
Why Is the Surface So Bad? - bergie
http://www.slate.com/articles/technol/technology/2012/11/microsoft_surface_why_is_the_new_tablet_so_much_worse_than_the_ipad.single.html
======
jarjoura
Here's how I see it playing out, Microsoft will be successful with the Surface
if they take it seriously and update it often and fast. They have a lot of
catching up to do and it's a seriously great start to something different and
unique. I suspect it will move in the direction of how people use it and want
it to work.

When Apple brought OS X out to the world for the first time, it was extremely
slow, basically unusable, hideous to look at, and Microsoft fans laughed at
the effort. In fact, the industry jumped on Windows XP and IE 6. However,
Apple rev'd, and rev'd and rev'd and polished and brought things to OS X that
were innovative and eventually surpassed Windows as an OS people actually
wanted to live in all day long. All the while Microsoft seemingly sat around
and watched it happen.

So for the Surface, at this point, it comes down to execution. Can the Windows
team rev and rev and rev? Can marketing push it in a way that gets people
buying it? Can evangelism bring enough top-tier designers and developers on
board to write grade-A apps for it? If they can do that, then this sloppy
launch will be simply labeled a turning point for Microsoft. Otherwise, it
will be another failed product that just deserved a tiny pat on the back.

~~~
sukuriant
I was going to come on to argue that you were wrong here about the Windows XP
/ OS X timing. I thought OS X came out years later; but, I was very wrong.
Wikipedia says:

OS X Initial Release: March 24, 2001

Windows XP Initial Release: October 25, 2001

It certainly has been a very long time...

~~~
mrich
But it does not make much sense to compare these versions - Windows started
being a modern OS with Win 2000 and arguably already Windows 95. These were
the releases that won them the desktop dominance. That's probably why you are
feeling Windows is "older".

~~~
gurkendoktor
And because you still see people using XP from time to time, but how many % of
the tech population have ever seen OS X 10.0? I got into Macs _seven years
ago_ , and I only know the 10.3 installer because I'd intentionally bought an
"oldtimer Mac" later on (iMac G4). Everything before that is a web of myths to
me.

~~~
krichman
IMO you still see people using XP because that was the peak. It was certainly
better than Vista, I cannot give an unbiased review of Win 7.

~~~
gurkendoktor
I think XP might really have been the peak in usability, but under the hood, I
can only guess that Windows 7 has gotten much more secure. After all,
improving security is pretty much the only thing Microsoft has done between XP
and Windows 7.

~~~
krichman
That's probably right, I know they have improved security greatly in the last
few years.

------
firefoxman1
When I first got an HP Touchpad, the touchstone stand, and the keyboard I
understood what the "post-PC" era really was. It was perfect: physical
keyboard for productivity, yet a touchscreen with a tablet interface, and the
mouse had finally seen its end. The Asus transformer was the next big step, I
think. Again, keyboard and touchscreen, but this time a 19 hour battery. If it
allowed dual booting it would be perfect.

So when I saw the Surface I thought "yes Microsoft gets it!" Then you use
windows 8 RT and realize they're about as out-of-touch as ever. Behind that
nice tablet interface is the same old windows. Ever try using classic windows
interface with your bulky fingers? That's exactly what you have to do with
essential apps like Office or anything written > 3 months ago. It's the exact
reason tablets didn't catch on in the early 2000s: windows wasn't designed for
use on a touchscreen.

~~~
WrkInProgress
Hence the keyboard and trackpad.

There is a benefit of having both the desktop and "Metro".

~~~
firefoxman1
Well here's the problem I've seen: the trackpad is (or should be) mostly
useless in tablet mode, and the touchscreen is impossible to use in desktop
mode. I much prefer a dual boot setup, so you aren't mentally switching every
few minutes.

------
therobot24
not to show a direct favoritism toward Microsoft, but his review reeks with
personal bias:

"my first thought was, Boy, that’s heavy! When I looked up the specs, I
discovered that the Surface is only about 20 grams heavier than the iPad 3,
but somehow those grams make a difference."

"I’ve used many keyboards for the iPad, and the touch cover seemed just as
good as those—meaning I could type on it somewhat more quickly than I can on a
touchscreen, but it I wouldn’t call it a pleasant experience."

