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  • Surface RT: To Be Or Not To Be (Part 1)

    - by smehaffie
    So the Surface RT has been out for 9 months and Microsoft just declared a $900 million dollar write-down. So how did this happen and what does it mean for Microsoft’s efforts to break into the tablet market? I have been thinking a lot about most of the information below since the Surface product line was released. If you are looking for a “Microsoft Is Dead” story, then don’t read any further. But if you want an honest look at what I think led Microsoft to this point and what I think can be done to make Surface RT devices better, then please continue reading. What Led Microsoft To The $900 Million Write-Down Surface Unveiling:Microsoft totally missed the boat when they unveiled the Surface product line on June 18th, 2012. Microsoft should’ve been ready to post the specifications of both devices that night. Microsoft should’ve had a site up and running right after the event so people could pre-order the devices. This would have given them a good idea what the interest was in each device.  They could also have used this data to make a better estimate for the number of units to to have available for the launch and beyond.  They also lost out on taking advantage of the excitement generated by the Surface RT and Surface Pro announcement. They could have thrown in a free touch keyboard to anyone who pre-ordered. The advertising should have started right after the announcement and gotten bigger as launch day approached. Push for as many pre-order as possible and build excitement for the launch. Actual Launch (Surface RT): By this time all excitement was gone from the initial announcement, except for the Micorsoft faithful. Microsoft should have been ready to sell the Surface in as many markets as possible at launch. The limited market release was a real letdown for a lot of people.  A limited release right after the initial announce is understandable, but not at the official launch of the product. Microsoft overpriced the device and now they are lowering it to what it should have been to start with. The $349 price is within the range I suggested it should be at before pricing was announced. (Surface Tablets: The Price Must Be Right). Limited ordering options online was also a killer. User should have been able to buy the base unit of each device and then add on whatever keyboard they wanted to (this applies more to the Surface Pro).  There should have also been a place where users could order any additional add-ins that they wanted to buy (covers, extra power supplies, etc.) Marketing was better and the dancing “Click In” commercial was cool, but the ads comparing the iPad with Siri should have been on the air from day one of the announcement (or at least the launch).  Consumers want to know why you tablet is better, not just that is has a clickable keyboard and built-in kickstand. They could have also compared it to some of the other mid-range tablets if they had not overprices it to begin with. Stock Applications (Mail, People, Calendar, Music, Video, Reader and IE): This is where Microsoft really blew it. They had all the time in the world to make these applications the best of breed and instead we got applications that seemed thrown together.  Some updates have made these application better, but they are all still lacking in features that should have been there from day one. This did not help to enhance a new users experience any. ** I will admit that the applications that were data driven were first class citizen’s and that makes it even more perplexing why MS could knock it out of the park with the Weather, Travel, Finance, Bing, etc.) and fail so miserably on the core applications users would use the most on a tablet. Desktop on Tablet: The desktop just is so out of place on the tablet  I understand it was needed for Office but think it would have been better to not have the desktop in Windows RT, but instead open up the Office applications in full screen mode, in a desktop shell (same goes for  IE11).That way the user wouldn’t realize they are leaving Metro and going to the desktop. The other option would have been to just not include Office on Windows RT devices. Instead they could have made awesome Widows Store Apps for Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint. In addition, they could have made the stock Mail, People, and Calendar applications contain all the functions that Outlook gives desktop users. Having some of the settings in desktop mode and others under “Change PC Settings” made Windows RT seemed unfinished and rushed to market. What Can Be Done To Make Windows RT Based Tablets Better (At least in my opinion) Either eliminate the desktop all together from Windows RT or at least make the user experience better by hiding the fact the user is running Office/IE in the desktop. Personally I ‘d like them to totally get rid of it and just make awesome Windows Store Application version of Word, Excel PowerPoint & OneNote.  This might also make the OS smaller and give the user more available disk space. I doubt there will ever be a Windows Store App versions of Office, but I still think it is a good idea. Make is so users can easily direct their documents, picture, videos and music to their extra storage and can access these files from the standard libraries.  A user should not have to create a VM on their microSD card or create symbolic links to get this to work properly. Most consumers would not be able to do this. Then users get frustrated when they run out or room on their main storage because nothing is automatically save to their microSD card when saved to libraries.  This is a major bug that needs to be fixed, otherwise Microsoft’s selling point of having a microSD slot is worthless. Allows users to uninstall and re-install any of the Office product that come with the Surface. That way people can free up storage space by uninstalling the Office applications they do not need. Everyone’s needs are different, so make the options flexible. Don’t take up storage space for applications the user will not use. Make the Core applications the “Cream of the Crop” Windows App Store applications. The should set the bar for all other Store applications. Improve performance as much as possible, if it seems to be sluggish on a tablet consumer will not buy it. They need to price the next line of Surface product very aggressive to undercut not only iPad but also Android low end tablets (Nook, Kindle Fire, and Nexus, etc.) Give developers incentives to write quality applications for the devices. Don’t reward developers for cranking out cookie cutter, low quality applications. I’d even suggest Microsoft consider implementing some new store certification guideline to stop these type of applications being published. Allow users to easily move the recover disk “partition between their microSD card and main storage. My Predictions for the Surface RT and Windows RT I honestly think even with all the missteps MS has made since the announcement  about the Surface product line, that they are on the right path. I was excited the Surface tablets when they were announced, and I still am. The truth be told, Windows 8 on a tablet (aka: Windows RT) is better than both iOS and Android. My nephew who is an Apple fan boy told me after he saw and used Windows 8 (he got the beta running on his iPad), that Windows 8 kicked Apples butt as a tablet OS. So there is hope for all Windows RT based tablets. I agree with my nephew and that is why whenever anyone asks me about my Surface, I love showing it off and recommend it. The 6 keys to gaining market share in the tablet market are; Aggressive pricing by both Microsoft and their OEM’s Good quality devices put out by Microsoft and their OEM’s (there are some out there, but not enough) Marketing, Marketing, Marketing from both Microsoft and their OEM’s (Need more ads showing why windows based tablets are better than iPads and Android tablets) Getting Widows tablets in retails stores all over, and giving sales people incentive to sell them. Consumers like to try electronics out before they buy them, and most will listen to what the sales person suggest. Microsoft needs sales people in retail stores directing people to buy windows based tablets over iPads and Android tablets. I think the Microsoft Stores within Best Buy is a good start, but they also need to get prominent displays in Walmart, Target, etc.. Release a smaller form factor Surface, Hopefully the 8”-10” next generation Surface is not a rumor. Make “Surface” the brand name for all Microsoft tablets and hybrid devices that they come out with. They cannot change the name with each new release.  Make Surface synonymous with quality, the same way that iPad  is for Apple. Well, that is my 2 cents on the subject. Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below. Soon to follow will be my thought on the Surface Pro, so keep an eye out for it. var addthis_pub="smehaffie"; var addthis_options="email, print, digg, slashdot, delicious, twitter, live, myspace, facebook, google, stumbleupon, newsvine";

