4 ms·

I don't understand why Microsoft even calls the two tablets the same, when they couldn't be any different from the software, hardware and price perspectives. T

by salient 13y ago

I don't understand why Microsoft even calls the two tablets the same, when they couldn't be any different from the software, hardware and price perspectives. The only explanation I can come up with is that they're trying to confuse the consume and think that one is just as good as the other (you can do the same things with both), and this title "Surface Music Kit", even though it's just for the Surface Pro device, proves my point.

anonymfus 13y ago
You are confused. It's compatible with non-pro "Surface 2" (second generation Windows RT based device). It's incompatible with "Surface RT".
- jessaustin 13y ago
  Even the confusion seems to prove the point that Ms are confusing their customers.
- slantyyz 13y ago
  My company just ordered some of the original Surface Pros on discount. The labelling on the boxes had us doing a double take, because we thought we received the ARM units by mistake. Surface Pro boxes just say Surface on them, so you actually have to look at the additional text to see that the OS is Windows 8 Pro or that the SSD is larger than the RT before you realize you go the right unit.
gum_ina_package 13y ago
How is this any different than Apple only supporting nth Gen iDevices?
- sleepybrett 13y ago
  Generally when Apple stops supporting some generation of devices it's 100% because of a hardware reason. Sometimes that hardware reason is processor bound (siri, and yes I know people have used siri on jailbroken 4's but the performance is adversly effected) and sometimes something else ( iBeacon and other Bluetooth LE technologies ). I generally don't like to give MS the benefit of the doubt, but in this case I know a lot of work went into the keyboard cover between the 1st gen (both pro and RT) and 2nd gen surface units. Is it possible that the connector has changed?
  - Eyas 13y ago
    Yes, Microsoft's keyboard connector changed between the Surface RT and Surface Pro to add additional pins for power. This is why Microsoft's latest Power Cover also doesn't work on the Surface RT but works on the rest. It is possible the Music Cover takes advantage of the additional pins.
- cmelbye 13y ago
  How is that at all like this? Apple doesn't drop support for their devices after a year, plain and simple, and that's what Microsoft has done here. If there's a genuine "hardware limitation" that prevented them from giving support to their early adapters, then it's absurdly shocking to me that they didn't have the foresight to know that they might want to create covers like this in the future and add support for them preemptively.
  - kenjackson 13y ago
    They still support Surface RT. It's simply that they introduced effectively a new HW port on the new devices, which they haven't retrofitted on old devices. Apple has done the exact same thing on gen X to gen X+1 in the past. Everyone has.
  - jessedhillon 13y ago
    The iPhone 4S and below are completely unusable with iOS 7. Even switching between two apps will require one or the other being evicted/reloaded into memory. That phone is only from ~2011 mind you, and it's clearly become a third-class citizen in its own ecosystem.
    - slantyyz 13y ago
      Also, it's not as though Apple didn't introduce Siri with the 4S and exclude the 4 from that feature.
    - frogpelt 13y ago
      The iPhone 4 was released June 2010 and I know people who use iOS 7 with it. Sure, it has hiccups but the point was more about Apple not abandoning the users than about how well older products run the new stuff.
    - coldtea 13y ago
      >The iPhone 4S and below are completely unusable with iOS 7. Even switching between two apps will require one or the other being evicted/reloaded into memor I'm running iOS 7 in a iPhone 4 (not even 4S), as do millions of others, and what you are saying is BS. I can even upload a video if you don't believe me.
- coldtea 13y ago
  It's different in that Apple's "n" is quite higher and has a very good technological reason (a 4 year old machine or older is quite a difference to a 1 or 2 year old machine).

by salient 13y ago

anonymfus 13y ago

You are confused. It's compatible with non-pro "Surface 2" (second generation Windows RT based device). It's incompatible with "Surface RT".

jessaustin 13y ago
Even the confusion seems to prove the point that Ms are confusing their customers.
slantyyz 13y ago
My company just ordered some of the original Surface Pros on discount. The labelling on the boxes had us doing a double take, because we thought we received the ARM units by mistake. Surface Pro boxes just say Surface on them, so you actually have to look at the additional text to see that the OS is Windows 8 Pro or that the SSD is larger than the RT before you realize you go the right unit.

gum_ina_package 13y ago

How is this any different than Apple only supporting nth Gen iDevices?

sleepybrett 13y ago
Generally when Apple stops supporting some generation of devices it's 100% because of a hardware reason. Sometimes that hardware reason is processor bound (siri, and yes I know people have used siri on jailbroken 4's but the performance is adversly effected) and sometimes something else ( iBeacon and other Bluetooth LE technologies ). I generally don't like to give MS the benefit of the doubt, but in this case I know a lot of work went into the keyboard cover between the 1st gen (both pro and RT) and 2nd gen surface units. Is it possible that the connector has changed?
- Eyas 13y ago
  Yes, Microsoft's keyboard connector changed between the Surface RT and Surface Pro to add additional pins for power. This is why Microsoft's latest Power Cover also doesn't work on the Surface RT but works on the rest. It is possible the Music Cover takes advantage of the additional pins.
cmelbye 13y ago
How is that at all like this? Apple doesn't drop support for their devices after a year, plain and simple, and that's what Microsoft has done here. If there's a genuine "hardware limitation" that prevented them from giving support to their early adapters, then it's absurdly shocking to me that they didn't have the foresight to know that they might want to create covers like this in the future and add support for them preemptively.
- kenjackson 13y ago
  They still support Surface RT. It's simply that they introduced effectively a new HW port on the new devices, which they haven't retrofitted on old devices. Apple has done the exact same thing on gen X to gen X+1 in the past. Everyone has.
- jessedhillon 13y ago
  The iPhone 4S and below are completely unusable with iOS 7. Even switching between two apps will require one or the other being evicted/reloaded into memory. That phone is only from ~2011 mind you, and it's clearly become a third-class citizen in its own ecosystem.
  - slantyyz 13y ago
    Also, it's not as though Apple didn't introduce Siri with the 4S and exclude the 4 from that feature.
  - frogpelt 13y ago
    The iPhone 4 was released June 2010 and I know people who use iOS 7 with it. Sure, it has hiccups but the point was more about Apple not abandoning the users than about how well older products run the new stuff.
  - coldtea 13y ago
    >The iPhone 4S and below are completely unusable with iOS 7. Even switching between two apps will require one or the other being evicted/reloaded into memor I'm running iOS 7 in a iPhone 4 (not even 4S), as do millions of others, and what you are saying is BS. I can even upload a video if you don't believe me.
coldtea 13y ago
It's different in that Apple's "n" is quite higher and has a very good technological reason (a 4 year old machine or older is quite a difference to a 1 or 2 year old machine).