Don't get me wrong, there are some legitimate gripes in terms of speed,
functionality, and as the reviewer points out - focus. The reviewer even
admits that Microsoft isn't advertising this as an iPad killer, rather it's
suppose to fill in the gaps. Though, throughout the article, the only thing
the reviewer does is try to replace their iPad:

"In the years I’ve been using the iPad, I’ve come to recognize that it's good
for specific tasks. I’ll write short emails on it but not long ones. I’ll use
the iPad to shop for stuff on Amazon, but I won’t use it to buy something with
lots of variables, like a plane ticket. To a lot of people, these limitations
feel restrictive. The Surface was designed with those people in mind: It
promises that you’ll be able to type faster, to use a pointer, to actually get
things done and not feel like there are certain things your device just can’t
do."

If the reviewer had made an effort to include the surface in parts of his or
her life like buying a plane ticket, or shopping for something 'with a lot of
variables' then we'd see how well the surface lives up to it's charge.

~~~
mtgx
I don't think many people realized this but iPad 3 is actually heavier than
iPad 2, and many might still remember how "light" the iPad 2 was compared to
iPad 1. iPad 3 is somewhere in between the iPad 1 and 2 weights.

But I think the ideal weight for a tablet is around 300 grams, which half of
what most 10" tablets have today. This is probably the most important reason
why the "main iPad" will eventually become iPad Mini. 600 grams is too heavy
for extended and comfortable use.

~~~
therobot24
i'm curious if there's any reasoning to 300 grams. I don't have an iPad, but
i've used one, and it seemed fine to me - i guess over a long period it could
become uncomfortable.

~~~
evilduck
I read my iPad2 in bed pretty frequently, it's just heavy enough that resting
the weight of the device on a single edge on your chest will become unpleasant
rather quickly.

~~~
DrStalker
As an extra datapoint, a Kindle (170 grams) is trivial to lightly with a few
fingers. It's no substitute for a tablet, but when all I want to do is read a
book I love it so much more than any heavier, more capable device.

------
alyx
I own a Surface and disagree with everything in this article.

The Surface does have quirks, but as a v1 device from a company that has NEVER
designed a commercial PC let alone a tablet, I think it is nothing short of
fantastic tech.

I just sold my Couch-MacBook over the weekend because the Surface satisfies
every single casual at-home PC scenario I have.

~~~
bitwize
_The Surface does have quirks, but as a v1 device from a company that has
NEVER designed a commercial PC_

Not true. In the 1980s Microsoft attempted to standardize the 8-bit home
computer market, and developed the MSX architecture, exemplars of which were
built and sold by a few Japanese companies. The MSX did not see much traction
in the United States but was popular in Japan and Russia.

~~~
bane
I'd argue that Microsoft never actually built the MSXs, Microsoft more or less
just spec'ed out what an MSX should be, similar to the way 3D0 never really
built a machine (in fact I think some of the same companies who built MSXs
built 3d0s if I'm not mistaken).

 _but_...Microsoft _did_ build the XBOX (which was a PC) and the XBOX 360
(which is less PCish, but still a computer).

------
MortenK
Microsoft should probably have made a clear divide between tablet and desktop
OS. Windows RT tablets running only the interface formerly known as Metro, and
simply an incremental upgrade to the much loved Windows 7 for desktops.

Mixing the interfaces gives a non-satisfactory and confusing experience on
both desktop and tablet devices. An exception could be devices that are a bit
more of a laptop/tablet hybrid than the Surface (i.e. the coming Surface Pro).

It seems MS might still be limited a bit by their big-corp shackles. The whole
Windows RT / Windows 8 issue causes more confusion than anything else, and
ultimately seems as a decision made by commitee, rather than the result of a
single, focused individual or team.

But Microsoft is just at step 1. And with the size of their pockets, they will
not give up the tablet race just because of a not-quite-as-hot-as-expected
launch. They are in it for years to come, so it would be odd if we don't see a
much better implementation over the coming 2-3 years.

Whether or not Apple or Google manages to innovate further in that time
remains to be seen. But from the uninspiring, incremental upgrades coming out
of Cupertino the last few product cycles, it could seem MS is being given the
chance to catch up within the foreseeable future.

