CIO.com blogger James A. Martin took his first stroll through Microsoft's Windows Store on his new Surface RT tablet. He wasn't surprised that some of his favorite tablet apps are missing, but was still pleasantly surprised by the experience. I bought a Microsoft Surface RT tablet today at a pop-up Microsoft store in San Francisco. After setting it up, among the first things I did was cruise the Windows Store. The Store is a pleasure to browse. Like the Windows RT tablet, it’s elegant. All the white space gives it a comfortable, uncrowded feel, and it is nicely organized. Upon launching the Store, you first encounter a Spotlight corner, which highlights a handful of noteworthy apps. On the day I bought the tablet, I saw some reassuring favorites from iOS and/or Android among the Spotlight choices: Urbanspoon, Skype, Netflix, NBC News, and The Wall Street Journal. Swiping to the right brings you to Surface picks, which are “some of our favorite apps.” Currently, there are 32 such apps including Wikipedia, Amazon’s Kindle e-reading app, eBay, StumbleUpon, Kayak, Angry Birds Space ($5), iHeartRadio, and Skyscanner. From there, apps are grouped into categories: Games (1081 apps); Social (151); Entertainment (824); Photo (142); Music & Video (145); Sports (208); and so on. Each category, including the Spotlight, has its own ‘Top free’ and ‘New releases’ button, for additional browsing options. Within a category, you have browsing options such as subcategories, prices, and sorting options (such as sort by newest, highest rating, and lowest price). Searching apps is easy, too. Just tap the right side of the screen to bring up the Search icon. App installations were fast and easy to do. In the top right of the Store screen, you’re notified that the app is downloading and again when it’s installed. The Windows Store has only been open since Oct. 26, so not surprisingly, many of my favorite iOS and Android apps aren’t available yet. Examples include Pandora, Facebook, Twitter, HootSuite, The Weather Channel, and the Washington Post. I particularly miss Dropbox, because so far I’ve been unsuccessful in opening any of my files using the Surface RT’s Internet Explorer 10 browser. The Windows Store has a long way to go to catch up with Apple’s App Store or Google Play Store—but it’s off to a good start. Related content brandpost Sponsored by BMC BMC on BMC: How the company enables IT observability with BMC Helix and AIOps The goals: transform an ocean of data and ultimately provide a stellar user experience and maximum value. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by BMC The data deluge: The need for IT Operations observability and strategies for achieving it BMC Helix brings thousands of data points together to create a holistic view of the health of a service. By Jeff Miller Dec 07, 2023 4 mins IT Leadership how-to How to create an effective business continuity plan A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack. Here’s how to create a plan that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an By Mary K. Pratt, Ed Tittel, Kim Lindros Dec 07, 2023 11 mins Small and Medium Business IT Skills Backup and Recovery interview WestRock CIDO Amir Kazmi on building resiliency Multidimensional resiliency is vital to setting yourself, your teams, and your organization up for success. Kazmi sets the tone at WestRock by recognizing the pace of change, instilling a learning and growth mindset, and being transparent with his te By Dan Roberts Dec 07, 2023 8 mins IT Strategy Staff Management IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe