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> hardware Just Works under Windows > Microsoft essentially has stewardship over the entire PC platform [citation needed]

ThrowawayR2 5y ago
Microsoft defines the hardware specification for Windows compatible x86 and all the OEMs that manufacture x86 servers (even ones most likely destined to never run anything other than Linux), desktops, and laptops certify against it. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/compatibility/whcp-specifications-policies https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/com... https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/test/hlk/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/test/hlk/ There are no other standards for what a PC is. All of the open OSes, including Linux, just piggyback on Microsoft's standard. (And if anyone believes that the various giants building custom ARM processors aren't hoping that they can get dominance based on their own spec so that they can displace Microsoft and wield the same power, think again.)
- DeathArrow 5y ago
  I think Intel designs specifications for x86 platform, not MS. And someone should do it after IBM quit doing it. Otherwise we would have the same level of fragmentation in x86 hardware space that we have in Linux software or that we see in ARM space. Much less compatibility.
- cesarb 5y ago
  > And if anyone believes that the various giants building custom ARM processors aren't hoping that they can get dominance based on their own spec so that they can displace Microsoft and wield the same power, think again. ARM already has their own spec for that, the SBSA. So the one wielding power will most probably be ARM itself, not one of the "various giants building custom ARM processors".
  - ThrowawayR2 5y ago
    I looked around briefly but I mostly see articles saying "SBSA is eventually a goal" for various products. Is the ARM ecosystem coalescing around SBSA?

ThrowawayR2 5y ago

Microsoft defines the hardware specification for Windows compatible x86 and all the OEMs that manufacture x86 servers (even ones most likely destined to never run anything other than Linux), desktops, and laptops certify against it. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/compatibility/whcp-specifications-policies https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/com... https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/test/hlk/ https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/test/hlk/ There are no other standards for what a PC is. All of the open OSes, including Linux, just piggyback on Microsoft's standard. (And if anyone believes that the various giants building custom ARM processors aren't hoping that they can get dominance based on their own spec so that they can displace Microsoft and wield the same power, think again.)

DeathArrow 5y ago
I think Intel designs specifications for x86 platform, not MS. And someone should do it after IBM quit doing it. Otherwise we would have the same level of fragmentation in x86 hardware space that we have in Linux software or that we see in ARM space. Much less compatibility.
cesarb 5y ago
> And if anyone believes that the various giants building custom ARM processors aren't hoping that they can get dominance based on their own spec so that they can displace Microsoft and wield the same power, think again. ARM already has their own spec for that, the SBSA. So the one wielding power will most probably be ARM itself, not one of the "various giants building custom ARM processors".
- ThrowawayR2 5y ago
  I looked around briefly but I mostly see articles saying "SBSA is eventually a goal" for various products. Is the ARM ecosystem coalescing around SBSA?