Windows 8.1 Preview for RT

[polbit]

Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. Allow me to explain my issues that are still there.
-Still inefficient with more than a couple of tabs open
-Like flash? Too bad
-Want to watch HTML5 YouTube? Good one.
-WebKit quirks are worse for rendering at times

It isn't all worse, but this is an overall look.

Well, I don't want to derail the thread about 8.1, but I use mobile Chrome a lot on my Note II, and do not remember last time I had any rendering issues, I like the full sync of bookmarks, tabs, etc., and flash needs to die. I also just checked, and I have 11 tabs open. No performance issues.

Anyway, to take it back to Windows, IE 11s main advantage of 10 is bookmark management. That alone makes it worthwhile to upgrade to 8.1, as Metro IE 10 was unusable in that regard.

 

[coip]

My mom was really needed Outlook on her Surface and was thinking of selling her RT and getting a Pro, so I told her about the 8.1 preview, helped her set it up, and she loves it. I was impressed with it too.

Things I like:
1. the new customizability of the tiles (small, medium, wide, large). I'd like to see Windows Phone adopt the 'wide' option too.
2. flicking down from the Start Screen to see all your apps and then being able to sort them
3. the Store is better organized and more 'searchable'.

Things I don't like:
1. The Bing app is no more (although you can pin the bing.com page to the start screen, size it as 'wide' and still get the nice Live Tile), what I don't like is how the new search works. It's convenient in that, at the Start screen you can simply type to search (as before), but now it includes web results. The problem with this is that it is at the expense of 'local results' (i.e., those on the Surface) and you have to now click a drop down menu to tell it to search specifically not 'Everywhere'. What should happen is it brings up a results page that is half local and half web.

2. still miss the old Start Menu: I like the Start screen and the Live tiles, but I miss the old Start menu a lot. It was just much faster to do certain things which take me a lot of steps to do now (sure, you can always search for things you need, but if you can't remember the name of them its hard to track it down, whereas before the menu-driven system really made it easy to find things.

 

[Matt J]

Does anyone know if CalDAV and CardDAV support will be coming to the final release of Windows 8.1? I have a Surface RT and find it incredible that I can't sync my Google Calendar.

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

Does anyone know if CalDAV and CardDAV support will be coming to the final release of Windows 8.1? I have a Surface RT and find it incredible that I can't sync my Google Calendar.

CalDAV and CardDAV wouldn't be an update as a part of 8.1, as the apps that do these things are updated on their own. I don't know if they will add the support for those two in their apps by the time that 8.1 is released, or when they will, or even if they will.

 

[coip]

Does anyone know if CalDAV and CardDAV support will be coming to the final release of Windows 8.1? I have a Surface RT and find it incredible that I can't sync my Google Calendar.

Why not just switch over to Outlook's calendar? I used to be a big Google Calendar guy, but the way that Google is playing with Microsoft was a huge turnoff for me and I decided to switch over from Gmail mail and calendar to Outlook mail and calendar and I actually find both to be much better. It's just a calendar: you can easily migrate over and continue sharing it with other people, if that's your thing.

 

[quantum tao]

my 8.1 install was acting kind of wacky right from the start, a refresh did the trick.

and now i have noticed a small arrow on the maps, videos, and music tiles. anyone know what it means?

 

[coolqf]

Why not just switch over to Outlook's calendar? I used to be a big Google Calendar guy, but the way that Google is playing with Microsoft was a huge turnoff for me and I decided to switch over from Gmail mail and calendar to Outlook mail and calendar and I actually find both to be much better. It's just a calendar: you can easily migrate over and continue sharing it with other people, if that's your thing.

Fore every activesync connection Google had MS required that they pay a licensing fee. Apple and android both support open free standards, MS is the only one to not. Imagine you buy a windows phone/tablet/computer, and for you using gmail, MS also gets a royalty off of that! Because it is a free account, Google is just trying to reduce the costs. If you have a paying or educational account then it doesn't affect you.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[rhodri22]

Fore every activesync connection Google had MS required that they pay a licensing fee. Apple and android both support open free standards, MS is the only one to not. Imagine you buy a windows phone/tablet/computer, and for you using gmail, MS also gets a royalty off of that! Because it is a free account, Google is just trying to reduce the costs. If you have a paying or educational account then it doesn't affect you.

Errr... that's not true. Microsoft do not make anyone pay per user, but it's now a yearly fee for unlimited use of the patent surrounding it, and it's been this way since 2008. So Google needs to pay this fee anyway because Google for Business account can still use EAS, and Google is shutting down for the free accounts for no reason, as there is no extra cost and they've already built the support and server side stuff already.

