Must Read: Sorry, but bringing back the Start menu won't help Windows 8

Topic: Software

Don't get too excited about the fact that Windows 8 will have a 'Windows 7 mode'

Summary: Over at The Register there's a piece about Windows 8 and how the ARM flavor of that OS won't run legacy apps. The same article also features the revelation that Windows 8 will feature a 'Windows 7 mode.' Just don't get too excited about it just yet!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes

By for Hardware 2.0 |

Over at The Register there's a piece about Windows 8 and how the ARM flavor of that OS won't run legacy apps. The same article also features the revelation that Windows 8 will feature a 'Windows 7 mode.' Just don't get too excited about it just yet!

Speaking Tuesday at Intel's Investor Meeting 2011 in Santa Clara, California, Intel Senior VP Renée James had this to say:

"[Windows 8 traditional] means that our customers, or anyone who has an Intel-based or an x86-based product, will be able to run either Windows 7 mode or Windows 8 mode. They'll run all of their old applications, all of their old files - there'll be no issue."

Talk of a 'Windows 7 mode' has interested some because it's the first suggestion we have that Windows 8 could feature some deep changes to the underlying architecture, but that thanks to the compatibility mode, existing stuff won't be broken (hopefully). That said, this could also amount to very little. Remember, different 'compatibility modes' in Windows are nothing new ... Windows has offered this feature for some time. Even the leaked builds of Windows 8 show Windows 7 in the compatibility mode listing.

Either way, this should be comforting to those using Windows 7 that their stuff should run on Windows 8.

The points made by James regarding ARM not being able to run legacy applications are not new, but we still get some interesting tidbits. Take this, for example:

"On ARM, there'll be the new experience, which is very specifically around the mobile experience, specifically around tablet and some limited clamshell, with no legacy OS. Our competitors will not be running legacy applications. Not now. Not ever."

The takeaway here is that Windows 8 on ARM is going to mean that Microsoft will have to breathe life into into yet another platform. One can assume that apps for this platform will revolve around .NET/Silverlight/Metro/Visual Studio 2010. But nonetheless, it does mean that that ARM-based Windows 8 systems won't be able to run most of the stuff that you're currently using. That's worrying ...

Roll on the Windows 8 beta ... or at least a fresher leaked build!

Topics: Software, Microsoft, Operating Systems, Windows

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  • RE: Don't get too excited about the fact that Windows 8 will have a 'Windows 7 mode'

    If intel would get their act together and give us some x86 power with ARM like mobility, we wouldn't be talking about this would we?
    Chances are most people who buy these ARM based devices are not running legacy applications on them anyways. But I could see it being confusing to the average consumer, so Microsoft will probably have to name the ARM devices something different than the x86 devices.
    rwalrond
    Reply Vote

  • Adrian, it would be suicide if MS did not at least allow old Win32

    applications to be recompiled for Windows 8 on Arm. Since they are porting MS Office to Windows 8 on Arm, they will surely have native Win32 libraries available on Arm, and thus support the Win32 API.
    DonnieBoy
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Don't get too excited about the fact that Windows 8 will have a 'Windows 7 mode'

      @DonnieBoy But there will be nothing like Apple's Rosetta on ARM. I imagine they'll do something like Apple's "Universal Binaries". Hopefully they'll make Windows 8 on x86-64 a superset of Windows on ARM. I really don't like the idea that some stuff will run on ARM and some stuff will run on x86-64 but neither will run everything, but I guess Apple have made this work (Mac & iPad).
      jeremychappell
      Reply Vote

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        thenewsworldorg
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    • Message has been deleted.

      Will Pharaoh
      Reply Vote

      • Message has been deleted.

