These are the people that will buy a Surface

Written by

David Gewirtz:

For example, to connect to my corporate servers, I need a specialized VPN client that only runs on Windows. I can’t open a path to my servers unless I have a Windows computer, which means even if I took my iPad, I’d still need a laptop to open a gateway to do company work. A full Windows 8 Surface would be nice to carry and would eliminate needing to carry the laptop.

[Via Nate Boateng]



  • gjgustav

    Yes, one of the ways IT locks out Macs – choosing proprietary VPNs instead of standard ones that work just as well.

    But the question nobody will answer for me is this: For those that think the Surface Pro will be the be all and end all, why aren’t they buying Windows tablets today? What will Surface offer that Windows tablets today don’t offer?

    • Lukas

      If you had the choice between a tablet running iOS from Apple, and one from Acer, which one would you pick?

      • gjgustav

        If Acer made iOS tablets for years and Apple hasn’t announced an Apple iPad, I probably would have bought the Acer model because I didn’t have a choice.

        Windows tablets have been available long before MS even announced the Surface. But nobody really acknowledged them, let alone buy one. My question is, why is this Intel Surface going to be so much better than what’s already available? So much better that now “Windows tablets are going to kick iPads out of businesses” where two months ago, nobody even thought that.

    • http://twitter.com/Awax Awax

      Windows 8 and its optimized features for touch interaction.

      • gjgustav

        I hope they’re better than the touch features that MS has done in the past. But the apps have to be on board too. Time will tell if app developers optimize their apps for touch, otherwise it will be a terrible experience. It’s not a sure thing.

  • quietstorms

    If this is who MS is catering to then good luck to them. There’s not going to be a lot of people who are going to spend $1000 and up for a tablet just to run desktop apps

    It didn’t work before and it probably won’t again..

  • Nate

    That seems like a niche market, given that 3rd-party VPN clients are available on the iPad. It’s one of the few areas where Apple allows outside vendors to integrate with the OS.

    For example, Cisco’s widely-used AnyConnect VPN works perfectly as a 3rd-party plug-in from Cisco.

    This in addition to the built-in support for PPTP (common in small Windows shops), L2TP, and the older Cisco IPsec protocol.

  • imthedude

    http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/12/07/10/microsoft_says_surface_tablet_is_just_a_design_point.html I was sorta taking this as they won’t even ship their own Surface product. I guess I’m miss construing what they’re saying.

  • http://twitter.com/CallMeSteveToo Andrew Ogg

    This seems a bit odd, there is plenty of VPN clients that work on Macs and iPads.

    I doubt it’s actually the lack of flexibility of the VPN clients, more likely it’s the lack of flexibility in IT department of the companies in question. That’s not a hardware issue, that’s a management issue.

  • http://twitter.com/Saxon912 Saxon912

    Seriously people, re-read the above quoted paragraph and then add WTF???

  • tyr

    Our corporate VPN requires card-reader software only available for Windows and even when it didn’t Mac clients were denied access (licensing issue on the server maybe?). MS is putting out a niche product, in fact the whole PC industry is probably heading for niche status, but there’s no doubt some people will have use for it.

  • mrkwst22

    Right on….right on!