Comments on: How Microsoft can run the x86 apps on the ARM Powered Windows 8

By: sola

sola — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:52:00 +0000

I am sorry but software development just doesn’t work like this.

Windows x86 we cannot just be recompiled like Linux applications. Linux apps are coded with portability in mind.

Win x86 code will be PORTED with long, hard work to ARM.

By: Marc Guillot Puig

Marc Guillot Puig — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:29:00 +0000

I think there should be another solution : local emulation.

Yes, I know performance won’t be great, but it doesn’t need to be. You will not try to use Autocad or Photoshop under emulation (these modern commercial applications will have ARM versions), you will only try to use those old legacy application you have been carrying for 15 years. And those old applications will run perfectly fine at a Pentium 75 level of performance.

Besides, Win32 API calls will be executed natively under ARM processors, so this will improve emulation performance. And most importantly, modern ARM Soc’s haves complex programable GPU’s, windows could use them to speed up x86 emulation a lot.

By: Charbax

Charbax — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:45:00 +0000

Maybe Microsoft can automate the process of porting Windows x86 apps to ARM, perhaps some simple apps can be a simple near one-click recompile process while for the other more complicated apps Microsoft can invest as much as they can in trying to make the porting process as simple as possible. Obviously rethinking the app from the ground up for the power saving advantages of ARM is better, but perhaps Microsoft can build it into their development tools, be it visual studio, plugins for eclipse, however its called those platforms developers most use for Windows apps, Microsoft can try to automate the porting process, can’t they?

By: Devine

Devine — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 13:00:00 +0000

Why!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!!?!?!?!?

By: Porusm

Porusm — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:55:00 +0000

I agree, I think legacy support for older .exe format binaries is going to be difficult. That’s why there is no native development kit for Windows Phone 7, its all based on C# and their mobile .NET platform. When Nokia opted for WP7, most of the existing C/C++ apps etc for Symbian/Qt cannot ported easily to WP7 easily because its not just a UI change. Wouldn’t be surprised in MS goes the virtual machine way and go to .NET for Windows 8 on tablets, the way Android has with Android Java.

By: guest

guest — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 09:32:00 +0000

Very easy: unix software has very long and reach tradition of portability. As opposed to windows, where all APIs are too tightly tied to x86. That’s why Windows and its apps still suck on x86-64, which is just slightly different from x86-32. ARM is in turn completely different platform, although also 32-bit.

By: Charbax

Charbax — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:56:00 +0000

How come all the 30 thousand Ubuntu apps just recompile nearly automatically?

By: Ripe24

Ripe24 — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 08:41:00 +0000

It is very difficult to do selective translation of codes and I think most applications that are done for x86 don’t just compile.