for the usual back stabbing and self promotion.
"the problem is that the mid management that these are aimed at will want an Apple solution because it's perceived to be 'cooler'"
Not in my experience. Execs all want the Surface Pro - everyone has an iPad and the Surface is way cooler and far more powerful. Which means that the non Execs that need a tablet will get a (lower model) Surface too...
Actually, the real problem is not that the apple device is "cooler", as others have noted the Surface devices are cool enough in their own right.
The problem is that 3rd party developers have, as a general rule, not released touch friendly apps. So the user experience if someone is actually using it as a tablet is typically far higher on the Apple device, simply because developers have appropriately targeted the platform.
Hopefully Microsoft can get some real traction and then devs target the platform better. Both because Apple needs the competition, and because it would be _fantastic_ if dev's started targeting microsoft's whole new "one windows" idea.
Agreed 100%. I didn't intend my comment to come across as derogatory towards developers. Not my intention at all.
I was merely commenting that, traditionally, Windows has been almost exclusively a desktop environment and thus it is targeted as such. The iPad has been an exclusively mobile environment, and thus targeted as such. Microsoft has made much hullabaloo about "universal" over the past year or so and has finally started to offer some tools to make it bearable.
Now however they need some traction on these "universal" devices (of which the surface is the most likely initial candidate to get some traction).
So I was giving public support and best wishes towards the Surface experiment as it would both serve to give Apple some competition as well as potentially give some traction to Universal apps.
Karl P
The real issue is in-house devs as the mobile workers are generally using custom apps - often highly form-driven - that are used elsewhere in the organisation.
Management might have to cough up for resources to train their devs in creating touch/pen-centric interfaces rather than the lazy 100 fields on a screen approach that has kinda worked for decades.
I quite like the surface tablets, but I still find it funny that the thing that really sets them apart for most people is the fact that they can be sat on a desk so the cover acts like a keyboard and the screen is at an angle suitable for viewing whilst sat down, thus making them far more useful.
...I'm sure I remember another class of product that did that.
I bought my girlfriend a Windows 8.1 ("With Bing!") tablet for her birthday, thinking it would replace her laptop without having to worry about office compatibilty. It has the click-on keyboard case you describe.
Basically every single gripe we have about it is precisely related to its being Windows, not the hardware (which is available for anything nowadays). Windows forgets that it's touch-driven, sometimes. The only way out is the Windows-key soft-button (if that works). Swiping from the edges brings up things that CANNOT be turned off, no matter whether you're in a fullscreen program or not (go for the scrollbar, end up in PC Settings, etc.). There's options in every other version of windows to disable, but NOT the one ("With Bing!") that they sell on the Windows tablets nowadays.
Honestly, every single thing she's commented on, it wouldn't have been a problem with a tablet. The only proper "Surface" devices I've known have ended up as showpieces for similar reasons, We were given them or obtained them and they were quickly relegated from any "real" work whatsoever. Bear in mind that I work for schools and we've been using touchscreens and interactive boards for decades now, and that I've put Windows 8 into two schools on such hardware already.
If you want to use Windows, use a laptop or PC.
If you want to use tablets, touchscreens or anything else touch, don't use Windows. It's just not designed for it.
Hell, with the 365 versions of Office coming to even Android tablets, there's almost no reason to use Windows on a tablet anyway. It's just not built for touch devices, it's just had that bolted on - much like Windows XP for Tablet PC had all the same things bolted on as after-thoughts.
Honestly, I wish I'd bought her a proper tablet and then, if not adequate, a laptop with Windows. The combination is just a mash of bad design ideas.
Surface doesn't run the cut down "With Bing" version of windows so tends to behave itself better. It also has a few more resources available than the trimmed down tablets.
OTOH you can't pick up a surface tablet with keyboard and mouse for under £100 so the "With Bing" tablets do have a place ;)
Hmm. I'm using mine here (Surface Pro Mk 1) and it's my main desktop work PC these days, after I was bowled over by its performance (Core i5). I have a 4-way USB 3 hub plugged in the side socket, and a DisplayPort adapter connects to my 27" HDMI monitor. I use the Type cover and a Logitech mouse, and a USB-to-gigabit-Ethernet adapter plugged into the hub feeds it the interwebs. I just need to unplug two cables to pick it up and walk away with it.
As for all your other comments about getting 'real work' done, any x86-based Windows tablet of sufficient speed makes a perfect miniature Windows 8 workhorse, with a copy of ClassicShell installed. What they aren't so good at is being a tablet, but this form factor has been around long enough that there really shouldn't be any confusion or feelings of 'it doesn't do what I wanted' anymore.
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I don't recognise a single thing from this comment having owned a Surface RT and purchased two more since for myself and others.
Each person loves their device, loves that it acts like a laptop when required but, in tablet mode, allows simple consumption. Brilliant for proper remote control of my laptop in the rare occasions needed, actually has higher res since I have an old, medium range Lenovo.
There have been issues, particularly when we used the newer keyboard (which has travel and backlighting) on the older Surface (it required a refresh to fix).
Given the discounted price they were obtained for, I dread their end-of-life, although even the original is still fine if not pushed too hard with 3D maps or games.
That original Surface also survived a corner drop onto concrete with deformation of the case to the glass, no cracks, no failure.
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