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February 13, 2013

Microsoft Surface Pro will Stop Support in 2017

By Ed Silverstein, TMCnet Contributor

Microsoft (News - Alert) will stop support for the new Surface Pro tablet by the middle of 2017 – which may or may not be enough time for users of the device.



The recent news announced by Microsoft led to a debate online if that is enough time for “Mainstream support” – with the official stop date being July 10, 2017.

That means there likely will not be any more regular updates after that date, according to a report from Slash Gear. This could also affect consumers who plan to buy the tablet in a couple of years – after a predicted price drop.

Microsoft is not alone in putting in a limited period for support. It is noteworthy that Apple (News - Alert) also stops support for older iOS devices, such as the early iPads, iPhones and iPods, news reports said.

The news comes as many review of the Surface Pro have been mixed or even negative.

“One major complaint leveled against it is the amount of free space available out of the box. On the 128GB version, users have access to a comfortable 83GB of free space, but on the 64GB version, only 23GB of storage is available to the user,” TMCnet’s Rory Lidstone reported. “Another common complaint is the size and weight of the Surface Pro, which is both thicker and heavier than the Surface RT due to its beefier hardware.”

But four and a half years for support is considered by some to be a decent time for support from a company. The limited support time still led to many comments getting posted online on Slash Gear.

“Get ready to throw out your brand new tablet... In [four] and a half years,” joked Garrett Shaffer, one commentator. “It won't be new by then, will it?”

“Isn't that better than most tablets?” asked dastopher.

“I'd think that that Surface Pro people will be buying two years from now will go by a different name? And therefore have a fresher lifecycle?” happy_noodle added.

In addition, AceOfClubs commented that, “regular updates are based on the OS not the system. So the even if ‘support’ for the tablet ends in 4 1/2 years regular updates will continue so long as windows 8 is supported.”

“The average life cycle of technology is only 18 months,” Eric points out. “Four years is more than sufficient.”




Edited by Braden Becker
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