Last week during the introduction of Windows 8, Stephen Sinofsky, president of Microsoft Windows unit said that the “demos we are showing you today are equally at home on ARM or x86,” according to Informationweek.
A Microsoft representative later clarified that statement saying he “was referring only to so-called Metro apps — touch-based applications that are designed for tablets but which also will run on Windows PCs.”
“We’ve been very clear since the very first CES demos and forward that the ARM product won’t run any x86 applications,” said Sinofsky.
Tonight, Mary-Jo Foley said this on ZDNet:
Part of the reason for all this confusion is Windows 8’s terminology, in my opinion. The “Desktop App” in Windows 8 is the classic Windows 7 mode. Not all Metro-style apps are going to be consumer apps, nor are all business/enterprise apps going to run in the Desktop App mode. Business apps — whether they’re written in HTML5/JavaScript or in C++, C#, Visual Basic and/or using XAML — can adopt the Metro look and feel. And consumer apps can technically be Windows 8 Desktop apps.
Clear as mud.
It’s looking like Windows 8 fragmentation is going to make Android look absolutely cohesive. “Uh, yeah-I’d like the ARM tablet version of Touch Office, please. Oh, no. Wait, I mean the x86 tablet version of Touch Office. And that will run on my i7 Windows 8 notebook too, right?”Sounds like a “bag of hurt.”
I like Gruber’s theory that we’re seeing the public fallout of a big political dispute within Microsoft, over whether Metro will or won’t be saddled with the legacy Windows desktop.
For now, it seems to me that Microsoft almost benefits from the confusion. Partisans of either situation can point to public statements that back them up and make them feel good about their opinions.
I wonder what developers and hardware partners are being told, however.
are you insane? How’s this any good? it jsut means that sinovsky doesnt have complete control over the microsoft empire. Sinovsky needs to clean house. I don’t understand how you can have people so threatened by the future that they understand taht you can’t bolt legacy apps onto everything. Legacy apps were never made for TOUCH SCREEN.
God, Let the head of your software division make decisions, you stupid dithering morons.
This infighting killed many a great product from Microsoft and if they don’t watch out, it will take another.
I don’t envy the people trying to makes sense of it all, even less so the developers.
Well thanks for clearing that up. WHAT?
To quote Manuel from Fawlty Towers, “¿che?”
I thought they said ¿que? in Barcelona.
I don’t think the ARM/x86 is any news, it’s no surprise, it’s no big deal. I am not a Microsoft fan or apologist. I don’t have any plans to get one of those tablets, I don’t care about them. Most of the Win8 tablet users will get their apps from an app store, and all the apps they buy will work on their tablet. More technical folks will want to sideload apps, and they’ll know well enough if they got an x86 tablet (and good Lord, you’ll really want your desktop apps on a tablet? MSFT is reminding us why they failed for MANY years with tablets.)
wouldn’t that be “¿Que?”
Once the NSA finds out that MS is developing weapons of mass confusion, Washington will be the biggest parking lot in the Pacific region.
I really wonder what they are thinking… For PC users there will be almost nothing new (just added complexity), for real=ARM tablet users there will be no apps, not even WP7 apps (but at least they have to buy a full Windows license), MS developers have to use standards (a completely unknown concept for them) to develop Metro apps, but don’t know, if there will ever be buyers for them, and even the parts of the press and pundits who are head first ankle-deep in MS’s butt, have to admit that they do not get it. What a triumph.
As long as Microsoft calls it Windows 8 for ARM tablets the public will be confused. You could print in bold print across the front “This OS will not run x86 class programs” and the public will still think that since it says Windows it will run my Windows programs.
Calling the ARM version Windows 8 is a big mistake, they should call it Microsoft Metro and call the desktop version Windows 8 with Metro.
I think Microsoft is counting on the confusion to sell tablets, figuring that most consumers will only use the Metro Apps and not know the difference. They will make official statements stating that Metro for Arm tablets will not run x86 software but the general public doesn’t even know what that means.
Say what you like about Apple (and/or Steve Jobs) but can you ever imagine an Apple veep getting to muddy the message on a critical product launch like this? Where the hell is Ballmer? I mean, I’m not saying he would actually help or anything, but surely this is too important to leave to an underling?
Apart from anything else, Apple’s message always gets delivered by the CEO, and I would bet good money that any announcements by other division heads (Scott Forstall, Bob Mansfield, Eddy Cue, Phil Schiller et al.) gets scrutinised beforehand, and ($deity) help the goober who dared to stray from the script.