There is no really reason why Google is shutting down EAS support, it just looks like they are screwing with Microsoft customers, but there could be other reasons, but either way it has nothing to do with costs.

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

Fore every activesync connection Google had MS required that they pay a licensing fee. Apple and android both support open free standards, MS is the only one to not. Imagine you buy a windows phone/tablet/computer, and for you using gmail, MS also gets a royalty off of that! Because it is a free account, Google is just trying to reduce the costs. If you have a paying or educational account then it doesn't affect you.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Would you really trust Google with standards when they wavered on whether or not they were going to continue using CalDAV in favor of their own proprietary solution? They eventually made the right decision, but please don't make this assumption that they're in it for the standards. Also, like somebody else said... they're paying for EAS anyway for their business users. They wouldn't have to pay any extra costs, but they're not making money from free users so they get shafted a bit.

 

[coolqf]

Would you really trust Google with standards when they wavered on whether or not they were going to continue using CalDAV in favor of their own proprietary solution? They eventually made the right decision, but please don't make this assumption that they're in it for the standards. Also, like somebody else said... they're paying for EAS anyway for their business users. They wouldn't have to pay any extra costs, but they're not making money from free users so they get shafted a bit.

Google wavers and decides rightly in the end and MS blatantly refuses and drags its feet. It takes gmail to get them to finally shift... Which is worse? Ms or Google?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[inteller]

EAS is a technically superior syncing solution

 

[rhodri22]

Which is worse? Ms or Google?

It's still Google. Pretty much every other company, no matter who, would have left a solution that they're still paying for as an option even if it provides a worse experience. Just issuing an ultimatum doesn't solve anything in tech, for better or for worse.

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

Google wavers and decides rightly in the end and MS blatantly refuses and drags its feet. It takes gmail to get them to finally shift... Which is worse? Ms or Google?

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

Which protocol is better? Shouldn't that be the discussion.

 

[rhodri22]

Which protocol is better? Shouldn't that be the discussion.

The problem with that is EAS does so much more than just sync address books and tasks. EAS is a full enterprise suite if exploited to it's full potential as it includes support for remote device wiping and can even be used to push OTA updates to devices. A full list of all the features of EAS can be found here, and includes what is supported on what platform - Comparison of Exchange ActiveSync clients - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In an outright comparison EAS is the better with no comparison, however if you look to just the CardDav and CalDav similar features then they're pretty much similar, just one is proprietary tech and one is open source.

 

[HeyCori]

Had a moment today when it really hit me how useful the new docking options can be. I was doing some writing with my SRT connected to a 21 inch 1080p monitor. On the monitor I had Word with a dictionary app docked to the right. I slid the dictionary over so it could be smaller as not to distract from Word. Then on the SRT I had Metro OneNote in full screen. If I wanted I could of opened another Metro app on my SRT. But with all three apps open and outputting to 1080p I didn't notice any major lag. Plus I'm loving the fact that at any moment I can (and do) grab my MS mobile wedge keyboard and write anywhere I want. I can't wait until MS irons out the remaining bugs in 8.1.

 

[HeyCori]

Has anyone tried doing a Refresh? I'm having a problem with the SmartGlass app. After talking with tech support they recommended doing a Refresh. I don't mind doing a Refresh of 8.1 since all I would lose is a little bit of time. However, I just wanted to see if anyone has had any problems refreshing their 8.1 Surface.

 

[Matt J]

TIn an outright comparison EAS is the better with no comparison, however if you look to just the CardDav and CalDav similar features then they're pretty much similar, just one is proprietary tech and one is open source.

I just want to sync my Google Calendar.... seemed like a simple thing to do....

 

[rhodri22]

I just want to sync my Google Calendar.... seemed like a simple thing to do....

Not going to happen in the near future, Microsoft's advice is to switch to Outlook.com

 

[Matt J]

Not going to happen in the near future, Microsoft's advice is to switch to Outlook.com

Do you know this as a fact? Windows 8.1 is around the corner and there is nothing stopping Microsoft from using CalDAV and CardDAV in the Mail, People and Calendar apps. I suspect that this will be included with 8.1.

 

[rhodri22]

Do you know this as a fact? Windows 8.1 is around the corner and there is nothing stopping Microsoft from using CalDAV and CardDAV in the Mail, People and Calendar apps. I suspect that this will be included with 8.1.

The MS link is here --> How to sync Google services with Windows - Microsoft Windows Help
I can't help but feel that if it was going to be added, it would have been there is the preview. Suspect that MS would say that IE is an acceptable way to use Google services if Google don't want to make an app.