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Intel Plans Windows 8 Phones
Barence writes "Intel boss Paul Otellini says his company plans to offer Windows 8 on smartphones — putting the chipmaker on a collision course with Microsoft. Speaking during Intel's earnings call, Otellini said Microsoft's decision to port Windows to system-on-a-chip platforms had advantages for his company. 'We have the ability to put our lowest-power Intel processors running Windows 8 – or "next-generation Windows" – into phones, because it's the same OS stack.' That would appear to run contrary to Microsoft's plans for its OSes. Speaking at CES last week, Windows chief Steven Sinofsky said Windows Phone 7 was 'uniquely focused on small form factor' while Windows was designed for tablets and above."
And the battery last only 4 hours on standby, tops.
Because the Windows 7 phone has such great sales, right? ...right?
I don't know why exactly, but the way this summary is worded just makes me chuckle. Especially that first line.
Intel boss Paul Otellini says his company plans to offer Windows 8 on smartphones — putting the chipmaker on a collision course with Microsoft.
It makes it sound like he has decided to do this without consulting Microsoft at all. It's like
Intel: HEY. We're gonna put Windows 8 on our smartphones, kk?
Microsoft: Actually we skipped 8 we're going straight to Windows 9.
Intel: Hmmm. Well are you still going to -
Microsoft: No.
Intel: But can we -
Microsoft: NO
Intel: We just want to -
Microsoft: Look, just leave us alone, okay?
Isn't it wiser to make a Windowz theme for Android?
Am I eval()? - http://www.monst3r.com.br
*crickets*
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
I haven't read the article, let alone the summary, but surely it should say "Intel plans 8 Windows phones". That should be enough. One for Ballmer, one for Gates and six handsets for changing the dud ones while under warranty...
Some of my favourite people are from th US; Vonnegut, Chomsky, Bill Hicks.
Seems to me it would make more sense for Intel to pursue supporting the port of Android to x86 hardware.
http://www.android-x86.org/
Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
Windows in various forms runs on the Xbox and the Xbox 360, so it can clearly be stripped down to the point where it is reliable enough for an "appliance"-type device. (Microsoft's hardware problems with both platforms notwithstanding... that's a whole separate argument.) Windows CE is a pathetic POS and basically just a reinvention of Windows from an apparently totally retarded standpoint anyway. Handhelds are becoming more powerful and Android proves the point (OK, the N900 proved the point and Android really just hammers it home) that a "desktop" operating system can run on a handheld. And if Android and MeeGo weren't enough evidence, there's always iOS, which is just OSX with some stuff taken out, some stuff renamed, and some minor stuff added in. Most of what people think of as an iOS feature is right there in OSX, lurking, waiting to be turned on. Most of what we think of as a desktop feature of Windows is just a service waiting to be turned off, or part of the ever-more-baroque Windows Explorer.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Despite the summary this doesn't sound very Machiavellian. One could almost imagine Microsoft liking the thought of having their core product used on the next billion devices without having to make any investment themselves.
Part of the massive failure of Windows Mobile is that it tried to be Windows scaled down to 3" screens. Small devices need customized OSs, a square peg with the corners shaved off to fit into a round hole.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
Will these smartphones have enough RAM (2-3 gig) to run Windows 8?
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Sinofsky was talking about Windows 7, Otellini is talking about Windows 8.
Ballmer said at CES that Windows 8 will expand the platform and include lower-powered devices. E.g. do a search of recent news regarding the plans for Windows 8 to run on ARM.
Collision course? Really?
Now imagine to install Gentoo on that... ...and then imagine to type sudo emerge beowulf... ...and then to feel your phone melting in your backpocket while it is recompiling the full kernel + base system + beowulf + mpi libraries + kde...
(Jokes aside I would love an X86 phone with querty keyboard a-la motorola Droid, capable of running a game of nethack)
I wonder how often I'll need to run Windows Update on my phone to keep the creepy-crawlies away?
