Surface Hub - First Impressions after initial setup

Hi David, 

nice to meet you! Let me try to give you some answers bellow :-)

Have to reload/reset device to change time zones. 

This is possible in "Settings" -> "Time and language" -> "Time Zone"

• Reload/reset device took ~6 hrs to complete. Need faster processor? Better drives? More memory? For a system loaded with a trimmed down version of Win10 its too long.
• When setup in a conference room it will have to be mounted in a way that no one can unplug the device while its reloading. All you see is a black screen with a pinwheel. Asked several support staff what they would try if someone reported this behavior. Their answer was how long has it been doing this? Then they said reboot the device. Well for a normal workstation that may work on the Hub you will BRICK the device. NEVER POWER OFF the device when its reloading or MS support may have to replace the drive to get it working again. The only way to avoid a user from doing this is mount on wall and build out a box to hide the power cord and power buttons. Then you lose access to the USB ports as well. Bad design IMO.  Never test without a couple of technically challenged people to find your gaps.

This was significant improved with the anniversary update, also the reset now indicates the progress with a % to avoid users to turn off the device

• MS app store is bare. what purpose does the app store provide when there are literally (6) apps (business only ignoring games)available that were not preinstalled.

There are more and more apps coming nearly daily, an small example list here:
3D Play, AutoCAD 360, AX-Lite video player, Bullclip, Buzz Radar Command Centre, Catchbook, Collaboard, Drawboard PDF, Hub Media Player, Mediator, Mural, Muscular System - 3D, Atlas of Anatomy, Network File Manager 10, Remote Desktop, Save to USB, Siemens JT2GO, Sketchable, Staffpad, StormBoard, TechSmith Loop, The 3D Classroom, Virbeya, VLC, XOS Thundercloud

• Unable to load any 3rd party applications on the device like WebEx. I understand that this is a MS product and Skype is their official chat/video client but to handicap customers into a single app is reminiscent of Apple. (boo!) Why no support for 3rd party apps that customers are guaranteed to use or own. Makes the adoption of this sort of item overly complicated.

The Windows Store is open for everyone to publish apps, Surface Hub runs Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. and with this also Cisco or others could create own apps and upload them. Apps must be targeted for the Universal device family and could be tested in the so called developer mode, more information about this topic could be found here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/surface-hub/install-apps-on-surface-hub

• Lack of documentation. Other than the initial setup guide there is nothing readily available that maps out use cases for the device. If you purchase a Hub to demo and determine if it will meet your corporate needs wouldn’t it be nice to offer some guidance on what the device can do. Makes testing and functionality testing a lot faster for those of us that don’t have time to sit and play all day.

You might find this links usefull, in special the Surface Hub Training is super usefull as it
is a full recorded 2-day Surface Hub Training including labs which guide you through the deployment and troubleshooting steps:

Surface Hub Quickstart : https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20431/surfacehub-videos

Surface Hub Training : http://www.aka.ms/SurfaceHubTrainingSurface

Hub Technet Documentation: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/surface-hub/index
Surface Hub Apps Dev: https://aka.ms/surfacehubappsdev
Surface Hub Support : https://aka.ms/SurfaceHubSupport

• Must use Task View to close open windows, everyone’s initial reaction is to click the arrow in the top left, which just replaced the standard maximize window icon, you know the one you have used for decades now.

You could also drag the app window down from the top of the screen to close.

• Need ability to use SCCM and WSUS for management and updates. Both are MS products so why isn’t it there already?  You expect me to purhcase MS Intune to manage a $15k device?  once again I already have investments in another 3rd party solution for MDM.

Surface Hub has been validated with Microsoft’s first-party MDM providers:

• On-premises MDM with System Center Configuration Manager (beginning in version 1602)
• Hybrid MDM with System Center Configuration Manager and Microsoft Intune
• Microsoft Intune standalone

You can also manage Surface Hubs using any third-party MDM provider that can communicate with Windows 10 using the MDM protocol.

Full topic here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/surface-hub/manage-settings-with-mdm-for-surface-hub

Surface Hub could be Updated with direct Internet Connection / WSUS and also with WUfB more details could be found here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/surface-hub/manage-windows-updates-for-surface-hub

Hope this helps to clarify some topics :-)  

Christian