
Windows 8 and the Microsoft Surface - jfb
http://ignorethecode.net/blog/2014/03/02/windows_8_surface/
======
nextstep
"There are artists who draw on iPads, and musicians who make music on iPads,
and writers who write novels on iPads, and movie makers who cut their movies
on iPads. But the fact that you have to point to these people, the fact that
there are articles about these people, shows that they’re unusual."

Unusual in a relative sense, the same way artists and musicians and movie
makers are unusual in any segment of society. There are millions and millions
of iPad users; of course most of them are going to use their iPads primarily
for consumption.

Using a Microsoft Surface is in itself unusual. I remember clearly the one
time I saw someone using a Surface. It was an usual event. But on my way to
work I see tens (hundreds?) of iPads and an assortment of android tablets and
kindles.

My point is, I don't believe there is a large difference between the use cases
and potential offered from the many consumer tablets currently available
(despite Microsoft's marketing that would lead one to believe that a Surface
can truly replace both and iPad and a laptop). Maybe the Surface is better for
productivity, but I suspect that for every tech blogger who tried the Surface
and found it to be a better laptop replacement than their iPad, there are tons
of Surface owners who's use case resembles the stereotypical iPad consumption
use case.

~~~
fumar
Last summer I participated in a startup accelerator in Chicago. My Macbook
died in the first week! At the time, I didn't have the funds to purchase
another Apple machine. Luckily, my girlfriend had recently purchased a Surface
RT with the keyboard cover.

I did not think that the tablet would be able to replace a laptop for
"serious" work, but it did. There are a couple of things that allowed me to do
this. First, a USB port having the ability to hook it up to "stuff" comes in
handy. Second, snapping apps side by side. And, the ability to use the
desktop. I could have Excel and a browser window open at the same time. Third,
I could access all of Google's apps through Internet Explorer.

I was able to create great decks on Powerpoint, manage large Excel files, use
the Google Suite, and multitask like on a laptop. The Surface RT was my main
machine for the entire summer. And, at home my lady still used it to watch
netflix and surf the web in bed.

In August instead of replacing my Macbook with another Mabook, I purchased a
Surface Pro. I run Adobe CC, Ableton Live, Microsoft Office on it everyday. It
is my all one in solution.

Windows 8 has a learning curve. It took me about two weeks to fully understand
the OS, but I came from an Mac OS background. I recently started working in a
digital agency, and we use Windows 7. I have to say Windows 8 makes my
workflow easier than 7.

Edit: I forgot to mention the pen! This is one piece of technology that makes
me giddy. It works great with OneNote and Photoshop. I grew up with plenty of
PDAs with stylus input. But, none of those lived up to the promise of an
actual digital pen. Most filled the need to tap small boxes and areas on the
screen. The stylus on the Surface Pro makes it feel like a different device
when I am in a meeting taking notes. It stops feeling like a laptop or
"tablet" and more like a digital notebook.

~~~
pinaceae
you did all of that on a Surface RT? Impressive, because Excel and Powerpoint
are unusably slow on RT.

Source: We've developed a business app for Win 8, development was co-sponsered
by MS and Intel. We have a very succesful iPad app in our vertical, it allowed
large swaths of our customer base to switch to iPads for their fieldforce.

MS themselves acknowledged that if you want to handle "large Excel" files, the
RT is the wrong device.

The Surface Pro 2 finally has the performance.

I understand your enthusiasm, switching from a 2005 MB Pro to any device in
2013 is mindblowing. Just hold back with a little bit too much hyperbole, the
RT was an underspecced consumer device, Office support on it was an
afterthought and a paniced scramble for the dev team (as documented here on HN
a while ago).

~~~
fumar
Yes, I was able to do all that on the RT. I never planned on using it as my
main machine, but I had no choice. Using an ARM powered device to handle an
entire workload is not ideal. You are right it was not the fastest or best
spec'd machine. When the time came instead of buying another RT, I purchased a
Pro.

------
wmnwmn
I bought a Surface for three reasons mainly. First, it supports Flash, and
when I tested tablets out in the showroom, I was able to watch online lectures
on the Surface and not on the iPad. Second, it gives access to the file
system, so I can organize my large collection of scientific pdfs on disk the
way I want to. Third, it has a USB port. I was rather astounded that the iPad
did not, and perhaps Apple has changed this, but that alone was a showstopper
for me.

What it all adds up to is that Apple created their usual walled garden for the
iPad, and in this instance the walls eliminated much of the value of the
product, even for such elementary uses as reading scientific pdf's, and
watching scientific lectures online.

I will say that the Surface also had some restrictions on Flash originally,
which I quickly discovered when I got it home, leading to a rather testy email
from myself to Steve Ballmer. This was very quickly answered by the head of
the appropriate department, and they have changed their Flash site approval
model in IE to be much more open.