Of course, this isn’t really a launch because they haven’t got any, you know, actual shipping product but developer events aren’t the closed previews they once were. Apple recognised this long ago when they started treating WWDC as a public stage. People will look at this as gospel.
What a mess!
Sinovsky has no incentive to “clean house” as long as he can wield enough political power at that company to kill any idea that he feels will rob Windows of its importance. His decisions are a big part of what is keeping legacy crap alive over there.
You’re right.
This is what happens when a Canadian of Italian origin tries spanish *hangs head in shame*
I will reiterate what I posted on the ZDNet article.
If They Know What’s Good For Them……Metro will drop support for “traditional” Windows applications like a hot rock. Apple did not make the iPad a runaway success by porting any and all applications to it’s mobile platform.Legacy is death. It’s a drag on resources, literally and figuratively, and developers cannot be made to push forward a platform if they can rely on “the we always do things”.
Windows users will be able to run all of their existing Windows applications on a Windows 8 tablet… as long as that tablet has an Intel or AMD processor. Those tablets will be basically the same “Tablet PC” that Microsoft has been trying to sell unsuccessfully for the past 10 years, since 2001.
A Windows 8 tablet with an Intel or AMD processor (like the Samsung 700T reviewed by PC ADVISOR) are thick, heavy, run hot, need air vents and a fan to spin most of the time, and (as in the case of the Samsung 700T) only have 2.5 to 3 hours of battery life.
These tablets are also much more expensive than current ARM tablets like the iPad. The Samsung 700T has a list price of about $1,600. That’s more than 3-times the price of a base iPad 2 (Yikes!).
In addition, since Windows applications are designed to operate with keyboard and mouse, NOT with multi-touch, and the interface is too complex and small to use with your fingers on a small tablet screen anyways, you will need to use a stylus like the one included with the Samsung 700T.
This is just like the Tablet PCs that have not sold well during the past 10 years. Einstein’s definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
But Microsoft’s version of Windows 8 that runs on ARM processors WON’T be able to run Windows applications.
So as much as Microsoft wants you to believe that Windows 8 is just one operating system that runs on all of your desktop, laptop, and tablet “PCs” (Microsoft has stated that they consider tablets to be “PCs”), it is not really true.
There are really two different OS’s.
One is a poorly thought-out version of Windows 7 slightly redesigned with Windows Phone 7 interface (Metro) stuck on top of it. This OS will run on Intel or AMD desktop, laptop, or tablet PCs, and will run all of your Windows applications… but an Intel or AMD tablet is impractical.
The other version of Windows 8 runs on ARM processors. It won’t be able to run your Windows applications, only the Metro tablet apps whenever (or if) they become available.
Some people will believe whatever Microsoft tells them, and won’t question its veracity.
In reality, Microsoft is following in Apple’s footsteps, and selling an operating system for desktop and notebook PCs, and another incompatible one designed for ARM tablets. They are even copying Apple’s App Store for Metro tablet apps, and using the same 30% – 70% developer split.
The main problem is that both of Microsoft’s Windows 8 versions are neither well designed for desktop and notebook PCs, nor for ARM tablets.
It will be “interesting” to see how many Windows users actually upgrade to Windows 8, or if they still buy-in to Microsoft’s bull after using it for a while.
To see what an incredibly complex mess Windows developers now face with Windows 8, read this article entitled “Microsoft’s Metro proves the PC is dead”
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/microsofts-metro-proves-the-pc-is-dead/18705?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ZDNetBlogs+%28ZDNet+All+Blogs%29
Also read “Post-PC: Why Intel Can No Longer Live in Denial”
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/post-pc-why-intel-can-no-longer-live-in-denial/18650?tag=content;siu-container
And finally, watch the “Windows 8 Developer Preview Video Tour” to see how ridiculous Windows 8 is on a desktop PC
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/perlow/windows-8-developer-preview-video-tour/18680?tag=content;siu-container
:-
“One is a poorly thought-out version of Windows 7 slightly redesigned with Windows Phone 7 interface (Metro) stuck on top of it. ”
That might be, but I do not think so. I think what we really see (and the constantly spinning fans on the demo hardware support that), is that all MS has really done, is integrate a GUI-less/transparent Hyper-V into Windows 8. We see a virtualization. And just as with all Windows versions in the 80s and 90s (up to XP), it will be up to the hardware makers to then make the OS usable, once Moore’s Law allows it. Seriously, getting a dual-core 1.6 GHz i5 laptop to work that hard just to show some tiles and swiping… can’t be explained otherwise. Not even MS can write software that bad (they are bad, but they are not Adobe after all).