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  • Surface of Revolution with 3D surface

    - by user5584
    I have to use this function to get a Surface of Revolution (homework). newVertex = (oldVertex.y, someFunc1(oldVertex.x, oldVertex.y), someFunc2(oldVertex.x, oldVertex.y)); As far as I know (FIXME) Surface of Revolution means rotations of a (2D)curve around an axis in 3D. But this vertex computing gives a 3D plane (FIXME again :D), so rotation of this isn't obvious. Am I misunderstanding something?

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  • Nothing gets displayed when debugging Microsoft Surface

    - by leftend
    I am trying to write my first Microsoft Surface application, and am doing the development on the Surface unit itself. I successfully re-created the quick "Photos" application that is shown on the PDC Video, however, now that I'm trying to create my own app - nothing actually shows up when I run it. I'm mainly just adding ScatterViews right now - and they show up fine in the designer, but as soon as I hit F5 - the shell is shown on the surface - but none of the ScatterViews show up. Here's my xaml code so far. Am I missing something?? <s:SurfaceWindow x:Class="SurfaceUITreeDemo.TreeDemo" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:s="http://schemas.microsoft.com/surface/2008" Title="WYITT Tree Demo" AllowsTransparency="False" Background="Beige"> <s:SurfaceWindow.Resources> <ImageBrush x:Key="WindowBackground" Stretch="None" Opacity="0.6" ImageSource="pack://application:,,,/Resources/TreeDemoBackground.jpg"/> </s:SurfaceWindow.Resources> <Grid Background="{StaticResource WindowBackground}" > <s:ScatterView Name="test"> <Image Source="C:\dev\Network-Alt-icon.png"/> </s:ScatterView> <s:ScatterView Height="100" Margin="456,160,348,0" Name="scatterView1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Background="Black"> <s:ScatterViewItem Height="100" Width="150"> <Image Source="C:\dev\Network-Alt-icon.png"/> </s:ScatterViewItem> <s:ScatterViewItem></s:ScatterViewItem> ScatterView </s:ScatterView> </Grid> </s:SurfaceWindow>

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  • Relative cam movement and momentum on arbitrary surface

