Thanks Bronek for actually discussing this.I wasn't gonna check the thread anymore. So despite what you are saying about architectures and stuff which better explains what I meant by a CE replacement with different functionality more like a desktop. You are saying That it would not be CE compatible which is fine. But if they ported Win7 to arm and it had to run Arm compiled software, even if it were Win 32 Arm software not PPC Arm software that does then in fact create a CE replacement that just like Win CE needs special software that only runs on this platform just like Win CE. So not CE, not really a replacement, yet still, very similar for many reasons.
So I take all you say to mean yes, it could be a new CE replacement for say a netbook that while not CE program compatible (but could they make it so to allow PPC software to migrate easier?) does exactly the same job. A special OS that has to have all software specifically made for it that won't run on anything else and future software generations could break that program compatibility.
My whole point was that since PPC2002 has software I got good usage out of, despite it ONLY working on my PDA. I still enjoyed my PDA and it's experience. I would think that if you made Windows7 Arm. As you said all software (Win32 for this OS) would have to be compiled for Arm. Thus making the experience close to if not the same as for Win CE. This software will ONLY work on this device and you will be limited by what companies want to take the effort to make any software for this platform. I was thinking that although Pandora will be replacing my PPC usage, A netbook style (maybe in between netbook and Pandora) sized machine with decent powered Arm etc. and the extra features a Win7 Arm version could provide (obviously they would have to trim down the OS some but generally it would kick Win CE's but then) may not be such a horrible thing.
No more horrible than when I bought a PPC. It served my needs and would have done so much better if it had the capabilities something like a Win7 port could bring.
However, turning a netbook into this, still in my eyes feels like the old palmtop CE devices where it made you think you would get a PC experience, but never delivered. It would be horrible for Pandora as there would be the never ending questions of why we don't move Win7 Arm to Pandora to play Crysis, yada yada yada.
I just wanted to share what I saw as a possibility of why they would do such a thing or what I saw being the possible usage and drawbacks for this. Let's just hope it never happens.
P.S. I know in general you would say you cannot upgrade the OS on a mobile device, and yeah you don't really see that, however I know that my instructor in school had the first Dell Axim and due to when he purchased it and the rollout of the next version of CE there was a legal and supported OS upgrade they mailed to him. So it's possible to upgrade mobile OS's as even mine had OS "updates" and "patches" I had to flash in to fix early PPC2002 problems, but they were making more money on selling you the next version hardware they made for the next full OS. So they didn't want to give away more capabilities.
The whole CE and PPC platform was a bit of a pain in the butt, battery memory backup, sharing storage with usable ram, the price for what you actually were capable of doing with the device. These are why PPC is dead and Pandora will shine. So much more capability, flexibility, and overall more bang for buck. MS should pay attention to this.
Here's one, MS will now create a Pandora clone and place Win7 Arm on it. Then it will fail due to all the problems we have already mentioned here. Yet the original Pandora and OP team will chug along for years eventually making new devices etc. showing MS that it is the OS that is the problem. they will ignore it and do it again and again and again...
I can't wait to get used to Linux!