~~~
brc
I have a Surface and an iPad, so I completely understand what you mean about
file management.

But if you do find yourself in an iOS world - the killer app for file
management on iOS is actually Dropbox. Organise your dropbox account on
another computer -filing everything as it should be, then it will sync up to
your iOS device, and you can access everything as required, including pdfs,
images, word docs, etc. It's not perfect but it does work well.

I also have another file management app which allows me to connect to my NAS
via the iPad. This is also very useful.

Of course, neither are necessary for the Surface, but I prefer a lot of the
consumption features of the iPad. Web browsing on the iPad is superior because
of screen quality and the browser being much more adept at gestures.

------
bitwize
> It’s not an accident that the best selling, highest grossing iPad apps are
> almost exclusively games.

The story goes that Gabe Newell was doing market research for Microsoft,
collecting data about which programs were installed on business users' PCs to
get a feel for the installed base of programs like Windows (which, at the
time, was not standalone and sat on top of DOS).

Turns out Windows was pretty widely deployed -- the second most installed
program on the DOS machines they surveyed.

The first most installed program was Doom.

That's what prompted old Gaben to reassess what business he should be in. :)

------
bunderbunder
's funny; one of the screenshots is used to call out the Charms bar as an
example of great UI. For me - as a user of Windows 8 on a desktop - it has
become something of an icon of just how poor Windows 8's UI is.

On a tablet, you swipe it out from the left edge of the screen. Makes sense -
so much sense that Apple copied the idea in iOS 7.

On a PC, you bring out the charms bar by frustratedly wiggling your mouse
against the right edge of the screen for a few seconds before remembering that
to make UI widgets appear out of the middle of the screen's edge, you
inexplicably need to move the cursor all the way up or down to one of the
corners.

~~~
dangrossman
Shooting the mouse into a corner is actually one of those gestures that is
hardest to get wrong, which is why we've placed the window's close button up
there for decades. Your mistake is aiming for the side instead of the top
right corner of the screen; you can't overshoot it, so it never takes more
than one physical gesture.

You can also swipe from the right edge of your touchpad as if it were the
screen.

~~~
veeti
This doesn't work so well when you have two monitors.

~~~
dangrossman
It works as well as any other corner interaction on multiple monitors; closing
a window on the rightmost screen isn't a novel movement. The charms bar can be
on the right screen as well, so it's still a corner gesture you can't
overshoot.

Opening the charms bar on a desktop computer is a rare event anyway. The
buttons it exposes are primarily touch interactions used when holding a tablet
running a Metro app. In a classic application, you wouldn't be using its
search/share/device buttons, and it's faster to just press the Windows key to
do a system/web search.

------
stcredzero
_Another difference between the Surface and an iPad is the Surface’s split
screen mode...people often need multiple apps to work on a single task. I
can’t count the instances where I’ve used split screen mode just in the last
few days_

Called it! In fact, I called it right here from before the Surface existed as
a tablet when Microsoft put out the vaporware tablet commercial!

Split screen is one of those things like cut and paste. It might seem
inelegant to some, but it's powerful and widely understood and can be used to
share information between tools in very useful ways.

For a system to be powerful, it needs facilities like this.

------
Ologn
> Preventing apps from interacting with each other cuts down on complexity,
> but it also means that it is difficult or sometimes even impossible to use
> multiple apps in conjunction on the same task.

Which is why Android has a full-range systems of Intents, BroadcastReceivers
etc. to deal with this.

The blog post talks about how the iPad does not solve his problems, but
Android is only mentioned once in a footnote.

