Returning my Surface Pro 3

[TMorss]

​I was using it to take notes, the SP2 form factor and pen just didn't feel right. I am sure the SP3 with the increased screen and larger pen is much better.

The mail app absolutely will not sync with a Google Apps account. I have worked with Microsoft Business Solutions and there is no fix. Which is a huge oversight for a machine that wants to be in the workspace.

The Calendar just imports, it does not synchronize two ways. You cannot add events to it through the app they will not sync. And the worst oversight of all is it does not accept ICS Calendar invites, that is the standard file format for a calendar invite in the business world.

Thank you for being open to my feedback, I really tried to make it work. I was actually Piloting the device for a major company adoption and I just could not approve a device that does not work with the core productivity requirements of most businesses. I worked with Microsoft themselves and gave them good feedback. They are almost there but not quite yet to crack the mainstream.

 

[KJones75]

​The mail app absolutely will not sync with a Google Apps account. I have worked with Microsoft Business Solutions and there is no fix. Which is a huge oversight for a machine that wants to be in the workspace.

The Windows Mail app absolutely DOES sync with a Google Apps account. I do it for my work email on my laptop and Surface 2. Perhaps you have it configured incorrectly. If I remember correctly, I couldn't get the automatic configuration to work, I had to set it up manually.

The Calendar app doesn't sync properly, but that is Google's fault, not Microsoft's. It did work for a short time, but Google stopped supporting Exchange ActiveSync shortly after Windows 8 was released.

Google has made some very anti-competitive changes in the last year or two that have affected iOS and Windows users.

 

[ohgood]

The Windows Mail app absolutely DOES sync with a Google Apps account. I do it for my work email on my laptop and Surface 2. Perhaps you have it configured incorrectly. If I remember correctly, I couldn't get the automatic configuration to work, I had to set it up manually.

The Calendar app doesn't sync properly, but that is Google's fault, not Microsoft's. It did work for a short time, but Google stopped supporting Exchange ActiveSync shortly after Windows 8 was released.

Google has made some very anti-competitive changes in the last year or two that have affected iOS and Windows users.

iCal works with Google calendar.
mail (stock osx client) works with gmail.
Google earth, yes
Google sketch up, yes
Picasa, yes
keep, yes
lots and lots of things Google work fine on Mac os, with no tweaks needed

 

[Jas00555]

iCal works with Google calendar.
mail (stock osx client) works with gmail.
Google earth, yes
Google sketch up, yes
Picasa, yes
keep, yes
lots and lots of things Google work fine on Mac os, with no tweaks needed

How does any of that have anything to do with what he said? What does OS X have to do with Windows/iOS?

 

[KJones75]

iCal works with Google calendar.
mail (stock osx client) works with gmail.
Google earth, yes
Google sketch up, yes
Picasa, yes
keep, yes
lots and lots of things Google work fine on Mac os, with no tweaks needed

That's fantastic. I guess Google doesn't see OSX as a big enough threat that they have to sabotage it. But what happens when they do decide it is a threat? Will Google "break" the OSX apps like they did the Windows Calendar app?

Google sees Microsoft as a bigger threat because MS offers services (Office, Outlook, Bing, etc.) that are their direct competitors. That is probably why Windows 8 doesn't have proper apps for Google services like Gmail and YouTube. It is Google's anti-competitive behavior to blame for this, not a lack of willingness to support Google services on Microsoft's end.

You'd think Google would see Apple as a threat to Android tablet sales, but it is the services that those tablets connect to that Google wants to protect and Apple doesn't really compete in the search, advertising, online video, or email arenas.

 

[falconeight]

I knew this was going to happen. Microsoft screwed up with the marketing. They should have marketed it as a tablet with more capabilities. Not a laptop killer.

 

[jedge]

I knew this was going to happen. Microsoft screwed up with the marketing. They should have marketed it as a tablet with more capabilities. Not a laptop killer.

An $800 - $1900 tablet would be a hard sell. Though i do agree that MS can improve their marketing.

What people always forget is that hardware is useless alone. It has to be paired with not only the software that people need, but that they WANT too. And from a marketing point of view that is where you can capture people's limited attention... you need a "killer app". Steve Job's iconic "oh, and one more thing..." speeches were brilliant because they had you begging for that killer app.

The killer app with the SP3 is OneNote.

 

[jmerrey]

They should market it for what it is: a new category of device. Why call it a MacBook killer? You automatically make people compare it to a MacBook, and it's not a MacBook. It was difficult not to cringe at the SP3 reveal when they started making those comparisons.

(autocorrect automatically capitalized MacBook on my W8 machine, heh)

 

[jbaylon]

Regarding google calendar.
Why doesn't it work? I understand Google removed support for Active Exchange Sync, for competitive reasons or whatever, but why is that only a problem for windows 8 and not for iOS users? I got a windows phone right after windows phone 8 was released, and immediately synced my google calendar, and it has been seamlessly linked since. Why didn't my calendar stop syncing when Google dropped support for Active Exchange Sync? And finally, why can't Microsoft design a work-around compatible with google calendar? Unless everything is under patented lock and key (which would ruin it for apple too, right?), I can see no reason for Microsoft to refuse to offer a google calendar compatible service.
I just don't understand.

 

[theefman]

Dont use google, problem solved. :grin:

 

[ohgood]

How does any of that have anything to do with what he said? What does OS X have to do with Windows/iOS?

everything, read both again

 

[ohgood]

That's fantastic. I guess Google doesn't see OSX as a big enough threat that they have to sabotage it. But what happens when they do decide it is a threat? Will Google "break" the OSX apps like they did the Windows Calendar app?

Google sees Microsoft as a bigger threat because MS offers services (Office, Outlook, Bing, etc.) that are their direct competitors. That is probably why Windows 8 doesn't have proper apps for Google services like Gmail and YouTube. It is Google's anti-competitive behavior to blame for this, not a lack of willingness to support Google services on Microsoft's end.

You'd think Google would see Apple as a threat to Android tablet sales, but it is the services that those tablets connect to that Google wants to protect and Apple doesn't really compete in the search, advertising, online video, or email arenas.

as far as if/when/maybe, I just don't know or worry about it.