Having adopted the Surface Pro as my principle machine, I was looking forward to a trip to be able to fully test its road warrior capabilities.
The fact that the power supply also has a USB port to charge a phone was a boon and consequently I only needed to bring one European adapter. So, with the compact charger, the Type cover and a micro USB cable, my usual frugal, origami-inspired packing was even neater.
On arrival at the airport, the free Wi-Fi was easy to find and use, and the advantage of having full apps with which to work, as opposed to web or purely mobile versions, was immediately apparent. This was not always the case and more than once with other tablets, I’ve found public Wi-Fi difficult to use.
One concession was that I had to alter the screen magnification for text and objects to 125%, but once I did, even Outlook 2013 was readable and usable.
On the plane, the Type cover and kickstand fit perfectly on available folding table space. Typing was relatively comfortable, at least for as long as it took to write this and a few other bits and pieces.
At the event, with the Pro fully charged, it was perfectly usable for note taking perched on my knee. However, the on-board camera was not sufficient for taking quick pictures of presentation slides to capture much needed facts, figures and charts. This meant using the camera on my phone. In truth, this is a minor gripe.
Battery life was reasonable, given that this particular Pro sits mainly on a desk on mains power. That said, I do tend to let it run the battery down sub 10% at least once a week, to keep it ticking over properly.
What was impressive was that the free Wi-Fi in the hotel room, despite being limited to 256k up and down, was adequate for a Skype video call, which the Pro handled perfectly.
For a first trip with not only a new machine, but also new operating system and form factor, the Pro performed admirably. It did everything I needed it to do, as well as having the benefit of my full application and file complement too.
However, what became even more obvious was the utter redundancy of the Modern UI interface of Windows 8. In desktop usage mode, I log in and my large, additional screen displays my Windows 8 desktop. I immediately use a touch-enabled mouse to launch Outlook 2013 and a few other everyday use applications and even on the Pro screen, the Modern UI disappears, not to be seen again most of the time.
I thought that using the device in more of a tablet mode on the road might see me using the Modern UI more, but alas, that was not the case. Despite having a shortcut on the Modern UI screen, I found myself navigating through to the desktop to launch Outlook and then being in desktop mode, never having a reason to go back to the Modern UI.
I had installed the 8.1 preview of Windows 8 on this machine, having got it at TechEd, but had to remove it due to some compatibility issues with my Google Apps mail and Office 365 workaround. But now, I am looking forward to October 18 when, having previously been willing to accept the Modern UI, I can just set the Pro to boot to desktop.
I like the horizontal navigation features of Windows 8 and the search option to get me what I want, but they are just as accessible from the desktop as they are from the Modern UI, so in practice, I simply do not use it. On the companion device, the Surface RT, I do find that I use the modern UI, as my usage pattern with it is far more apps, as opposed to application (if you get the subtle distinction) based. And this leads me to an inescapable conclusion.
Windows 8 in a professional setting does not need the Modern UI. I’d imagine my usage pattern of Windows 8 Pro isn’t vastly different from most knowledge workers. In fact, I’d imagine I’m probably a lighter user than most as I don’t tend to use hefty BI or CRM tools most of the time and would usually be limited to email client, word processor, browser, social media clients and the odd spreadsheet.
In this context, the Surface Pro is a very capable machine, but it carries around an interface that although pretty, is almost entirely superfluous. The 8.1 version might allow you to bypass the Modern UI altogether, but it merely highlights the fact that in a work setting, it is of limited use at best.
This leaves Microsoft in a difficult position, in my opinion. With little to differentiate Windows 8 from Windows 7 in enterprise, the 8.1 update seems to reduce that differentiation even further. So the only real argument for adopting it over 7 is the longer support life cycle. But as we have seen from the Windows XP experience that is rarely sufficient motivation when contemplating leaving a stable, trusted platform for one that appears to have some disadvantages.
I’ll bet there are certain aspects of the Job that Steve Ballmer won’t miss all that much.
Ltd