    - by user29244
    I have been working on a game for quite long, think sonic classic physics in 3D or tony hawk psx, with unity3D. However I'm stuck at the most fundamental aspect of movement. The requirement is that I need to move the character in mario 64 fashion (or sonic adventure) aka relative cam input: the camera's forward direction always point input forward the screen, left or right input point toward left or right of the screen. when input are resting, the camera direction is independent from the character direction and the camera can orbit the character when input are pressed the character rotate itself until his direction align with the direction the input is pointing at. It's super easy to do as long your movement are parallel to the global horizontal (or any world axis). However when you try to do this on arbitrary surface (think moving along complex curved surface) with the character sticking to the surface normal (basically moving on wall and ceiling freely), it seems harder. What I want is to achieve the same finesse of movement than in mario but on arbitrary angled surfaces. There is more problem (jumping and transitioning back to the real world alignment and then back on a surface while keeping momentum) but so far I didn't even take off the basics. So far I have accomplish moving along the curved surface and the relative cam input, but for some reason direction fail all the time (point number 3, the character align slowly to the input direction). Do you have an idea how to achieve that? Here is the code and some demo so far: The demo: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/24530447/flash%20build/litesonicengine/LiteSonicEngine5.html Camera code: using UnityEngine; using System.Collections; public class CameraDrive : MonoBehaviour { public GameObject targetObject; public Transform camPivot, camTarget, camRoot, relcamdirDebug; float rot = 0; //---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- void Start() { this.transform.position = targetObject.transform.position; this.transform.rotation = targetObject.transform.rotation; } void FixedUpdate() { //the pivot system camRoot.position = targetObject.transform.position; //input on pivot orientation rot = 0; float mouse_x = Input.GetAxisRaw( "camera_analog_X" ); // rot = rot + ( 0.1f * Time.deltaTime * mouse_x ); // wrapAngle( rot ); // //when the target object rotate, it rotate too, this should not happen UpdateOrientation(this.transform.forward,targetObject.transform.up); camRoot.transform.RotateAround(camRoot.transform.up,rot); //debug the relcam dir RelativeCamDirection() ; //this camera this.transform.position = camPivot.position; //set the camera to the pivot this.transform.LookAt( camTarget.position ); // } //---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- public float wrapAngle ( float Degree ) { while (Degree < 0.0f) { Degree = Degree + 360.0f; } while (Degree >= 360.0f) { Degree = Degree - 360.0f; } return Degree; } private void UpdateOrientation( Vector3 forward_vector, Vector3 ground_normal ) { Vector3 projected_forward_to_normal_surface = forward_vector - ( Vector3.Dot( forward_vector, ground_normal ) ) * ground_normal; camRoot.transform.rotation = Quaternion.LookRotation( projected_forward_to_normal_surface, ground_normal ); } float GetOffsetAngle( float targetAngle, float DestAngle ) { return ((targetAngle - DestAngle + 180)% 360) - 180; } //---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- void OnDrawGizmos() { Gizmos.DrawCube( camPivot.transform.position, new Vector3(1,1,1) ); Gizmos.DrawCube( camTarget.transform.position, new Vector3(1,5,1) ); Gizmos.DrawCube( camRoot.transform.position, new Vector3(1,1,1) ); } void OnGUI() { GUI.Label(new Rect(0,80,1000,20*10), "targetObject.transform.up : " + targetObject.transform.up.ToString()); GUI.Label(new Rect(0,100,1000,20*10), "target euler : " + targetObject.transform.eulerAngles.y.ToString()); GUI.Label(new Rect(0,100,1000,20*10), "rot : " + rot.ToString()); } //---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- void RelativeCamDirection() { float input_vertical_movement = Input.GetAxisRaw( "Vertical" ), input_horizontal_movement = Input.GetAxisRaw( "Horizontal" ); Vector3 relative_forward = Vector3.forward, relative_right = Vector3.right, relative_direction = ( relative_forward * input_vertical_movement ) + ( relative_right * input_horizontal_movement ) ; MovementController MC = targetObject.GetComponent<MovementController>(); MC.motion = relative_direction.normalized * MC.acceleration * Time.fixedDeltaTime; MC.motion = this.transform.TransformDirection( MC.motion ); //MC.transform.Rotate(Vector3.up, input_horizontal_movement * 10f * Time.fixedDeltaTime); } } Mouvement code: using UnityEngine; using System.Collections; public class MovementController : MonoBehaviour { public float deadZoneValue = 0.1f, angle, acceleration = 50.0f; public Vector3 motion ; //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- void OnGUI() { GUILayout.Label( "transform.rotation : " + transform.rotation ); GUILayout.Label( "transform.position : " + transform.position ); GUILayout.Label( "angle : " + angle ); } void FixedUpdate () { Ray ground_check_ray = new Ray( gameObject.transform.position, -gameObject.transform.up ); RaycastHit raycast_result; Rigidbody rigid_body = gameObject.rigidbody; if ( Physics.Raycast( ground_check_ray, out raycast_result ) ) { Vector3 next_position; //UpdateOrientation( gameObject.transform.forward, raycast_result.normal ); UpdateOrientation( gameObject.transform.forward, raycast_result.normal ); next_position = GetNextPosition( raycast_result.point ); rigid_body.MovePosition( next_position ); } } //-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- private void UpdateOrientation( Vector3 forward_vector, Vector3 ground_normal ) { Vector3 projected_forward_to_normal_surface = forward_vector - ( Vector3.Dot( forward_vector, ground_normal ) ) * ground_normal; transform.rotation = Quaternion.LookRotation( projected_forward_to_normal_surface, ground_normal ); } private Vector3 GetNextPosition( Vector3 current_ground_position ) { Vector3 next_position; // //-------------------------------------------------------------------- // angle = 0; // Vector3 dir = this.transform.InverseTransformDirection(motion); // angle = Vector3.Angle(Vector3.forward, dir);// * 1f * Time.fixedDeltaTime; // // if(angle > 0) this.transform.Rotate(0,angle,0); // //-------------------------------------------------------------------- next_position = current_ground_position + gameObject.transform.up * 0.5f + motion ; return next_position; } } Some observation: I have the correct input, I have the correct translation in the camera direction ... but whenever I attempt to slowly lerp the direction of the character in direction of the input, all I get is wild spin! Sad Also discovered that strafing to the right (immediately at the beginning without moving forward) has major singularity trapping on the equator!! I'm totally lost and crush (I have already done a much more featured version which fail at the same aspect)

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  • Ubuntu and Surface Pro, wifi issues not fixed?

    - by Confused or too stupid
    Just a quick question, from the numerous other threads I found, is the wifi still a no go straight out of installing Ubuntu? I tried this Dual boot Surface Pro with Ubuntu? with 13.04, the wifi is sporadic in working. From that and other threads I gathered that 13.10 would include the fix, so I tossed that onto the Surface as well, with the same results. Is there anything I am missing? Is there any other distro that has better luck with the Marvell chip?

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  • Connect Microsoft Surface to ad-hoc network

    - by GaTechThomas
    I am trying to connect my Microsoft Surface tablet to an ad-hoc network that I setup on my Windows-7 desktop machine. The Surface machine can see and connect to other hotspots, but it cannot see the ad-hoc network, whereas a second Windows-7 laptop sitting next to the Surface machine can see it. What would cause the ad-hoc network to be visible to Windows 7 but not to Surface? Additional data: Windows-7 is on domain, but Surface is not.

