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Isn't windows RT is for ARM cpu? MSFT just does not bother to port desktop mode to ARM chips. Two possible reasons for not porting desktop mode are: 1.x86 and

Isn't windows RT is for ARM cpu? MSFT just does not bother to port desktop mode to ARM chips. Two possible reasons for not porting desktop mode are: 1.x86 and arm architecture are different and it is not easy to port. 2.No existing desktop application for ARM. Windows RT seems to be windows 8's partial port for ARM chips as I understand.

dangrossman 14y ago
Windows RT has the desktop -- with the same task bar as Windows 7, littered with icons as it's always been back to Windows 95 if you so choose, plus the familiar shell apps like Explorer and Task Manager. All the Microsoft Office apps that come bundled with Surface also run in "desktop mode" -- they're not Metro apps at all. The only difference between Windows RT and Windows 8 is that the only sanctioned way to install software on Windows RT is from the Windows Store, where all apps run on both CPU architectures.
- ghshephard 14y ago
  Re: "...is from the Windows Store, where all apps run on both CPU architectures." From the OP quoted article: "While Windows 8 and Windows RT can both run so-called “Modern” apps (formerly known as “Metro” apps) designed for touch-sensitive screens, even those apps must be converted, or ported, to Windows RT, and not all Modern apps appearing in the Windows app store have been ported over, compounding compatibility issues."
  - DaveMebs 14y ago
    If you write an HTML/JS, it will always run on all architectures. If you write a .NET/XAML app, by default it will be compiled to a CPU neutral IL that runs on all architectures (you can disable this and target a specific CPU architecture). If you write a C++/XAML app, by default Visual Studio will compile different versions of the app for each architecture. For the vast majority of Win8 apps, "converting" to ARM is just a cross-compile. It is only when you are doing very specialized things that you actually need to worry about the CPU architecture your app will be running on.
    - kyllo 14y ago
      Does that mean if there's an open source application you like, all you have to do to get it on your Surface is open the source code in the latest edition of Visual Studio, recompile it, transfer the files to your Surface, and you will be able to install and run it?
      - jpatte 14y ago
        Unfortunately no because chances are this open source code is using some parts of the Win32 API that are not supported by WinRT, so you would have to replace the invalid API calls by the new (probably asynchronous) ones... Maybe even completely rewrite the GUI if necessary.
malkia 14y ago
I think mips might also be supported, but not sure
mtgx 14y ago
Linux for ARM supports legacy x86 apps. And I don't think there's any major performance penalty there. Sure, it's not very fast on pre-Cortex A15 hardware, but that can be said about Windows RT, too. Windows RT is actually a lot slower when processing stuff (up to 3x slower) than Android and iOS (not talking about animations, which are pretty simple and handled by the GPU). Also in the Linux world they are working on improving the performance and battery efficiency with kernels 3.7 and 3.8, and they will keep improving them in future versions, as they are only at very early stages of ARM support. I think the 64 bit ARMv8 chips will get great support for Linux from day one, when they come out in 2014, as support for them it's already being baked into the kernels right now.
- Nursie 14y ago
  "Linux for ARM supports legacy x86 apps" ?!? I'm a huge linux fan but I've never heard of this outside of some sort of processor-emulation layer and full VM which wouldn't give you the world's best performance. Have I missed something? --edit-- Did you mean support for older apps is (comparatively) easy because they can be rebuilt from source? Also I'm not really sure what you mean by linux support for ARM being in the early stages. I've been running linux on a variety of ARM devices for ~8 years now, since the NSLU2 days. Good support for a huge variety of ARM SoCs has been in place for many years now.

dangrossman 14y ago

Windows RT has the desktop -- with the same task bar as Windows 7, littered with icons as it's always been back to Windows 95 if you so choose, plus the familiar shell apps like Explorer and Task Manager. All the Microsoft Office apps that come bundled with Surface also run in "desktop mode" -- they're not Metro apps at all. The only difference between Windows RT and Windows 8 is that the only sanctioned way to install software on Windows RT is from the Windows Store, where all apps run on both CPU architectures.

ghshephard 14y ago
Re: "...is from the Windows Store, where all apps run on both CPU architectures." From the OP quoted article: "While Windows 8 and Windows RT can both run so-called “Modern” apps (formerly known as “Metro” apps) designed for touch-sensitive screens, even those apps must be converted, or ported, to Windows RT, and not all Modern apps appearing in the Windows app store have been ported over, compounding compatibility issues."
- DaveMebs 14y ago
  If you write an HTML/JS, it will always run on all architectures. If you write a .NET/XAML app, by default it will be compiled to a CPU neutral IL that runs on all architectures (you can disable this and target a specific CPU architecture). If you write a C++/XAML app, by default Visual Studio will compile different versions of the app for each architecture. For the vast majority of Win8 apps, "converting" to ARM is just a cross-compile. It is only when you are doing very specialized things that you actually need to worry about the CPU architecture your app will be running on.
  - kyllo 14y ago
    Does that mean if there's an open source application you like, all you have to do to get it on your Surface is open the source code in the latest edition of Visual Studio, recompile it, transfer the files to your Surface, and you will be able to install and run it?
    - jpatte 14y ago
      Unfortunately no because chances are this open source code is using some parts of the Win32 API that are not supported by WinRT, so you would have to replace the invalid API calls by the new (probably asynchronous) ones... Maybe even completely rewrite the GUI if necessary.

malkia 14y ago

I think mips might also be supported, but not sure

mtgx 14y ago

Linux for ARM supports legacy x86 apps. And I don't think there's any major performance penalty there. Sure, it's not very fast on pre-Cortex A15 hardware, but that can be said about Windows RT, too. Windows RT is actually a lot slower when processing stuff (up to 3x slower) than Android and iOS (not talking about animations, which are pretty simple and handled by the GPU). Also in the Linux world they are working on improving the performance and battery efficiency with kernels 3.7 and 3.8, and they will keep improving them in future versions, as they are only at very early stages of ARM support. I think the 64 bit ARMv8 chips will get great support for Linux from day one, when they come out in 2014, as support for them it's already being baked into the kernels right now.

Nursie 14y ago
"Linux for ARM supports legacy x86 apps" ?!? I'm a huge linux fan but I've never heard of this outside of some sort of processor-emulation layer and full VM which wouldn't give you the world's best performance. Have I missed something? --edit-- Did you mean support for older apps is (comparatively) easy because they can be rebuilt from source? Also I'm not really sure what you mean by linux support for ARM being in the early stages. I've been running linux on a variety of ARM devices for ~8 years now, since the NSLU2 days. Good support for a huge variety of ARM SoCs has been in place for many years now.