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Windows can already build on ARM, even (Windows RT). Microsoft could make a “full” version of Windows for ARM if they wanted.

alkonaut 10y ago
No doubt full Windows is already running on Arm at Microsoft - the problem is likely that legacy Win32 x86/x64 apps need to run on Arm which requires some sort of effort similar to when Apple switched to Intel. Only having.
- kitsunesoba 10y ago
  To add to this, third party Windows programs have very little in common with each other, as developers on that platform use hundreds of different UI toolkits, libraries, etc making porting to ARM infeasible due to the number of dependencies that need to be ported along with it. Contrast this with the situation on Apple platforms, where nearly all developers use Cocoa and the vast majority of third party libraries already support ARM in addition to x86. Most of today's Mac apps could be running on a hypothetical new ARM based Mac with developers doing little more than ticking an additional architecture box in Xcode and recompiling. Apple has everything that kept MS from succeeding with their ARM desktop OS transition and could even make the leap relatively smoothly.
  - TazeTSchnitzel 10y ago
    Microsoft have tried to run Windows on multiple platforms before, and IIRC, failed. NT was available for the Alpha and MIPS, but I believe almost everything had to be emulated.
  - alkonaut 10y ago
    "Full" emulation has to be provided - that is, an emulator that lets ALL Windows programs written years ago to be run on ARM Windows without recompilation. They have started to move to platform independence with UWP, but legacy software must also work otherwise it's not Windows.
- IOT_Apprentice 10y ago
  Um, Microsoft was selling a surface device that ran on ARM, in addition to the Intel version.
  - alkonaut 10y ago
    Yes, and phones. No ARM windows desktops or laptops, and no ARM Windows tablets for the "full" Windows however. They need an ARM version of Windows that runs Win32 Intel programs. They already have an emulation layer for compatibility with 16-bit win32 Intel programs in Windows today. An ARM compatibility layer would be slower, but still doable (c.f. Apple when switching to intel)

alkonaut 10y ago

No doubt full Windows is already running on Arm at Microsoft - the problem is likely that legacy Win32 x86/x64 apps need to run on Arm which requires some sort of effort similar to when Apple switched to Intel. Only having.

kitsunesoba 10y ago
To add to this, third party Windows programs have very little in common with each other, as developers on that platform use hundreds of different UI toolkits, libraries, etc making porting to ARM infeasible due to the number of dependencies that need to be ported along with it. Contrast this with the situation on Apple platforms, where nearly all developers use Cocoa and the vast majority of third party libraries already support ARM in addition to x86. Most of today's Mac apps could be running on a hypothetical new ARM based Mac with developers doing little more than ticking an additional architecture box in Xcode and recompiling. Apple has everything that kept MS from succeeding with their ARM desktop OS transition and could even make the leap relatively smoothly.
- TazeTSchnitzel 10y ago
  Microsoft have tried to run Windows on multiple platforms before, and IIRC, failed. NT was available for the Alpha and MIPS, but I believe almost everything had to be emulated.
- alkonaut 10y ago
  "Full" emulation has to be provided - that is, an emulator that lets ALL Windows programs written years ago to be run on ARM Windows without recompilation. They have started to move to platform independence with UWP, but legacy software must also work otherwise it's not Windows.
IOT_Apprentice 10y ago
Um, Microsoft was selling a surface device that ran on ARM, in addition to the Intel version.
- alkonaut 10y ago
  Yes, and phones. No ARM windows desktops or laptops, and no ARM Windows tablets for the "full" Windows however. They need an ARM version of Windows that runs Win32 Intel programs. They already have an emulation layer for compatibility with 16-bit win32 Intel programs in Windows today. An ARM compatibility layer would be slower, but still doable (c.f. Apple when switching to intel)