Possible Windows 7 support for ARMs?

[GoaLitiuM]

http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/01/arm-ceo-hints-at-possible-windows-7-support-for-arm-processors/

What do you think? :twisted:

I know, Pandora doesn't have enough memory to run it but the idea itself sounds interesting.

 

[lulzfish]

:lol:
ha ha. Yeah, I've always wanted to play Solitaire on an ARM chip.

ARM seems to be humorously the opposite of x86.
On x86, many programs are written for Windows, and everybody uses it.
ARM is used less because it is not the default desktop platform, and so things need to be re-compiled for it.
Of course, open-source software is easy to re-compile, and so Linux and Linux-based software seems to dominate ARM, at least for things I care about [Pandora, Beagleboard, similar devices]

So even if you could somehow fit Windows in 256 MB of RAM and get PowerVR drivers for DirectX... Well, it's been said countless times. You would just be running Windows. You'd need to re-compile EVERY program AGAIN, and you would do much better to just use Linux since all the programs are already compiled for that.

 

[Wookiee]

So Microsoft have spotted that not everything (some netbooks) runs on x86 and they might miss out. They really really need to bring something new and mind blowing to tempt most people on this forum (and elsewhere) to PAY to switch from open source Linux. I'm pretty sure that a Windows 7 port to an ARM architecture is not going to have the performance that we would like to see for emulation or games.

Not that I'm anti-Windows I do still have a dual boot machine for that software I can't yet run on Linux. But I hardly ever boot Windows these days. For me anyway Windows days are numbered.

 

[lulzfish]

Microsoft is probably aware that splitting their architecture base would ruin everything.
I think they'll find that it's not worth the effort at all. They'll either come up with some flashy x86 UMPC and say, "We had a great idea, you guys, let's make smaller stuff instead of tables!" or they'll ignore it altogether and hope nobody notices the cool ARM toys that the Linux geeks are running around with.

 

[hobbyman II]

not to mention that every attempt by MS to create a successful portable OS has been rather dire, even my pocket PC runs much better under Linux that it did on the original winCE, plus CE stinks(slow,buggy,poor range of apps) and eats power even when the system is supposedly turned off, (has to be recharged once a week) I switched to a Palm tungsten in the end, my pocket PC ended up as a cheap satnav when someone gave me a GPS mouse that fitted its expansion connector

 

[Baz]

This thread should go in the General Computing Discussion board.

 

[hch]

i think microsoft is a greedy monopoly that will do everything to imprison you on your own device.

oh about that arm port ... the reactos arm port might be a more realistic option if you really want the windows api without any programs to run.

 

[WizardStan]

Even if Windows 7 was ported, or any version of Windows for that matter, it won't make a difference. You wouldn't suddenly be able to run Windows programs, they'd still need to be recompiled for ARM. Porting Windows will bring nothing significant to the table. At best it would bring awareness to commercial developers who would then start to write games so they could be compile for both x86 and ARM.

 

[Vorporeal]

This thread should go in the General Computing Discussion board.

I disagree. Remember how Chip said that at one point, 2 corporations had approached the dev team (one of them being Microsoft)? I wonder if this is what Microsoft wanted to talk about. I think that the Pandora might be able to handle an embedded version of Win7 if Microsoft plays their cards right, and the Pandora would probably also be a good platform for doing initial testing of the OS on an actual device.

 

[Chip]

All the MS devs said was that they wanted to "evaluate" the platform. I highly doubt that they will or won't do anything just because of the Pandora.

Unfortunately, I suspect that if there is a Windows 7 built for ARM, it will follow the Windows Mobile model of being OEM-installed-only. What I mean is that like WiMo, 7-4-ARM probably won't have a user-friendly installer and a large collection of drivers. Instead, each installation will have to be tailored to each device. If that is the case, it is not likely that it will ever run on the Pandora.

