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Microsoft Lays Out Plans for Windows on ARM Processors

Coming soon?

My question is, are they "working on it" in the same way that they're supposedly "working on" the Microsoft-powered tablet? I seem to remember Microsoft's CEO touting their Slate as "coming soon" when the iPad first came out. Was the just vaporware?
 
Wow!

The interface looks nice and simple, just that the man in the video not only sounds bored out of his mind but also robotic. I mean lets get some personality in there! Everything that Apple releases an informative video for is enthusiastic and passionate, you feel the creators pride in products.

Lastly maybe they should have given him a script with a little less "Windows on ARM" lines...
 
I'm actually super excited about Windows 8, I've used the Developer Preview and I like it very much.. It's also noticeably faster then Windows 7..

And now having seen screenshots of Windows 8 Consumer Preview I'm really liking the updated User Interface..

It may not be enough to make me switch but It has got me thinking about it.. Just waiting to use it on the end of February..
 
Rodimus Prime said:
rewritten does not mean redesigned. It means a few lines of code need to be modifided and have it recompliled but most of the work does not need to be touch as such that means the windows lay out would not need to be redone. It would speed up getting apps ported over.
Click to expand...

Which can be a good thing and a bad thing. It depends on how much of the interaction slack is take up by the OS itself. Porting a non-touchscreen App to a touchscreen based ARM is something that slows up ports of Mac software to iOS. It seems like Microsoft is offering a cop-out by making a limited touch based file system that non-touch Apps can fall back on.

The other side is non-touch ARM based PC (thinking ultra/netbooks still). It's a smart play, as we know Apple's doing, to get a version of the main OS (with file system et all) ready for ARM based Notebooks (not tablets).
 
Finally there will be Tablets worth buying. This truly changes everything. Windows 8 is definitely gonna be must have. Glad I changed over to Windows Phone as well. Refreshing and intuitive. Can't wait for MWC to see new Windows Devices. Now if Samsung would only make a Galaxy S3 version with Windows.
 
Hmmm... Now that the infamous ribbon interface has become a fixture of Windows Explorer in 8, I for one will be going nowhere near it.

I hate the ribbon!
 
This sounds like fail to me for two reasons:

1 - Microsoft still isn't building their own hardware. "Working closely" with manufacturers isn't enough. They need to actually design their products.

2 - Dual target for both WOA and Windows 8? This sounds like an invitation to get lots of crap on your app store. It'll go something like this:
"I have a great app idea for the touch interface of WOA!"
months later, great app is ready for sale.
"Hey! I can double revenue by also selling this on Windows 8! And with dual targets, it'll be easy!"
next day, app with a shoddily put together desktop interface is also ready for sale.

And of course it can go in reverse, too. Great ideas for desktop interfaces that suck on touch screens.
 
As long as there's a full-feature Google Chrome browser for Win8, I'll be interested. I like the form factor of the iPad, but not having a desktop-style OS seems limiting. Win8 seems to be a combination of the best of both worlds... pretty shocking stuff but I might look into buying a "PC" machine for the first time in about a decade.
 
Ryth said:
MSFT would probably shoot up $10 if Ballmer stepped down...that guy has basically stagnated the stock/company with his lack of vision.

I actually believe Microsoft is finally waking up to the reality of what computing is becoming and they can actually become the 'Apple' of the 90s and early 2000s now in the 'Tablet' area. They will be the niche product but they will still sell a nice amount. Their tablet OS is actually very nicely conceptualized and actually is very intuitive...it will work nicely and actually looks DIFFERENT...where they just aren't stealing Apples layout and icons. They developed their own style and it works for MS.

Google/Android is just not catching on and it's because they still don't understand the user experience.
Click to expand...

Is it just me or does it seem that Microsoft is no longer viewed as the "Bad" bully. It feels like Microsoft is actually TRYING to produce a quality product instead of just the next iteration of what it already did.