In any case, computing in the hybrid form of a tablet form factor with full OS
and keyboard / trackpad is here to stay judging from the huge success of the
Transformer series and the more limited but still substantial success of the
Windows 7 slates. So we will surely see a lot of interesting products released
from all camps over the next few years.

~~~
Someone
_"They are in it for years to come, so it would be odd if we don't see a much
better implementation over the coming 2-3 years."_

I agree; I think the product (which I haven't seen in real life yet) has a
future. However, I don't see how that would affect the review of today's
product. They didn't promise free hardware upgrades for two years, did they?

------
amorphid
Surface isn't bad, it's early. I played with it over the weekend and liked it
in general. It's also clear that it'd benefit from some bug fixes. It'll get
better if MS doesn't drop it before they've been able to work out the kinks.

~~~
clauretano
Definitely early. Not helping matters is the fact that all the Microsoft
employees getting free ones don't receive them until December. They should
have gotten them early even if it meant delaying the launch in my opinion, at
least then there would be more software available.

~~~
sounds
Why so many of this rejoinder? "Early release! Don't be so harsh!"

Ok, here's a direct quote from the article – how come everyone's ignoring it?

 _So if it took Apple a couple tries to perfect the tablet, shouldn’t we cut
Microsoft some slack, too?

No, we shouldn’t. The first iPad was released in 2010. It may not have been
perfect, but it was unquestionably the best tablet of its era. The Surface is
hitting the shelves in 2012, when, in addition to Apple’s tablets, you can now
get Google’s Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 or one of Amazon’s super-cheap Kindle Fires.
Because it was first to market, Apple’s first-generation device had some
leeway to miss the mark, but its competitors have little room for error.
Anyone who’s considering this tablet will be forced to stack it against the
competition, and the Surface doesn’t wear these comparisons well._

~~~
clauretano
People have every right to be harsh. Microsoft has tried for years to get
tablets right, and they still haven't. I was just agreeing that the device is
early; they should have waited a bit to release it. It has a lot going for it,
but so did the HP TouchPad.

~~~
sounds
Ok sorry, when I read "early" I thought you meant it the other way around.

I'd still hope the other commenters read that part of the article – the
discussion will be a lot more interesting if they do!

------
nachteilig
I kind of buy the 20 grams thing, actually. When I went to look at the iPhone
5 I noticed it felt lighter and discovered that it's only 28 grams lighter.
Still, the surface didn't feel particularly heavy to me and I use iPad every
day.

It's really not a bad first stab from Microsoft. I hope we can assume that the
next rev will be even better a la Xbox (and not what happened with Zune).

~~~
wizawuza
The iPhone's 28 grams lighter is a huge percentage difference for such a light
device.

Can't make the same comparison for 20 grams (~30% less of a difference) on a
much larger device.

------
btbuilder
I spent 15 minutes playing with a Surface at the MS store. I found that the
typing cover was certainly much better than the touch cover. The typing cover
is a very decent keyboard with even noticable mouse button clicks on the
trackpad. It is certainly not just "slightly better". I didn't like the touch
cover much but I noticed I was already getting used to it.

I tried to reproduce the typing speed problem in Word and it is definitely
fixed. Even when I mashed the keyboard at max speed Word kept up. I did manage
to get Powerpoint to slow down by downloading a presentation with a bitmap
image in the background. Typing over the bitmap image was not realtime but
still usable.

Certainly considering recommending this to someone who just want a super-
mobile MS Office machine.

------
woodpanel
Why is this article so full of errors?

However, I've tested the RT and I woudn't buy it. But the RT is just a reduced
version of what the pro version will be: Something that aims to be a laptop
that you can work on.

After testing it I am definetly going to give the pro a shot. Not as an iPad
replacement as the iPad was never something to work with. But as a laptop
replacement. Because...

\- it gets rid of the dead weight of a keyboard (but keeping its
functionality)

\- it adds the interface of a touch screen

This doesn't replace so much an iPad as it replaces the macbook air.

The author's main claim is that we need different gadgets for different tasks.
After deciding each trip wether I'll take my
smartphone/kindle/iPad/NetBook/Laptop with me I can assure him: I'd be more
than happy to reduce that list.

~~~
danudey
Removing the keyboard is great, but removing the keyboard and then replacing
it with a keyboard in a floppy foldable cover? That seems a little counter-
intuitive. I mean, it's nice that you can not take the cover with you if you
don't want to, but that would just require replacing it with _some_ cover or
another, so I may as well keep the keyboard.

