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When the Windows ARM port was announced, many people had hoped for general purpose ARM devices that could replace their cheap laptops. This is not the case, so
by 4ad 15y ago
When the Windows ARM port was announced, many people had hoped for general purpose ARM devices that could replace their cheap laptops. This is not the case, so people complain. Also, the fact that Apple does it doesn't mean it's right. People complain about the Apple situation all the time as well.
- rwmj 15y agoThey can run Android on them, which is open (I'm typing this comment on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 w/ keyboard running a CM9 nightly build). Or they can run real Linux distros ... Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, Linaro are all excellent working distros for a variety of ARM devices. I have a Trim Server running Fedora 17 which is just one open source graphics driver away from being a nice general purpose low end desktop replacement.
- delroth 15y agoThey can't, Win8 ARM devices will have a locked bootloader according to the OEM recommandations sent by Microsoft.
- rwmj 15y agoDo "Win8 ARM devices" actually exist? Maybe there are a handful of them, but there are a huge number of ARM devices available right now to buy that don't have locked bootloaders (or are trivially breakable like most Android devices). Who cares about what Microsoft are doing in an already overcrowded market, bringing along a new OS that has no installed application base? There's no reason to imagine that Win8/ARM is going to become an important platform, just like WinNT/PowerPC and Alpha never went anywhere.
- groovy2shoes 15y agoThey don't really exist yet (in the general availability sense of existence), because no Win8 device really exists yet (Win8 hasn't gone gold). The point is that they will exist, and if manufacturers plan on supporting Win8, they'll have to put the bootloader locks on. Once a Win8 device, always a Win8 device. (Though I'm not convinced at this point that people won't be able to hack their ways around it).
- rst 15y agoWin8 itself doesn't exist as a product yet, though there are prototypes and previews. Likewise for prototype hardware. But specs and requirements for both are now very firm, and comment on those (which is what we have here) is completely legit.
- radicalbyte 15y agoBecause it sets a very worrying president for the future of computing. This Apple like level of control is the holy grail for monopolists like Microsoft. They have no market share. Sure, not yet Don't underestimate just how powerful a draw of having Office BUNLED with the OS will have. It's basically Mocrosoft using their dominant market position in Business software to buy market share for their new OSes. My personal view : in three years time Microsoft will be the dominant player in the tablet market, closely followed by Apple. In 5 years, they'll have 80% of the market. And Office will no longer be bundled.
- dlikhten 15y agoI must disagree. If history is any indicator, MS will fuck it up big time. TBH I do hope they succeed, it will be good for Apple to have REAL competition. I think of Windows on ARM as "iMS" or the "WinPad"
- inoop 15y agoWindows phone 8 will have the same kernel as Win8/ARM, so basically they're merging their mobile and desktop OSs. This will make it possible, among other things, to run a full desktop on your phone (i.e. via a dock with separate monitor/keyboard/mouse).
- benologist 15y agoAre locked devices suddenly something that doesn't get hacked the next day?
- inoop 15y agoYou mean like the PS3?
- recoiledsnake 15y ago>When the Windows ARM port was announced, many people had hoped for general purpose ARM devices that could replace their cheap laptops AFAIK Microsoft never claimed this, so I don't see how the complaints are valid. Also, many people here who are complaining that want to do this are unlikely to be running Windows on those devices and would prefer almost anything else, especially Ubuntu or Android.
- pygy_ 15y agoThe first public demo showed Office running on ARM. I don't think that Metro had been announced at the time. Way to set expectations... mine at least. Edit: See also this: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-desktop-apps-will-run-on-windows-8-on-arm/10756 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/microsoft-desktop-apps-w...
- recoiledsnake 15y agoAnd Office comes _bundled_ with Windows RT.
- pmjordan 15y agoMicrosoft are keen to position Windows 8 on ARM as "just like Windows 8 on x86," when in fact it is nothing of the sort.