Microsoft Sued Over Surface Tablet's Disk Space
Linked by Howard Fosdick on Fri 16th Nov 2012 07:43 UTC
Windows A California man is suing Microsoft, alledging that his Surface tablet did not provide the advertised amount of disk space. The 32G device has 16G of space for users, as the operating system uses the other 16G. The 64G Surface leaves 45G free for users. The case will turn on whether Microsoft has clearly explained to customers how much free space the Surface leaves for their use outside of the OS. How much disk space does your OS consume?
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RE: Not to defend Microsoft but...
by Lion on Fri 16th Nov 2012 10:23 UTC in reply to "Not to defend Microsoft but..."
Lion
Member since:
2007-03-22

I wouldn't call windows RT a mobile OS, it's a full Windows on a different CPU architecture.

I have a Surface RT, I knew how much free space I would have when I got it because I read the damned website before I pressed the button to place my order.

For comparison, my Windows 8 install on my home desktop is using 29.7GB including the program files folders. 21.5GB if I exclude those.

Reply Parent Score: 2

Morgan Member since:
2005-06-29

I wouldn't call windows RT a mobile OS, it's a full Windows on a different CPU architecture.


Nonsense, even Microsoft doesn't claim it's a full desktop OS. Otherwise Windows 8 proper wouldn't exist at all and we'd just have RT for x86 and RT for ARM.

Besides, I can put Android x86 on my desktop PC, does that mean it's a desktop OS? In fact, I ran MeeGo for nearly a year on an x86 netbook, and it was more capable than the XP installation it replaced. It could compile and run full desktop GNU/Linux programs. Yet it is still considered a mobile OS. I think it should be based on how you use it; if it's on a desktop PC it's a desktop OS. If it's on a tablet or phone it's a mobile OS. If it's on a laptop it's entirely debatable. ;)

I have a Surface RT, I knew how much free space I would have when I got it because I read the damned website before I pressed the button to place my order.


That was pretty much my point with the 500GB/GiB hard drive example. I think we agree that an informed user will know what they are getting into. The problem is that many people don't read reviews or packaging, then they get the device home and find that their entire Law and Order 1080p Blu-Ray collection won't fit. They are the ones Microsoft should have planned ahead for, and either adjusted their packaging and advertisements or bumped up the base model's storage to compensate.

Reply Parent Score: 4

Lion Member since:
2007-03-22

The free space comment wasn't meant as an argument against your point, just general commentary following from the article.

But I still think Windows RT is much more a desktop style OS than it is a mobile OS.
As far as I can tell it's not missing anything that is in Windows 8 so far as content that's actually on the disk. It's missing capabilities, sure, but then so is a corporate desktop with a bunch of restrictive policies applied, and that's how I see Windows RT: a full windows installation with some restrictions applied, and on a CPU architecture that's new for the platform, which limits application and driver availability

Reply Parent Score: 2

ze_jerkface Member since:
2012-06-22

I wouldn't call windows RT a mobile OS, it's a full Windows on a different CPU architecture.


Heh? So Android isn't a full OS and yet it lets you actually treat the micro-sd card like a drive? Oddly enough Android also has drive encryption while RT does not despite Microsoft fanboys telling us that it is enterprise friendly.

Windows RT is a bad joke, it's Office and IE on a tablet for $500 and without any of the basic enterprise features that were on Windows 2000. Supposedly Office on RT runs like crap as well.

But I will be buying a few of them to carry in case a surface dance party breaks out in the streets.

Reply Parent Score: 1

Lion Member since:
2007-03-22

So Android isn't a full OS and yet it lets you actually treat the micro-sd card like a drive?
I don't know if you are insinuating that this isn't the case in Windows RT, but my MicroSD currently has a drive letter and is mounted to an NTFS folder location to make it part of a library. As a user of an Android phone, it's a less complete OS than windows RT insofar as exposed userland tools for manipulating the device and content on it, especially graphically. But the two platforms are fairly equivalent when it comes to providing a platform to run user-installed applications. Android just has a larger pool of available apps at this point.
I don't have good definitions for where to draw the line between a traditional desktop OS and a mobile OS, but in using it; Windows RT does not feel like a mobile OS, it feels like Windows.

Oddly enough Android also has drive encryption while RT does not despite Microsoft fanboys telling us that it is enterprise friendly.
You've been misinformed here... BitLocker is on by default for the built in storage, and while it can't enable bitlocker on removable devices, it prompts for the password and can read drives that have been encrypted with it. The mail client can connect to certain types of exchange server and cause the device to enact security policies too.

Windows RT is a bad joke, it's Office and IE on a tablet for $500 and without any of the basic enterprise features that were on Windows 2000. Supposedly Office on RT runs like crap as well.
I can't say I've seen Surface RT pushed as an enterprise platform. The message as I received it was that RT was the Home-Edition/iPad-competitor version, while Pro/8 was the version that businesses should consider. Also office doesn't run like crap, the performance is fine but its touch integration is not very good. Many of the buttons are too small for a finger to work well, so I depend on the trackpad portion of my touch cover (which hasn't split yet, btw ;) ) - but the pieces I use (word and excel) run fine.

But I will be buying a few of them to carry in case a surface dance party breaks out in the streets.
This has happened more than I'd like to admit since getting mine ;)

Reply Parent Score: 4

quackalist Member since:
2007-08-27

Is it really a full windows on a different architecture or something else.....seems more like iOS to OSX in practice though technically I suppose it is.

Buyer beware is true enough but in this case it beggars belief MS thought 32Gb storage with all that bloat was a practicality, cloud notwithstanding, and RT should never have been offered without 64Gb minimum.

Wonder how many buyers of RT realised this beforehand?

Reply Parent Score: 2