Windows 8 desktop apps to run on ARM devices, too

By on Sep 20, 2011 at 6:30 PM
Software September 20, 2011

Desktop apps that are designed to run on Windows 8 computers with x86/x64 processors will also be capable of running on ARM processors, ZDNet reported on Tuesday. Developers will need to recompile applications so that they run properly and Microsoft is hoping that a majority of developers create both desktop and ARM versions of their applications. In addition, ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley said the standard Windows 8 desktop Metro style user interface will look the exact same on both types of processors. Microsoft has not yet said whether or not its Windows 8 application store will be populated with both Metro style applications and desktop apps.

Read

Tags:
, , , , , , ,
19 Comments

Related Articles

  • Hmmm

    First?

    • http://levelten.org tdmiller productions

      are you happy?

      • Hmmm

        Not really….

      • mangenius

        Stop being a playa hata.  Let him have his moment you goof!

    • Anonymous

      I just got a 829.99 iPad2 for only 103.37 and my mom got a 1499.99 HDTV for  251.92, they are both coming with US PS tomorrow. I would be an idiot to ever pay full retail prices at places like Walmart or Bestbuy. I sold a 37″ HDTV to my boss for 600 that I only paid 78.24 for. I use blue.gg/5g

  • Anonymous

    wishful thinking.

    Supporting 2 architectures with two different UIs…  4X the hassle.

    It’s gonna be more than just ‘recompiling’   It will be a ‘new app’  New user experience, new interface new (sub)set of features.   You may see Word on the WIN8ARM platform, but it won’t be the same code base as Word on  Win8Tel.

    When I seen 100% of the features of MS Access ported to an ARM tablet with a Metro UI, I’ll believe… Until then, I’m just reading ‘capability to be in a future release, date TBD’  and TBD means ‘totally bogus deliverable.’

    TheOtherGeoff
    Remember NT on Alpha.  

    • http://twitter.com/starnovsky Stan Tarnovsky

      Regular Windows application is not targeting specific CPU architecture, it’s targeting a Win API at lowest. So as long as MS is able to keep Windows API consistent between different CPU architecture (which it could do) it’s a recompilation, not rewrite. Compiler will take care of generating a target CPU instruction set.
      Desktop UI vs Metro is a different issue though, but nobody promised a magical conversion of desktop UI into Metro.

    • Fred

      No offense, but ARM isn’t a UI, it’s a processor design.  And they will be building ARM laptops, if you haven’t heard.

      • Anonymous

        I’m assuming that Fred is targeting the ARM is a processor towards Stan.  To that I agree.   Just ‘tuning’ an single source code across 2 architectures is problematic.  and if you have to have 2 code bases, you have 2 apps.   Keeping the Windows API ‘could be possible’ but it also ‘may not be possible’ depending on how X86 it is (kernel mode).   

        However, ARM laptops don’t make sense.  The performance curve is too high.  ARM is better at maximizing power/weight (battery), but not better at raw performance (which in a Windows world is just about everything).

        back to Stan….
        The problem is that this is not a migration strategy… it’s a permanent (so they say) dual HW architecture.  MS has never successfully supported that in the past  hence my comment of Alpha.   (and you could say they didn’t do a great job with Itanium either).   

        Apple [nee NeXT] made it happen for a few years, but even they learned that it’s better to drive to one architecture [powerPC vs Intel]  and they _controlled_ the HW platform[s].  I would be amazed if MS actually delivered it, and give up my birthday if they were able to release Win9 supporting the same 2 platforms.

      • Anonymous

        guess who won’t be a part of arm laptops?

        intel.

  • Anonymous

    This is great news! Maybe not from a developer standpoint but from an end user point of view this rocks.

    I have been enjoying the developer release of Windows 8 on a laptop, I’m very excited about this latest information!

  • http://jpearls.myopenid.com/ earls

    So where did the rumors that ARM devices will not include the desktop originate?  Multiple devices were demonstrated with the desktop clearly present.

  • http://www.TheGuruReview.net TGR

    Nice…..

  • Anonymous

    As nice as Windows 8 looks, or how nice it may be, it marks the final nail in their dominance coffin. With other os interfaces so prevalent in our daily lives today, people will not blindly jump into the fold anymore like they used to. Windows 8 will cause people pause and make them question whether they really need to invest time and money in yet another new interface. MS missed the boat and now it will just be yet another OS, another drop in the pool of OSes.

    • Anonymous

      Sorry but this is the future.  All the other palm pilot copies and old style desktop layouts havent changed other than adding animations ect, and give you no at a glance information with small exceptions.  Live tiles constantly updating and putting information in the forefront is a bold risk that will pay off.  MS has a winner here, and everyone else’s interface looks archaic in comparison.

  • luun

    So what I’m hearing is that I can have a fast, battery-sipping, mobile device and also have the freedom to run software on it that will transform it into a slow, 2-hours to a charge PC?! Sign me up!

  • Anonymous

    Why is BGR so dam late to the party? and why do they copy and paste shit from other blogs to make it news?

  • Anonymous

    “Desktop apps that are designed to run on Windows 8 computers with x86/x64 processors will also be capable of running on ARM processors”

    “Developers will need to recompile applications so that they run properly”

    So in other words, ARM computers won’t be able to run x86/x64 applications.

  • Terence Lai

    Just Great. Now I have to worry about viruses on tablets too. I love tablets bacauser there was no frustrations. I guess that will be over soon. Im going to stick with Ipad or mabey a galaxy tab

blog comments powered by Disqus