Living with the Surface RT for 4 weeks

Across the new years holiday, I took a long four week holiday off in Indonesia with my family and in-laws.  Previously I have always taken my Dell laptop(s), but this time, I decided to take my Surface RT tablet.  (Yes, the first generation one, not the Surface 2).  I have owned the Surface RT for over a year and while I always thought it is a decent device, it lacked the number of Apps that the iPad has, and lacked the ability to run old x86 apps.  I wanted a decent attempt at using only the Surface RT for a number of weeks, and figure out where I stand on the device.

My Surface RT has been regularly updated and runs the latest Windows 8.1, it also synchronizes with my Microsoft Account and shares the Apps I have purchased on my main machine. 

In Indonesia, I have access to slow internet, based on where I was.  I didn't have mobile data, and turned off roaming.  So I relied on the Surface RT for both online and lots of offline activity.

So, consider this my report card.

The good:

• Mail (not Outlook)
  The built in Mail app is very handy.  It downloads both my gmail and Outlook.com emails, which are available and fast to browse and read.  I can compose emails offline which is very handy.  I did not use either gmail or outlook.com websites during my 4 weeks.
• Internet Explorer
  Is surprisingly useful for almost everything else:
• Newsblur
  Runs great and I was able to catch up on all my blog reading.
• Twitter
  Runs fine and I was able to read and write tweets.
• Facebook
  Runs fine.  Although the people Tile was updated regularly, I find the browser experience for Facebook on par with what I have at home.  My wife isn't so impressed with many of the Flash-based Facebook games, some do run, but is sluggish.  I wondered if the new Surface 2 would handle these a lot better.
• Reddit
  Actually works very well.  The only thing I missed is the Chrome extension: RES.  But I've stopped using Google Chrome a while back and increasingly don't really miss that plugin.  I will probably look for an App for Reddit next time.
• Office
  I had to read a number of attachments: Word, Excel and PowerPoint on my holidays.  The built in Office did the trick, and I didn't feel I missed a beat.
  I had not set up Outlook to my office exchange server, and didn't want to start downloading a lot of emails on a slow data connection.  Luckily, my colleagues were really nice to me and didn't send me much work!  All the Office documents I was reviewing are related to conferences and activities throughout the year.
  
• Apps
  I wanted to download a bunch of games and play them everywhere, but honestly I've stuck with Tiny Death Stars and Frozen Freefall - both great apps by Disney and available across both Windows 8 store as well as WindowsPhone.  Very happy with the games.
  I also downloaded a manga application and had it download some manga for offline reading. 
  
• Account sync
  I really enjoyed the tiles' positions being synchronized across my Windows 8.1 desktop at home and the Surface RT.  I had no trouble remembering where my apps are. 

The bad.

• Touch Cover
  The touch cover, oh how much I wanted you to work, but you are just not comfortable.  I can type reasonably well on the touch cover, but I'm afraid I will never be able to type perfectly.  I need the Type-Cover.  Rumour goes there is a better Powered-Type Cover coming.  I can't wait.
  
• Windows Updates and poor battery management
  Windows Update must have ran at some point, and I found the Surface poor at handling the battery when I'm not using it.  I did read there was a firmware over December that was causing a lot of issues but I thought it was only with the Surface PRO devices.  This one was not good.  I could use the table for half a day.  Close it and put it down.  And there won't be any battery left when I pick it up again in the evening. 
  
• No Windows Live Writer
  I wanted to update my blog, but without a good blog writing software, I was stuck with the web interface.  I ended up writing most of my blog on OneNote, and then copy the text over to the web interface to post to my blog site.
  A Windows 8 Store Blog Application needs to be a thing.

The surprise.

• Dropping the Surface RT
  I dropped the Surface RT - face down, from a bedside table onto the wooden floor.  Luckily there was no damage.  I... don't want to try this again.
  
• Rotational Lock and reading manga
  Rotational Lock and how easy it was to access from the charms bar was great.  On the Windows Phone rotation lock is a bit harder to reach in the settings.
  
• Fast charging
  The Surface charges really quick.  From a depleted Surface it can be charged within 2 hours.
  
• Take picture from lock screen
  I discovered that you can swipe down from the lock screen and the Surface RT will activate the camera!  I was not able to do this on my laptop - I can't swipe the lock screen down.

2014 begins with a SharePoint Server MVP Award

Sometime in the early hours of the 2nd of January (I live in Australia time), I received a confirmation email from Microsoft that I've been awarded MVP for 2014. The award is for contribution in SharePoint Server technical communities.