~~~
LukasMathis
I thought the article already covered a wide range of topics, so I wanted to
focus on comparing the iPad and the Surface. You're right, though, Android
solves many of these problems, too.

~~~
marcosdumay
It's a bit unusual to say "look, this niche system solves a problem that the
one used by 1/3 of the people does not solve", while ignoring that the one
used by the other 2/3 of the people solves it.

It's a honest comparison, it's just completely useless.

~~~
nirnira
Sorry, what? Android isn't a productivity solution yet. Not even close. No
manufacturer is trying with Android to build what Microsoft is building with
8.1+ - a coherent, unified, cross-device productivity and computing ecosystem.

~~~
r00fus
Disagree. Samsung is trying very hard to win Enterprise customers (mostly
failing so far, but they do have business users on their mind).

~~~
nirnira
To me, Samsung is a joke company. At a time when Microsoft is increasingly
forward-thinking in the clarity and tastefulness of its UI and UX, Samsung
just can't stop throwing glossy plastic, pleather, knock-off iOS 6 icons,
random fonts and gimmick apps around. They're the new 90s Microsoft when it
comes to taste and sophistication.

------
AndrewGaspar
"The way I want handwriting recognition to work is to take notes by jotting
them down inside an app like OneNote, and have Windows recognize that
automatically, behind the scenes, optionally without replacing my handwritten
notes with printed text. Then, I want to be able to search my handwritten
notes using full-text search."

OneNote actually already does this! Try searching in OneNote for things you've
written in pen and it will show those notes.

~~~
LukasMathis
I just tried, but it didn't find anything. Not sure if my handwriting is so
terrible, or if there's something else going wrong here.

[Update: maybe the Metro version of OneNote doesn't support all of the
features of the desktop version?]

~~~
nickbarnwell
I don't believe the OneNote Metro app supports indexing handwritten notes.

If you open the same notebook in the Win32 client and allow it to index and
sync back to Sky/One/WhateverIt'sCalledThisWeekDrive you should be able to
search through previously handwritten and Win32-client-OCRd notes in the Metro
app.

~~~
LukasMathis
Interesting. I'll try that.

------
kayoone
I think the Surface2 Pro is really great and shows the strenghts of Windows 8,
except for its battery life maybe. But the idea to carry around one device
that is a good tablet, laptop and can even be used as a full desktop computer
with keyboard/mouse and 2 huge screens if you like is pretty fantastic and the
OS scales well to all those different usage patterns. Now you might say, it
does all that, but none of it really good and that might be true, but its
already good enough for most people. Sadly Apple seems to want to unify
everything into iOS down the road, which could go horribly wrong for
professional users and Linux ? Well, the community was totally divided about
where to go in desktop computing for the last decade and that will probably
never change, so i don't except them to solve this as the current state of a
dozen half-baked desktop environments is a disaster.

~~~
rsynnott
> Sadly Apple seems to want to unify everything into iOS down the road

I'm not sure why people continue to believe this; they've shown no real signs
of doing so in the past seven years.

~~~
kayoone
Well imo the latest OSX versions share some code between OSX and iOS, the App
Store could be seen as another sign on the road to a more closed consumer
system.

~~~
rsynnott
iOS has shared a lot of code with MacOS since its inception...

> the App Store could be seen as another sign on the road to a more closed
> consumer system.

Well, could be, perhaps, but highly speculatively. It's not like the app store
on MacOS was an amazing world first, or anything; notably, Ubuntu had a paid
app store before the MacOS one.

------
winfred
Typing this from my T100, That incidentally quite meets my needs for around
1/4th of the cost of a Surface Pro 2.

Some of the criticism is just plain wrong, like the "install software for USB
booting install media." Yeah, I can write quite a bit too, about how hard it
is to use the operating system, when I'm the one who randomly downloads
crapware and tries to install it, instead of just doing a search and using the
build in commands to make a bootable usb stick.

