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Windows 8 ARM Will Not Support Legacy Software
An anonymous reader writes "Intel, speaking out of turn and damaging its intimate relationship with Microsoft, has revealed that legacy x86-compiled software will not work on the ARM version of Windows 8. Microsoft has promised that the Office suite will be available on Windows 8 ARM, but beyond that, nothing. While this means there won't be many compatible apps at launch, it also means this will be the first full-bodied version of Windows that won't (initially) be susceptible to viruses and malware..."
Intel went so far as to say that legacy software would "not ever" run on ARM. To do that they have to have to have the stick of software patents to prevent an ARM->x86 emulator.
This is not good for Microsoft. It means their relationship with Intel is irretrievably broken. The WinTel alliance is no more.
As consumers we can win from this. Without the constraint of making the bloated Windows OS run on their chips, Intel can dive into low power. Without the glacial software development lifecycle in Redmond Intel can bring out new stuff faster. That's good stuff.
The distant threat is that when Intel seeks a market they want all of it. They're late to this game and their Atom chips don't cut it yet - their promises are some 24-36 months out, and ARM and Microsoft are not going to be standing still in the meantime. They're promising "best in class mobile video tech" but I swear to God if they buy Imagination Technologies to cut out ARM mobile chipset vendors I'm going to fucking do everything in my power to kill them. That would shift Intel from the "Invention of technologies" camp to the "prevention of technologies" camp. I'm not OK with that.
But if what Intel means is that they're going to let the legacy go and deliver the best low-power chips they can, that's a good thing. Your PC doesn't have to burn the watts it does. There are lots of folk in the third world with valuable input who don't have watts. It does not take a kilowatt gaming rig to work spreadsheets any longer.
Help stamp out iliturcy.
This just in, x86 and ARM instruction sets are NOT compatible! Everyone panic! Blame MS! No, wait... Sony must have had a hand in this!
File this under no shit, Sherlock.
The article isn't completely accurate. It fails to specify that it will not natively run x86-based code on Win8 ARM. There's no valid reason why x86 code won't be able to run inside a virtual x86 machine running on top of the ARM architecture.
The summary also makes this statement which is not accurate to the version in the article:
it also means this will be the first full-bodied version of Windows that won't (initially) be susceptible to viruses and malware
The actual quote is that it won't be susceptible to existing viruses and malware.
They also assume that all code will have to be re-written from the ground up, which is completely false. Most application code will need to be ported, and in many cases security holes which are due to fundamental design flaws (as opposed to coding mistakes) will simply be ported along with it. So yes, a lot of existing malware will break but that's no reason to lay down and assume that developers who made crappy software in the past will suddenly cease their shitty practices.
http://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-intel-executive-was-wrong-about-windows-8 Long story short, this statement from intel is incorrect. But guess what: intel is a chip manufacturer that sells x86 cpu's and has sold its arm devision a few years back, how much more biased do you want a source of information. In reality it will most likely be an ugly vm running your old non recompilable software slowly.
Would not help at all. Wine is two things, its an implementation of the Windows api and a loader. If you have the source you can compile your windows api application for other some architectures using winelib. So you might be able to port your program to ARM Linux with it. You would not need winelib on Windows because Windows will provide the windows api.
You can't use wines loader and server functions to run x86 code on ARM period, it does not provide a virtual machine. All it can do is let you run binaries build for x86 windows on other x86 platforms. So wine is useless for running legacy software on ARM Windows.
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There are plenty of legacy applications that will never be recompiled, because the source code was lost or the company that has it doesn't care anymore or dissolved. Businesses may even rely on such applications for business-critical processes.
No he earned it by understanding the limits of his knowledge and asking pertinent questions.
The only stupid question is one that isn't asked. Nobody knows everything (and I asked the question before I had my first cup of coffee). I got my UID by being on slashdot ten years or so ago. I'm 59 years old and my synapses aren't as well oiled as they used to be.
My first computer was a slide rule. My second computer I built out of two potentiometers, a voltmeter, and a battery. When I was a teenager I made a little extra cash by converting cheap transistor radios into guitar fuzzboxes and selling them to friends.
These days it's fashionable to be a nerd, but I was a nerd back when we were pariahs.
Since Linux runs well on ARM, then I don't see what the big deal is about not being able to run legacy Windows apps in Win 8. All you'd have to do would be to install Linux dual-boot on your Windows 8 machine, and run your legacy Windows apps under Wine in Linux. Maybe I still need more coffee...
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