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They will want to support x64 on ARM anyway, because Windows is going on it. If Apple was to do this, now is a good time. Have a Windows program, and a Mac port

They will want to support x64 on ARM anyway, because Windows is going on it. If Apple was to do this, now is a good time. Have a Windows program, and a Mac port you care about? Port both (hopefully). That's assuming anyone other than VM and driver companies will notice the change and will have to code for ARM.

rbanffy 15y ago
> They will want to support x64 on ARM anyway, because Windows is going on it. Could you explain that?
- benologist 15y ago
  There's an ARM version of Windows 8, either it launches with no software or MS builds in a way to support all the existing stuff.
  - rbanffy 15y ago
    Microsoft is porting Office. There is no way a current ARM can emulate a modern x86 with performance comparable to real hardware. Microsoft can make it easy for companies to compile their codebases for ARM, provided they use Microsoft tools. C# and Java should be able to run cleanly, but there is a lot of VB6 code still floating around. There are ways to use the transistor surplus an ARM code has (it's much simpler than a comparable x86) to hardware-assist the translation, but, by the time you have a functional silicon, you will be in the x86 size range, negating all the advantages ARM has.
    - wtracy 15y ago
      I have no inside knowledge, but I'm betting that the ARM version of Windows will strictly run .net user applications. (There's already precedence for this with Windows Phone.) Microsoft already tried to support Windows on two different architectures (x86 and Alpha) and failed when application developers never bothered porting to Alpha. They're not about to repeat that.
      - benologist 15y ago
        Couldn't they automatically recompile x86/x64 .NET stuff to ARM on install or first run (some of the time)?
        rbanffy 15y ago
        .NET stuff is not native code. It's CLR bytecode, interpreted much the same way Java bytecode is. Some runtime environments do JITing, when the bytecode gets translated to native instructions.
runjake 15y ago
x64 is a specific 64-bit derivative of the x86 architecture, ARM has it's own 64-bit arch. Microsoft is porting Windows 8 natively to ARM.
- tobylane 15y ago
  True, but you got my point, calls that used to be purely written for x86 have been ported to run on ARM.

rbanffy 15y ago

> They will want to support x64 on ARM anyway, because Windows is going on it. Could you explain that?

benologist 15y ago
There's an ARM version of Windows 8, either it launches with no software or MS builds in a way to support all the existing stuff.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  Microsoft is porting Office. There is no way a current ARM can emulate a modern x86 with performance comparable to real hardware. Microsoft can make it easy for companies to compile their codebases for ARM, provided they use Microsoft tools. C# and Java should be able to run cleanly, but there is a lot of VB6 code still floating around. There are ways to use the transistor surplus an ARM code has (it's much simpler than a comparable x86) to hardware-assist the translation, but, by the time you have a functional silicon, you will be in the x86 size range, negating all the advantages ARM has.
  - wtracy 15y ago
    I have no inside knowledge, but I'm betting that the ARM version of Windows will strictly run .net user applications. (There's already precedence for this with Windows Phone.) Microsoft already tried to support Windows on two different architectures (x86 and Alpha) and failed when application developers never bothered porting to Alpha. They're not about to repeat that.
    - benologist 15y ago
      Couldn't they automatically recompile x86/x64 .NET stuff to ARM on install or first run (some of the time)?
      - rbanffy 15y ago
        .NET stuff is not native code. It's CLR bytecode, interpreted much the same way Java bytecode is. Some runtime environments do JITing, when the bytecode gets translated to native instructions.

runjake 15y ago

x64 is a specific 64-bit derivative of the x86 architecture, ARM has it's own 64-bit arch. Microsoft is porting Windows 8 natively to ARM.

tobylane 15y ago
True, but you got my point, calls that used to be purely written for x86 have been ported to run on ARM.