Then the whole thing about how the disk manager looked? I mean really? I'm a
sysadmin and I probably stare at that UI likely more than any of you here
(even when I have 90% of repeating work scripted with diskpart - do you notice
the difference in usage scenarios here?) and it never even occurred to me
there was something wrong with it? What do you want, a couple of flowers along
the edges or something?

~~~
stinos
What I found more striking about the Disk Manager paragraph is the _" which,
by the way, you’ll find under «System and Security», not under «Hardware and
Sound», which is where I would expect it — but perhaps I’m just weird"_
comment.

This seems to indicate the author actually actively goes searching for the
entry. Which is nowadays not the 'correct way' of reaching it but instead by
far the most ineffective way of navigating. I honestly have no idea where the
Disk Managment thing resides (well, I do know) despite using it often. Just
open the control panel and start typing 'disk' and click the item.

------
RexRollman
I have been wanting to give another tablet a try after getting rid of my iPad.
I liked the iPad hardware but the device was too hobbled in regards to file
management (IMO).

A couple of days ago, I played with a Surface 2 at my local Staples and was
pretty impressed by it and its type cover. The touch interface, which isn't
particularly nice on a desktop computer, was pretty cool on a tablet. I also
liked that is has a micro-SD slot for storage expansion.

Perhaps the only thing I don't care for it that Microsoft is only allowing
Metro apps for ARM into their app store. That seems a bit one-sided
considering that they are bundling non-Metro Office apps with the device.

~~~
slantyyz
I would suggest you look at a Bay Trail (Atom) based W8 tablet instead of an
ARM unit.

The battery life is fantastic (and comparable to ARM), and you'll be able to
run traditional desktop apps in a pinch.

~~~
RexRollman
I prefer the Surface to the Bay Trails I've seen so far and it has to be a
least ten inches for my old eyes.

~~~
slantyyz
IIRC, there are 11" Dell Venues that start with the Bay Trail and move up into
the i# processors.

~~~
shitlord
I have an 8" Dell Venue Pro, and it's pretty nice. It was cheap as hell, and
the only issue I have with it is that the screen is too small for the
resolution. Anyway, it's great for consuming media but not so great for
creating anything.

I have a feeling the 11" Venue Pro would be the same way. The Windows touch
keyboard is really awkward, it's hard to select small things like browser
buttons, and there aren't a lot of apps. But hey, it's pretty cheap, and it's
great for watching Netflix or preparing a simple document.

------
bcjordan
Great writeup, good points about the culture of those building on the
platform, and lovely software gore[0] screenshot.

In terms of productivity, what kills my efficacy on iOS versus OS X (and even
locked Android versus desktop) is the inability for platform devs to build
things that reach outside of the app sandbox. TextExpander and LastPass on iOS
are near useless compared to their desktop counterparts, but are even more
powerful for getting work done with a slower typing speed.

[0]: [http://reddit.com/r/softwaregore](http://reddit.com/r/softwaregore)

------
satyrnein
I definitely concur about the handwriting recognition being terrific, but the
interface being terrible. I wrote a little prototype of how I thought it
should work a few months ago:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhn6EdN3Vvw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zhn6EdN3Vvw)

~~~
manilafolder
Great demo. That's exactly how the handwriting UI should have been designed.

I have one small suggestion, if you don't mind: How about making the input box
increase in size (maybe double in size) so you don't have to write so small?
The resizing wouldn't need to reflow the rest of the page; it could turn into
a modal textbox in the same location as the original textbox. It would make it
easier for children, the elderly and people who aren't native speakers of the
language, etc.

~~~
LukasMathis
Another option would be to set the text caret inside the text box, but allow
people to write anywhere, while the focus is on a text field. This is probably
something where you'd have to do a ton of different prototypes, and see which
one feels best.

~~~
satyrnein
Agreed that there are plenty of ideas that warrant prototyping, but I think
there is special value in not having a text cursor to manage at all, similar
to how touchscreens obviated mouse cursors for certain tasks.

~~~
LukasMathis
Yes, if you can pull that off, it's a huge win.

------
GSimon
I think this year and the next few years should be promising for Windows in
the Tablet/Phone market. They were behind in specs for a while but their
products are improving and are getting harder to ignore.

I recently ordered Lenovo's ThinkPad 8 and can't wait for it to arrive. I
think this is the first good alternative to the Windows Surface (it's lighter,
higher res, better battery, smaller bezel, usb 3.0, sd card slot + hdmi out).
There should be more to come after this as well.

I really think the tides will start to turn in favor of Windows' mobile
devices if they continue to improve they way they have recently.

