Things are going pretty well for me at the moment. Work contract just renewed, project looks like it'll start making some progress shortly, the days are getting longer and I just got awarded elite membership on yelp.co.uk. Oh and I'm going skiing again this Saturday.
I've also been seeing an adorable girl from Russia. Now you may or may not know this, but 8 March is International Womens Day which is a big deal in Russia, so for the weekend I organised a trip to France via eurotunnel for dinner, and some flowers of course. The journey to the eurotunnel was smooth but I can report that the outlet warehouse on the other side is pretty rubbish. At least it is at this time of year. We had intended to go to the Atlantic Liegois Gastronomic Restaurant in Wimereaux (which it turns out, sounds like the word for extinction in Russian), but they were fully booked, so we ended up walking around the town like Mary and Joseph looking for a barn to stay in. We eventually found a lovely place called 'La Vie Est Belle' which was delicious :)
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Friday, 22 February 2013
American not-so-Express
So I got a new American Express card a month or so ago. One of those British Airways ones that collects avios points as you spend.
They had this offer where you get 9000 bonus avios if you spend £1000 on the card.
So I proceeded to spend on it the way I do on my Nationwide card and they block me suspecting fraud.
On my Nationwide card (which incidentally has double the limit of the AmEx and is accepted in more locations) they phone me within a couple of minutes if they block a transaction.
Does that happen with AmEx? Nope. Nothing... you get told you have to call the number on the back of the card, and after calling it and pressing 50 buttons to get to the department that isn't automated and has a person on the end of the line, you get told the card is blocked, they can't access the system to even register a complaint, and all they can do is suggest you call tomorrow and note that you called and request a call back from the department who blocked it.
So I called the next day, only to be told that their fraud prevention mechanism is this:
1. They suspect identity theft on your account and block your account without trying to contact you.
2. They wait for you to contact them after you've been embarassed wherever you're paying for goods or services.
3. They tell you there's nothing you can do.
4. You call back the next day and they tell you they will try to call you back on your phone number that they will have verified using some secret verification process and if they can't verify your phone or get through to you they will send you a letter by post with a reference number on it.
5. I point out that if they suspect identity theft, surely sending a letter to the same address that the supposed identity thief got the card from is a pointless exercise because the would-be thief would just get the reference number as well.
6. They kind of agree but you can tell they aren't allowed to say they do.
7. Instead of getting a call or a letter, they email me with the reference number. I actually prefer this method, but it's not what they said they would do.
8. I call up and go through the security which amounts to nothing more than them just noting the reference and telling me it will be unlocked shortly.
9. They tell me they are unable to take my complaint and I should speak to customer services.
This is after the following other stupid problems:
1. When you sign up for an account, they insist you have a number in your USERNAME. WTF? Who insists on a number in the username? Are they on crack?
2. When I tried to change my PIN, the cash machine told me it had failed. I called them and they said they found a problem, and I should try again. I tried again and it gave me a different error. Magically the new pin was the one that showed on the website but actually using the card required the old PIN. That's sounds like a fail of security (again) to me.
3. The paywave function didn't work on the card. Ever. So they had to send me a new card, within a month of getting the card in the first place.
I've never had to make so many phone calls to a single organisation before.
Should have applied for the platinum card. Maybe then I'd have had better service...
They had this offer where you get 9000 bonus avios if you spend £1000 on the card.
So I proceeded to spend on it the way I do on my Nationwide card and they block me suspecting fraud.
On my Nationwide card (which incidentally has double the limit of the AmEx and is accepted in more locations) they phone me within a couple of minutes if they block a transaction.
Does that happen with AmEx? Nope. Nothing... you get told you have to call the number on the back of the card, and after calling it and pressing 50 buttons to get to the department that isn't automated and has a person on the end of the line, you get told the card is blocked, they can't access the system to even register a complaint, and all they can do is suggest you call tomorrow and note that you called and request a call back from the department who blocked it.
So I called the next day, only to be told that their fraud prevention mechanism is this:
1. They suspect identity theft on your account and block your account without trying to contact you.
2. They wait for you to contact them after you've been embarassed wherever you're paying for goods or services.
3. They tell you there's nothing you can do.
4. You call back the next day and they tell you they will try to call you back on your phone number that they will have verified using some secret verification process and if they can't verify your phone or get through to you they will send you a letter by post with a reference number on it.