Eric Raymond presents a noteworthy analysis of the smartphone wars, here, in which he predicts Microsoft will fail in that market. Proceeding from the observation that the wireless broadband market has had negative profitably for the previous ten years:
Of course the same logic applies to a Windows 8 phone.
Ceci n'est pas une signature.
... putting the chipmaker on a collision course with Microsoft...
How? Last I heard, Microsoft controlled the licensing of Windows. If Microsoft doesn't want a particular version of Windows on a device, they can revoke licensing for it. And, frankly, Intel would be stupid to ship their products with unlicensed software. They're not that dumb.
That is all.
One could almost imagine Microsoft liking the thought of having their core product used on the next billion devices
If it were a billion devices, sure.
But it's not. We already know from Windows Mobile how shrunken Windows fares against more modern mobile operating systems. Microsoft knows this too, which is why they actually did the right thing for once and started from scratch with Windows Phone 7.
So all this Intel announcement does, is make people wonder if Windows Phone 7 is a dead end. Microsoft aided that with the announcement of porting Windows to SOC platforms, but Intel isn't helping... I just can't think of it as a good thing for Microsoft to do anything that casts doubt on a nacent system meant to be the future of mobile computing for Microsoft. Unless they consider WP7 to be a stopgap until mobile hardware is so powerful it can run Windows OK??? Madness.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
... if it has a "Start" button on the lower left corner?
Will it have WinFS?
Rethinking email
They either really are getting close to ARM in power consumption, or they think x86/Wintel compatibility on a phone is more important than battery life....... If even Microsoft think power consumption is more important, then you have to wonder. Who wants to run a desktop app on a phone anyway? Be interesting to see, maybe they have something after their bluster about "bring it on". Personally, I don't think it matters even if they do, Wintel compatibility doesn't really matter, certainly not on a phone (or to some of us, at all), and there is no way it will be as cheap as ARM. Still, probably will help them (and Microsoft, because they can't escape x86) fight the ARM laptops coming after the tablets. If might also help them both against the ARM data centres. Anyway, nice to see a processor architecture fight, we all win with real competition. :-)
With homage to you, I submit:
Intel: Hiya!. We're gonna put Windows 8 on our smartphones, Okay?
Microsoft: No, we only allow Windows Phone to go on Phones.
Intel: Hmmm. But since Motorola showed we can run an entire workstation on a phone, let's use the workstation OS!
Microsoft: No.
Intel: But Windows Phone won't work on a workstation. It's still WinTel!
Microsoft: NO
Intel: Look, we're sorry that Windows Phone is once again obsolete the minute it came out, but we can do this!
Microsoft: Check Line 4. That's Counsel Calling.
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
Why do you believe that ""Intel ...plans to offer Windows 8 on smartphones" is on a collision course with Microsoft?
This is the exact road ballmer has tried to go for years. It does not sell. Making a specific version for small screens was the smartest thing MS has done for years. Intel can make it, but only a few real geeks will buy it.
Microsoft's business model spells certain disaster for any attempt they make in achieving a significant share of the smartphone market. Android has the volume of that market pretty much locked up at this point -- by offering the software stack for free, Google grabs everyone's interest; by offering a revenue split with the carriers on advertising revenue, they also guarantee that most carriers will go with the official build of Android too.
Microsoft's business model depends on a per-unit software licensing fee. That puts them in direct competition with Apple, not Google. And for consumers who are going to spend the big bucks on a high end phone, who's really going to choose a ZunePhone instead of an iPhone? (I mean other than Ballmer's family of course)
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I've had 2 Windows smart phones over the years: the Siemens SX66 and the Motorola Q Global. I was never impressed with ActiveSync, and I'm not impressed with the inability to sync with my Mac. Microsoft couldn't be bothered to even try until the iPhone came out. Now I can't be bothered with Windows Mobile.
Translation: "we at Intel anticipate Windows 8 to be a huge resource hog, so we start promoting it already, hoping that customers will have to buy our new ultra-fast processors."