~~~
wluu
The ThinkPad 8 looks great (great screen res, micro usb 3.0), just wish it had
the Wacom style digitiser of the Surface Pro.

I know that the Asus Vivo Tab Note 8 has the Wacom digitiser though but has a
much lower res.

Also wish that these 8" devices had seperate ports for charging and USB.

~~~
GSimon
The lack of a Wacom style digitiser seems to be it's biggest critique (aside
from price). The point about their being only 1 USB port is a good one, I
wonder if it's possible to charge the device while using the port if you have
a USB hub...seems unlikely.

------
mnglkhn2
Windows 8 is great once you learn two shortcuts: First, Win+Q for searching
and starting any program you need. Second: Win+R to get to the Run window.

With these two you just move very fluidly to where you need to be on a Win 8
machine.

~~~
dade_
And Win+L to lock. Locking the device from the GUI is a ridiculous process.

~~~
tanzam75
> _And Win+L to lock. Locking the device from the GUI is a ridiculous
> process._

Start - username - Lock. But yes, Win+L is faster.

------
radicalbyte
I really wanted a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga: it's the ideal combination of notebook
and tablet. At 12.5 inches it's just that little bit more usable than a
Surface Pro.

In the end I bought a MBP13 because the TPY has a lead time of 6-12 weeks, and
Lenovo are extremely bad at telling you this. So far I'm happy with the Apple,
but I can see myself picking a TPY up at some point..

------
joshvm
Surely the comment about hardware variability is moot on the Surface. It's
designed by Microsoft..

~~~
tanzam75
> _Surely the comment about hardware variability is moot on the Surface. It 's
> designed by Microsoft.._

The Surface has a USB port. And that makes it an uncontrolled environment.

For example, the article complains that Windows is "technically terrible",
because "I suddenly started getting an error message about some DLL every time
I restarted the Surface (which you sometimes have to do when you get updates,
which you get often). "

If you look at the screenshot, the DLL is C:\Windows\System32\LogiLDA.dll.
This DLL is written by Logitech. That means he must've plugged in a Logitech
device at some point.

If the Wacom driver fails, that can clearly be blamed on Microsoft. The
Surface ships with a Wacom digitizer, so it's up to Microsoft to test the
drivers thoroughly. But the Surface doesn't ship with a Logitech mouse. If a
Logitech driver fails, then there's very little that Microsoft can do about
it.

Now, you could certainly argue that Microsoft should've caught this in
exhaustive backcompat testing, and put a workaround into Windows. On the other
hand, I also have a Logitech device plugged in. When I upgraded from Windows 8
to 8.1, it didn't throw up a LogiLDA error. (I don't even have a LogiLDA.dll
file in my System32 directory.)

~~~
LukasMathis
I did at one point plug a Logitech keyboard into the Surface, but I definitely
did not intentionally install any Logitech drivers. It's something Windows put
there by itself, only for it to become a problem later.

~~~
tanzam75
> _I did at one point plug a Logitech keyboard into the Surface, but I
> definitely did not intentionally install any Logitech drivers. It 's
> something Windows put there by itself, only for it to become a problem
> later._

Windows automatically installs drivers supplied by the manufacturer.

If Windows didn't do that, then you'd get antitrust complaints from Logitech,
because Microsoft sells keyboards that compete with Logitech's.

A lot of the problems with the Windows ecosystem are not technical problems at
all, but legal or market problems.

------
kzahel
It is a very thorough exposition. However, I have to ask, what does this
"burrying" mean?

~~~
LukasMathis
Wow, probably the quickest I ever went from start of essay to first spelling
mistake. Thanks for catching it!

~~~
9876543210

      I used the Newton was a productivity device. 
      I used the P800 was a productivity device.
    

