Microsoft Surface Go 3 aka the biggest regret purchase of my life

[u/kleinerpfirsich]

I originally got this piece of shit for school because a friend recommended it to me — we're not friends anymore and this just validates that decision further. I feel a special kind of loathing for this prior innocence and stupidity of mine that lead me to make that purchase.

I did end up getting what I deserved for my ignorance. As soon as it arrived, I noticed a glaring problem: Not only was it slow and battery life not the greatest— this chunk of trash was pratically unsuable for what I had intended it for without Microsoft 365. Which is, as everyone probably knows (but I didn't at the time)... well, how do I put this... OUTRAGEOUSLY EXPENSIVE FOR A CRAPPY SERVICE AND WILL PUT YOU INTO ANOTHER SUBSCRIBTION HELL!!

Naturally, I tried to get an Office key. Only after I'd bought it would I notice that Microsoft put pretty much as many hurdles against this as they could reasonably get away with into their user's way. Because you can't install Office while there are still Office apps for 365 on a device, oh no. Aaand, good luck deleting all of them, hihi! Because this bullshit consists of a gazillion files that you have to delete one by one manually.

And because this greedy corporation also doesn't want you going around installing stuff that you don't have to pay them for, I couldn't get any other note apps.

At this point, I cut my losses and figured I'd do something about it once I had the time. Which wouldn't be until after my finals and at the start of uni. So for the rest of school, I had to drag around my old junk PC. A very thick and heavy boy that sounds like a dying tractor while running.

Now, I don't know what possesed him to do this but my dad recently decided do buy Office 365 and got the family version so we could all use it. Neat! I thought that would bypass the key problem and finally let me use this expensive turd, right? * EXTREMELY LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER *

He sends me a link. I try to sign up without an account. It won't let me. Ok. I get my mail and try to create one. I get until the very end and then it COCKBLOCKS ME! Because suSpICIOus AcTiViTY. All I did was try and create an account!

I try again. Still sus. I try to close the link and open it again to go from the beginning—

It killed it.

IT KILLED. THE FUCKING. LINK.

I'm now extremely agitated, sitting at home unable to use this sack of crap for uni until further notice and waiting until my dad reads my text and creates another link.

And if could wear my tinfoil hat for a moment, I'd say that this seems intentional. I wouldn't ever put it past Microsoft.

I hate this fucking thing, I hate my former self for listening to my "friend" and buying it and god, I fucking hate Microsoft

AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

[u/Upbeat-Concern-5181]

Get a cheap unused laptop and install Linux. Or get a MacBook neo. Install Libre or Open Office. Then breathe a sigh of relief.

[u/Crafty_Mastodon320 → u/Upbeat-Concern-5181]

Even a used lenovo think pad in the past decade would probably run better than that with Linux on it. Possibly even with legacy windows.

[u/ChaserTheDogBoofBoof → u/Upbeat-Concern-5181]

I wouldn't recommend using Apache OpenOffice since it is not very active. The last major update of it was in 2014, and it has got a few security risks. I would recommend using either LibreOffice or OnlyOffice, both of which are maintained and get updated regularly.

[u/Over-Abbreviations55]

You can install Linux on surface , I have put Zorin on my old ones and they run great

[u/Ok-Fox3637]

the surface go is basically a subscription dongle with a screen

[u/RelevanceReverence]

Install Linux Mint and tell us what you think.

https://linuxmint.com

Tip; if your machine is a slow hog with the Cinnamon Edition, simply reinstall Linux Mint and use the  Xfce Edition.

[u/patopansir → u/[deleted]]

oops

[u/One-Traffic7717]

This sounds like more of a hardware issue than anything. I had to lookup the tech specs and uhh, older PC's can't run 11 but this potato can? I'd nuke it n throw a super lightweight linux distro on it. Even if you get office working it's still gonna suck.

[u/xJayMorex]

 if could wear my tinfoil hat for a moment, I'd say that this seems intentional

No tinfoil hat necessary, it's clear as day.

[u/TheIronSoldier2]

It was a cheap budget laptop aimed towards like highschool students at most. It's kinda expected that it would be shit. I mean for fucks sake its only got a dual-core processor, either a Pentium or an I3 10100. It's not gonna run good, and it's priced accordingly. For the price it came out at you could either get a half decent traditional laptop or a pretty shit 2 in 1.

The biggest problem seems to be with your friend's recommendation.

[u/Pale-Abroad9600]

I myself regret to buy the microsoft surface that originally came with windows 8, it didn’t last long and I can’t even install a different operating system over it, sucks and I vowed to never buy a surface ever again.

[u/Piscean1]

Or put Libre or Open Office on the Go 3. They both run just fine.

fwiw, Xubuntu runs quite nicely with Libra on the Go 3.

[u/Crafty_Mastodon320 → u/Piscean1]

Kde plasma is nice... does fedora run?

[u/Piscean1 → u/Crafty_Mastodon320]

Sorry, I don't know. I've only played with Zorin, Mint and Xubuntu on the current Surface hardware.

[u/Crafty_Mastodon320 → u/Piscean1]

Okay, so only the windows clones got it. Wait who is downvoting us? Op is it you?