Microsoft Surface First Day

I will add pictures and more information to this post.

First impressions:

• Solid build. Very nicely built. Not too heavy or too light.
• The hardware is ideal. I'm sure they could have packed more speed in, but I've seen no lag at all and the apps open at the same speed I see from iPads.
• My Microsoft bluetooth mouse connects and works perfectly. Hurrah.
• The setup process is typical, very quick and easy.
• The screen is really nice. I expected worse considering the resolution (1366x768) but it is a great looking screen.
• Windows 8 is really great for touch devices. I played with it, and as always, there are many ways to customize the look. It's fluid and great looking.
• On-screen keyboard... this is a real pet peeve of mine, and it works great. No slowdown, and I can almost immediately touch-type.
• Apps: There are more apps than I care to see. 
• What I am not seeing that I wanted immediately was VMWare View. Some stuff I've read online say that there is a dev version. I haven't found it yet. Not immediately necessary, but it needs to be there ASAP.
• The mail client is nicer than I expected (Live Mail)
• Office 2013 RT Preview really works well. I'll immediately start using that and post more information.
• Netflix, Skype, Drudge Reader, SkyDrive, etc. 
• Haven't tried any games yet. This is not my gaming machine, but of course I will eventually see what's out there.

Comes with a magnetic attaching power plug.

Touch cover:
The touch cover is light and semi-flexible. About what I expected. Typing on it is interesting. It's not like a keyboard, but it's not like the on-screen keyboard either. Not at all hard to get used to. The most noticeable thing is the touchpad portion of the keyboard. It's not as sensitive as you'd find on a regular touchpad. The *click* of the keyboard connecting is strong, and it makes a nice screen cover. I'm curious as to how I can get a cover for the back and corners while still using the touch cover. After breaking a few phone screens, I'm not willing to go without one for very long.

Other things I noticed:
I connected to the work MS Exchange server, and it transferred the organization's security policy to the RT device. I accepted the policy change as it told me that it was required in order to connect. It created a new local account on the RT device and I was no longer logged in using my Live account. I was then required to change my local password to meet the employer's complexity requirements. The policy also enforced other security settings, such as how long can the device be inactive before requiring a password.

The only way I could remove these policy changes was to reset the device to factory defaults. Not a big deal for the first day as it only took at 5-10 minutes, but it's something to note. I couldn't find another way to change it.

I may try to connect again and not "accept" the policy enforcement.

Remote clients:
Citrix has a receiver client out... so maybe VMWare will get on the ball and make a View client.
"Citrix Releases Receiver for Windows 8/RT “Metro” Preview to the Windows Store"
http://www.dabcc.com/article.aspx?id=21621

The alternative to VMWare View would be a good VPN client that will connect to a Cisco VPN host. I'm looking into that.

Update #1 XBox Music:
The "music" app on the Surface can play files from any drive if you manually add the files to a play list, each time... But for its full functionality you need to use "my music" which is pointed only to the music "library" in Windows. Just like in Windows 7, you can remap libraries to point to other locations. Turns out your libraries cannot be remapped to a removable drive like the microSDXC slot on the device. While this limitation would be OK on a desktop or laptop with a large drive, the RT device has a 32GB drive. The drive is almost half-full with no use content on it. While I understand the reasons and limitations, I find this to be a bit of a letdown. The microSDXC slot is fantastic, and I bought a nice 32GB Sandisk for music. Apparently I cannot use it this way.

By the way, they must be abandoning the "zune" name. Replacing it with "XBox" is not better. Zune makes me think music, and XBox makes me think games.

This Surface teardown over at ifixit.com is pretty cool.
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Teardown/11275/1

Microsoft Surface pre-order

Like so many others, I received the email that Surface is available for pre-order. I went to the site to see what's, what. I've saved my money and have been waiting for a replacement for my Win 7 netbook. The minimum requirements I have though are.... a remote desktop client, MS Office, and the ability to remote into my employer's network.

http://surface.microsoftstore.com

First off, only the windows 8 RT (ARM) version is available (non-x86 apps). Windows 8 Pro is still "coming soon." So right off the bat, it's the first of the very first devices.

The "Touch cover" is available for $119 and the "Type cover" for $129. They're both screen cover/keyboards. The type cover is a mechanical keyboard intended to provide a "real" keyboard experience for those who need or want it. The touch cover is touch based, like a touch screen or track pad. Both have integrated track pads.

Windows 8 RT model
$499 for the 32GB.
$599 for the 32GB with *black* touch cover.
$699 for the 64GB with *black* touch cover.

Seems reasonably priced, and money is saved by purchasing a cover with the pre-order.

Comes with Office 2013 home/student preview which is nice, but the kicker is that the full home/student version of Office 2013 is free... that's a real selling point because I know that MS Office will not be a hack, or some half-assed, kinda-sorta product.

The Surface website is iffy on details. With some searching I've been able to find out that the Windows 8 RT version comes with an RDP client but not an RDP host. Only Windows 8 Pro comes with host. This means that I cannot remote into an RT tablet, but I CAN remote from it to another machine.

I had to call the sales line and ask if the device comes with a power plug. (The guy who answered was foreign.) Odd, I know, but one of the accessories being sold is a power plug, and there is no mention of what is "in the box." There IS a power plug with it, and the distinction could be that the accessory plug is the magnetic "snap" version. No way to know.

Next stop is to check VMware for a view client. Nothing downloadable on this workstation, but some search reveals that the MS StoreFront on Win 8 is supposed to have a Windows 8 RT VMware view client.

Delivery for pre-orders is by October 26th, 2012. That's a week and a half.

I think I'm ready to pull the plug. Maybe being an early adopter won't be so bad for me. I usually don't jump so soon.