JULY 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 5According to ZDNet, the delays associated with the
coronavirus have pushed back the launches of Surface
Neo andotherdual-screenPCs,pasttheirexpected
Christmas 2020 debutandinto2021.Microsoft’s
Android-poweredSurfaceDuohasnotbeenaffected.
Sources close to the company had told our
colleagues at PCWorld that the Surface Book 3 and
SurfaceGo2 launchwasbeingdelayeduntiltheend
ofApril.ThatdelaywasduetoconcernsthatMicrosoft
simplywouldn’thaveenoughdevicestoputin stores,
theysaid.Microsoftisalsowrestlingwiththereality
that audiences might not want a premium Windows
workstation and a mobile-centric Windows device
whenconsumersarestuckathomebecauseofthe
coronaviruspandemic,worriedaboutlosingtheirjobs.
A source close to Microsoft indicated that the
SurfaceNeois beingpausedtorealignresourcesto
addressthemosturgentcustomerneeds.TheAndroid-
basedSurfaceDuoisstillontracktoshipin2020.
Microsoft has also invested resources into
developingWindows10X,whichwasreleasedas
anemulatorinFebruary.Enterprisingusersfigured
out a waytoputit ona single-screendeviceshortly
thereafter.AccordingtoZDNet,single-screen
Windows10Xdevicesarenowthepriority,including
potentiallytraditionalclamshellsandtwo-in-ones.
Thereasonmayhavea lottodowiththelukewarm
receptionforWindows 10 S.
When Microsoft launched Windows 10 S in 2017, it
had designsonupendingGoogleanditsinexpensive
Chromebookhardwareinschools.Atthetime,
Windows devices were criticized as being expensive