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  • ScatterViewItems Containing Surface Interactive Elements

    - by James Hay
    This is an age old problem of interactive elements inside interactive elements, but I want a ScatterViewItem to contain other surface interactive elements such as a SurfaceButton or SurfaceCheckBox. I've got all my elements in there and they react to taps etc. The problem is that I only get the normal ScatterView behavior once I click on an area that does not contain a control. Is there an elegant solution to allow dragging even when the contact is on a SurfaceButton or SurfaceCheckbox? e.g. <s:ScatterView > <Grid Width="200" Height="200"> <s:SurfaceButton /> </Grid> </s:ScatterView>

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  • Using LibraryStacks in a ScatterView on Surface

    - by HappyCodeMonkey
    We're trying to figure out how to drag an item from a LibraryStack container onto a ScatterView, like how the photo viewer sample applications work. Currently, the item just flies back into the LibraryStack after we drag it out. We can drag and drop items into other LibraryStacks or LibraryBars. Here's a sample of what we're trying: <s:SurfaceWindow x:Class="Idia_seminar.SurfaceWindow1" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:s="http://schemas.microsoft.com/surface/2008" Title="Idia_seminar" > <s:SurfaceWindow.Resources> <ImageBrush x:Key="WindowBackground" Stretch="None" Opacity="0.6" ImageSource="pack://application:,,,/Resources/WindowBackground.jpg"/> </s:SurfaceWindow.Resources> <Grid Background="{StaticResource WindowBackground}" > <s:ScatterView Name="scatterView1" AllowDrop="True"> <s:SurfaceButton Name="surfaceButton1">Button</s:SurfaceButton> <s:LibraryStack AllowDrop="True"> <s:LibraryStackItem Content="hello"></s:LibraryStackItem> </s:LibraryStack> </s:ScatterView> </Grid> </s:SurfaceWindow> Thanks!

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  • MS Surface Tag Visualizer steals contact events

    - by Isak Savo
    I'm struggling with the TagVisualizer control on an MS Surface project. In theory the control seems great, allowing you to respond to input from real world physical objects The problem is that the control will cover the entire screen (since I want to capture tags on the entire screen) and as such, no other controls in my app will receive the touch events. (Unless, they are direct ascendants in the visual tree). In my app, I want to have a "layer" type of a approach, where each layer can respond to (contact) input: Window `- Grid `- LayersPanel `- TagVisualizer `- Layer 1 `- Layer 2 `- Layer 3 `- Layer 4 Now it doesn't matter where I put the tag visualizer, it's always going to steal contact events from all or some of the other layers. (due to the nature of RoutedEvents) To me, it seems like the control is completely useless in practice as it will always interfere with your application's other controls. What am I missing here? So my questions are: Any suggestions on how to work around this? Has anyone used TagVisualizers in a similar scenario? If so, how did you solve this? By the way, the layers all work fine, since they will only steal events that are directly on top of their sub elements (the rest of the layer is invisible to hit testing)

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  • Conversion from Iphone Core Surface RGB Frame into ffmepg AVFarme

    - by Sridhar
    Hello, I am trying to convert Core Surface RGB frame buffer(Iphone) to ffmpeg Avfarme to encode into a movie file. But I am not getting the correct video output (video showing colors dazzling not the correct picture) I guess there is something wrong with converting from core surface frame buffer into AVFrame. Here is my code : Surface *surface = [[Surface alloc]initWithCoreSurfaceBuffer:coreSurfaceBuffer]; [surface lock]; unsigned int height = surface.height; unsigned int width = surface.width; unsigned int alignmentedBytesPerRow = (width * 4); if (!readblePixels) { readblePixels = CGBitmapAllocateData(alignmentedBytesPerRow * height); NSLog(@"alloced readablepixels"); } unsigned int bytesPerRow = surface.bytesPerRow; void *pixels = surface.baseAddress; for (unsigned int j = 0; j < height; j++) { memcpy(readblePixels + alignmentedBytesPerRow * j, pixels + bytesPerRow * j, bytesPerRow); } pFrameRGB->data[0] = readblePixels; // I guess here is what I am doing wrong. pFrameRGB->data[1] = NULL; pFrameRGB->data[2] = NULL; pFrameRGB->data[3] = NULL; pFrameRGB->linesize[0] = pCodecCtx->width; pFrameRGB->linesize[1] = 0; pFrameRGB->linesize[2] = 0; pFrameRGB->linesize[3] = 0; sws_scale (img_convert_ctx, pFrameRGB->data, pFrameRGB->linesize, 0, pCodecCtx->height, pFrameYUV->data, pFrameYUV->linesize); Please help me out. Thanks, Raghu

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  • How to detect if a Surface Contact is over a ScatterView?

