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."

Comments

Makes Sense

[drinkypoo]

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.