 

[eksasol]

This just a comment that is over speculated by the tech websites, its been posted everywhere it seem. Windows CE runs on ARM, but for a full desktop OS like 7 not likely. It does not even make sense and would be a marketing disaster. Presuming it is preloaded on an ARM netbook, the average person will buy it and found out none of their softwares and games working because they are all x86.

 

[Pleng]

This thread should go in the
Remember how Chip said that at one point, 2 corporations had approached the dev team (one of them being Microsoft)?

He did? They did?

Suddenly all the suspicious delays and periods of silence make sense....

Seriously, though, if I were a small company I'd feel VERY uneasy if M$ had approached me with any kind of interest.

 

[elwing]

not to mention that every attempt by MS to create a successful portable OS has been rather dire, even my pocket PC runs much better under Linux that it did on the original winCE, plus CE stinks(slow,buggy,poor range of apps) and eats power even when the system is supposedly turned off

the windows CE of your device stinks, unlike windows XP, windows CE is different for every plateform and is build by the platform provider, not by microsoft... the only right point you have is the lack of apps... (and the fact that an app for an other platform will probably not be compatible with your platform even if it use the same windows...). windows CE can be a great system, I'm working with one for a realtime system and it is great... if your CE kill your battery while "sleeping" or if its slow as hell it is almost surely the fault of your platform provider...

 

[ilovevideogames408]

I really don't see the porting of Windows to an ARM architecture. Linux is enough.

Mac, Windows, Linux, etc, there all OSes, and as OSes. They can all do what a person basically wants to do with his desktop. Listen to music or read ebooks or play games or emulate roms or surf the internet or chat with their friends or whatever. There really would be no point in the porting of Windows.

 

[elwing]

I really don't see the porting of Windows to an ARM architecture. Linux is enough.

lol, surely not for microsoft... the op don't talk about someone porting windows, but of microsoft releasing a windows for the ARM arch.... they are maybe afraid to see a new gen, low power/cheap ARM netbook with only linux avaiable... trough i really doubt they will release an ARM windows 7... hum and all windows 7 apps would not work under an other arch without a recompile... rendering a windows 7 for arm almost as useless as a windows CE...

 

[Alpha2]

If they want to evaluate it it's only so they can look for things they can steal and claim that they created.

 

[Vorporeal]

All the MS devs said was that they wanted to "evaluate" the platform. I highly doubt that they will or won't do anything just because of the Pandora.

Unfortunately, I suspect that if there is a Windows 7 built for ARM, it will follow the Windows Mobile model of being OEM-installed-only. What I mean is that like WiMo, 7-4-ARM probably won't have a user-friendly installer and a large collection of drivers. Instead, each installation will have to be tailored to each device. If that is the case, it is not likely that it will ever run on the Pandora.

I didn't mean in my post that they were going to do it for the Pandora, but just that if it is true that they're thinking of making a Win7 build for ARM, it was possible that they were "evaluating" (as you said) the Pandora as a possible device to try to officially support in the build. I doubt that they'd want to put CE on the Pandora (as its too powerful for something as limiting as CE), but Win7 seems like something they'd investigate the Pandora as a potential platform for.

 

[lulzfish]

Actually, I think .NET is interpreted, right?
As long as Microsoft ported .NET, they would have at least all of the applications written in .NET languages.

Which, in a worst case scenario, would then bring some popularity to Windows / ARM and flood the market with Pandora-like devices running Windows 7, operated by people who know the brand and value that more than how well it actually works.

But that's okay because Microsoft is not even publicly considering it, and I think they already know it will be too much hassle to explain the difference between ARM and x86 to their users.

 

[danielpwnsricky]

it doesn't matter. windows 7 would have to be something amazing to even start to consider it for the pandora.

 

[truekaiser]

It has been rumored microsoft wants to enter the hand held market after the psp had shown that nintendo's gamboy/ds is NOT the invincible Juggernaut it looks like. I am willing to put down a bet 3 to 1 that they were looking at the pandora in the terms of buy out to make a xbox handheld.