VPN Client Support

Once the 8.1 RTM is available for the Surface 1's, I will be interested to see if this works as advertised.  The UI you have in the screen shot is not very different from the options in the current 8.0 or 8.1 Preview screens.

Given that it is clearly documented that Microsoft that RT's VPN client requires an IT admin to permit standard PPTP, L2TP/IPsec, or IKEv2 connections so that a custom VPN client is not required, I'm still not sure what to think here.

Someone comment from Microsoft on any changes or improvements to RT VPN capability, especially as it pertains to VPNs that have required vendor clients previously, would be helpful here.

Once the 8.1 RTM is available for the Surface 1's, I will be interested to see if this works as advertised.  The UI you have in the screen shot is not very different from the options in the current 8.0 or 8.1 Preview screens.

Given that it is clearly documented that Microsoft that RT's VPN client requires an IT admin to permit standard PPTP, L2TP/IPsec, or IKEv2 connections so that a custom VPN client is not required, I'm still not sure what to think here.

Someone comment from Microsoft on any changes or improvements to RT VPN capability, especially as it pertains to VPNs that have required vendor clients previously, would be helpful here.

Seeing the server name field means to me it is an OS "app" replacing the Junos Network Connect desktop tool.  Pretty excited to see if it works, but with our company getting more and more browser only for tasks and tools with a smattering of Office docs, the Surface with VPN will be incredibly work friendly for me.  I'll probably set up another user profile just for work and config the Outlook client, map drives, remote desktop locations, Lync app, etc.

Sent that update to my configuration team as I have been monitoring RT solutions.  I will request a Surface 2 when they are out and test this.  If it works, it just made Surface 2 (RT) viable.  

WIth that and the addition of USB3, higher res, ability to use the power keyboard (should increase the battery to close to 15 hours), thinner, better hinge, etc and I can see this being my travel device.  I hotspot myself but I hear there will be a LTE version as well.

Bad news. Went to one of the Surface presentations at the Microsoft store and the head of the Surface team says there will be no support for Cisco vpn for the surface 2 when released. He said they discuss the issue all the time but didn't go into details on what's going on behind the scenes. To me he didn't seem optimistic that it will come in the near future. He said you would have to get the pro for Cisco support. Such a shame that a company this big can't resolve this and thus are content to cede the market to androids and iPads in the enterprise.

I just attended the Microsoft Surface 2 sneak preview. I spoke with the head of Surface marketing and one of the PLMs. They took my business card and said that they would be back to me by this Friday with definitive information.

Stay tuned.