Barely a week after it was buried under a mountain of firmware updates, Microsoft’s latest Surface Pro is getting patched again.

The good news? This time, Microsoft is finally fixing an “intermittent pen inaccuracy when [one’s] hand is on the screen” issue that its customers first reported over a year ago.

“If my hand is not on the screen, the pen is perfectly accurate, even at an angle,” the original complaint explains. “About 50 percent of the time, if I begin a stroke with my hand already resting on the screen, there is a significant offset of the pen line to the actual tip position. This makes hand-writing nigh impossible.”

Well, Microsoft is listening. They’re just moving very slowly.

“As of [August 8, 2018], the fix to address this issue has completed testing and is now live, please go update your Surface Pro via Windows Update to get the latest download,” a Microsoft support rep chimed in on the complaint thread.

According to the Surface Pro Update History website, this latest set of firmware updates impacts all 2017 Surface Pros (models 1796 and 1807) running Windows 10 version 1703 or newer. The fixes address the holy trinity of security, reliability, and performance, and include:

• Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio Adapter – Bluetooth 15.68.9125.57 improves system security.
• Marvell AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network Controller – Network adapter 15.68.9125.57 improves system security.
• Surface Integration Service Device – System devices 4.18.136.0 improves system stability.
• Surface Touch Servicing ML – System devices 1.16.139.0 improves pen and touch performance.
• Surface Touch – Firmware 429.0.1.10 improves pen and touch performance.
• Surface UEFI – Firmware 234.2291.769.0 improves driver installation servicing.

I can only assume this was a difficult computer science problem.

Tagged with Surface Pro (2017), Surface Pro with LTE Advanced