    - by Bart Roozendaal
    This is a (kind of) similar situation as in the SDK Sample Shopping Cart for MS Surface. I have an application with two ScatterViews. The first covers the complete Surface window ('surface'). The second resides in a TagVisualization object ('pod'). There might be more than one pod available (if more than one tag is down on the table). I would like to be able to drag a ScatterViewItem from the 'pod' to the 'surface' or another 'pod'. I have no problems in detecting if a ScatterViewItem is leaving its ScatterView parent. Also, no problems in reparenting the ScatterViewItem. However, I want to detect which ScatterView the item is being dragged on. In the SDK Sample they have used a visual element (an ellipse in this case) which is below the ScatterViews. VisualTreeHelper.HitTest is used to determine if the contact is over the ellipse. If so, the 'connected' ScatterView is found. I don't think this is a very elegant solution. I wouldn't want a visual element put in there, just to detect if a contact is over a ScatterView. Are there betterwways to accomplish this kind of 'hittesting'? Thanks, Bart

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  • Surface and the Uphill Battle to Win Over iPad Users (Namely: Me)

    - by D'Arcy Lussier
    I went away this past weekend and decided to bring along the Windows 8 tablet from the Build conference last year – y’know, to give Windows 8 a try in a typical scenario. I also brought our iPad 2 along since I figured my wife would want to use that. I’d love to tell you how I found using my Windows 8 tablet but I can’t – I used the iPad exclusively the entire weekend. It was during this that I realized what Microsoft needs to do to win me over as an iPad user. As you’ll see, I’m left wondering what it is that Surface is meant to compete with: iPad and other tablets, or thin laptops like the MacBook Air or Ultrabooks. Device Size I really like the size of the iPad compared with the Build tablet. It’s not as long and the thinness/weight of the device makes it feel more like you’re holding a magazine than a computer. I’m pleased that Microsoft will be matching the thinness of the iPad with Surface, but I’m suspect as to what that actually means. The iPad’s edges slant inwards where the Surface has a thicker boxish look (similar to the iPhone 4S). So while they may have the same depth at the deepest part of both devices, I bet the iPad will come off feeling thinner. However, its not lost on me the number of external port options the Surface’s design provides over the iPad (Usb, etc.). With that said, I haven’t missed having a USB slot on my iPad. I’m not a fan of lengthening the Surface screen size to almost a full inch over the iPad, mainly because… Vertical Orientation Experience Did you notice at the announce event, in the images of the devices that have been released, and in any marketing for it, that the surface is always displayed in horizontal orientation. This is a huge beef I have with my Build tablet and why I prefer the iPad. Yes the iPad can do the wide-screenish mode, but the iPad is oriented to be vertical by nature. Don’t agree? Look at the button and camera placement – both on the shorter sides of the device. Compare that with the Surface, where the orientation for the button and camera is on the longer sides. To be fair, Blackberry and the horde of Android tablets out there haven’t gotten this either – since most monitors are widescreen nowadays tablets should be too right? Wrong. Widescreen is great for certain things, but tasks such as reading is not one of them – hence why monitor companies like Dell provide stands that allow you to flip your widescreen monitor to a vertical orientation. That Microsoft has chosen a horizontal orientation by default for Windows 8 is disappointing – hopefully hardware manufacturers will be given the option of a default vertical orientation. Fast Startup Time I like that I can turn off/turn on the iPad very quickly. Even from a true “off” mode and not just sleeping, the iPad boots up very quickly. Windows RT needs to have that same quick response. If I start finding that I’m waiting for the device to boot up for more than 30 seconds that could be a show stopper. No Heat I really hate that the Build tablet has fans that kick in to cool the procs, but its basically a slate computer and I get its part of that prototype build. For Surface, it needs to be the same type of experience as the iPad – no heat! I know Surface doesn’t have fans and uses some cool new vent system or something like that, but even then – I want to sit and read a book on my Surface without having to feel any heat coming from the device, which is the experience I have with the iPad now. What About Apps?! I am definitely not the target client when it comes to app stores. On my iPad I use: Safari Kindle Reader Twitter App Settlers of Catan TSN’s App And that’s it. So really, while its nice that some version of Office might be available, I’m not planning on utilizing a Surface for creating a PowerPoint or working on a Word document – that’s what my laptop is for. I want my tablet to be for information snacking or as an e-reader and occasionally an entertainment device. Surface vs iPad or Surface vs Air? The more that I read up on Surface, the more I wonder if it won’t be a touch-enabled MacBook Air competitor more than an iPad one. Also, I really question if Microsoft gets tablets – when one of your main selling features is a built-in physical keyboard it speaks more to a traditional laptop experience than a tablet one that’s entirely reliant on touch. Still, I really love the Windows Phone interface – way more than iOS – so I’m still very optimistic that the Metro experience on the tablet will be fantastic. I just worry that Microsoft has interpreted a tablet as a computer with a removable keyboard and a touch screen, and that’s not what tablet computing is about at all.

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  • Surface Review from Canadian Guy Who Didn&rsquo;t Go To Build

