Next Generation of Windows To Run On ARM Chip 307
Hugh Pickens writes "Sharon Chan reports in the Seattle Times that at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft showed the next generation of Windows running natively on an ARM chip design, commonly used in the mobile computing world, indicating a schism with Intel, the chip maker Microsoft has worked with closely with throughout the history of Windows and the PC. The Microsoft demonstration showed Word, PowerPoint and high definition video running on a prototype ARM chipset made by Texas Instruments, Nvidia. 'It's part of our plans for the next generation of Windows,' says Steve Sinofsky, president of Windows division. 'That's all under the hood.' According to a report in the WSJ, the long-running alliance between Microsoft and Intel is coming to a day of reckoning as sales of tablets, smartphones and televisions using rival technologies take off, pushing the two technology giants to go their separate ways. The rise of smartphones and more recently, tablets, has strained the relationship as Intel's chips haven't been able to match the low power consumption of chips based on designs licensed from ARM. Intel has also thumbed its nose at Microsoft by collaborating with Microsoft archrival Google on the Chrome OS, Google's operating system that will compete with Windows in the netbook computer market. 'I think it's a deep fracture,' says venture capitalist Jean-Louis Gassee regarding relations between Microsoft and Intel."
But but but but but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
What about the huge catalogue of win32 applications?
If I was to believe the anti-linux trolling of the last decade or so, that's the major reason people won't ever, ever switch!
On a more serious note, I know .Net stuff stands a good chance of working fine, but there's a hell of a lot of windows stuff people use that isn't .Net and I can't see a translation engine or emulation working that great on ARM stuff.
Re:Nvidia cpu (Score:5, Insightful)
Imagine placing your mobile phone in the docking station on top of your TV and it instantly being transformed in a full-blown desktop-capable PC functionally similar to an average PC of today.
Re:But but but but but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I personally think that Microsoft needs to make the break to stay competitive. Continuing to support legacy software is extremely painful for both Microsoft and for their customers. I used to work for a company that was heavily invested in legacy Microsoft technologies. You know those dastardly tactics that Microsoft uses to lock you in to their product? Well, it keeps you from using new Microsoft technology as well. Loss-aversion [wikipedia.org] may be irrational, but, well, you try arguing that you need to switch to new tech to a CTO who has sunk millions into software that requires ActiveX on IE6. That, my friends, is why IE6 is still around. But I'm mildly amused at the irony that Microsoft's own proficiency in the lock-in game is hurting them now.
Re:Windows on ARM (Score:3, Insightful)
It's not about desktops! (Score:4, Insightful)
Everyone seems to rambling on about x86 compatability and running existing Windows applications on the ARM cpu. I see this more as an admission from MS that the desktop environment is stagnant and growth will be found in the market for dedicated devices (phones, tablets, netbooks etc). I don't see that this will be about desktops at all. I see this more like Apple does with iOS and OS X. Same code base but one runs on portable devices and the other is for their desktop machines. I have not real insight but I don't see where ARM desktop machines make any sense.
Anyone remember when Windows NT ran on x86, PPC, MIPS and alpha? It was amazing how much better it ran on the Alpha hardware than any x86 machines. Maybe it'll be a step forward for them - not that I really care.
Re:Windows on ARM (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Windows on ARM (Score:5, Insightful)
Surprise, you can't run your Linux binary blob compiled for x86 on ARM... same goes for Windows..
Except all those Linux applications are recompiled for ARM by the distro developers, whereas every single Windows application has to be recompiled by its own developers, and then you have to buy it again.
If you can't run your old Windows applications on this new 'Windows', why would you buy it? Joe Sixpack is going to buy a 'Windows' ARM machine, take it home, and then wonder why his old Word CD won't install.
Schism? Fracture? (Score:4, Insightful)
What? Microsoft just made the smartest decision in their corporate lifetime. Well, third-smartest, and critical to their survival.
x86 is not the only architecture out there. Itanium is a market failure, RISC is relegated to the memory of us modem-wielding veterans, is there another chip line out there I forgot? If so, irrelevant.
Windows on ARM means:
- Potential NT kernel on phones. Hey, the NT kernel isn't half bad. A single kernel everywhere eorks for Linux, just sayin'.
- Opportunity for new markets like tablets and set-top/integrated TV systems. No, an Atom-powered tablet isn't ery attractive. Power demand is the issue, and ARM seems to be the king of power demand.
- A huge developer base that may not have to learn Java or Cocoa or Objective-C after all to be rlevant in our mobile- social- oriented world.
I mean, Microsoft winning sounds evil, but we should know by now that competition is good. Apple may have to answer this, and the Linux/Android community hasn't changed their value proposition one iota. In fact, consider the appeal of buying a phone and THEN choosing the OS you want - 'WindowsARM', Android, 'OpenIOS'... Or perhaps a hypervisor and VMs running any of the three?
I like it. 2GHz dual-core DX10 phones with 2GB RAM and a uSD slot for another 128G, 4.5" AMOLED screens and 1080p HDMI out? All I need now is to find a table at the Starbucks with the Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and the 21" display, and I'm rockin.
I can dream, can't I?
Re:But but but but but.... (Score:5, Insightful)
This is just sloppy programming. Let me go out on a limb and say any decent programmer wouldn't do this.
And how many Windows programs, particularly those whose original development started a decade or more back, were completely written by 'decent programmers'?
I've seen all of these problems in code that companies I've worked for had to make portable to 64-bit CPUs and other-endian CPUs.
All or nothing? (Score:4, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)