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Next Generation of Windows To Run On ARM Chip

Posted by samzenpus on from the let-the-chips-fall-where-they-may dept.

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."

5 of 307 comments (clear)

  1. But but but but but.... by Nursie · · 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.

    1. Re:But but but but but.... by raddan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Microsoft might be viewing this much the way Apple views iOS: it doesn't matter. Mobile devices, especially touchscreen devices, are different enough from their hardwired brethren that people may not seek to run the original software. Add to the fact that most technology companies are seeking to push software "to the cloud" (and indeed, Microsoft already has a cloud version of Office), this may become less and less of an issue.

      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 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.

    2. Re:But but but but but.... by 0123456 · · Score: 4, 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.

  2. Re:Nvidia cpu by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, 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.

    --
    Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
  3. Re:Windows on ARM by 0123456 · · Score: 4, 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.