Despite Microsoft's Executive Vice President of Operating Systems Terry Myerson saying at Microsoft's Windows 10 event that the Surface RT would be getting Windows 10, that is not the case, reports Paul Thurrott, founder of SuperSite for Windows. Instead, the ARM-based version of Windows will get an upgrade that gives the Surface RT some of the functionality of Windows 10.

"Surface Pro 3 (and the entire Surface Pro lineup) will update to Windows 10," a Microsoft representative told Thurrott. "We are working on an update for Surface [RT and/or Surface 2], which will have some of the functionality of Windows 10. More information to come."

Thurrott suspects the Windows 10 subset update may be only for the Surface RT/2 devices, leaving one to conclude, "Windows RT is dead."

Microsoft launched the tablet-oriented operating system Windows RT alongside Windows 8 in 2012. The complete port of Windows 8 to the ARM architecture was good in that users had access to the Windows desktop and Metro system via hardware that was more efficient than your average PC. Unfortunately, Windows RT had significant performance and incompatibility issues with non-bundled desktop apps, which made it irrelevant.

Windows RT was hailed as Microsoft's vision of the future, an edition of Windows 8 designed for mobile devices that uses 32-bit ARM architecture. It was designed to be a platform that derived the best bits from desktop and mobile operating systems. Microsoft's intention was for devices with Windows RT to benefit from the architecture's power efficiency to get longer battery life. It also gave Microsoft the ability to work with new processor vendors instead of relying solely on Intel.

But now many Windows fans are asking, "Is the Windows RT still necessary?" Many like Thurrott say "no" because Windows fans can have everything through the x86/Intel-based systems in the Windows 10 generation.

Do you think Windows RT is still necessary? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.