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Four years is a long time. Most people only need four years to graduate high school or college for instance. Microsoft launched its Surface tablet running Windows RT about a month ago. When the tablet launched there was no official support policy for Windows RT. Most large enterprise buyers want to know that Microsoft will continue to support a platform for multiple years before they start purchasing and rolling devices out in quantity.

Microsoft has now officially confirmed that it will support Windows RT on its Surface tablet platform for at least four years. Microsoft recently updated its support lifecycle page noting that four-year support period. If you’re familiar with Microsoft and its support pledge for most of its software, you might know that typically consumer and business oriented versions of the Windows operating system are supported for five years.

Business specific versions get an additional five years of extended support. Windows RT is a hardware and software combination and therefore has different rules for support for Microsoft. The mainstream Support End Date for Windows RT on Service will be April 11, 2017. That is roughly 4 and a half years from the launch of the product.

Since the Surface tablet running RT is a consumer product, there is no Extended Support End Date. What that support period means in a nutshell is that anyone who purchases a Surface RT tablet be able to get updates until April 2017. It’s interesting to note that Microsoft’s service window for Windows RT is significantly longer than what Apple has been providing iPad buyers. The original iPad for instance no longer qualifies for iOS updates and it’s only 2 1/2 years old.

[via ZDNet]

Microsoft promises to support Surface with Windows RT for at least four years is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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The new Windows tablets, led by Microsoft’s Surface, provide a third major family of tablets for consumers and the computing world. The significance and stakes are enormous because tablets are among the most important developments in computing and consumer products in the last 20 years. Like Google’s Android tablets, the Windows tablets will be made by many different manufacturers. And just like Google’s Nexus, which provides reference designs for the Android product line, Microsoft is producing its own Surface tablets for the Windows product line. More »

Modest would be the perfect word to describe Microsoft’s current sales for its Surface RT tablets. In an interview with the French newspaper LeParisien, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer admits that the Surface RT sales so far have been modest, but quickly turned the focus on the incoming Surface Pro tablet which, in Ballmer’s own words, is “high-end” and “unique” with a new Intel chip and a higher screen resolution. Unfortunately, the Microsoft CEO didn’t divulge any more details of its sales figures for the Surface RT tablet. The Microsoft CEO, however, confirmed that Microsoft has had a total number of 4 million Windows 8 upgrades just three days after the official launch. In case you missed our Surface RT review, you can check it out here.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Tablets help users with vision loss read faster and easier [Research], Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 Get Android Update Before Availability,

Acer seems to be straddling a delicate position with respect to Microsoft right now. On the one hand, it’s outwardly indifferent towards Surface RT and indeed the the whole Windows RT concept, which is why it’s holding off on its own RT tablets for the time being. But if that’s true, why are the company’s top brass so eager for Microsoft to withdraw from the competition? President for Greater China, Linxian Lang, has just resorted to a food metaphor to emphasize the point, warning that Redmond will have to eat “hard rice” with Surface, and implying that it should stick to its more readily-chewed software diet. If you’ve seen our own Surface RT review, then you’ll know our thoughts on the matter: Microsoft’s tablet has been boiled and salted just right, which might be the real reason Acer is so averse to it.

[Image credit: Sina Tech]

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft, Acer

Acer exec warns Microsoft may eat ‘hard rice’ with its Surface tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Nov 2012 08:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week saw the debut of two ARM-powered tablets by old rivals. One eschews traditional desktop input methods; the other embraces them. One occupies the high end of pricing in its class; the other is competitive with the market leader. One had the engineering goal of fitting in one hand; the other comes with a kickstand for being set on a desk or table. But perhaps the biggest contrast between the iPad mini and the Surface RT approaches is how well they take advantage of the hardware and software momentum of their predecessors.

Continue reading Switched On: Tablets and tradeoffs

Filed under: Tablets, Apple, Microsoft

Switched On: Tablets and tradeoffs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Oct 2012 17:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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