Returning Microsoft Surface RT

Wow, I am truly surprised how slow the boot is. Wasn't one of the Win 8 key points the super fast boot time? And one of the primary new features apparently doesn't work on the device designed for Windows 8/RT?! Winner.

Nice to see the fabulous mail app making users happy once again. Seriously, that app is a mess, and been so since it reared its ugly head. Everyone knows this. Is it written by a relative of one of the head honchos or something and thus too holy to change?

Quote from article how to get the Office update:

• Head to the Control Panel version of Windows Update, not the Metro-accessible version that you use for more everyday settings changes.
• Fire up a search for 'Windows Update,' and select 'Install optional updates,' instead of 'Windows Update' from the list of results.
• If no updates are available, have the device run a check. If there are, then get going right away. The update is titled "Update for Microsoft Office Home & Student 201[3] RT Preview."

What? That distinction between Windows Update and Microsoft (Office) Update is still there in Windows RT (which has Office buit-in)?

@wastingtimewithforums: Maybe there should have been an Update Charm. It would have been magically delicious.

-Josh

@wastingtimewithforums: That does look bad.

I'm also waiting for the Email app to support POP3. I can't believe MS didn't bother to support it.

@ZippyV: It already supports it, since a few weeks ago.

@wastingtimewithforums: Boot does seem a bit slow, and I guess the slow Mail load time is explained by the fact that Win8 seems to do more stuff in parallel so if you login immediately after turning it on it's still doing stuff in the background which slows things down a bit. Probably if he had waited a minute then started mail it would've launched a lot faster.

Anyway, my iPhone 4 takes more than a full minute to boot. That's not a problem however, because the only time that's ever relevant is after an OS update or if I've turned if off (basically if the battery died or if I've been on an airplane). Most of the time it's just sleeping so I don't think boot time is a big issue.

I'm also not sure what's going on with his mail app. I don't use the mail app myself, but if I launch it now it immediately asks me to set it up, so I have no idea why it's not doing that for him.

My understanding was that POP3 as added, but it is still "unsupported" -- meaning if it doesn't work, too bad.

2 hours ago, Sven Groot wrote

@ZippyV: It already supports it, since a few weeks ago.

A few weeks ago? I tried it two days ago and it still trolls the user with this:

If you click on POP it says shove it (you get the second dialog). Those two dialogs are unchanged since the beginning.

2 hours ago, Sven Groot wrote

@wastingtimewithforums:

I'm also not sure what's going on with his mail app. I don't use the mail app myself, but if I launch it now it immediately asks me to set it up, so I have no idea why it's not doing that for him.

If I click cancel on the "add your email account" dialog, and try to open up mail again after that, then I get the same white screen of nothingness. After several minutes it complains about something with the account (didn't make a screenshot and I can't remember the exact wording).

@youtube guy

First, you press the Email to early. It probably should have being terminated by its feature, I have experienced auto termination feature on my slower and yet still quite capable Win7 laptop. 

Second, that seems to be an error? I didn't get that screen. But, I am not using RT.

3rd, you can create device only password, so, your Live password is hidden from peekyloos.

Clicking the mail app when it's on the screen and clickable is too early. <noted>

I guess we're back to the NT4 days where we had "don't hit CTRL-ALT-DEL when the login screen says to click CTRL-ALT-DEL. Wait about a minute before you do so, or it might blue screen. Wait for the disk activity light to slow down."

too many "compromises" with Windows RT. Just get an IPAD, it just works.

24 minutes ago, wsdotnet wrote

too many "compromises" with Windows RT. Just get an IPAD, it just works.

But, because it does them the apple way, it works poorly and will be obsolete in 2 years. 

No thanks.

41 minutes ago, wsdotnet wrote

too many "compromises" with Windows RT. Just get an IPAD, it just works.

The iPad is the very definition of compromise.

56 minutes ago, cbae wrote

*snip*

The iPad is the very definition of compromise.

It's not a compromise in the Apple ecosystem since they target a single, specific demographic, so the device fully supports that demographic. But in the larger scope, it only supports that segment of the population, and thus, is a compromise. In the reverse, the Surface is a compromise in Apple's target demographic, but is uncompromising in a larger scope (people who want to play AND work).

O.M.G. 

I knew it's not gonna work, but it's now looking like it's will put the Kin to shame.

But cheer-up not all is gloom:

• I like windows 8, it's stable, it gets me faster to the web, it runs stuff, what else do I need
• Tomorrow, or the day after that, Intel will come up with chips that are x86 compatible, draw less power then ARM, and have x10 the performance. Then win8 tablets will be attractive.

4 minutes ago, fanbaby wrote

• I like windows 8, it's stable, it gets me faster to the web, it runs stuff, what else do I need
• Tomorrow, or the day after that, Intel will come up with chips that are x86 compatible, draw less power then ARM, and has x10 the performance. Then win8 tablets will be attractive.

Interesting. I am noticing that lots of Linux aficionados really seem to like (love?) Windows 8..

Shocked at how good it is- From a Linux/Open Source fanboy (amazon review)

Brian Lunduke (Linux Fanboi): Windows 8 is awesome... ...Earlier this week I installed the final version of Windows 8.  And it is awesome.

That's not a joke.  Windows 8 is absolutely, unequivocally stellar.

It boots fast, looks great and, right out of the gate, fully supports every bell and whistle on my laptop (including the touch screen).  Applications launch faster, and are generally more responsive, than I have ever seen on this piece of hardware.  Hell, I even like the copy file dialog.

I kid you not, the copy file progress dialog in Windows 8 is a thing of beauty.  If you haven't seen it in action, and you are a fan of cool user interfaces, you owe it to yourself.  To say I am impressed with what the team at Microsoft has accomplished would be a massive understatement.

What's up? No other Windows received such accolades from that direction..

Edit November 19: Yes, "DestroyerOfFanboys" is me..

@fanbaby: From his unboxing and that review, it seems like MS got it right with the software but should have put in a more powerful CPU, cut out the desktop (seeing him try to resize windows was laughable), and lowered the price by $100-$200.

I think Surface Pro will be the one to get, but only if MS can keep the price well under $1000.