    - by D'Arcy Lussier
    I didn’t go to Build last week, opted to stay home and go trick-or-treating with my daughters instead. I had many friends that did go however, and I was able to catch up with James Chambers last night to hear about the conference and play with his Surface RT and Nokia 920 WP8 devices. I’ve been using Windows 8 for a while now, so I’m not going to comment on OS features – lots of posts out there on that already. Let me instead comment on the hardware itself. Size and Weight The size of the tablet was awesome. The Windows 8 tablet I’m using to reference this against is the one from Build 2011 (Samsung model) we received as well as my iPad. The Surface RT was taller and slightly heavier than the iPad, but smaller and lighter than the Samsung Win 8 tablet. I still don’t prefer the default wide-screen format, but the Surface RT is much more usable even when holding it by the long edge than the Samsung. Build Quality No issues with the build quality, it seemed very solid. But…y’know, people have been going on about how the Surface RT materials are so much better than the plastic feeling models Samsung and others put out. I didn’t really notice *that* much difference in that regard with the Surface RT. Interesting feature I didn’t expect – the Windows button on the device is touch-sensitive, not a mechanical one. I didn’t try video or anything, so I can’t comment on the media experience. The kickstand is a great feature, and the way the Surface RT connects to the combo case/keyboard touchcover is very slick while being incredibly simple. What About That Touch Cover Keyboard? So first, kudos to Microsoft on the touch cover! This thing was insanely responsive (including the trackpad) and really delivered on the thinness I was expecting. With that said, and remember this is with very limited use, I would probably go with the Type Cover instead of the Touch Cover. The difference is buttons. The Touch Cover doesn’t actually have “buttons” on the keyboard – hence why its a “touch” cover. You tap on a key to type it. James tells me after a while you get used to it and you can type very fast. For me, I just prefer the tactile feeling of a button being pressed/depressed. But still – typing on the touch case worked very well. Would I Buy One? So after playing with it, did I cry out in envy and rage that I wasn’t able to get one of these machines? Did I curse my decision to collect Halloween candy with my kids instead of being at Build getting hardware? Well – no. Even with the keyboard, the Surface RT is not a business laptop replacement device. While Office does come included, you can’t install any other applications outside of Windows Store Apps. This might be limiting depending on what other applications you need to have available on your computer. Surface RT is a great personal computing device, as long as you’re not already invested in a competing ecosystem. I’ve heard people make statements that they’re going to replace all the iPads in their homes with Surface tablets. In my home, that’s not feasible – my wife and daughters have amassed quite a collection of games via iTunes. We also buy all our music via iTunes as well, so even with the XBox streaming music service now available we’re still tied quite tightly to iTunes. So who is the Surface RT for? In my mind, if you’re looking for a solid, compact device that provides basic business functionality (read: email) or if you have someone that needs a very simple to use computer for email, web browsing, etc., then Surface RT is a great option. For me, I’m waiting on the Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro and am curious to see what changes the Surface Pro will come with.

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  • Surface development: it&rsquo;s just like software development

    - by Dennis Vroegop
    Surface is magic. Everyone using it seems to think that way. And I have to be honest, after working for almost 2 years with the platform I still get that special feeling the moment I turn on the unit to do some more work. The whole user experience, the rich environment of the SDK, the touch, even the look and feel of the Surface environment is so much different from the stuff I’ve been working on all my career that I am still bewildered by it. But… and this is a big but.. in the end we’re still talking about a computer and that needs software to become useful. Deep down the magic of the Surface unit there is a PC somewhere, running Windows Vista and the .net framework 3.5. When you write that magic software that makes the platform come alive you’re still working with .net, WPF/XNA, C#, VB.Net and all those other tools and technologies you know so well. Sure, the whole user experience is different from what you’ve known. And the way of thinking about users, their interaction and the positioning of screen elements requires a whole new paradigm. And that takes time. It took me about half a year before I had the feeling I got it nailed down. But when that moment came (about 18 months ago…) I realized that everything I had learned so far on software development still is true when it comes to Surface. The last 6 months I have been working with some people with a different background to start a new company. The idea was that the new company would be focussing on Surface and Surface only. These people come from a marketing background and had some good ideas for some applications. And I have to admit: their ideas were good. Very good. Where it all fell down of course is that these ideas need to be implemented in a piece of software. And creating great software takes skilled developers and a lot of time and money. That’s where things went wrong: the marketing guys didn’t realize and didn’t want to realize that software development is a job that takes skill. You can’t just hire a bunch of developers and expect them to deliver the best sort of software, especially not when it comes to Surface. I tried to explain that yes, their User Interface in Photoshop looked great, but no: I couldn’t develop an application like that in a weeks time. Even worse: the while backend of the software (WCF for communications, SQL Server for the database, etc) would take a lot more time than the frontend. They didn’t understand. It took them a couple of days to drawn the UI in Photoshop so in Blend I should be able to build the software in about the same amount of time. Well, you and I know that it doesn’t work that way. Software is hard to write, and even harder to write well, and it takes skill and dedication. It’s not something you can do as fast as you can draw a mock up for a Surface application in Photohop. The same holds true for web applications of course. A lot of designers there fail to appreciate the hard work that goes into writing the plumbing for a good web app that can handle thousands of users. Although the UI is very important, it’s not all there is to it. And in Surface development this is the same. The UI should create the feeling of magic, but the software behind it is what makes it come alive. And that takes time. A lot of time. So brush of you skills and don’t throw them away if you start developing for Surface. Because projects (and colaborations) can fail there as hard as they can in any other area of software development. On a side note: we decided to stop the colaboration (something the other parties involved didn’t appreciate and were very angry about) and decided to hire a designer for the Surface projects. The focus is back where it belongs: on the software development we know so well and have been doing very well for 13 years. UI is just a part of the whole project and not the end product. So my company Detrio is still going strong when it comes to develivering Surface solutions but once again from a technological background, not a marketing background.