5. I point out that if they suspect identity theft, surely sending a letter to the same address that the supposed identity thief got the card from is a pointless exercise because the would-be thief would just get the reference number as well.
6. They kind of agree but you can tell they aren't allowed to say they do.
7. Instead of getting a call or a letter, they email me with the reference number. I actually prefer this method, but it's not what they said they would do.
8. I call up and go through the security which amounts to nothing more than them just noting the reference and telling me it will be unlocked shortly.
9. They tell me they are unable to take my complaint and I should speak to customer services.
This is after the following other stupid problems:
1. When you sign up for an account, they insist you have a number in your USERNAME. WTF? Who insists on a number in the username? Are they on crack?
2. When I tried to change my PIN, the cash machine told me it had failed. I called them and they said they found a problem, and I should try again. I tried again and it gave me a different error. Magically the new pin was the one that showed on the website but actually using the card required the old PIN. That's sounds like a fail of security (again) to me.
3. The paywave function didn't work on the card. Ever. So they had to send me a new card, within a month of getting the card in the first place.
I've never had to make so many phone calls to a single organisation before.
Should have applied for the platinum card. Maybe then I'd have had better service...
Wednesday, 20 February 2013
Organising Groups
Here are some rules to consider when trying to organise group trips:
1. If you offer people a choice, you will never come to any kind of agreement.
2. Assuming its too late not to offer a choice, prepare for a huge headache as you try to please everyone and accommodate their obscure requirements.
The result of offering people a choice on my last trip is that it ended up costing more than it needed to, but because I am a badass I've managed to arrange flights and accommodation such that we will get 8 days on the slopes and not have the pain of a Eurostar trip.
We'll be returning to Sauze d'Oulx where we will hopefully have a little more snow than last year.
It should be a good trip, and will be the last of my long holidays until Christmas...
I'll write more later, and the gossip will be a lot more juicy if things go well!
Meanwhile here's a photo of an awesome sunset :)
1. If you offer people a choice, you will never come to any kind of agreement.
2. Assuming its too late not to offer a choice, prepare for a huge headache as you try to please everyone and accommodate their obscure requirements.
The result of offering people a choice on my last trip is that it ended up costing more than it needed to, but because I am a badass I've managed to arrange flights and accommodation such that we will get 8 days on the slopes and not have the pain of a Eurostar trip.
We'll be returning to Sauze d'Oulx where we will hopefully have a little more snow than last year.
It should be a good trip, and will be the last of my long holidays until Christmas...
I'll write more later, and the gossip will be a lot more juicy if things go well!
Meanwhile here's a photo of an awesome sunset :)
Friday, 15 February 2013
To ski, or not to ski
I had a fairly busy January. The first random tidbit of information is the £1070 BMW 330i touring that I bought on ebay. This proved to be a bit of a logistical problem, as the car was located just outside Edinburgh and I am in London. Having agreed to pick up the car at Edinburgh airport, I promptly booked a flight to go up there on morning, with the intention of driving back down the same day. I mentioned this to a friend when asked what I was up to at the weekend, and instead of me driving, she went up to Edinburgh with a friend and drove it back, Thelma & Louise style. I flew up too, but unfortunately on picking up the car it wasn't the bargain I thought it would be. It was in pretty bad condition and was suffering from a number of problems including the speedometer not working correctly. It's in the garage now, being seen to :)
We also had an epic ski trip to Peisey-Vallandry. A little resort in the Les Arcs/La Plagne ski area close to the main lift that links the two areas together. In a similar vein to my last skiing related post, here is a list of lessons learned:
1. People you think will make the best flatmates sometimes make the worst.
2. The upgrade to first class on eurostar is only worth it if you're the only one doing it. Too many people, especially too many large and loud people, completely negate any benefit.
