5 ms·

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.
    - jessedhillon 13y ago
      I had a 4S with iOS 7 for several months and what you're saying is complete BS. I can upload a video if you don't believe me. Try non-hostility as an initial response in the future.
      - coldtea 13y ago
        >I had a 4S with iOS 7 for several months and what you're saying is complete BS. I can upload a video if you don't believe me. You do understand that "had a 4S with iOS 7 for several months" and "totally unusable" are contradictory, right? I'll have the video, please. >Try non-hostility as an initial response in the future. Well, sorry, I guess. You could also try not generalising from your outlier example.
- makomk 13y ago
  Microsoft still support the Surface RT in exactly the same way that Apple support their year-old devices - they're still providing software updates for them, but some newer features aren't available. On iOS stuff like Siri and the new motion tracking features wasn't available without upgrading from hardware only introduced a year or so earlier.
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).

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.
  - jessedhillon 13y ago
    I had a 4S with iOS 7 for several months and what you're saying is complete BS. I can upload a video if you don't believe me. Try non-hostility as an initial response in the future.
    - coldtea 13y ago
      >I had a 4S with iOS 7 for several months and what you're saying is complete BS. I can upload a video if you don't believe me. You do understand that "had a 4S with iOS 7 for several months" and "totally unusable" are contradictory, right? I'll have the video, please. >Try non-hostility as an initial response in the future. Well, sorry, I guess. You could also try not generalising from your outlier example.
makomk 13y ago
Microsoft still support the Surface RT in exactly the same way that Apple support their year-old devices - they're still providing software updates for them, but some newer features aren't available. On iOS stuff like Siri and the new motion tracking features wasn't available without upgrading from hardware only introduced a year or so earlier.

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).