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  • Surface V2.0

    - by Dennis Vroegop
    It’s been quiet around here. And the reason for that is that it’s been quiet around Surface for a while. Now, a lot of people assume that when a product team isn’t making too much noise that must mean they stopped working on their product. Remember the PDC keynote in 2010? Just because they didn’t mention WPF there a lot of people had the idea that WPF was dead and abandoned for Silverlight. Of course, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. The same applies to Surface. While we didn’t hear much from the team in Redmond they were busy putting together the next version of the platform. And at the CES in January the world saw what they have been up to all along: Surface V2.0 as it’s commonly known. Of course, the product is still in development. It’s not here yet, we can’t buy one yet. However, more and more information comes available and I think this is a good time to share with you what it’s all about! The biggest change from an organizational point of view is that Microsoft decided to stop producing the hardware themselves. Instead, they have formed a partnership with Samsung who will manufacture the devices. This means that you as a buyer get the benefits of a large, worldwide supplier with all the services they can offer. Not that Microsoft didn’t do that before but since Surface wasn’t a ‘big’ product it was sometimes hard to get to the right people. The new device is officially called the “Samsung SUR 40 for Microsoft Surface” which is quite a mouthful. The software that runs the device is of course still coming from Microsoft. Let’s dive into the technical specs (note: all of this is preliminary, it’s still in the Alpha phase!): Audio out HDMI / StereoRCA / SPDIF / 2 times 3.5mm audio out jack Brightness 300 CD/m2 Communications 1GB Ethernet/802.11/Bluetooth Contrast Ratio 1:1000 CPU AMD Athlon X2 245e 2.9Ghz Dual Core Display Resolution Full HD 1080p 1920x1080 / 16:9 aspect ratio GPU AMD Radeon HD 6750 1GB GDDRS HDD 320 GB / 7200 RPM HDMI In / HDMI out Yes I/O Ports 4 USB, SD Card reader Operation System Embedded Windows 7 Professional 64 bits Panel Size 40” diagonal Protection Glass Gorilla Glass RAM 4 GB DD3 Weight / with standard legs 70.0 Kg / 154 lbs Weight / standalone 39.5 Kg / 87 lbs Height (without legs) 4 inch Contact points recognized > 50 Cool Factor Extremely   Ok, the last point is not official, but I do think it needs to be there. Let’s talk software. As noted, it runs Windows 7 Professional 64 bit, which means you can run Visual Studio 2010 on it. The software is going to be developed in WPF4.0 with the additional Surface SDK 2.0. It will contain all the things you’ve seen before plus some extra’s. They have taken some steps to align it more with the Surface Toolkit which you can download today, so if you do things right your software should be portable between a WPF4.0 Windows 7 Multi-touch app and the Surface v2 environment. It still uses infrared to detect contacts, so in that respect nothing much has changed conceptually. We still can differentiate between a finger, a tag or a blob. Of course, since the new platform has a much higher resolution (compared to the 1024x768 of the first version) you might need to look at your code again. I’ve seen a lot of applications on Surface that assume the old resolution and moving that to V2 is going to be some work. To be honest: as I am under NDA I cannot disclose much about the new software besides what I have told you here, but trust me: it’s going to blow people away. Now, the biggest question for me is: when can I get one? Until we can, have a look here: Tags van Technorati: surface,samsung,WPF

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  • Using SketchFlow to prototype MS Surface Applications

    - by Isak Savo
    Hi We're doing mockups/prototyping on a MS Surface device and I wonder if anyone has succeeded in using SketchFlow for this. The problem that I see is that the code generated by the tool uses normal WPF controls (Button, etc.) instead of the contact aware surface counterparts (SurfaceButton) which means that they won't work nice on the surface unless you also use a mouse. Additionally, it would be nice if it was possible to hook in to other gesture events to trigger sketchflow transitions. Like the pinch gestures to switch page etc. Has anyone had any success with prototyping for Surface using Sketchflow. If so, how did you do it?

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  • Is the Microsoft Surface restricted to Chinese display language in China and Hong Kong

    - by TimothyP
    I currently live in China so my only options to buy a Surface tablet is to buy it here or in Hong Kong. Problem is that by default the entire UI is in Chinese. In the x86 version of Windows 8 you can install additional language packs to solve this, but I'm wondering if this is true for the tablet as well In the shop (Sunning) they will not let me try that, and if I buy one and it turns out you can't install language packs than I'm pooched. Can't find any official information on it either, at least nothing that refers to the tablet directly. (and whether or not the Chinese version is restricted in some way)

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  • Surface (Pro) Soft Keyboard + Hardware Keyboard Issue

    - by Matt Clark
    When I got my Surface Pro 2, I loved it, and everything seemed to work flawlessly, until, wait for it, windows updates... The issue that I am having is the following, I primarily use the TC (TypeCover), as the Pro is an out-of-office laptop replacement for me, that I can still use to do whatever I need, but there are times when I will flip the cover, and use the system in tablet mode. The problem is that even when the TC is attached, any text field I click on, causes the OSK (on screen keyboard) to appear, as if I was running the system in tablet mode. As soon as I press a single button on the TC, the OSK is dismissed. When I first got the system, this was NOT the case, and it functioned as it should, where the OSK will only appear if the TC was not present. The biggest problem that I am having is the fact that the OSK causes the windows to be resized. Maximized windows will be shrunk, and stretched to their previous state, however a window that is not maximized will stay in its shrunken state, after the OSK has been dismissed. Below are pictures that show what is happening. Has anyone else experienced this issue? And is there any way to fix it? As you might imagine, having spent a pretty penny on a device like this, it it quite an annoying bug that needs fixing. I have been dealing with this issue for about 3 months now.

