Live Chat: Windows 8 and Surface unboxed at last!

Readers speak their brains on remote desktop, Metro apps, boot times, durability and more

Live Chat This Thursday Microsoft officially tried to become just a little bit more like Apple.

For nearly three decades, support for a wide range of hardware and the freedom to install whatever software you want helped Windows to dominate on PCs. But, stung by Apple’s success with the iPhone and iPad, Microsoft has decided on a new approach.

The launch of Windows 8 and Windows RT marked the moment Microsoft asserts Apple-like control over the distribution of applications and the hardware its operating system runs on, while giving Windows users a more iOS-ish touch-driven user interface - The Interface Formerly Known as Metro, or TIFKAM.

Redmond hopes Windows running on ARM-powered kit, as well as its own Surface laptop-cum-tablet, will crack open the market for thin devices with apps slurped from an official Windows Store. And, oh, that pricing: Microsoft bangs on about the Apple tax, but have you seen what Microsoft and PC makers are charging?

Less than 24 hours after the official launch readers joined All-About-Microsoft blogger Mary-Jo Foley, Reg regular and ITWriting.com author Tim Anderson, El Reg software editor Gavin Clarke and fellow Reg readers for a full debrief on Microsoft’s New York launch.

What was said, what did it mean, where do we go from here? Which of the many missing technical details on Surface were finally delivered, who’s bought a Surface and what’s been your first hands-on experience?

The gang spoke at 1300 GMT (1400 BST, 0900 ET, 0600 Pacific) on 26 October, 2012 in a Live Chat; you can replay the comments in the window below.

Meantime - have you had a fondle and a poke of Surface of Windows 8 already, or are you a bit of a Tim Cook? Got an opinion regardless? Wade in with fellow Reg readers in our Windows 8 Forum here.

If you are a bit of a Cookie or if you can't get enough of Windows 8, then try our Windows 8 roundup below:

• The road to Windows 8: Windows 1.0, Windows NT, Windows 95 and more
• What to expect with Windows 8 on ARM
• Why Microsoft will declare victory on Windows 8, and why it'll be wrong
• Priced to fail: Surface and PC makers' ARM-tablets price tags
• Your apps will work on Windows 8, but Microsoft wants you to rewrite them anyway