Will The Pandora Run Windows?

[renegadechic]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10741448

interesting development to say the least!

Edit - oh and http://www.engadget.com/2010/07/23/microsoft-becomes-official-arm-licensee-could-an-ms-microproces/

 

[mali]

Interesting news, thanks for posting

So Intel already moved away a little bit from MS Windows with Moorestown, while pushing Moblin/MeeGo, and now Microsoft looks closer at ARM tech.

 

[lulzfish]

And there was much rejoicing, that the Pandora might run Windows and Solitaire and perhaps even some .NET applications. (.NET solitaire, perhaps)

 

[Nod51]

Windows without all the 3rd party software is worthless to most people as they want Windows to run some app.
If you want to run .NET Mono (http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page) should work right now, I just don't know if it will compile for ARM yet.

 

[Fishbong]

What does this news have to do with anything? Microsoft has been making operating systems for ARM devices for more than a decade now. These new developments merely mean that those OSes may be running on Microsoft - designed chips. To infer the possibility of a desktop Windows port for ARM from these news is like inferring the number of pickles on a hamburger from McDonald's quarterly figures.

 

[fearofshorts]

What does this news have to do with anything? Microsoft has been making operating systems for ARM devices for more than a decade now. These new developments merely mean that those OSes may be running on Microsoft - designed chips. To infer the possibility of a desktop Windows port for ARM from these news is like inferring the number of pickles on a hamburger from McDonald's quarterly figures.

Fishbong speaks the truth.
In fact, it seems even less likely that the Pandora will ever run any version of windows without emulation: before, it was Windows running on ARM, an architecture which is fairly open. Now it'll be Windows running on Microsoft-created-ARM (whatever that'll be) which will be a whole new can of worms.

Best case scenario: Microsoft stick exactly to the specs and release all details. Pfft.
Expected outcome: Microsoft modify the crap out of the architecture, forcing cellphone manufacturers who want Windows Phone to use their processors.

Monopolies- they're not actually good things for Free Software.

 

[WizardStan]

Best case scenario: Microsoft stick exactly to the specs and release all details. Pfft.
Expected outcome: Microsoft modify the crap out of the architecture, forcing cellphone manufacturers who want Windows Phone to use their processors.

The third scenario involves them not making chips at all, instead buying the design so they can go beyond just making an ARM based OS, but build it to be the most effective use of the chips. I find this unlikely as it's overkill, even for Microsoft, but it's a reasonable possibility.

 

[mali]

I agree that this news doesn't directly imply bringing "Windows" to ARM, but it's still very interesting to watch the steps those large corporations like Intel and Microsoft do right now. The fight in the handheld sector is heating up.

I'll move it to Off Topic and hope we can have a worthy discussion there an no winblowz is crap lulz, cause even completely retarded morons know that in fact Linfucks is crap.

 

[Chaser]

Linfucks is crap?

Dang I'd just gotten used to all the club only lingo/talk about the various versions available and finally a torrent of a live Linfucks comes my way, only to be told its crap after all. Guess I'll stick with Bill, even if his plan is to now pounce upon the handheld market and close it as best he can whilst he trounces the shovelware market with a HD version of an after the pub shite catalogue (which kinda negates the HD aspect) coupled to a possibly invasive tool.

Aww shoot...that re-enforces I'm a completely retarded moron but you knew I'd bite the Apple eventually you crafty snakes.

 

[SomeGuy99]

Monopolies- they're not actually good things for Free Software.

Really? I find that some open source programs are better packaged for Windows. Linux is a very large target, and not every dart hits straight.

 

[Pickle]

What does this news have to do with anything? Microsoft has been making operating systems for ARM devices for more than a decade now. These new developments merely mean that those OSes may be running on Microsoft - designed chips. To infer the possibility of a desktop Windows port for ARM from these news is like inferring the number of pickles on a hamburger from McDonald's quarterly figures.

We all know there is only one pickle.

 

[PhillipJ]

If you want to run .NET Mono (http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page) should work right now, I just don't know if it will compile for ARM yet.

Mono is in the Angstrom repos. The ARM version is highly compatible with .NET 2 assemblies but so many people only target Windows so there's likely to be p/invoke's in almost any Windows .NET program you find. Also, launching stuff using Mono was very slow on my n810. I assume this is because it had to load the runtime first and I have a slow SD card but I'm not sure.