I think the word "was" should be replaced with "as" in these sentences.

~~~
LukasMathis
The same mistake twice in a row. Another good one. Fixed, thank you!

------
pnathan
IMO: Neither iOS or Android really nail what a touchscreen could be. The
Surface Pro seems to be the closest real step in this area.

But I'll pass on buying it - it's spendy and I don't have any other Windows
tech to interop with it.

------
bad_user
On using multiple apps for the same task, the author is completely right.
However, it's also the reason for why I don't like Metro on the desktop, as I
often need to look at more than 2 windows at the same time. For desktops, the
split-screen concept in Metro is a huge step backwards, whereas for tablets
it's a step forward.

But here's why I hate the iPad and hope Windows RT never wins in the
marketplace, as it shares the same problem with iOS - it's defective by
design. Personally I can't use or recommend to other people platforms on top
of which Firefox or other alternative browsers cannot run.

And btw, both Surface and Surface 2 are Windows RT devices. Only Surface Pro
isn't. And the reason for why Windows 8 for x86 was spared for the moment is
because it replaces Windows 7, so because of market forces, but I hate the
direction in which Microsoft is moving.

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57432435-92/why-mozilla-
bel...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57432435-92/why-mozilla-believes-
firefox-on-windows-rt-is-a-bust/)

[http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57431475-92/google-
agrees-w...](http://news.cnet.com/8301-1001_3-57431475-92/google-agrees-with-
mozillas-windows-rt-browser-concerns/)

~~~
LukasMathis
I'm thinking the natural progression of the split-screen mode would be a
system-level tiling window manager. An advanced, easy-to-use version of what
most IDEs implement to show their various panes.

~~~
bad_user
Ubuntu's Unity does an interesting thing - dragging a window to the top panel
maximizes the window, dragging it to the left/right borders will auto-tile it
to that side of the screen, taking up either the whole vertical space or half
of it.

It's very easy to arrange 2 windows side by side, or 4 windows in all 4
corners. And besides using mouse interactions that would work with screen
touch gestures, it works with keyboard shortcuts too.

I'm also not convinced that having windows that can overlap is not desirable.
Personally I like having windows that I can move around. Works great with
multi monitor setups too. Have a window opened on this screen and you need to
move it to the other screen? You just drag it from here to there.

The only problem with draggable windows on mobile devices is that you don't
have enough screen real-estate, so having a top border for dragging is
wasteful, or if that top border is too small it's painful to target it with
your finger. But touch gestures can work - as in, a two or three finger swipe
could mean a drag, or whatever.

I'm all for wheel reinvention and new UI paradigms, but when introducing
something new, it has to be better and not inferior to the old UI paradigm.

------
blueskin_
There will always be edge cases. Someone using an end user read-only device to
create content and do real work is like a dancing animal - everyone is
interested for the fact that it can do it at all, not for the quality of what
it does compared to a human. Using Windows 8 or any tablet/phone for something
serious is the same way.

------
joliv
Man, finally! I love this blog, but there hadn't been an update since
December. Glad to see another post!

------
Terretta
_You might want to send your letter to a friend to read. Maybe that friend
will send back some suggestions. On an iPad, you can’t see the email with the
suggestions and your letter at the same time._

Multitasking gestures on iPad and Macs let you slide back and forth between
adjacent full screen apps.

 _Your CV probably includes a picture. Maybe you went to a photographer who
gave you a CD with copies of the pictures she took. You can’t easily copy them
to your iPad._

Can't easily copy CD to my current computer either. But I have both a USB
adapter and card reader adapter for the iPad.

 _Once there, you probably want to touch them up a bit, and crop them. It
might be inconvenient to move the image file between all of the apps you’ll
use to work on it._

You're unlikely to need more than the pretty amazing version of iPhoto on an
iPad. If you prefer, there are multiple alternatives from the free SnapSeed to
relatively expensive pro options.

 _Finally, you might want to export your letter and CV as PDFs, maybe combine
them into a single PDF, or maybe ZIP them. You want to attach the resulting
file to an email. It’s reasonably simple on a Mac or PC, but I’m not sure if
some of these things are even possible on an iPad._

Check out Documents 5 from Readdle, along with PDF Expert, and you don't have
to leave the apps.

I use iPad for contract work (round trip MS Word with track changes) all the
time, and when not doing Word, PowerPoint, or Excel using iWork apps, I'm
importing and editing and posting pro-size photos from a Nikon D3.

From your article, I'm guessing you're missing the excellent Logitech
ultraslim keyboard case, have multitasking gestures turned off, and aren't
that familiar with the productivity applications available.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
> From your article, I'm guessing you're missing the excellent Logitech
> ultraslim keyboard case, have multitasking gestures turned off, and aren't
> that familiar with the productivity applications available.

I agree that productivity is possible with an iPad, but perhaps it requires
"being familiar" with a lot of stuff before you can be very effective with it.

