Windows 8 to supports x86 and ARM CPUs

[AthlonXP1800]

Microsoft Announces Support of System on a Chip Architectures From Intel, AMD, and ARM for Next Version of Windows

We all know for a while that Microsoft obtained ARM license from ARM Holding months ago to get next generation Windows 8 ported to ARM CPU.

ARM CPUs getting faster and faster all the times with dual core coming early 2011 and possible 64 bit quad core coming in 2012. Guess Nvidia really dont need to develop x86 chip after all.

2012 will be an interesting year to see how multi-core ARM peform compare to x86 CPUs in games benchmarks as well as Windows 8 vs ChromeOS.

[nekrosoft13]

would be interesting to see if they manage to "emulate" normal windows apps under ARM version of windows.

[AthlonXP1800]

Originally Posted by nekrosoft13

would be interesting to see if they manage to "emulate" normal windows apps under ARM version of windows.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology...arm-processors

They probably wont do with VirtualPC so VMWare probably already develop VMWare player for ARM with x86 emulation.

[AthlonXP1800]

Windows 8 ARM version 6.2 build 7867



It very early build not far from Windows 7 RTM version 6.1 build 7600.

Think I got very good guess that Windows 8 RTM will be build 8xxx.

[AthlonXP1800]

Here Microsoft video showing off Windows 8 running on ARM CPUs, on Tegra CPUs running full hardware 1080p HD clip and Aero glass.

[Bman212121]

Originally Posted by nekrosoft13

would be interesting to see if they manage to "emulate" normal windows apps under ARM version of windows.

Yes I'd have to agree with that. The main thing that has been on the fence for me about tablets is not being able to run windows software. There are a lot of apps on the market, but not all of the apps are as good as their windows counterpart.

A lot of programs use a higher level language like VB, C, and java already, so the actual code wouldn't need much changed to work on an arm processor. The only place they would need emulation support is when someone is using direct calls to the hardware. (Most likely games)

@Althon XP: I'd have to guess that windows might try to tackle this natively, but then again maybe not. The whole Windows Xp compatibility mode in Windows 7 is okay but having to run your programs in virtual pc takes away from the usefulness of them IMO. I'd love to see the "emulation" part put under the hood so you don't see it and everything functions like you'd expect it to.


On the flip side it will be interesting to see how many "apps" can run natively in Windows.

[Redeemed]

Originally Posted by zer0

what is ARM?

Well, it's an appendage to your body. It allows you to reach out and grab stuff that without your arm, you'd not be able to reach.

[Sean_W]

Originally Posted by zer0

what is ARM?

It's a different CPU and architecture, RISC. Microsoft have only just decided to wake up and run Windows on another architecture. Linux has supported ARM for....... well a years now.

[XDanger]

all stemmed from the Acorn Archimedes RISC cpu,
A computer we used to have in some schools here in the UK in the late 80's.
Much more powerful than the Amiga's of the time.

A very underused platform at the time maybe due to its price.

Zarch

[Yaboze]

The Tegra one rocked, it seemed the fastest.

[ViN86]

I hope ARM catches on and Nvidia continues to put out more powerful chips. Maybe some day we will be buying Nvidia CPU's.

[Bman212121]

Originally Posted by Sean_W

It's a different CPU and architecture, RISC. Microsoft have only just decided to wake up and run Windows on another architecture. Linux has supported ARM for....... well a years now.

Guess you've never heard of a little OS called Windows CE before...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE

Initial release 16 November 1996