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Windows 10 On ARM Will Support x86 Apps From Outside the Store (liliputing.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Liliputing: First announced last year, Microsoft provided an update on Windows 10 ARM at the MS Build developer conference today. And the company confirmed that not only would Windows 10 ARM be able to run legacy apps developed for computers with x86 processors but you'd be able to just download any old Win32 app from the internet, install it, and run it on a computer running Windows 10 ARM. In other words, Windows 10 S runs on devices with ARM or x86 processors, but only supports Windows Store apps. Windows 10 ARM only runs on devices with ARM chips... but supports apps from pretty much any source. Developers don't need to convert their software in any way, because Windows 10 ARM includes a built-in emulation layer that allows Win32 apps to run on an ARM-powered system. But Microsoft demonstrated how you could download a common program like 7zip from the internet and simply install it on a device with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor. Of course, developers can also package software optimized for ARM as Universal Windows Platform apps for distribution in the Windows Store. But they don't necessarily have to.

5 of 115 comments (clear)

  1. 1 step forward, 2 steps back by marcle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Advances in interoperability, but still a horror show in privacy or autonomy.

  2. Re:So much for "one Windows"... by ArhcAngel · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well they screwed up by giving it an even number. Everyone knows only the odd numbered Windows are any good.

    --
    "A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
  3. Got to start somewhere by mccalli · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is a good thing. Like the 68k->PowerPC, and then the PowerPC->Intel transition - you've got to start somewhere, or you're stuck on one architecture forever.

    I see the negativity in many of the posts. I don't understand it. You have to make a start somehow, and this is a good one. If you then allow cross compilation in Visual Studio, then you're essentially taking the same approach Apple did to manage its transitions, and those transitions were damned near seamless. Thanks Microsoft for trying to move and do something different. And yes, I really mean that.

  4. Re:So much for "one Windows"... by Immerman · · Score: 3, Funny

    >what we got was pure sadism in software form.

    Exactly! It brought back the real Windows!

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    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  5. Re:Is this it? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Whatever software emualation is invoked is also going to be WORSE than the PPC to x86 rosetta that Apple had.

    ...why? Because dynamic translation technology is getting worse in time? Unlike compilers in general? For what reason would that be?

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    Ezekiel 23:20