I am extremely honoured to be counted with many long time MVP that are the faces in the community.

Thank You

There is a long list of people I need to thank:

Ivan Wilson - boss and long time SharePoint veteran in Sydney. Runs the Sydney SharePoint user group. Ex-5yr-MVP but just got too busy after our company started growing (a certain trouble-maker, me, joined the company). Dear leader, I'm glad to finally return an MVP Award to the shelf!

Jonathan - boss, appearing briefly in the user groups, but understood and supported Ivan and my adventures in the community. Lets me fly or travel to all the events. May be its because he likes flying as well.

My colleagues Justin, Jumpei and Bart for being my test audience for some really rough presentations. On the positive side, they have seen presentations that has never made it out of the office door - too geeky or just too crazy.

My lovely wife Lina who has to deal with my flying everywhere and now also handle two kids like a PRO. She knows this award made me really happy, but let me tell you: Behind every great man, is a wife who isn't impressed (and no, I'm not great - though she definitely remains not impressed).

Brian - from our first meeting in a Canberra pub where I try to sell an MVP the virtues of running reporting services integrated with SharePoint - not knowing who he was. It has been great to go to the numerous SharePoint Saturday events around Australia. There are too many shenanigans to list, and plenty of fun memories.

Elaine - the MCM that I know the most, and the MVP that I tried to follow. Friendly, relaxed knows everything. Seems to be everywhere, all the time. You realise as you attend the sessions that Elaine and other MVPs hold - there's so much experience and knowledge and they make it into a session that people can consume and learn from.

Adam Cogan - MS Regional Director and running the oldest user group in Sydney. Adam's SSW was the first user-group company that I worked in, and showed me the value of the communities that I've come to love. Even as I focus only on SharePoint and away from general .NET, I still get to see Adam in the communities rallying the crowd. I've always held Adam as a master magician. But I've realised that a magician is also a teacher, and Adam may be the best that I know.

Debbie Ireland - for running the SharePoint Conference in Australia and NZ. The premier event for SharePoint in the Oceanic Region and letting me present for the last few years!

So Young Lee - our MVP Lead, I missed a good opportunity to catch her in TechEd last year. So have only talked via email. Thank you for granting me the Award!

Mark Rhodes, Daniel Brown, Daniel McPherson, James Milne, Ishai, Sezai, so many other MVPs for being an inspiration to me, both with what you knew, and the efforts you put into the community. Thank you for being great examples, made it fun to be in the community and I look forward to more MVP in the future!

The Process

I don't believe there's a Rule about not talking about the MVP Award process. So here is how it works, as I understand it:

• The MVP Award is given by Microsoft for contributions to the community in the previous year.
• You need to be nominated - anyone could nominate, including self nomination, I personally think there's probably a filtering that happens. It may help if the MVP lead in your region knows at least your name, or if the nomination came from someone well known.
• Then you fill out a really complicated score card of all the events and activities that you have participated in the last year. There seems to be a few different versions, Excel or web application. The end result is to quantify your community reach.
• Finally, you are told which round your application is being considered, and you hold your breath on that day. Mine happens to be 1st of Jan.

I've been holding my breath the entire week.

Get Involved:

• Go to your user group. Present. Lots of users groups around Australia also accepts remote presentations.
• Present at the SharePoint Saturday events when they roll around your city. Or volunteer to visit another city!
• SharePoint Conference in Australia and NZ
• TechEd AU
• Write a blog. Keep it fresh. My blog documents a number of interesting techniques with InfoPath and has been referenced continuously from the Microsoft forums - even long since I lessened my involvement in that community. Engage with people commenting on your blog.
• Create a CodePlex or github project relating to SharePoint
• Participate in SharePoint on StackOverflow
• I'm told if you write a book or runs web series on SharePoint that would help.

Remember you'll need statistics from all these activities for the score cards.

Getting nominated:

• Get to know the people in the SharePoint community around you.

This helps for your nomination. I personally don't know who nominated me. I wasn't sure whether to ask anyone or just wait. I decided to wait and someone did nominate. I have a few guesses but honestly I have no idea.

Keep a positive, can-do attitude with SharePoint

Finally, we work with SharePoint day in and out. We know it's got lots of quirks. I personally believe it's not good to dwell on the bad but focus on what you can do about it. It's all too easy to jump on the wagon complaining about what SharePoint does. It is far better value and more useful to the community when we explain why SharePoint does what it does, and what we can do to tell it to do something else that we wanted.

Happy New Year!  It's been awesome so far.