Complete change from just a few years ago when they seemed hellbent on turning my computer into a smartphone!
Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
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Re: Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
#12I believe I have a right to computing freedom, and actively try to use free software on my personal computer and on servers I develop on and deploy to. I have EOMA68 laptop and desktop housings[0] coming, hopefully in the spring. I am also about to build a server with a motherboard that is supported by Libreboot[1] and processors that work fine without microcode updates.
I use Android phones and tablets, but as long as they have non-free components, I will never accept the "convergence" paradigm. If I can't have freedom all of the time, at least I won't surrender it all of the time.
Re: Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just think of the security nightmare of plugging your computer into hardware on a data bus like USB. And that is not even taking into consideration that using a publicly available screen and keyboard which on their own can easily be used for logging screen and key data.
it could be wireless display and wireless keyboard, mouse
That does not prevent the display/keyboard from capturing everything you look at or everything you enter though. Using untrusted I/O devices, wireless or wired, is a privacy and security risk.
Re: Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
#14Pour a little out for the Friendster of this concept:
Re: Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
#15Wow. It just clicked: We could have a future where your personal computer fits easily in your pocket, you can carry it everywhere you go, and you just plug it into whatever monitor & keyboard & mouse you happen to be near by, whether it's in a coffee shop, at work, at home, on an aeroplane, anywhere! It's almost kind of the return of the mainframe & terminal. Your OS & apps would be installed on your device, and your…
It's almost kind of the return of the mainframe & terminal. Man, I hate to be Mr. Pedantic here, but with mainframes/terminals all of the processing and data storage took place on a machine you couldn't see and (probably) didn't control. Which is the exact opposite of having the machine in your pocket. When really what we're asking for is better OS and device support for peripherals. If an iPad had mouse support, I'd…
> Man, I hate to be Mr. Pedantic here, but with mainframes/terminals all of the processing and data storage took place on a machine you couldn't see and (probably) didn't control. Which is the exact opposite of having the machine in your pocket.
To be fair, much of the processing and data storage is going on in the cloud.
Re: Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
#16I'm more than a little confused about MS "mobile" strategy. Continuum sounds like a good idea, in theory. For enterprise I can kinda see it be attractive to just give your employees mobile phones and hook the office up with continuum docks. But it seems problematic in more than one aspect. For starters it's based on the fact that people are going to want to use a windows mobile as their primary device to start with.
MS could have been there, in fact they almost were there, but they've let the mobile side drift aimlessly to the point were neither vendors nor third-party developers have any faith left in their mobile efforts. I could never wrap my head around how strategically MS could just let mobile go and not take the fight. It seems so integral to so many other efforts.
Another problem, is continuum really a good idea for anything else than niché scenarios? I have trouble coming up with use-cases. A laptop you can bring with you to meetings, on planes etc. With continuum you need a lap dock for that.. but then you have a sub-par laptop and a phone.
I guess if I were travelling it could be nice to just bring a mobile and connect it to a setup at a co-working space. But is carrying a dell xps 13 around really such a big deal? and what if I want to use a computer outside of the co-working space/office?
Then we have x86 apps on the mobile platform. There's been a lot of people wanting to see "Desktop" apps on mobile... I can understand that from a "continuum as a computer" perspective, if you buy into the continuum premise, but I can't see x86 software ever work well on a mobile form factor with the battery limits and UI challenges that comes with that.
So what is Microsoft's plan, now it seems they're just throwing stuff on the walls and to see what sticks. I'm a bigger UWP and .Net proponent than most, but I wish Microsoft would get their shit together and start executing across the board.
There's a bunch of stuff in UWP that could make the windows platform larger than the sum of its parts if you are in the ecosystem. Roaming settings/files, Notification mirroring and synchronization, universal apps, continuum, continue on another device etc etc. But it requires that there actually is an viable windows mobile that people wants to buy.
Re: Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
#17As soon as I saw Ubuntu Edge back in 2013, I have been dreaming of the day something like Continuum is a reality and not just for Windows. For Linux and MacOS as well. Hopefully, it's not to far off now.
Greatly agreed. Being able to dock a phone and turn it into a fully functioning desktop is a phenomenal idea and feels like the natural progression.
I don't think we'll ever see that with the Mac though unfortunately, and I suspect Apple would never introduce a cursor and windowing system into iOS either.
Re: Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
#18Wow. It just clicked: We could have a future where your personal computer fits easily in your pocket, you can carry it everywhere you go, and you just plug it into whatever monitor & keyboard & mouse you happen to be near by, whether it's in a coffee shop, at work, at home, on an aeroplane, anywhere! It's almost kind of the return of the mainframe & terminal. Your OS & apps would be installed on your device, and your…
Just think of the security nightmare of plugging your computer into hardware on a data bus like USB. And that is not even taking into consideration that using a publicly available screen and keyboard which on their own can easily be used for logging screen and key data.
I think you would need to be careful to not put sensitive information into those terminals but that's not too hard to avoid in general. Generally I'm not doing anything that sensitive on my computer and with how my computer is configured I almost never have to actually type passwords.
Re: Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just think of the security nightmare of plugging your computer into hardware on a data bus like USB. And that is not even taking into consideration that using a publicly available screen and keyboard which on their own can easily be used for logging screen and key data.
I think you would need to be careful to not put sensitive information into those terminals but that's not too hard to avoid in general. Generally I'm not doing anything that sensitive on my computer and with how my computer is configured I almost never have to actually type passwords.
Except for most people (the kind who don't read Hacker News) their phone is their primary computing device and likely the only one they own. There already is loads of sensitive data on these peoples' devices. The only difference is they aren't yet plugging it into random hardware.
Re: Microsoft is bringing Windows 10, with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets
#20Good news. I never imagined to buy a "Windows Phone", but if they do that, and provide a good "restore" system (i.e. easy recover of a non-booting phone via USB), I would be glad of using one, so I can avoid traveling with a laptop (e.g. using the phone on hotel TVs with Bluetooth keyboard would be very convenient).
I hope Android provide an equivalent thing. For me a simple dual boot of e.g. an Ubuntu read-only image stored in the SD card or similar would be enough for my needs, if MHL/HDMI-Out, USB OTG, and Bluetooth work properly.