~~~
r00fus
How different is that from the PC world? Someone who isn't trained on the apps
and options will fail to be effective on any platform doing "serious work".

The only issue is that such training does exist in large parts in the PC
world, and is less readily available in the iPad world.

------
robomartin
Some of the most significant issues with the iPad have to do with two areas:
user management and the Apple "wall"

The first cuts across a wide range of applications from consumer to business.
The lack of multiuser capabilities (with permissions and all the things modern
multiuser OS's can do) seriously limits usability.

At home I would like to make a distinction between my usage of an iPad, that
of my children and that of guests. No, i don't want to buy a separate device
for each use case. Accounts for children could have limits set to restrict
usage to a pre selected set of apps, time limits, app store settings, etc.
Guest accounts would have the ability to setup similar restrictions. A house
guest should not be able to open and browse your email, facebook, paypal or
whatever.

The same issue applies to business usage. An iPad is a security nightmare in
lots of business scenarios. Adding a layer of user management would be a huge
step towards fixing this problem. For example, if I use an iPad as a cash
register I don't want the cash register user to be able to use any other app.
Perhaps i also want them to be able to browse the company website in order to
assist customers and that's it.

The Apple "wall" is how I've been descriibing the Apple's control-freak hold
on the device and the OS. This goes from the lack of USB and memory card
connectivity to the lack of access to a file system, impossibly cumbersome
file sharing between apps, totalitarian control of the one-and-only connector
(leading to ridiculous hacks such as using the audio port for data
communications, something that dates back to the early '80's!).

It's intersting to walk into an Apple store and see the iPads they have locked
down to a single app that tells you about the device next to it. Apple
themselves understand there are business cases where you need a device that is
very tightly controlled, even to the point of limiting it to a single app.
They get it. They simply have no interest in letting us through the wall.

Windows <n> and Surface are not and have never been perfect solutions.
However, they benefit significantly from your ability to do just about
anything you want with them, to connect to and talk to almost any external
hardware device in the market and to easily design your own for special
applications. You can setup users for your particular needs. You can even
install other OS's --replacing Windows-- or simply run them in a virtual
machine.

I've come to view our iPads more as toys than as universal machines. They get
used for web browsing, playing games and reading eBooks and that's just about
it.

I continue to be stunned by how bad Microsoft marketing is. Instead of driving
home the point that the iPad is a severely restricted and crippled device they
actually spent good money making commercials with people dancing around
clicking keyboards on and off their devices. If that's what they trully think
is the most significant distinguishing value of their devices they are truly
clueless.

~~~
glasshead969
For business usage, iPad does have User management and App store restrictions.

[http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/it/management.html](http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/it/management.html)

~~~
robomartin
No, not the same thing. The corner coffee store can buy a Windows machine,
create an admin and various user accounts and exercise a significant level of
control over what your users can do. No server, no MDM program purchase, no
lots of things. The same is true for OSX.

I can't take a single iPad and have a decent degree of control over it.

------
nikster
Summary: iOS is missing a file system.

Even just a simple shared folder where all apps can share whatever they're
producing would be enough. Those who don't understand file systems are
condemned to reinvent them...

------
zacinbusiness
I wrote a 110 page field guide to qualitative research methods on an iPad in
grad school. I also designed and coded a non-trivial website on an iPad. And
it was glorious.

------
rbanffy
I don't see how it could be surprising that iOS devices are not used for the
same purposes OSX devices are. Surface tablets are just Windows machines with
a different keyboard. It's not surprising they can run all the software you
are used to run on your Windows PC whereas it's expected software built for
OSX does not run on iOS devices.

------
fisherprice
I'm sold, I buy one.

------
higherpurpose
> It’s not an accident that the best selling, highest grossing iPad apps are
> almost exclusively games.

