[TwistedWeasel]

A lot of QA departments these days put their effort behind automated testing, which is very valuable but will never replace actual human usage of a device.

Automation should catch one class of problems but real world usage is necessary to catch a whole different type of issue.

[vinceguidry]

I've worked in a testing lab for a product somewhat like the Surface. They had an automated testing platform but it was pretty much useless. They didn't put enough effort into it to make it worthwhile. As a result basic sanity testing had to be done by hand. It took forever and as a result there was no real time for 'actual human usage'.

I found the experience invaluable in helping me to understand why I found virtually every hardware and the vast majority of software products extremely painful to use. And how much I appreciate Steve Jobs for showing us how it's done.