Update - We Have a Winner!!! Contest! Microsoft Surface Pro Tablet: Remotely Supporting Your Teams' New Gadget!

We Have a Winner!!!

Well, folks....it looks like DameWare can be used to remotely control a Surface Pro tablet.  We'd like to thank our thwack friend jimmyyen for doing the QA work for us and proving that DW is once again up to the task.  Check out jimmyyen's video below to see his handy-work.

The Surface Pro is Here, Now How Do You Support It?

As most of you already know, Microsoft released its Surface Pro tablet this weekend.  What sets this tablet apart from the likes of Apple’s iPad and even Microsoft’s Surface RT is that it is squarely aimed at enterprise users.  Its internals are really no different than those of a laptop or ultrabook.  It runs on a 3rd generation Intel Core i5 Processor, has 4GB of RAM, and up to 128GB of storage on an internal SSD.  It also includes the Pro version of Windows 8 which means it can be joined to an Active Directory domain and can have Group Policies enforced on it.  Adoption rates for this new tablet are expected to be robust, so it is time for IT pros to start thinking about how they are going to support it.

                                                                    Image by PCWorld

So how will you support these new devices? 

Well, if they're exactly what we’ve been told they are, DameWare will be up to the task.  The DameWare MRC agent should be able to be installed on a Surface Pro just like any other Intel-based Windows computer.  This means that you should be able to remotely control a Surface Pro the same way you would the other Windows computers on your network.  It also means that you ought to be able to perform remote administration tasks on one like viewing event logs and restarting services from the DameWare Remote Support console.
 
So you’re probably thinking….Should be?  Ought to?  Does DameWare work with Surface Pro tablets or not??  Well, to be honest we haven’t tried because they just became available 2 days ago.  The release of the Surface Pro got us thinking about how active our friends are on thwack and we decided to let you help us find out if these new tablets can be supported by DameWare.  Now rest assured that we haven’t lost all of our software developers or QA analysts.  We just thought it might be fun to engage our thwack friends in a little QA contest.

 
The QA Contest: Show Your DameWare Surface Pro Support Savvy

Here’s how it works:  All you have to do is be the 1st one by February 25th, 2013 to post a video on thwack of a Surface Pro tablet being remotely controlled with DameWare Remote Support or Mini Remote Control and then tweet it with #DameWare.  It’s that simple!  The winner will receive a $100 Amazon gift card and some bragging rights on thwack.

And Now for Some Fine Print

Your video has to clearly show that it is a Surface Pro tablet being remotely controlled and it has to be with the Mini Remote Control Viewer.  I recommend showing an MRC chat session to prove you’re using the MRC Viewer.  The best way to get your video on thwack is to upload it to YouTube and post the link to the DameWare DRS or DameWare MRC forums.  You can also submit directly to those forums and attach your video submission.  Please make sure to check the “DameWare Surface Pro Tablet Contest” category before posting.  Once you've posted your video, tweet your video with #DameWare.

Sadly, this contest is for US residents only.  My apologies to our good thwack friends from Canada, Europe, Asia, and Latin America.  Please see the attached Terms & Condition document to get all of the fine print.

Go Get ‘em!

So what are you waiting for?  Let’s see those videos!