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Last week, Microsoft announced a number of new products within its Surface range of consumer devices.
Alongside new iterations of its laptops and tablets, the tech giant unveiled two new foldable devices – the Surface Neo and the Surface Duo.
The Neo comprises of two 9-inch screens, meaning users have a small, pocketable tablet that can open up into a full 13-inch display when needed.
The Duo is the same concept, but with two 5.6-inch screens that combine to create an 8.3-inch display. The Duo, however, is noted for being able to make phone calls, meaning Microsoft is making its way back into the smartphone arena after the demise of Windows Phone around four years ago.
There is one other difference between the Neo and Duo though. While the Neo will run Windows 10X – an “expression of Windows 10”, the Duo will not, instead running on an Android system.
App developers have now launched a petition, calling on Microsoft to enable to Duo to run the new Windows 10X OS.
“The newly announced Surface Duo running Android ONLY does not accomplish what many windows UWP developers and Microsoft fans want. We want a Surface Duo device that runs the new Windows 10x OS and that emulates Android apps. Why? Because there are many developers still out here that want to write Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps that run on all form factors,” reads the Change.org petition.
“When UWP was announced you promised one code base to run on any form factor… including phones and other small form factor “pocketable” devices. Many developers, both on the consumer and enterprise sides of things, still really really want to target small form factor devices with UWP, it’s just that there doesn’t exist any since you killed Lumia!”
By announcing an Android-only Surface device, the petition accuses Microsoft of effectively slamming the door shut on there “ever truly being a universal Windows app”.
“We urge you to keep your promise to UWP developers and fans and give us Windows 10x on Surface Duo.”
At the time of writing, the petition already has over 1,000 signatures. You can check it out here.
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