3. Some people can behave very childishly, often without even realising it.
4. The people you often think are the most level headed, can become the most crazy given a few drops of alcohol.
5. It is a stupid idea to try and transport a 40kg snowboard bag with lots of equipment in a single bag.
6. It is a stupid idea to take 40kg of equipment for a one-week holiday.
7. Don't roll down a snowy hill without first inspecting the other side of it.
8. Happiness comes from pleasing yourself, not pleasing others.
9. Snowboarding on ice moguls shortly after a fresh layer of snow has fallen is not a nice experience.
10. Snowblading on sheet ice is ill-advised.
11. The Ruroc helmet range has a dangerous design flaw rendering the helmet rather useless.
12. The group discount on a Paradiski area ski pass for 8 days is about £50.
13. It is a stupid idea to try and walk down a hill that is covered in sheet ice without impact protection.
14. Bourg St Maurice is a very boring place on a Saturday night.
15. Leaving behind a messy apartment makes it very unpleasant when you get home.
16. Snowboarding on hard packed pistes gets boring after a while.
17. My skiing has considerable room for improvement.
18. A powder day can lift even the darkest mood :)
My last ski trip filled me with mixed emotions. It was very stressful, and one of my friends isn't talking to me anymore after I called her a stupid child. In my defence she'd been behaving quite childishly all week, and snapping at me all the time. I snapped back on the last day, and the fact that she's not talking to me proves my point.
My next trip is proving quite stressful too, and I haven't booked it yet. That's because of different people having a variety of requirements that are difficult to accommodate. If it keeps up I will just book a holiday for two and go without them.
For next year, I am going to make inquiries about chartering a plane. That would be so cool :)
We also had an epic ski trip to Peisey-Vallandry. A little resort in the Les Arcs/La Plagne ski area close to the main lift that links the two areas together. In a similar vein to my last skiing related post, here is a list of lessons learned:
1. People you think will make the best flatmates sometimes make the worst.
2. The upgrade to first class on eurostar is only worth it if you're the only one doing it. Too many people, especially too many large and loud people, completely negate any benefit.
3. Some people can behave very childishly, often without even realising it.
4. The people you often think are the most level headed, can become the most crazy given a few drops of alcohol.
5. It is a stupid idea to try and transport a 40kg snowboard bag with lots of equipment in a single bag.
6. It is a stupid idea to take 40kg of equipment for a one-week holiday.
7. Don't roll down a snowy hill without first inspecting the other side of it.
8. Happiness comes from pleasing yourself, not pleasing others.
9. Snowboarding on ice moguls shortly after a fresh layer of snow has fallen is not a nice experience.
10. Snowblading on sheet ice is ill-advised.
11. The Ruroc helmet range has a dangerous design flaw rendering the helmet rather useless.
12. The group discount on a Paradiski area ski pass for 8 days is about £50.
13. It is a stupid idea to try and walk down a hill that is covered in sheet ice without impact protection.
14. Bourg St Maurice is a very boring place on a Saturday night.
15. Leaving behind a messy apartment makes it very unpleasant when you get home.
16. Snowboarding on hard packed pistes gets boring after a while.
17. My skiing has considerable room for improvement.
18. A powder day can lift even the darkest mood :)
My last ski trip filled me with mixed emotions. It was very stressful, and one of my friends isn't talking to me anymore after I called her a stupid child. In my defence she'd been behaving quite childishly all week, and snapping at me all the time. I snapped back on the last day, and the fact that she's not talking to me proves my point.
My next trip is proving quite stressful too, and I haven't booked it yet. That's because of different people having a variety of requirements that are difficult to accommodate. If it keeps up I will just book a holiday for two and go without them.
For next year, I am going to make inquiries about chartering a plane. That would be so cool :)
Monday, 7 January 2013
Happy New Year!
I've done a fair bit of driving the last couple of weeks (about 1400km). Here's a list of lessons learnt, mostly for your amusement...
1. It doesn't matter how early you leave, you are not driving fast enough to get to the airport on time if there's a car keeping up with you.
2. The collision damage excess waiver on an Audi A4 Avant is 300€, and is a waste of money.
3. Hire car companies will remove the navigation CD from a navigation equipped car just so they can charge you to rent a navigation off them.
4. It costs the same amount to rent snow chains for a week as it does to buy them from a random motorway service station.
5. Snow chains are recommended in certain circumstances if driving to a ski resort on all-season tyres, however with a bit of forethought (usually spurred on by hindsight) they aren't necessary. In fact I'd go as far as saying people are mad going on about having to get winter tyres and being stuck in the snow.
6. The highest rated navigation software on the iTunes store has no concept of mountain passes being closed in the winter and turned into skiing pistes.
7. Neither does the Garmin navigation system my friend brought along.
8. At 39€ the Frejus tunnel is pretty expensive.
9. Whilst the French will build scary roads that follow the curvature of the mountains, the Italians just build viaducts and dig tunnels resulting in a straight motorway that goes through everything in its path.
10. Italians are mad drivers, especially on the motorway.
11. An Audi A4 loaded with 5 passengers and their luggage handles like a boat and steers only slightly better than the Titanic.
12. The cruise control on Audis is really confusing.
13. The Audi A4 is rubbish and I am soooo glad I bought a BMW instead of an A5 convertible.
14. Although the Audi A4 is crap, it does have a much smoother ride and lighter steering than my BMW, which I only really noticed upon my return to London.
15. Watch out for speed cameras in France, especially when you reset your navigation to default settings in a futile attempt to get it to direct you through the Frejus tunnel instead of over a ski piste. Twice.
16. There is an admin fee for changing your flight on easyjet.
17. If you purchased speedy boarding, you lose it when your flight is changed, and you only find out when you're at the front of the speedy boarding queue and the guy has a go at you for not having speedy boarding.
18. Don't forget you bought speedy boarding when arriving at the airport and queuing with the plebs.
19. There is a bit of road between Turin and Milan where you're driving pretty fast and a train passes you as if you're standing still.
20. Don't go shopping with girls in Milan during the sales.
21. It costs £15 per day extra when you're late for picking up your car from Gatwick airport valet parking.
22. Don't forget the mess you made at home in your rush to pack for your ski trip at the last minute.
23. Although O2 text you telling you that for £1.99 per day you can use your phone abroad as you would at home, the next day they will text you a warning telling you that yesterday you used 70MB and your limit was 25MB and if you do it again they will put you back on the standard tariff. This is more annoying than not having data at all.
24. There is absolutely nothing to do at Milan Malpensa Terminal 1 when waiting 8 hours for a delayed flight from Moscow to arrive, apart from marvel at the variety of taxis waiting at the taxi rank outside. Everything from a Dacia Duster to a Citroen C6 to a BMW 1-series.
25. The French don't know how to make coffee, especially in fancy looking motorway service stops.
26. The Italians do know how to make coffee, even in really dodgy looking motorway service stops.
27. The flat fare from anywhere in Milan to Malpensa airport is 90 euros. Whilst this may seem excessive, it is a 45-60 minute drive, depending on traffic conditions.
28. The closest petrol station to Malpensa is a dodgy and super expensive automated place that has a machine which accepts only cash pre-payment for fuel. It's still cheaper than returning the car without a full tank.
29. The GPS on the iPhone is not fast or accurate enough to give good driving directions in complicated junctions, due to the 2 second sampling interval. Only a fool forgets the two second rule!
30. The french for breathalyser is ethylotest. Don't forget that from next spring if you're not carrying a reusable one (or two disposable ones) while driving in France you can get an on the spot fine.
This New Years Eve was a bazillion times better than last year, and 2012 was really awesome for me. Let's hope 2013 is even better. It's got off to a fabulous start anyway :)
1. It doesn't matter how early you leave, you are not driving fast enough to get to the airport on time if there's a car keeping up with you.
2. The collision damage excess waiver on an Audi A4 Avant is 300€, and is a waste of money.
3. Hire car companies will remove the navigation CD from a navigation equipped car just so they can charge you to rent a navigation off them.
4. It costs the same amount to rent snow chains for a week as it does to buy them from a random motorway service station.
5. Snow chains are recommended in certain circumstances if driving to a ski resort on all-season tyres, however with a bit of forethought (usually spurred on by hindsight) they aren't necessary. In fact I'd go as far as saying people are mad going on about having to get winter tyres and being stuck in the snow.
6. The highest rated navigation software on the iTunes store has no concept of mountain passes being closed in the winter and turned into skiing pistes.
7. Neither does the Garmin navigation system my friend brought along.
8. At 39€ the Frejus tunnel is pretty expensive.
9. Whilst the French will build scary roads that follow the curvature of the mountains, the Italians just build viaducts and dig tunnels resulting in a straight motorway that goes through everything in its path.
