My personal favorite Windows 8 feature - plug in a mouse, but not a keyboard. Go to a text field. Windows 8 figures that if you have a mouse you "must" have a keyboard even though it can plainly see you don't. So the on-screen keyboard doesn't come up. Even if you load it in the desktop pane, it won't be available in other panes (like the Store).
The solution is to unplug the mouse, and then the keyboard shows up. The level of "broken" this represents in not thoroughly thinking through the change in their UI probably explains the level of resistance to the product. I still run it on all my machines because most of what I do I can do inside the Desktop pane (even on my Win 8 tablet). I can only imagine how painful life would be to an RT user...
That reminds me of one of my first experiences with a Mac (Mac 512, I think). Borrowed one from the office, forgot the mouse, figured "Hey, I am an advanced user, used to being able to toggle around with Tab and what not, I should be fine."
RT user checking in - as long as remote desktop works i'm good (though i'm connecting to a win 8 pc).
Why did i buy a 499$ remote desktop machine? Cause i don't need to carry computing power with me, and the snap in keyboard + usb port (charge my phone/plug in a mouse) + expandable memory is exactly what i need.
You can do EXACTLY same thing with an Asus Transformer, which is cheaper, and works just as well. It even supports multitouch gestures when connected remotely to your Win8 PC.
most require a desktop client to be installed on the other machine - in instances where you have only user permissions on the other machine (work) this becomes troublesome.
I'm not talking about software that needs a server (like VNC); I'm literally talking about clients that talk the Microsoft RDP protocol. There are plenty to choose from for either platforms
Also if your work using something like Citrix; clients exist for both platforms for that as well.
RDP is a protocol implemented directly in dozens of clients in both the Apple app store and Google's play store. No need for installs on the target machine.
i did look at the asus tablets, and an HP that was similar (but ran full win 8 - much like an ultrabook that snapped into its keyboard), but i decided on the surface based on my personal preferences. I actually started out with a Nexus - it was great, but found i would consistently put down the tablet to do something on my pc that i got frustrated trying to do on the tablet. Further, the surface hardware quality was worth the extra 130$ over the transformer in my opinion.
TDLR: Hardware quality + preference of metro over android
The solution is to unplug the mouse, and then the keyboard shows up. The level of "broken" this represents in not thoroughly thinking through the change in their UI probably explains the level of resistance to the product. I still run it on all my machines because most of what I do I can do inside the Desktop pane (even on my Win 8 tablet). I can only imagine how painful life would be to an RT user...