Yes, it's not an accident, but not because of the reason you give. Gaming is
one of the most popular, if not the most popular and highest grossing category
on _any_ popular consumer platform. That's just the way it works. Some of
these platform vendors (like Apple), and unlike others (like Google) realized
this is true from early days, and they have _actively_ encouraged gaming on
the platform, by promoting the use of high-performance GPUs, partnering with
game companies, and so on.

> As Joanna Stern puts it, «if I’m writing long emails or working on office
> documents, I want a larger screen, a roomy keyboard and the ability to
> easily juggle programs.»

A larger screen, which the Surface doesn't really have either. That's why I
can't seriously consider the Surface a "productivity" device. I've used 10"
netbooks before, and I know just how cramped they feel.

Metro is "so easy to use", that you used almost half of your article to
_describe_ how to use it.

One OS to rule them all - I'm tired of this stupidity and brainless parroting
of one line made popular years ago in comments. By _definition_ , you can't
"optimize" something for _everything_.

Yes, it _is_ an execution problem, because it will _never work_. It's like
trying to build the perpetual motion machine. Sounds great in theory, "if you
could do it". Will never work.

~~~
LukasMathis
You're right, it only took me half a blog post to explain all of the new
concepts Microsoft introduced in their completely novel approach to operating
system user interfaces. I don't think that's evidence against its ease-of-use
:-)

As for games completely ruling the top 100 list of highest-grossing apps on
any popular consumer platform: this is definitely not the case in the Mac App
Store.

~~~
glasshead969
regarding games not being popular on Mac app store, i feel like Mac is not in
any way close to the scale of windows,iOS and android in terms of main stream
popularity, especially internationally.

~~~
LukasMathis
Dunno, they're extremely popular in Switzerland, where I live. I think among
consumers, Mac market share is quite high. It's different in businesses, but
businesses don't buy that many games :-)

~~~
glasshead969
i agree among consumers its high, but its still 4mil per quarter compared to
100s millions windows, android and iOS move per quarter. Also developer
support is pretty poor when it comes to games on Mac and usually are buggy
ports which are released 6-12 months after windows release. Part of the
problem is Apple being lazy with Open GL support on OS X platform which just
recently hit 4.0 with Mavericks. The situation is completely opposite on iOS
where they even feature games during keynotes and went as far as to make their
own Framework called sprite Kit to write games on iOS platform.

~~~
LukasMathis
Yep, availability of current games probably plays a role. Though the Mac App
Store does show a pretty good selection of games.

------
tomphoolery
An interesting take on the Surface...until you started talking about Spyware.
That's when I stopped reading. Dealbreaker.

~~~
dangrossman
The spyware tidbit was commentary on the PC software distribution ecosystem;
it's not something from Microsoft or Surface -- that was his experience in
going out to find a disc copying app on the web. You end up at sites that
bundle installers for other apps into the one you want to make extra money.
Why would reading this cause you to stop reading the article?

------
smegel
Blah blah blah Surface is good for bland office related productivity tasks.
Yeah we've heard it all before.

Microsoft shills are truly the worst shills.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Microsoft haters gotta hate I guess. If you even just skimmed the article,
you'd realize this was quite balanced and critical that pointed out the good,
bad, and ugly. But let's just resort to name calling instead of actual facts.

------
dontmakemelaugh
So yeah. Here's what me thinks...

I use Linux for like 5 years exclusively now. But I don't go around trying to
argue how great it is or something. It is great for me, so much is clear. I'm
just very happy that I am rid of all this proprietary BS.

Why do people write blog posts about such topics? I don't get it. It must be
hugely boring to write them. And the shitstorm that ensues is probably even
worse. Apple fanboys vs. MS fanboys vs. Google proponents vs. C64 veterans vs.
Amiga shitheads vs. Atari nuts vs. Gravis Ultrasound!

My car is better than yours!

I've got only just a few years left (maybe) to dig around earth. I write quick
stupid comments like this one to let you all know that you suck big time.

You should really think about it. Do you want to waste your time reading this
crap? Isn't life more than that?

Ok, spock. Enough tricks played. Let them alone. Good night!

~~~
LukasMathis
I've love to read your opinion on Linux.

