Surface - First Impressions

Our Surface was delivered yesterday, and last night I had the an opportunity to use it for a couple hours.  I'm quite impressed.

• The Windows 8-style interface is nice and quite functional on a normal desktop/laptop.  It shines on the Surface.
• The Touch Cover takes some getting used to.  But it turns a traditional tablet into a productive computer when you want it to be.  Even sitting in a comfortable chair with my feet kicked up and the Surface on my lap, I could use the touch cover reasonably well.
• Office 2013 is included, and it keeps the consistent feel that you're used to on your desktop, which further makes the Surface much more than just a device on which to check email, browse the web or play Angry Birds.

Citrix has a beta Citrix Receiver app in the Store that is supposed to let you access your company's Citrix gateway, but so far it hasn't let me authenticate.  Not sure if that's a problem with the app, or with the older version of  citrix used at my work.

A pretty important line of code in a Windows 8 app...

I've been working the past few hours trying to figure out why, all of a sudden, my Windows 8 app couldn't get past the splash screen.  I did find one hit online that I was hoping would help, but my problem had nothing to do with Visual Studio acting up.  As usual, when tearing things apart and trying to put them back together, I inadvertently missed adding a crucial line of code in the main page's OnLaunched event:


                // Place the frame in the current Window and ensure that it is active
                Window.Current.Activate();


rootFrame.Navigate(typeof(Views.MainPage)) doesn't do the trick by itself.