All right DC brain trust... my company is in need of a new web host for our clients, as Hostgator has been in a significant state of decline over the last couple years. Ideally we're looking for shared hosting plans as VPS managing/reselling has proven to be more trouble than it's worth for a shop as small as ours. 

I can read feature lists and prices as well as the next guy, but what I'd really like is recommendations based on real experience--especially if you've used a host for a long-ish time and are happy with them. Obviously reliability is important, customer service being a close second priority.

Yesterday Microsoft released a public preview of Windows 8.1 featuring the return of the Start button, an overhauled unified search and Internet Explorer 11. Anybody take it for a spin?

I've made it no secret that I have embraced the direction Microsoft has headed lately. When the Surface RT was announced, I immediately fell in love with the hardware form factor and had used Windows 8 enough to know that touch input was the way to go. Darn things are expensive though. . .

Just after the Holidays I saw an offer from billmelater for no interest on purchases of 500 bucks if paid for within a year . . . I just couldn't resist and pulled the trigger.

My biggest fear was buyer's remorse. . . but man, I love this thing. More than I'd hoped to. The touch gestures, once learned, are incredibly natural and intuitive. It's the first time I've felt this comfortable with an interface since WebOS. The hardware is very beautifully designed and it's clearly a high quality/well assembled machine.

Most of the time, I'm just in the Modern (Metro) UI. It's excellent for simple "tablet" functionality. I browse the web (these forums at this very moment), read email, mind my social networks . . . pretty much everything except programming.  It's the best tablet by far I've ever plopped down on the couch with.

Before I'd actually had my hands on this thing, I kind of wished that Microsoft had not included the ability to access the full desktop on the RT devices. It looked like it was going to be a jarring blemish on the elegant "Modern" interface. Now that I've spent time with the device, I no longer feel that way at all. I never see the desktop unless I want to--but it's great knowing it's there. I've got the full version of office at my disposal, as well as all the standard Windows default applications from calculator to power shell. I can plugin a USB hub with mouse and keyboard and it's like a laptop. I don't spend much time on the desktop--but like I said, it's nice to know it's there. Personally, I was mostly in the market for a tablet not a computer replacement. As it turned out, I'm getting a lot more productivity out of it than I planned. When I need to write something, I love grabbing this and a keyboard and finding somewhere more comfortable than my desk to get it done.

The Surface RT certainly is not for everybody but I sure do love it.