10. Italians are mad drivers, especially on the motorway.
11. An Audi A4 loaded with 5 passengers and their luggage handles like a boat and steers only slightly better than the Titanic.
12. The cruise control on Audis is really confusing.
13. The Audi A4 is rubbish and I am soooo glad I bought a BMW instead of an A5 convertible.
14. Although the Audi A4 is crap, it does have a much smoother ride and lighter steering than my BMW, which I only really noticed upon my return to London.
15. Watch out for speed cameras in France, especially when you reset your navigation to default settings in a futile attempt to get it to direct you through the Frejus tunnel instead of over a ski piste. Twice.
16. There is an admin fee for changing your flight on easyjet.
17. If you purchased speedy boarding, you lose it when your flight is changed, and you only find out when you're at the front of the speedy boarding queue and the guy has a go at you for not having speedy boarding.
18. Don't forget you bought speedy boarding when arriving at the airport and queuing with the plebs.
19. There is a bit of road between Turin and Milan where you're driving pretty fast and a train passes you as if you're standing still.
20. Don't go shopping with girls in Milan during the sales.
21. It costs £15 per day extra when you're late for picking up your car from Gatwick airport valet parking.
22. Don't forget the mess you made at home in your rush to pack for your ski trip at the last minute.
23. Although O2 text you telling you that for £1.99 per day you can use your phone abroad as you would at home, the next day they will text you a warning telling you that yesterday you used 70MB and your limit was 25MB and if you do it again they will put you back on the standard tariff. This is more annoying than not having data at all.
24. There is absolutely nothing to do at Milan Malpensa Terminal 1 when waiting 8 hours for a delayed flight from Moscow to arrive, apart from marvel at the variety of taxis waiting at the taxi rank outside. Everything from a Dacia Duster to a Citroen C6 to a BMW 1-series.
25. The French don't know how to make coffee, especially in fancy looking motorway service stops.
26. The Italians do know how to make coffee, even in really dodgy looking motorway service stops.
27. The flat fare from anywhere in Milan to Malpensa airport is 90 euros. Whilst this may seem excessive, it is a 45-60 minute drive, depending on traffic conditions.
28. The closest petrol station to Malpensa is a dodgy and super expensive automated place that has a machine which accepts only cash pre-payment for fuel. It's still cheaper than returning the car without a full tank.
29. The GPS on the iPhone is not fast or accurate enough to give good driving directions in complicated junctions, due to the 2 second sampling interval. Only a fool forgets the two second rule!
30. The french for breathalyser is ethylotest. Don't forget that from next spring if you're not carrying a reusable one (or two disposable ones) while driving in France you can get an on the spot fine.
This New Years Eve was a bazillion times better than last year, and 2012 was really awesome for me. Let's hope 2013 is even better. It's got off to a fabulous start anyway :)
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Generic-Covering-Letter.ps1
Hello $strCompany, if you are reading this, you will no doubt be aware that you have asked me through your preferred recruitment consultant to write a covering letter, highlighting my blog and twitter feed and other such related information. I am fully aware that the public may read this, and if you happen to be working for my existing employer I will for your benefit note that I am speaking to the recruitment consultant on the understanding that I am only available for work once my current contract comes to an end.
So, $strCompany welcome to my blog. Feel free to read any of my posts. You can find links to my twitter and facebook pages up in the corner somewhere. ^
Your request got me thinking; the last time I wrote a covering letter I was a student applying for various graduate placement schemes at mostly automotive manufacturers. Those followed a mostly humble format where I tried to sell myself on the basis of having no experience but being madly into cars and motorbikes. This is of course, completely useless to me 15 years later. You see now, I am quite well grounded in my career, I'm good at what I do and I'm not afraid to tell people what I think; why, I even have a blog where I rant about anything and everything! How do I convey that with without seeming arrogant? I still have no idea, and I'm not sure I ever will! It's like that question in interviews where they ask you to name your weaknesses and you're supposed to have prepared some weaknesses to talk about. Except that none of us like talking about weaknesses so we are never really prepared. I have a weakness for Nando's caramel cheesecake but that's probably not appropriate here, except I just made it appropriate by writing it, knowing you'll read it and probably think to yourselves "Nando's do cheesecake?"
