man, I have to see if I can swing one of these... I was going to get the Surface Pro with Windows 8 (if they update it to Haswell). but at $250, Surface RT would be pretty cool! a full Office suite (and remember, Outlook for Windows RT is arriving when Windows 8.1 is released). ability to hook up a printer, 360 controller, etc.
sure, no traditional Windows software. but at $250... man...
I've used an RT device before. Let me tell you, the experience was very satisfying. The only reason I returned the device and bought a full windows 8 device was because of the lack of support for peripherals from manufacturers. That and the fact that even people who work for MS couldn't tell the difference between RT and 8.
Long story short, this is what happened. Needed to print something from my RT device. Plugged it into my printer and couldn't find a driver for it. Called Samsung and asked them if they had a driver for an RT device. They gave me a link to the driver for windows 8. I politely reminded the tech guy that I had an RT device not a windows 8. That guy said very confidently that RT and 8 were the same thing so the exe file from that link will work for my device.
Was a little frustrated, so I asked to speak to another tech support rep. I explained to the second guy that I had an RT device and I needed the driver for the Samsung printer. He again linked me to the windows 8 driver page. Again, I explained to this guy that RT was not the same as 8. He said that he was sorry, but I was wrong and that RT and 8 were the same thing and so the exe file should work for both systems.
I was beyond frustrated, so I politely thanked them and hung up. I then sent an email to MS tech support regarding the issue. Got a prompt reply from an MS tech support rep. The guy linked me to a windows 8 driver for the printer. I replied reminding him that I had an RT device. I got a reply from him telling me RT and 8 were the same so the exe file I could download from that page should work for my device.
This was about 4 months ago. Hopefully, MS and Samsung has trained their people better. If 2 Samsung and 1 MS tech guys insisted that an exe file compiled for 8 would also run on RT, then you know that RT is dead in the water. It would never get the necessary support from manufacturers. It wouldn't even get the proper support from MS itself, since even MS tech support people couldn't even tell the difference between 8 and RT.
Like I said before, MS really really need to get the message out there of what RT is. I'm sick and tired of people, particularly those who work in the tech industry, who keep telling me RT and 8 were the same thing. I'm a structure engineer, not an idiot.