When our Microsoft Surface arrived, this is the list of things I did and needed to get it installed the way I wanted:

1. Cut open the cardboard box at the top side (although it is clearly indicated that you shouldn't cut the box). Not that it is a problem when you (gently) cut the box, but the top part of the box just slides off, so it's a little stupid cutting it apart.
2. I read the manual ! I didn't want to run a couple of thousend just by doing something I should have known. (Since it's only a very short booklet this can be done rather fast.)
3. I asked a couple of colleagues to help me move it to my office. However, before picking it up I tried to find out what is the best way of holding the thing. The manual doesn't state anything about this. I did some searching on the net and found a movie of people moving the surface by holding on to the transparent part of the machine. Although this seems to be the logical thing to do, I wanted to make sure that the top can hold the weight of the machine. I still haven't found any official statement regarding this topic, but I guess that you can safely move it this way. Warning: if you need to move it up our down a staircase you probably want to be with more than two persons !
4. I've always been convinced that the environment you are developing in is very important. Therefore I wanted to set mine up in such a way that it feels comfortable working both on the surface and on my other development machines. I wanted to have enough space to easily move around the surface, demonstrate applications to other people, have some hallway testing once and awhile (after all a surface has been created to use in a more social setting). On the other hand it also wanted to be close enough not to have to get up and walk to the surface when developing for it or when trying something out. To achieve this goal it turned that I needed:
   
   
   • An extra long VGA-cable in order to have the external monitor positioned next to my other screens. I want to developed while being seated at a desk, not on my knees next to the surface :-)
   • Either a wireless mouse and keyboard or a mouse and keyboard with a USB extension cable.
   • An network connection (I went for the wired option, although the wireless is working fine) 
     
     (You can see the environment I'm working in now on the picture below)
     
5. I almost managed to get the environment I liked. The only downside to my set-up is that you can not move around the table anymore. On one side there is not enough room to stand or sit. I'll have to ask for a bigger office ! 
6. Once the physical installation was completed I set up the software development environment. The unit comes with Visual Studio 2008 Express and a 30-day trial of Expression Blend. I replaced both of them with their full featured counterparts.
7. That was it. We are now ready to do some actual programming !