So I thought I'd try something different, and make my covering letter a blog post. What better way to declare that I think it would be really cool to work with you than to do it in pubic, on my blog?
So what else should this covering letter include? I'm wary that it's getting quite long already and I haven't really done much to convince you that you should hire me. Why would you want to hire me? I'm clearly a contractor. Why would I even want to stop contracting?
Well, although contracting is great, I'm constantly worried about not having work in 3 months time. For me (and perhaps also for Bobby McFerrin and Bob Marley), worry and happiness are mutually exclusive. So my path to happiness lies with a more stable permanent job. I also want to develop my career. It's all well and good being paid a lot of money for one bit part after the next, but I want to do more. I want to be directing things, driving things forward, and really making a difference with cool new stuff. This means I won't just take any job, and as a permanent employee I won't work for any-old employer. It has to be for a company worth working for. One that's going places, that has a decent product, that I can proudly talk about to my friends. A company that has great people who I will get on with and want to socialise with. So you'd want to hire me because based on my limited experience of your organisation, I want to work for you. Hire me because I've been in the business for 15 years, have lots of experience and knowledge and I'm not afraid to share it.
Don't delay, hire me today (no, not today actually, but when my contract comes to an end in a few months time).
Friday, 9 November 2012
Microsoft Surface and Windows RT
I happen to be working on a very exciting project with around 15 Microsoft Consultancy people. We are running the only full wave 15 deployment of the Microsoft platform in the world. If you're not the technical sort, what this means is that where I am working, we are looking to roll out Windows 8 and all the other latest versions of everything Microsoft within the next 6 months, and I'm technical lead on the SharePoint 2013 stream. I'm also working on a storage consolidation exercise, but I won't write about that now.
I've been a long time fan of Microsoft, not least because their products have kept me in employment most of the time for the last 17 years. So when I found out they were releasing a new tablet device to compete with the likes of iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab, I naturally pre-ordered one. After all, Windows 7 was a great product and the preview of Windows 8 that I'd been working with was also a pretty nice experience. Furthermore, here was a shiny new product that I could actually see myself using.
If only I had actually seen myself using it before parting with my hard-earned cash for one.
First things first, the device hardware is mostly fantastic. A magnetic keyboard attaches to it and doubles as a case. The build quality is great and the screen is clear and vibrant. It has a USB port and a HDMI port so it's got connectivity, and really the only faults I could find are that it's a little on the heavy side, and the magnetic power connector is quite fiddly to use, especially in the dark. Oh and there's no USB charging so you have to carry a plug-in charger around with you if you think the battery might run out. If you've taken your Surface to work and gone out for drinks, don't try to plug it back into your charger when you get home.
Moving onto the software, once I got used to Windows 8 I found it a joy to use. I love the way it's been designed and after an initial frustration caused by my complete ignorance of the welcome video it tried to show me, I found it very natural and even found myself trying to swipe the screen of my regular laptop (now upgraded to Windows 8) on several occasions.
Unfortunately I've decided to return it, which in itself was a bit of a mission. I'll come to the reasons for returning it shortly, but let's just say my customer service experience with the Microsoft call centre wasn't great. They were unable to process the return for a week because apparently they hadn't taken payment from my card, and they didn't know when payment would be taken. Thankfully this has now been sorted and my return has been authorised.
So why am I returning it?
Well the short answer is, frankly it's useless if there's no wifi connection and it's launched without several key apps. The device is marketed as a mobile tool and it's all set up to use Microsoft Skydrive for storage by default. On a regular Windows 7 or Windows 8 Pro computer this wouldn't be a problem as there's a Skydrive sync application, which allows you to work with files locally and synchronises them to Skydrive when a connection is available. Sadly though there's no such application on Windows RT, the ARM processor version of the operating system that's installed on the Surface. Following several inquiries on the Microsoft support site, I decided to try and write a script that would approximate the way Skydrive sync works, but sadly the tools I'd hoped to use for that don't seem to work properly on a drive mounted from the web, leaving me with what is essentially a very expensive coaster.