        DonnieBoy
        Reply Vote

    • RE: Don't get too excited about the fact that Windows 8 will have a 'Windows 7 mode'

      @DonnieBoy I think Win32 should be deprecated and .NET is the future!
      jatbains
      Reply Vote

      • Yes, possibly should be deprecated, but, for now, MS will go for any lock-

        in they can get. The other problem for MS is the reluctance to use .NET.
        DonnieBoy
        Reply Vote

      • RE: Don't get too excited about the fact that Windows 8 will have a 'Windows 7 mode'

        .NET is an abstraction layer under either Win32 or Win64.

        Just wanted to throw that out there.
        Michael Alan Goff
        Reply Vote

    • Oh look, I got flagged for asking a legitimate question

      @DonnieBoy
      All I did was ask Donnieboy which one is it - Windows is dead if they don't run Win32 Apps (As he claims above) or that Windows is dead because nobody uses Win32 Apps (Which he claims on all other MS related blogs).

      So it's a legitimate question for him to answer, or was it he who flagged me so he wouldn't have to? ;)
      Will Pharaoh
      Reply Vote

      • Legit, there are cry babies that flag everything they do not like.

        Microsoft still gets some lock-in with Win32, you can bet they will take advantage of it.

        You question was very legit, I can take the heat!!
        DonnieBoy
        Reply Vote

      • Nice excuse, but no-one's buying it.

        @Donnieboy
        No, you just post whatever you can think of that would put MS is a negative light (while everyone else is having a blast saying "I told you so" at the Linux security holes, hacked nasa sites, problematic Nexus S).

        So I think this is just you saying the opposite of of whatever painful truth you can't deal with, and forgot that you're contridicting yourself.

        Sorry guy, but it's not working.
        Will Pharaoh
        Reply Vote

      • Will Pharaoh: Just shut up and argue you points. For the masses, Win32 is

        of no importance. But, that is not to say that Microsoft does not STILL get a lot of lock-in for the enterprise, and certain consumers that run Win32 applications. Microsoft MUST go for maximum lock-in, as they would be very hard pressed to compete on the merits. Just look at how Microsoft is doing on tablets and phones where they must compete on the merits!!!
        DonnieBoy
        Reply Vote

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          pukem
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  • They can't get rid of XP Mode

    XP was "eternalized" by XP Mode. It should stay forever to run legacy apps. A 400 MB VM doesn't hurt really. They dare not take away the ability to run XP Mode.
    xp-client
    Reply Vote

    • A better approach for XP legacy support would be a library OS

      @ anonymuos

      As a research project, a team of researchers at Microsoft Research converted Windows into a library OS. In the longer run, that's probably the best way to support the XP legacy.

      At any rate, XP Mode on Arm would require x86 CPU emulation, which would be awfully slow.
      WilErz
      Reply Vote

  • RE: Don't get too excited about the fact that Windows 8 will have a 'Windows 7 mode'

    If they virtualize all the hardware the ARM device has, and make XP/Win7 drivers for them, a VM solution would work very well for all Win32 software that makes sense to try and run on the device.
    wkulecz
    Reply Vote

  • Why would that excite me?

    My life isn't that boring.
    Uraturdburger
    Reply Vote

  • Yawn

    My guess is that Windows on ARM will never amount to a hill of beans. It's basically a hedge against the possibility that Intel fails to get its act together in mobile computing.

    Microsoft has to cover that possibility; there's no reason they should go to Hell in Intel's handbasket.

    But the odds are they won't. Intel is full of talented people. They'll show up with decent x86 chipsets about the same time Microsoft shows up with Windows on ARM.

    The average buyer doesn't know ARM from a parking lot. If one device runs Windows 8 and all the Windows apps, and the other one runs Windows 8 and hardly any Windows apps, the choice is a no-brainer.

    The worst case for Microsoft is if they have a general release of Windows 8 on ARM and they get stuck supporting all ten thousand units it sold... Which is what will happen if Intel gets there in time.
    Robert Hahn
    Reply Vote

  • RE: Don't get too excited about the fact that Windows 8 will have a 'Windows 7 mode'

    I would not get too excited. Unfortunately, MS has a great propensity to over-promise and under-deliver.
    Restricted_access
    Reply Vote
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