~~~
potatolicious
I love the touchcover concept actually. The point of removing the keyboard and
replacing it with a floppy foldable cover is that the floppy foldable cover is
_really light_ and _really thin_ compared to the keyboard that used to be
there.

The second part is that convertibles/transformer tablets historically have
handled keyboards crappily. Either you attach it to a folding swivel that's
both bulky, heavy, and prone to breakage, or you make the two units entirely
separate, in which case transportation/using the unit without the keyboard is
awkward.

With the touch cover the keyboard just _disappears_ when you don't need it. It
needs neither a complicated mechanism nor do you need to remember to put the
detached keyboard in your bag. Fold it over. Bam.

Responding to previous poster though:

> _"But the RT is just a reduced version of what the pro version will be:
> Something that aims to be a laptop that you can work on."_

I'm actually of the opinion right now that the RT is the more significant
device. Having played with the RT now, and seeing the specs on the Pro, I
think the Pro is too awkward to be a market fit. It's substantially heavier,
has in all likelihood poorer battery life, and is _thick_. Also, it has a
_spinning fan in your hands_.

All are acceptable compromises if you can really use it as a laptop
replacement - but the touch cover's trackpad is frankly not good enough for
that use. So what you've ended up with is a thicker, heavier, louder, warmer,
shorter lasting version of the RT that will run non-Metro apps in ways that
are nearly unusable.

------
pcwalton
Criticizing the browser for displaying a blurry image while pinching is
unfair. This is standard practice for any browser with off main thread
compositing, including Firefox Mobile, Chrome for Android, later releases of
desktop Safari, and Mobile Safari, which pioneered the technique.

~~~
rayiner
Pinching on mobile safari right now and it's sharp enough where I can't tell
whether it's LCD lag or rendering blur. Maybe Apple is using a better image
scaling algorithm?

~~~
pcwalton
It's just GL_LINEAR from what I can tell.

My iPhone Simulator is somewhat old though; perhaps they decided to start
rendering while your fingers are down on iOS 6 or something. On a recent MBP,
however, desktop Safari is just using GL_LINEAR scaling.

------
programminggeek
The Surface is "Bad" because you're comparing it with the iPad 4, the Kindle
Fire HD, the Asus Transformer (3rd or 4th gen), etc.

Microsoft missed the first 3 or so iterations of touch-only tablet computing.
There are bug fixes and refinements to come I'm sure.

Compare the Surface to original iPad when it first came out and maybe it's not
so bad?

Granted, the surface isn't competing with the original iPad, it's competing
against the 4th gen iPad and that's a different beast altogether.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
FTFA:

> So if it took Apple a couple tries to perfect the tablet, shouldn’t we cut
> Microsoft some slack, too?

> No, we shouldn’t. The first iPad was released in 2010. It may not have been
> perfect, but it was unquestionably the best tablet of its era. The Surface
> is hitting the shelves in 2012, when, in addition to Apple’s tablets, you
> can now get Google’s Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 or one of Amazon’s super-cheap
> Kindle Fires. Because it was first to market, Apple’s first-generation
> device had some leeway to miss the mark, but its competitors have little
> room for error. Anyone who’s considering this tablet will be forced to stack
> it against the competition, and the Surface doesn’t wear these comparisons
> well.

------
BenSS
I develop for iOS and chugging that koolaid, but Surface really doesn't
deserve such a scathing article. There's a definite lack of polish and kludgey
details, but I'd rather have surface over an android tablet right now.

------
rm999
>And that, I think, is the main reason the Surface falls short: It lacks focus

I see this as a general problem with the tech sector today: there is a lack of
underlying vision that leads to innovation. How can Microsoft focus on
something when they are chasing the moving target of Apple? Worse yet they
only see what Apple is thinking/doing years after the fact.

The worst part of all this to me is that Apple isn't even trying to compete
with Microsoft in this niche. Apple has left open a large space of power-users
(I use this term loosely - people who type a lot fall in here - or users who
want a full OS) who want tablet functionality. Microsoft should have done a
better and quicker job of filling this niche.