It has other problems too. No facebook app, no native twitter app, and when you ask Microsoft staff why not, they direct you to the People Hub, which is about as useless as a chocolate teapot. Except that at least you can eat a chocolate teapot. The newsreader app I downloaded because Flipboard isn't available isn't bad, except that it doesn't pre-fetch any news, so if you want to read news while you're on the train, you can't because there's no wifi connection. And the device doesn't even have the option of a data connection so you're stuck. Add to that the stories doing the rounds about how Microsoft are making about $250 on each unit sold and I know I'm getting a raw deal. As far as I'm concerned Windows RT means Windows Return
It's a really unfortunate experiment, and for the price there are plenty of alternatives that will be more practical and more useful. I didn't expect to pay £650 to be a Microsoft beta tester for a product that isn't really ready for an already-competitive market.
What will I replace it with? Well I've just ordered a Sony Vaio Duo 11 ultrabook. It's got an 11 inch screen that runs at a much higher resolution than that of the Surface, Intel CPU so runs full Windows 8 and all the apps I need, and has a neat sliding keyboard action with the all-important trackpoint seldom seen on laptops these days. It has double the storage and considerably more power, at the expense of £200 more in price, weighing a little more and having slightly less battery life. Because it's a Vaio I can expect it to be of decent quality and have a reasonable level of support, and it has the potential to replace all my computers at home, which is a bonus!
Can't wait for it to arrive!
I've been a long time fan of Microsoft, not least because their products have kept me in employment most of the time for the last 17 years. So when I found out they were releasing a new tablet device to compete with the likes of iPad and Samsung Galaxy Tab, I naturally pre-ordered one. After all, Windows 7 was a great product and the preview of Windows 8 that I'd been working with was also a pretty nice experience. Furthermore, here was a shiny new product that I could actually see myself using.
First things first, the device hardware is mostly fantastic. A magnetic keyboard attaches to it and doubles as a case. The build quality is great and the screen is clear and vibrant. It has a USB port and a HDMI port so it's got connectivity, and really the only faults I could find are that it's a little on the heavy side, and the magnetic power connector is quite fiddly to use, especially in the dark. Oh and there's no USB charging so you have to carry a plug-in charger around with you if you think the battery might run out. If you've taken your Surface to work and gone out for drinks, don't try to plug it back into your charger when you get home.
Moving onto the software, once I got used to Windows 8 I found it a joy to use. I love the way it's been designed and after an initial frustration caused by my complete ignorance of the welcome video it tried to show me, I found it very natural and even found myself trying to swipe the screen of my regular laptop (now upgraded to Windows 8) on several occasions.
Unfortunately I've decided to return it, which in itself was a bit of a mission. I'll come to the reasons for returning it shortly, but let's just say my customer service experience with the Microsoft call centre wasn't great. They were unable to process the return for a week because apparently they hadn't taken payment from my card, and they didn't know when payment would be taken. Thankfully this has now been sorted and my return has been authorised.
So why am I returning it?Well the short answer is, frankly it's useless if there's no wifi connection and it's launched without several key apps. The device is marketed as a mobile tool and it's all set up to use Microsoft Skydrive for storage by default. On a regular Windows 7 or Windows 8 Pro computer this wouldn't be a problem as there's a Skydrive sync application, which allows you to work with files locally and synchronises them to Skydrive when a connection is available. Sadly though there's no such application on Windows RT, the ARM processor version of the operating system that's installed on the Surface. Following several inquiries on the Microsoft support site, I decided to try and write a script that would approximate the way Skydrive sync works, but sadly the tools I'd hoped to use for that don't seem to work properly on a drive mounted from the web, leaving me with what is essentially a very expensive coaster.
It has other problems too. No facebook app, no native twitter app, and when you ask Microsoft staff why not, they direct you to the People Hub, which is about as useless as a chocolate teapot. Except that at least you can eat a chocolate teapot. The newsreader app I downloaded because Flipboard isn't available isn't bad, except that it doesn't pre-fetch any news, so if you want to read news while you're on the train, you can't because there's no wifi connection. And the device doesn't even have the option of a data connection so you're stuck. Add to that the stories doing the rounds about how Microsoft are making about $250 on each unit sold and I know I'm getting a raw deal. As far as I'm concerned Windows RT means Windows Return
It's a really unfortunate experiment, and for the price there are plenty of alternatives that will be more practical and more useful. I didn't expect to pay £650 to be a Microsoft beta tester for a product that isn't really ready for an already-competitive market.
Can't wait for it to arrive!
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