Must Read: Sorry, but bringing back the Start menu won't help Windows 8

Topic: Microsoft

Microsoft's Surface gets cautious welcome in Times Square: Photos

Summary: Fans eager to get their hands on Microsoft's Surface have been streaming through the doors of the company's pop-up store in New York's Times Square, where the tablet seems to have been given a cautious thumbs-up.

Jon Yeomans

By |

 |  Image 6 of 7

I got a little alone time with the Surface myself, and as a Windows 8 novice, I'm not ashamed to admit I was all at sea with the interface, despite the best efforts of an attentive Microsoft staffer who assisted me. It felt like a blessed relief when, at one point in the demo, we switched back to the plain old Windows 7-style desktop. 

Image: Jon Yeomans

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Topics: Microsoft, Mobility, Tablets, Windows

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48 comments
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  • Stopped by there this morning on my way to work.....

    I played around for a few minutes with the Surface. I have tried Windows 8 on a non-touch device, so this was the first time I used it on touch device. Definitely really easy to use, the only gestures I had trouble with were getting the open app listing up and getting the Snapped view, but was able to figure it out and once you play with it enough, the gestures will become second nature. I haven’t used an iPad much, but I do own an iPhone. I really do not like iOS. I am definitely looking forward to getting a Surface soon and using Windows 8. I will be upgrading my laptop with a new SSD and Windows 8 Pro this weekend!
    toph36
    Reply 4 Votes

    • So you don't like the iphone, but

      you bought it anyway? sounds very fishy to me....:/
      T-Wrench
      Reply Vote

  • Oh, Microsoft.

    Pop up stores. Pseudo-half-baked-partial Windows product. Short lines indicating low demand. It reminds me of visiting a store soon after the release of Zune. There next to the cash registers sat an enormous Zune display full of the brown notiPods. I asked the cashier, "Selling any of those?" to which I received a wry smile and a firm, "No." Asked if he had any theory as to why he simply replied with this question, "Have you seen it?"
    gregv2k
    Reply 1 Vote

    • Except...

      except that according to this article they ARE selling them, and there are crowds at all hours.
      HunterGuy2
      Reply Vote

    • Wow. Another liar.

      You didnt ask the cashier that Im betting, and if by some chance you did, that wasnt her answer.

      We can all bet on that.

      Can you even imagine. Wow. Just wow. Imagine, you ask a casheir why something in the specialized store where she works isnt selling and she says "Have you seen it?"

      Just wow. I cannot even think you really expect anyone to beleive that crap.

      I guess that would be one casheir who wasnt told how big a day it was for the store, wasnt told that today was a priority day, that you never know whos watching to make sure things go just as planned and how telling a potential customer that simply looking at a particular product was such a turn off all on its own it would make everyone not want to by it would be a very very bad idea if you had any intention of keeping your job at all.

      What a bunch of crap.

      Just try something truthful for a change. Really. It wouldnt kill you.
      Cayble
      Reply Vote

      • cayble you're doing ovetime

        or there is another reason why you're so religious defending Microsoft? The way you write, it look you're engaged on a war, and you're in the frontline...
        theo_durcan
        Reply Vote

        • Why does my Wife's 4thgen iTouch battery die every night.

          She has sent back and got a new one TWICE and all 3, same thing. 4th gen iTouch sucks.
          Battery dies overnight, unless you remember to turn off wireless (airplane mode) then it MIGHT make the night.
          It takes iOS 5.X and 6.X several seconds to come up after it's already on, after sliding the "slide to unlock" button.
          I don't know why she bothers. iTunes is a nightmare. It could be very simple to use, like Zune but it's design is really horrible. If you don't agree, fine, you don't need to reply. I know there are Apple lovers on here that would take a bullet (or deliver one, as has happened too many times..People have Died over saying bad about Apple to a cultist!!) before giving an honest review of the products, but iOS must be over inflated. The binaries are very large and growing and it's getting feature creep and bit rot and slow as hell.
          Apple freaks, why are iphones/itouches batteries dying so fast and why are they so slow?
          xuniL_z
          Reply Vote

          • Not having owned and iPod Touch

            The only response I have to this is that I've owned 3 different iPhones and have not had any of these issues.

            So who died over disagreeing with an Apple Cultist?
            athynz
            Reply Vote

    • yo

      shut up and suck it
      jaredgn@...
      Reply Vote

  • 6 years since Windows, why bother?

    Its been so long since I used a Pc, OSX and IOS devices cover all my needs, so why bother? Too late in the game..
    cafedelmar77
    Reply 1 Vote

    • If you're happy with your iWorld ...

      ... then stay there and be happy.

      I and many others like me are excited to take part in the pretty revolutionary approach to computing Microsoft is offering on its converging platforms across a diverging range of devices.
      bitcrazed
      Reply 1 Vote

      • *washed much?

        revolutionary approach to computing? By Microsoft? In 2012?

        You must be kidding!
        danbi
        Reply Vote

        • Right, Since Apple invented

          The telephone, washing machine, and sliced bread.
          William Farrel
          Reply Vote

        • You and "Sean Connery" must be bathing together...

          since, you both have the same type of irrational arguments against all things Microsoft.

          You two must be like girls, who go to the bathroom together, and do your hair and makeup together, and your gossip together, in preparation to bring it to the rest of the world.

          But, I also suspect that, danbi and Sean are one and the same.
          adornoe
          Reply 1 Vote

        • danbi, he's not kidding. Apple still uses icons and paging. Nuff Said.

          xuniL_z
          Reply Vote

      • "revolutionary"?

        Do you actually know what revolutionary means?
        gregv2k
        Reply Vote

        • There are different meaning to the word, but, in context with computers,

          bitcrazed is correct.

          Windows 8, and the whole ecosystem which MS is attempting to move the old Windows world into, is "revolutionary", at least when it comes to Microsoft.

          However, that "revolutionary" move is a conglomeration of old ways of doing things, along with the new way of doing things.

          Fact is that, when it comes to computing, it's all evolutionary, and all of the players in the field have products and services that "just evolve". Thus, if there isn't a truly revolutionary product or OS or service out there , then, it's the same for all hardware and software companies out there.
          adornoe
          Reply Vote

    • hmmm. But you bother reading Windows blogs still? Strange.

      How odd after 6 years you are still drawn to Windows.
      I think you've tried to get past it, but you can't. Obviously.
      Esp. with huge OS X botnets and malware (and this is with a tiny fraction of the world's bad guys who aim strictly at Windows, turning to OSX and already they've gotten that far. Imagine of the whole world switched from aiming at windows and windows users to OSX, it would be toast. ).
      And aren't you proud to declare that Apple knows all of your needs and you don't need to make any decisions for yourself? How great. Sorry, but I still prefer an OS, not a locked down consumer electronics device, which a Mac is whether you want to call it a computer or not. It's not.
      xuniL_z
      Reply Vote

      • Could not agree more!

        apple is way too locked down. I am on Windows 8 now , I think its going to make a difference .
        android is also great . but apple sucks
        Mike Catalano
        Reply Vote

    • Why bother? Ah! You just gave the answer!

      "OSX and IOS devices cover all my needs"

      And from there many people would say, thats exactly why its time to move on to something even better. Windows 8 looks good.

      Thanks for helping clear that up.
      Cayble
      Reply Vote
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