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  • Increasing touch surface (#wp7dev)

    - by Laurent Bugnion
    When you design for Windows Phone 7 (or for any touch device, for that matter, and most especially small screens), you need to be very careful to give enough surface to your users’ fingers. It is easy to miss a touch on such small screens, and that can be horrifyingly frustrating. This is especially true when people are on the move, and trying to hit the control while walking and holding their device in one hand, or when the device is mounted in a car and vibrating with the engine. In my experience, a touch surface should be ideally minimum 60x60 pixels to be easy to activate on the Windows Phone 7 screen (which is, as we know, 800 pixels x 480 pixels). Ideally, I try to make my touch surfaces 80x80 pixels minimum. This causes a few design challenges of course. Using transparent backgrounds However, one thing is helping us tremendously: some surfaces can be made transparent, and yet react to touch. The secret is the following: If you have a panel that has a Null background (i.e. the Background is not set at all), then the empty surface does not react to touch. If however the Background is set to the Transparent color (or any color where the Alpha channel is set to 0), then it will react to touch. Setting a transparent background is easy. For example: <Grid Background="#00000000"> </Grid> or <Grid Background="Transparent"> </Grid> In C#: var grid = new Grid { Background = new SolidColorBrush( Colors.Transparent) }; Using negative margins Having a transparent background reactive to touch is a good start, but in addition, you must make sure that the surface is big enough for my clumsy fingers. One way to achieve that is to increase the transparent, touch-reactive surface, and reposition the element using negative margins. For example, consider the following UI. I changed the transparent background of the HyperlinkButton to Red, in order to visualize the touch surface. In this figure, the Settings HyperlinkButton is 105 pixels x 31 pixels. This is wide enough, but really small in height and easy to miss. To improve this, we can use negative margins, for instance: <HyperlinkButton Content="Settings" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Height="60" Margin="0,0,0,-15" /> Notice the usage of negative bottom margin to bring the HyperlinkButton back at the bottom of the main Grid’s first row, where it belongs. And the result is: Notice how the touch surface is much bigger than before. This makes the HyperlinkButton easier to reach, and improves the user experience. With the background set back to normal, the UI looks exactly the same, as it should: In summary: Remember to maximize the touch surface for your controls. Plan your design in consequence by reserving enough room around each control to allow their hit surface to be expanded as shown in this article. Do not cram too many controls in one page. If REALLY needed, use an additional page (or even better: use a Pivot control with multiple pivot items) for the controls that don’t fit on the first one. This should ensure a smoother user experience and improved touch behavior. Happy coding! Laurent   Laurent Bugnion (GalaSoft) Subscribe | Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | LinkedIn

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  • Add a delay to OnContactDown events for Surface controls

    - by RTigger
    We're using the Controls.PreviewContactDown, PreviewContactUp, and PreviewContactChanged events to capture tagged items being placed, removed, and moved on the Surface, which works great in the Simulator application that comes with the surface. On an actual Surface if you moved a tagged item too quickly the cameras actually lose focus of the tag, assume it was removed, and then re-capture it when it stops moving. That provides a pretty poor experience for our clients. What I'm proposing is a way to override or create a new event that would respond to tagged item events, but not fire the event handler until after a delay... i.e. if "ContactUp" is fired, wait 100ms and THEN execute the event handler. Ideally we'd just be able to use an alternate attached property to define these event handlers, i.e. <Panel local:TagDown="TagDownEventHandler" /> And if we could get it to use ICommand objects instead of event handlers that'd be even better.

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  • Make Gameobject Stand On Surface Facing Certain Direction

    - by Julian
    I want to make a biped character stand on any surface I click on. Surfaces have up vectors of any of positive or negative X,Y,Z. So imagine a cube with each face being a gameobject whose up vector pointing directly away from the cube. If my character is facing "forward" and I click on a surface which is to the left or right of me ( left or right walls), I want my character to now be standing on that surface but still be facing in the direction he initially was. If I click on a wall which is in the forward path of my character i want him to now be standing on that surface and his forward to now be what was once "up" relative to my character. Here is the code I am working with now. void Update() { if (Input.GetMouseButtonUp (0)) { RaycastHit hit; var ray = Camera.main.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition); if (Physics.Raycast(ray, out hit)) { Vector3 upVectBefore = transform.up; Vector3 forwardVectBefore = transform.forward; Quaternion rotationVectBefore = transform.rotation; Vector3 hitPosition = hit.transform.position; transform.position = hitPosition; float lookDifference = Vector3.Distance(hit.transform.up, forwardVectBefore); if(Vector3.Distance(hit.transform.up, upVectBefore) < .23) //Same normal { transform.rotation = rotationVectBefore; } else if(lookDifference > 1.412 && lookDifference <= 1.70607) //side wall { transform.up = hit.transform.up; transform.forward = forwardVectBefore; } else //head on wall { transform.up = hit.transform.up; transform.forward = upVectBefore; } } } } The first case "Same normal" works fine, however the other two do not work as I would like them to. Sometimes my character is laying down on the surface or on the wrong side of the surface. Does anyone know nice way of solving this problem?

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  • Is that possible to natively boot Ubuntu Touch on a PC, especially on a Surface Pro?

    - by Jules P.
    I know the question has already been asked, but the link for the instructions in the answer is outdated and the proof of concept video doesn't match with what I'm looking for. I've got a Surface Pro (1st model), I've already ran Ubuntu and Android on it several times with UnetBootin, so the question is : Is there a way to natively run Ubuntu Touch (By natively I mean by directly booting it, even on a USB key, but no emulation, no virtualization) on such a device ?

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  • Visual Studio Talk Show #117 is now online - Microsoft Surface (French)

    http://www.visualstudiotalkshow.com Simon Ferquel et Thomas Lebrun: Microsoft Surface Nous discutons avec Simon Ferquel et Thomas Lebrun du systme informatique "Surface". Surface se prsente l'utilisateur comme une table dont le dessus est constitu d'une surface dot dun affichage tactile "multitouch" qui permet de manipuler un contenu informatique l'aide d'un cran tactile. Thomas Lebrun est architecte et dveloppeur chez Access IT Paris. Il est particulirement intress...Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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