Google looks to have taken the place of Microsoft of the 90s.
 
shiseiryu1 said:
My question is, are they "working on it" in the same way that they're supposedly "working on" the Microsoft-powered tablet? I seem to remember Microsoft's CEO touting their Slate as "coming soon" when the iPad first came out. Was the just vaporware?
Click to expand...

I think the "working on it" from the Slate is what you are seeing in this video. Clearly Microsoft's OS was not up to the demands of touch tablet world at the time (as much as the exec team may have wished). Windows 8 would be the long term result of that "oh s@&$, we need to actually rebuild this to work". Obviously that takes time, so here we are a few years down the road.
 
It sounds like more of the same from Microsoft. They have always worked with hardware vendors. However, I don't see them having the kind of control Apple has over their hardware. That is too bad, because it is one of the reasons Apple products work so well.
 
I'm still confused... What's so great about Windows for ARM? It's locked down. What's the difference between that and an iPad?

Could someone explain the intriguing differences/benefits of a Windows 8 for ARM tablet?
 
Is this MACrumors

Or Winrumors?

Time to change my apple rumor site I think
 
Tonewheel said:
Dr. Evil works for Microsoft? Who knew?
Click to expand...

We all knew.

BALLMERasDrEvil.jpg
 
Windows 8 on ARM (WOA) will do several things:

-Help ARM with a 64 bit ARM chip and continued development, in turn continuing to put a hurting on Intel and AMD.

-Help Apple, because Apple will probably put ARM in a MacBook. Steve always denied a product or feature before it was released.

-Help people gain better acceptance of ARM. One thing that I think helped Apple greatly was their switch to x86. People that wanted a Mac, but were not sure about owning one, were willing to switch, because they knew in the end if they did not like OSX they could install Windows. Now that Windows will be on ARM, people again will be willing to accept OSX on ARM. Keep in mind that Microsoft has to do a good job with Windows 8 on ARM. If MS blows Windows 8 on ARM it could be negative for ARM too.
 
zachkolk said:
...if it would actually run better on Apple hardware like Windows 7 runs better on Apple hardware (so they say)....
Click to expand...

A claim like that really needs a supporting link - making a claim and then adding "so they say" isn't a good argument.

There were some stories saying this around the Vista timeframe, but if you looked closely the Apples had a new, faster CPU and faster disks - not exactly a fair comparison.

Since the CPUs, chipsets, GPUs, disks, network and other components are all commodity - there's no reason for an Apple using a set of components to be significantly faster or slower than an Asus or HP using the same components.

Of course, if the systems don't have the *same* components, you'll be able to show anything that you want! :)
 
Ive been using Windows 8 on my desktop and its actually pretty good. The metro UI works really nicely even on desktop. It seems to run smoother than 7 and the boot time is considerably faster. Some parts of it are a complete mess of conflicting UIs between aero and metro at the moment though.
 
Windows 8 has the potential to be massive, think it will come down to just how well it works across the different platforms - if they get it right it will be a game changer. My main interest (through work) is the Server version and that is looking pretty good so far, lots of new and really useful functionality.

Not sure it will affect Apple that much, can see Google and Android being hit hard though. The mobile market will be flooded with Windows devices and Google don't have the support of a substantial PC market to back Android up in the same way Apple and Microsoft do.

Really good to see Microsoft innovating, rather than just copying Apple. Shows there are ways of doing things differently and that there isn't just a single solution which Google seem to claim with Android.
 
Wang Foolio said:
As long as there's a full-feature Google Chrome browser for Win8, I'll be interested. I like the form factor of the iPad, but not having a desktop-style OS seems limiting. Win8 seems to be a combination of the best of both worlds... pretty shocking stuff but I might look into buying a "PC" machine for the first time in about a decade.
Click to expand...

I hate to say it but as a Mac user of over two decades (basically my whole life) but I am starting to seriouslly consider switching to Windows in a few years. If MacOS and related admin software continues to get feature reduced (see latest case in AirPort Utiltiy 6) I may have to look for an OS built for users not consumers.

I like my iPad, but I don't want my Mac to be a replica.
 
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