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Microsoft: No Windows 8 ARM Support For x86 Apps

Posted by Soulskill on from the just-buy-it-all-again-problem-solved dept.

jcombel writes "It turns out Microsoft's app compatibility will be limited to one architecture or another. Yes, Windows 8 will run on your ARM tablet, but your x86 Office 2003 will not. In his explanation, Steven Sinofsky reasoned, 'If we allow the world of x86 application support like that, or based on what we call desktop apps in our start yesterday, then there are real challenges in some of the value propositions for system on a chip,' he said. 'You know, will battery life be as good, for example? Well, those applications aren't written to be really great in the face of limited battery constraints, which is a value proposition of the Metro style apps.'"

3 of 413 comments (clear)

  1. No shit sherlock by EdZ · · Score: 3, Informative

    This was part of the initial announcement that Win 8 would be available on ARM. Of course x86 applications aren't going to work! You think everything is going to be run through a monumentally slow VM on already underpowered (compared to x86) hardware?
    Applications written for x86 will remain x86, applications written cross-platform (e.g. .NET) will work on both. Not news.

  2. Re:But what we all want to know is... by Sc4Freak · · Score: 3, Informative

    This has already been answered by MS, and the answer is "mostly". Windows 8 for ARM is restricted to "Metro" apps. The available languages for developing Metro apps are C++, C#, VB.NET, or JS+HTML5. All of these, except for C++, can run on both platforms without changes.

  3. Re:Emulation has worked on Macs by stackOVFL · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here's a link about the 68k emulator for PowerPC if anyone is interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_68K_emulator