Taiwanese OEMs Consider ARM Products For Windows 8 167
siliconbits writes "At CeBIT 2011, we went around the stands from some of the biggest component manufacturers in the world and asked them a simple question, would you consider bringing out ARM products (barebones, laptops, tablets, motherboards) for Windows 8? The answer was a unanimous yes; like Microsoft, the same firms that have been faithful Intel and AMD partners for years are prepared to explore other territories as soon as Windows 8 will go live."
Re:Good (Score:3, Informative)
As I recall Windows NT 4.0 was independent of hardware. They had this concept they called HAL, which did all of the communication when it came to hardware. You had an alpha chip, no problem, just get a alpha HAL. I have in person seen Windows NT 4.0 running on other architectures, including alphas and apples of the day (long before they switched to intel equipment).
I'm guessing they dropped this capability with one of the newer incarnations...
Re:Good (Score:5, Informative)
All x64 CPU's support both single and double precision SSE, which is why its the default for 64-bit targets. If you are targeting a 32-bit OS, then a 32-bit binary cannot simply assume that single precision SSE is available, let alone the later double-precision support of SSE2.
Also, the x87 FPU performs calculations in 80-bit precision, so is not directly comparable to SSE's single and double precision features.
Finally, it is not "some compilers".. its ALL THE MAJOR ONES, both 32-bit and 64-bit.