Nvidia Lauds Windows CE Over Android For Smartbooks 263
ericatcw writes "Google's Android may enjoy the hype, but an increasing number of key industry players say the mobile OS isn't ready for ARM netbooks, aka smartbooks. Nvidia is the most recent to declare Android unfit for duty, stating its preference for Microsoft's Windows CE, which an Nvidia exec praised for having a "low footprint" and being "rock solid." Nvidia is busy optimizing its multimedia-savvy Tegra system-on-chip for Windows CE. Such improvements won't arrive for at least a year to Android, which has an inflexible UI and poor graphics support for devices larger than a smartphone, says Nvidia. Other firms echoing similar criticism include ARM and Asustek."
Re:More business for ATI (Score:3, Informative)
If NVidia does not want a piece of Android business, it is NVidia's loss.
And AMD/ATI gain.
Modded interesting? Interestingly offtopic?
This is an ARM story. AMD doesn't do ARM, and while ATI does produce [amd.com] embedded graphics chips, I've never heard of them being paired with handheld devices.
Re:Wrong way around? (Score:4, Informative)
Optimising hardware for software is not new, especially in the mobile market place. Most ARM cores, for example, have some specialised instructions to make it easier to implement a JVM (including things like bounds-tested array accessors). A lot also have special instructions in their DSPs aimed at making things like MPEG or H.264 decoding (or even encoding) fast. A GPU is basically a CPU specially targeted towards implementing something like OpenGL or Direct3D.
That said, optimising a SoC for an OS is a bit weird. You're meant to optimise for the applications, not the OS. If the OS needs the hardware optimised for it, and does much more than keeping out of the way of the apps (and making sure that the apps keep out of each others' way) then the OS is probably fundamentally broken.
Re:More business for ATI (Score:3, Informative)
It's my understanding that Qualcomm purchase the engineers, equipment, and all the IP from ATI's handheld division. The purchase of the IP would seem to preclude them from developing anything new for the mobile market in the near term.
Citation [zdnet.com]
Re:Wait a minute (Score:4, Informative)
Although Windows Mobile is based on Windows CE, they are not the same thing. Windows Mobile is a specific set of applications on top of Windows CE with a single (visible) application - a PDA or phone. Windows CE itself can be used with a keyboard and mouse and has the ability to act as a standard desktop system (with multiple windows visible, a method to switch between windows, etc.)
Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not sure that Windows CE does suck.
It's important to remember that Windows CE is like J2ME, except that it is a family of operating systems instead of a family of platforms. It has various manifestations and configurations, the familiar PDA or smartphone versions are just instances of this. I have issues with Windows Mobile, which lacks certain features it ought to have given its ambition. I have more issues with the SmartPhone Edition, because MS and the manufacturers kiss carrier ass and so make the devices a PITA to use.
However, nothing I've seen indicates to me that the underlying platform, the actual Windows CE part of the products, sucks. I heard from people programming with the native SDK complain that certain aspects of the API are braindead (I dont' remember which; it might be memory management). That's probably a genuine piece of suckiness, but not one that matters any longer since you don't have to program applications in C++ against the SDK any longer.
For a NetBook type device, my concern would be the configuration limitations MS would put on it to keep from cannibalizing its own Windows product line. But of course that's the kiss of death. You have to cannibalize your own product line sooner or later.
Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not sure that Windows CE does suck.
No, really. It sucks.
nothing I've seen indicates to me that the underlying platform, the actual Windows CE part of the products, sucks.
Nothing I've seen indicates to me that there are any redeeming features of Windows CE.
For a NetBook type device, my concern would be the configuration limitations MS would put on it to keep from cannibalizing its own Windows product line. But of course that's the kiss of death. You have to cannibalize your own product line sooner or later.
They don't have to do that, because Windows CE is not ANY kind of competition for Windows NT. It's simply not capable of doing what NT does, which is to say, stay running while running multiple applications.
Re:So... (Score:2, Informative)
Slashdot needs a "-1 Citation Needed" option.
How about a /. article on the MS paying bloggers off:
... they should do a delicate dance," Kempin wrote to Ballmer
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/03/19/microsoft_killed_dell_linux_states/ [theregister.co.uk]
...
http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/06/28/0428236 [slashdot.org]
"I'm thinking of hitting the OEMs harder than in the past with anti-Linux.
Mostly, though, you'll find that most reports of Microsoft paying off journalists/bloggers/whoever are on sites like this one: http://boycottnovell.com/2009/04/25/microsoft-censorship-on-the-surface/ [boycottnovell.com]
"Backroom" deals are named that way for a reason -- they're very hard to prove, and thus unlikely to be reported in reputable publications that require absolute proof. Regardless, Microsoft is known for throwing its monopolistic weight around to its advantage, and being suspicious of such articles is likely not a bad thing.
Re:Part Of The NVidia Zune HD 'Agreement' (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)