Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

techflash.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 70 posts

Re: Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

#11

Post by harshpotatoes »

rbanffy wrote: post #4
sliverstorm wrote: post #2

Anyone have insight on whether this is Microsoft gunning at mobile platforms, or loosing faith in the dominance of x86?

You can smell their fear. As long as I can buy an ARM-based netbook subsidized by crapware/adware on Windows 8 and replace the thing with a decent OS, I'll be happy. Sadly, I won't be able to brag about using a Windows-proof computer anymore... Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only…

Be fair now, these hypothetical arm devices can't both be filled with bloat/crapware and not be supported by 3rd party app developers.

Re: Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

#12

Post by rbanffy »

sliverstorm wrote: post #7
rbanffy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can smell their fear. As long as I can buy an ARM-based netbook subsidized by crapware/adware on Windows 8 and replace the thing with a decent OS, I'll be happy. Sadly, I won't be able to brag about using a Windows-proof computer anymore... Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only…

Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only software it runs is Windows? They've done a half-decent enough job with Windows 7 to get people to move from XP, even when app support is patchy. Offer some compatibility, so that people don't rule out switching, but not enough compatibility to allow the software makers to remain complacent... That's the trick. They have a ton of resources, and some half-decent…

> introduce an x86 compatibility layer.

On ARM?! ARM is not so fast. I can imagine ARM reaching Atom on single-thread performance, but nothing near Sandy Bridge.

That said, DEC had it for the Alpha, but only because the Alpha made the Pentium look like a toy. And it was not fun to run Pentium software at Pentium speeds on what was supposedly a very fast computer.

Re: Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

#13

Post by rbanffy »

gpjt wrote: post #9
rbanffy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can smell their fear. As long as I can buy an ARM-based netbook subsidized by crapware/adware on Windows 8 and replace the thing with a decent OS, I'll be happy. Sadly, I won't be able to brag about using a Windows-proof computer anymore... Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only…

Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only software it runs is Windows? I guess a lot depends on how much developers embrace .NET; .NET apps are compiled to CLR bytecode which presumably could run on ARM devices just as easily as on Intel.

> CLR bytecode which presumably could run on ARM devices just as easily as on Intel.

It's doubtful if performance would not degrade so much as to make desktop software made to run on the x86 .NET runtime unacceptably slow on ARM.

Re: Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

#14

Post by ot »

gpjt wrote: post #9
rbanffy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can smell their fear. As long as I can buy an ARM-based netbook subsidized by crapware/adware on Windows 8 and replace the thing with a decent OS, I'll be happy. Sadly, I won't be able to brag about using a Windows-proof computer anymore... Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only…

Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only software it runs is Windows? I guess a lot depends on how much developers embrace .NET; .NET apps are compiled to CLR bytecode which presumably could run on ARM devices just as easily as on Intel.

Windows phone 7 is based on .NET, so they already have an ARM backend for the runtime.

Re: Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

#15

Post by rbanffy »

harshpotatoes wrote: post #11
rbanffy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can smell their fear. As long as I can buy an ARM-based netbook subsidized by crapware/adware on Windows 8 and replace the thing with a decent OS, I'll be happy. Sadly, I won't be able to brag about using a Windows-proof computer anymore... Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only…

Be fair now, these hypothetical arm devices can't both be filled with bloat/crapware and not be supported by 3rd party app developers.

Good point.

So, they probably won't have subsidies. That'll make the Linux versions cheaper.

Re: Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

#16

Post by rbanffy »

ot wrote: post #14
gpjt wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only software it runs is Windows? I guess a lot depends on how much developers embrace .NET; .NET apps are compiled to CLR bytecode which presumably could run on ARM devices just as easily as on Intel.

Windows phone 7 is based on .NET, so they already have an ARM backend for the runtime.

Have you tried running Office 2010 on your phone?

WinMo 6 has a .NET runtime too.

Re: Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

#17

Post by andre3k1 »

themrbluesky wrote: post #10

Uhh. I accidentally searched reddit using this number for other posts about it, and then I refreshed the page and the site is down. Am I being paranoid or did I accidentally break their server?

Try Techmeme.

Here's the discussion on this topic: http://techme.me/B0l1

Re: Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

#18

Post by jsz0 »

This could be a good opportunity for Microsoft to dump a ton of legacy baggage in Windows 8. Windows developers will ultimately need to support ARM/x86 and the path of least resistance is going to be Microsoft's latest & greatest framework. Great time to draw a line in the sand and reinvent Windows. Microsoft can send the message to developers that if you want your app to run on Windows 8 you need to stop using that Windows 3.1 style font selection dialog box, stop barfing files all over random spots of the file system, stop using crappy early 90's style installers, etc.

Re: Windows 8 to introduce ARM; First Public Demonstration Expected This Week

#19

Post by barake »

gpjt wrote: post #9
rbanffy wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can smell their fear. As long as I can buy an ARM-based netbook subsidized by crapware/adware on Windows 8 and replace the thing with a decent OS, I'll be happy. Sadly, I won't be able to brag about using a Windows-proof computer anymore... Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only…

Now, seriously, Windows failed once on RISC platforms because software vendors were not interested in supporting them. Can an ARM-based Windows desktop function when the only software it runs is Windows? I guess a lot depends on how much developers embrace .NET; .NET apps are compiled to CLR bytecode which presumably could run on ARM devices just as easily as on Intel.

The CLR is already available on ARM-based devices via Windows Phone 7 (and PPC in the 360). No idea how complete the implementation is, though.
Post reply on HN