------
krichman
The iPad is locked-down enough that it's basically a toy for reading the
internet and doing mail. If the Surface enables a different model of tablet
computing, there's no reason why it shouldn't be a success. It's surely going
to be rough around the edges to start with, but that doesn't mean people will
miss the appeal entirely.

~~~
GuiA
What you call a toy covers the needs of the vast majority of "everyday" users.

Regardless of your feelings on the matter, whether it's pertinent to call it a
toy or not is left as an exercise to the reader.

~~~
geon
Also, "the vast majority of everyday users" _want_ a toy.

------
Shivetya
I wonder if the performance would seem better if Microsoft employed a similar
trick that iOS uses, that being putting up a screen shot of the app while it
loads. I am not sure if Apple still employs this trick but I do remember it
being used and how it affected perceived performance.

~~~
mtgx
Windows Phone and the Metro UI in general uses a ton of animations to make it
seem "smooth" and "fast", when in fact you're just watching animations for the
same time period it would take to load. But underneath all that, the overall
responsiveness of the OS seems to be slower than both iOS and the latest
Android versions.

~~~
glhaynes
What's the virtual memory situation on Windows RT? Does it use a pagefile?

~~~
scholia
Yes.

~~~
flyinRyan
And people say it's not innovative enough...

------
at-fates-hands
>>>>> "The first iPad was released in 2010. It may not have been perfect, but
it was unquestionably the best tablet of its era."

It's been two years, not exactly an "era". I also remember the Motorola Xoom
coming out in 2010 and giving Apple a run for its money. Also, if the ipad was
SO awesome for an entire "era", then why did Apple come out with the ipad 2 a
year after the first one was released?

People just don't like it when someone comes out challenges Apple's status
quo.

~~~
danudey
> I also remember the Motorola Xoom coming out in 2010 and giving Apple a run
> for its money.

From [http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/28/motorola-
xo...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/oct/28/motorola-xoom-tablet-
sales):

> In the same period that those Honeycomb tablets have sold 3.4m, Apple has
> sold more than 25m iPads. In the period that Rubin says those 6m have been
> sold, Apple has sold just short of 40m iPads.

I'd hardly count that as 'giving Apple a run for its money'.

------
BlackNapoleon
I don't know WHY its so bad, I just know that based on MSFT's commercials,
that it IS bad.

They don't even show anyone using the damn thing. Its just a bunch of
choreography.

~~~
bencxr
Personally, this is fine with me. I don't tend to trust commercials where
people "use the thing", e.g. Apple's Siri commercial.

It is just too easy to show off a few "happy path" scenarios in 30 seconds.

~~~
gurkendoktor
You can never _trust_ commercials, but at least you know whether the vendor is
filling a gap that you care about.

------
bruceboughton
The supposed differentiator for Surface is Office. Why then is there not a
single screenshot of Office on their product website? [1]

I eventually found an URL in a footnote (not even linked):
<http://office.com/officeRT> which is incredibly sparse on information.

[1] <http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-GB>

------
gisenberg
I waited in line for ~4 hours to pick up a Surface on launch day and ended up
returning it a little over a week later.

This review touched on performance, but it really was abysmal. Nothing was
quite as painful as watching other people use the device; swipe gestures and
touch points were frequently missed, the swipe-down gesture necessary to close
or dock a metro app lagged behind by several seconds and took literally a
dozen tries to successfully pull off, and even after installing the optional
updates by going to the desktop control panel, I was still able to out-type
the stock Mail application, using the touch cover at an abysmal ~10WPM. That
was after waiting 5-10 seconds for the mail client to launch in the first
place.

App support was the biggest offender, and I get that this is a short-term
problem. That said, searching the app store for an SSH client and seeing
nothing was a deal breaker. In the absence of useful applications, a terminal
window that I could use to get somewhere to do actual work would have been
great. Even in games, it feels like the strategy was all wrong. The usual
suspects (Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, etc) are there, but this would be my 4th
or 5th time purchasing those games. Really don't have an interest in buying
them again, and the original content under the New Releases section is really
lackluster; apps that are still using the default Visual Studio app icon
aren't uncommon, nor are apps with written entirely in different languages
than the target market. The whole quality control angle seems sloppy.

If I could have installed another browser or had access to the Chrome web
store, that would have been enough of a mitigation for app support, but those
aren't options either.

The out-of-box apps are, understandably, incredibly Microsoft-centric.
Couldn't change default search provider in Internet Explorer and the messaging
client only had support for Live Messenger and Facebook. The app store
currently has nothing available for music options (no Pandora/Spotify/etc).
The browser is an option, but the Metro browser stops playing audio once the
device auto-locks.

The speakers were really bad. With any level of ambient background noise,
watching something on Netflix required my face to be less than a foot away to
actually make out dialog. Was a common theme among other people using the
device as well.

Touch cover was incredibly hit or miss and missed more often than not. In
retrospect, I should have gotten a Type cover.

If the Surface had released with the iPad 2, it would be a competitive
offering. At this stage in the game, though, it's competing with entrenched
4th generation and beyond offerings with years of developer support. Worse
yet, it's walking into new tablets with specifications that are nearly twice
as good for less money.

That said, the form factor of the Surface is incredibly solid. If someone sold
a tablet with the Nexus 10 internals in a Surface form factor, I'd buy it in a
heartbeat.

