Surface Pro ships with only 23KB free or less than a single floppy!

[gertsy]

They should include a black floppy with it to double the storage!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2270626/Microsofts-64GB-Surface-Pro-tablet-ship-TWO-THIRDS-storage-space-used-up.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Bloatware to the extreme. That's what you get if you buy the most expensive tablet computer in the world.

As pointed out a slight error to the millionth degree there.  26 Thousand floppies if you're interested.
But the article may as well have said that for all the possible truths in it. There are only a few technology writers I pay attention to in the media.  None of them mainstream.

As to the device some of the follow-up replies are close to the mark.  You don't buy a device like that to store your media files on.  Its a consuming/presentation device.  You stream to it.  As to the cloud streaming Full Hi Def content isn't really a viable option for most WiFi connections out in the wild. In the home yes.  3G and 4G Hi Def streaming is a joke as well.

The challenge for the Pro will be a result of its perceived benefit.  Being x86 people will want to run their normal desktop software on it which do suffer from bloat.  
But 23 GB is heaps of space for download Apps which are usually below the 50Mb mark in size.

When it all comes to it I'm sure there will be USB3 docks that offer 400GB/Sec throughput to storage, network and video.  The trend now for docking stations.

And the Windoz x86 software base is moderately sized..  (;

Believe it or not you can actually plug in a $20 16GB USB3 stick into it and a folder of content opens before your eyes.  Simple.

[gertsy]

Funny I think the surface RT is really cool & I've got an iPad and iPod touch.  I must be mad though 'cos a lot of the tech media say it's crap and they are always so cognisant of strategy and technology change.
IMO I can see more issues with the intel version cos everyone will expect it to be a tablet that can run all their x86 apps but why would you want too?  You think you do but you really don't. That's not what a tablet is about. Editing music on a DAW on a bus?  Don't think so.

hmmm

[gertsy]

...Because they don't have Apple's steadfast "do it great or nothing" attitude, ...

Its all relative to your opinion of what great is, telling consumers that's the way it is doesn't make it real. Unless you are a blind follower.  There are lots of holes and stuff that doesn't "join" up or isn't so great, but there are lots more good things. Learning listening and evolving is the important thing for tech companies not telling them that their product is perfect day 1 so it must be you. We must expect support and change.
Win8 and the start screen on touch is great. On a conventional PC the start screen and the browser running on it are not so great.  But there are some simple things that can be done to make it less frustrating. Rather than reverting to the conventional browser on the desktop.  I am confident these things will be fixed and made better.
Everybody thought  WB1.2 was great, but WB 1.3 was better.

[gertsy]

Check out Auria on the App Store!! It is super awesome

Looks Superb and great value, But I can't really plug my electric guitar into my iPad while i'm on the bus. I'm being pedantic but you get my point.  I'm not about to throw my Sonar X1 and Dimension pro away and as a format to try ideas it's difficult to map.
Imagine being able to play instruments by humming riff lines into the ipad, that would be cool and a way to try ideas.
Still it'd  be cool if could plug my USB Fasttrack pro into the ipad.

[gertsy]

....
Use the camera connection kit, that's how I use my USB audio interface and keyboards on my iPad...

My CCK doesn't work any more. I bought a generic one with the iPad (Import, no GST/VAT)but it became unsupported after my first IOS upgrade.  I never got around to buying an Apple one. Not worth it now as the iPad will probably fall out of IOS support within in the next 12 months.

Sorry back on topic now. Basically I understand the reasons for a Windows RT Arm tablet but I find it hard to understand the same of an X86 version because of the limitations of it in tablet form and opposite the expectations people will have of it. There are probably merits in pursuing multiple lines of OS in regard to target device rather than OS feature set.  Windows mobile, Windows tablet, Windows Pro Touch, Windows Pro.  Optimised for the UX.  Rather than the current Hybrid UX which IMO has a compromise around the start screen for conventional mouse users.

[gertsy]

That's true, but why do companies always seem to end up far to one side of it?

Seems like a tricky balance to me.

Sinofsky might have been too far to the "right". And maybe the "left" at MS didn't like that. Thus his leaving.  I don't think it's hard to see where Bulmer stands, but he's so far removed and "above" that it has little technical impact. We often talk of corporations as single entities but the reality is far from it. As we are seeing more of at Apple at the moment.  I think Gates and Jobs were simular in that they cared about the UX and had the final say.  More so Jobs. I think its important to have that kind of executive roll.  Doesn't need to be head of the company but it needs to be a Jobs like autonomy.  I think.