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Microsoft Announces Windows For Raspberry Pi 2
jones_supa writes Microsoft is expanding their Windows Developer Program for Internet of Things by delivering a version of Windows 10 that runs on the Raspberry Pi 2. This release of Windows 10 will be free for the maker community through the Windows Developer Program for IoT. With an official partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Microsoft is bringing development tools, services and ecosystem to the Raspberry Pi community. More details will be shared in the coming months. You can already join the program and be amongst the first to receive product information and beta software releases.
...it's still two months to April Fool's day...
What you hear in the ear, preach from the rooftop Matthew 10.27b
I've been running internet-connected Windows desktop for 20 years, and have never gotten a virus. Surf smart, lock your door, and don't click on the damn .scr files.
They say it's free to the maker community, but what if you want to turn your creation into a commercial product? Especially for IoT devices it makes little sense to use an OS not known for its reliability, and encumbered by a non-free license. I see no reason not to use proven and free Linux instead.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
How can Microsoft justify Windows 10 on a less powerful device like Raspberry Pi 2 and not support on the Surface RT?
Seems pretty stupid to me to purposely screw over the people that bought the RT models that are perfectly capable.
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
Just as soon as everyone recompiles there virus code to run on ARM....
Actually Windows 10 does not suck. While I prefer Linux and OS/X but Windows is not as terrible as it once was. Now Windows Users.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
How stupid is this?
How stupid? Not at all. The Raspberry Pi is introducing people to Linux incidentally. People who have become accustomed to Linux on Pi are more likely to use it on their main PCs. Microsoft knows that Windows on Pi -- even if its performance is abysmal -- could quickly become the newbies' first choice thanks only to familiarity. The "gateway drug" for Linux defectors is thus protected against. (They did this with netbooks too, remember?)
For the RPi Foundation it makes a lot of sense, as Linux advocacy was never their goal -- they want to get more computing into schools, and one of the chief objections to the RPi is the fact that it doesn't run "industry-standard software"... i.e. Windows. Of course, once schools start realising that the version of Windows can't do everything they expect, they'll conclude that the Raspberry Pi isn't a real computer and stop using it. (They did this with netbooks too, remember?)
Got them moderator blues I blieve I walk out the do', With these mod-points I been gettin', I 'most never post no mo'
I see a lot of negative comments so far (actually they are all negative). You have a good reason to not want Windows on a Pi? Then don't put Windows on a Pi and you can live in peace and happiness. Personally, I think this is very cool, and although Microsoft may have some hidden agenda to take over the world by releasing a version of Windows 10 for the Pi, I still think this is a positive thing in general. It also further legitimizes the non- X86 / PC / tablet / cellphone niche kind of single board general purpose computer, that obviously a lot of non-mainstream users are very interested in.
Better known as 318230.
Low power it may be, but with the newer quad core Acorn Risc Machine v7 processor @ 900MHz and a Micro SD Card with a Class 10 speed 128 Gb capacity, it's just like working a normal, but slow, tower PC with a proper keyboard and a proper mouse. As it is designed to teach British school children to write computer software, it will automatically sell Millions of units in it's home market. Just have one micro SD card per operating system!
The purpose of existence is to make money.
Loads of schools have bought and are buying iPads without much of an idea of what they're going to use them for, let alone a coherent educational plan. The end result? Expensive, distracting toys that have little, if any, demonstrable effects on learning outcomes in K-12 education. Then there's stories like this: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01... Developmental psychologists are less than enamoured of shiny, techy internet gadgets in classrooms and children's pockets.
Kind of. I taught at a school that issued MacBooks for lab sections (the loans began and ended with the lab period).
The MacBooks in question were running Windows.
The parent poster had already made the point I was going to make, by the way, that Windows, by and large is a "safer" choice for many, many people.
Some people don't believe in fairies. I don't believe in The Patriarchy.
So will Windows 10 have APIs for stuff such as GPIOs, SPI and I2C, along with pin muxing?
Will everything be possible without having to connect a monitor, keyboard and mouse?
People are getting all excited about this, but they are forgetting that this is *not* going to be a full featured Windows able to run their Office and what not. First of all, it is an ARM architecture, so regular Windows apps won't work unless they have an ARM version (extremely rare). The OS is most likely going to be the cut-down WindowsRT and running on an underpowered hardware - the new Raspberry Pi 2 is still much slower and has less RAM than even the first Microsoft Surface RT, which wasn't exactly known to be a speed demon ...
Microsoft is pushing this as "Internet-of-Things" platform, but I honestly don't see how WindowsRT presents any advantages there over a dedicated OS without the unneeded GUI bloat. And for education? Yes, there will be perhaps Office RT and few Microsoft's apps available, but that's all. What are the kids going to run on this? Visual Studio?
If open was their goal, why did they go with components which require closed source drivers and firmware?
From what I can see, Raspberry Pi's goal was to be this generations BBC Micro, nothing else. Something that is cheap to hack on - Linux was free from a license cost perspective, so that's what got used. The non-open components were cheap from a cost perspective, so thats what got used.
iPads are just tools. They aren't magic. I've seen some interesting and innovative uses of iPads in education, particularly with kids with special needs. First though you have to have people who know how to use these tools and implement them into an overall educational program. Buying a bunch of anything without a plan makes no sense. This is what's special about the Rpi. They are primarily into teaching and building a community around this educational system. The maker aspect of the Rpi is just a big plus that helps build the community.
It is. It's interesting watching Microsoft thrash around and try to cope with things like this. The Raspberry Pi is the exact antithesis of what Microsoft stands for. Right now Windows Embedded 7 licenses are selling for right around $100 a pop. This entire system costs $35. The margins (if anyone were to try to make an industrial device out of this thing) aren't anywhere near what could make it worth their while, and all because that word "embedded" means something new now.
And yet, they have to try. This gizmo is seriously widening the Linux base, and they gotta do something. You know they're panicked. "You can already join the program and be amongst the first to receive product information and beta software releases." They don't even have a beta available yet, and they're already trying to get market share.
And just imagine how good those tools are going to be when you do get them. They'll be done in a huge hurry because this is a market driven decision. They know they have to get *something* out there super quick because they're losing market share. And the worst part is that they are trying to appeal to the engineer/programmer audience, and we're a pretty discerning audience. It has to be fast because this thing is launching, but it also has to be good because of the audience they are trying to target. And Microsoft is pretty notorious for releasing software when it isn't ready (Vista for example) simply to meet a release date. My guess is that these betas are going to be absolute crap released to make some bean counter's Gantt chart happy, and they'll fall back on the "but it's in beta" excuse when they crash and burn. Microsoft loves having the community do it's QA for them. It'll be a bumpy ride.
And I can't wait to see what bizarre arrangement they try to do when they try to monetize this Windows 10 release for a $35 computer. Because they will. The EULA for this thing is going to be a dadaist work of art.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.