~~~
rlu
Were you honestly unable to type faster than 10wpm after using it for a week?
I find that....odd to believe (not saying you're lying - I just find it
strange). How fast can you type normally? On my regular desktop keyboard I
type at an average of 80wpm which I think is ok. On my touchcover I can type
at an average of like 65wpm. So sure, slower than my desktop keyboard but not
frustrating by any means.

I'd say that I got up to speed and used to the keyboard within a day or two of
use.

I'm glad that you acknowledge that the app store problem is short-term. A lot
of reviewers disregard that. I am quite confident that the apps will come so
you just need to be patient. With that said, I'd like to point out that there
_is_ a pandora app (not sure if it is official, but it works fine). Spotify I
am still waiting for but Xbox Music does the job until then.

Agreed that the speakers are meh.

I don't know though. I'd still pick this over an iPad any day of the week. The
keyboard really does it for me. I'm typing this comment out on my desktop but
I could have just as easily typed it from my Surface. Try doing that on an
iPad. It would be exhausting. So even for tasks that aren't "work" but just
involve creating content (even something as small as a HN comment) - the
surface runs laps around iPad.

edit: one final thing. Remote desktop is a great feature on this device.
Whenever I want to use an x86 app on Surface RT, I just remote into my desktop
at home. Works pretty much flawlessly. I especially like that typing seems to
be simulated from the client end, so even if there IS network lag, your typing
isn't affected by it.

~~~
gisenberg
On a normal keyboard, I hit 120+ WPM. On the Touch keyboard, I spent more time
correcting typoos and missed keystrokes than typing for sure. I'd have to have
a camera on the keyboard to see where things went wrong, because it _seemed_
like I should be hitting all the keys I expected to hit, but I'm more than
happy to acknowledge that what I really wanted was the keyboard cover with
tactile feedback. The Touch keyboard was something I didn't get used to at
all.

My usage patterns were incredibly light; it mostly sat near desktops or
laptops as a mail client. With the app ecosystem and text input as it was, I
was at a loss for other things I could do with it. By the end of the week, it
was more or less a front end for Trello boards.

One of the compelling points was having a tablet platform in which real work
can get done, but in the absence of an SSH client or text editor with syntax
highlighting, that didn't really hold true for me (again, short-term
problems). I can see where it'd make sense for folks that specifically need
Office to get meaningful work done, but that wasn't the case for me.

That said, the ability to sideload Ubuntu and Chromium on the Nexus devices
looks incredibly compelling. Really curious to see how that shapes up.

------
tcohen
Regardless of whether it's good or bad - what took them so long!? What have
they been working on...

------
Mordor
Maybe this underlies the Samsung Note's success - moving the pointer to the
screen (via the stylus). The keyboard is a real problem: how to precisely
compose text? Not sure what the answer is to this one, but I don't think
anyone's truly cracked it. Any ideas?

------
vinculus
Is this a review of microsoft's hardware? Because there were all those really
good reviews of windows 8 on touchscreen laptops last week, right?

~~~
rsynnott
This isn't Windows 8.

