Alternate take:

http://ozar.me/2012/10/why-im-return...ft-surface-rt/

He has a good point on the Office Updates - for some reason, those are accessible outside the tile environment. Sloppy.

He also has a good point on waiting for the Pro version for his personal situation - but I personally want a lightweight machine with longer battery life. Pro sounds awesome, but it'll cost more, weigh more and last shorter on its battery. As long as most of my apps eventually make it to RT, I'll be happy.

Even though I'm a massive Android fan, I feel that Surface is in many ways lightyears ahead of what Google has done for the tablet look and feel of their devices.

Second day in - I've mastered all the gestures and can swipe my way around now. Still find it odd how the desktop mode is even around. New apps pop up daily, some lousy, some amazing.

It would have been better to have 2 Windows 8's front doors. Have Metro default as "on" to touch enabled devices. Leave it as an option for non touch, with the classic UI as the default.

Kinda the way Apple did with iOS/OSX Launchpad. :)

Waiting for a Surface Pro here, I'm upgrading my PC to Windows 8 in the mean time though so I can get familiar with it for when I get my Surface.

After a couple of days with W8 on all my devices and my Surface on its first trip, I disagree - Metro is the new way to go, and even on my non-touch Asus laptop, I love having it. I think they did the right thing to try and get people away from the old and over to the new.

The real test for Microsoft is seeing if they can convince people of this. IMHO W8 is a big step up in every way, but they need to win over the stubborn folks who fear change.

The upside is that a large number of customers will be buyers of a new computer - and they won't have a choice :D

Apparently already 4 million people upgraded over the weekend - not a bad start.

Then why have desktop mode at all?

Desktop mode is needed for legacy apps, I presume?

Legacy software helps keep the Windows monopoly entrenched.

So what is the upgrade policy for popular software, like Quicken, Office, Photoshop Elements, etc., when they come out with metro-fied versions?

If people couldn't run their existing apps. people might hold off on upgrading.

T'is a good question. I can see why they have it on the upcoming pro, but don't quite get why it is there on RT. I like having it, as it does give me a "real" windows environment, but it still only works with RT apps.

Flew out of Seattle yesterday and got quite a few people stop and ask me about it at the airport :D

There are no legacy apps on RT. I'd respect the tablet a lot more if they did away with the legacy mode, and didn't refer to the device as a PC (as it does on every setting).

I heard you have to go to the Desktop for the Office RT.

Plus there are old Windows control panels there which could change settings on the device?

Sounds like Oprah is a fan...she added it to her list of "favorite things". I'm not a huge Oprah follower so I'm not sure exactly what that means other than an endorsement by her.

http://www.geekwire.com/2012/oprah-l...esbenz-people/

No and yes.

Office has live tiles preinstalled to launch its apps. Yes, there is still an old school control panel if you want to tinker with things. The vast majority of those settings are also available in the modern settings swipe.