Microsoft Surface Pro will not include Office as standard

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Posted on 14 Jan 2013 at 10:40, by Gareth Halfacree

Microsoft has officially confirmed that its Surface Pro tablets will not come pre-installed with Microsoft Office.

This is a bit of a surprise, as the ARM-based tablet, the Surface RT ships with a copy of Office, specially designed for ARM processors.

Surface Pro, uses a regular x86 processor and full Windows 8, meaning it has more in common with Ultrabooks than tablets. This gives the Surface Pro far more flexibility than the Surface RT: as well as software designed specifically for touch-screen tablet devices, the Surface Pro can also run the same software as found on users' existing desktops and laptops.

That software can include the full version of Microsoft Office - but if so, that'll be up to the buyer as Office will not be bundled with the devices as standard.

Responding to a query from Neowin, Microsoft confirmed that it would not be including any version of Office, cut-down or otherwise, with the Windows 8-based Surface Pro tablets when they launch later this month.

By way of justifying the decision not to include the software on a device which is to cost significantly more than the Surface RT models, Microsoft claimed that "customers will be able to choose the Office that best suits their needs".

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