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Microsoft: No Windows 7 for ARM-based netbooks (for now)

By | June 3, 2009, 10:08am PDT

Summary: Microsoft is not going to make Windows 7 available for ARM-based netbooks and PCs, company officials said at this week’s Computex trade show. But Microsoft still isn’t saying it never will deliver a port of Windows to ARM.

Microsoft is not going to make Windows 7 available for ARM-based netbooks and PCs, company officials said at this week’s Computex trade show.

The decision isn’t too surprising, given Microsoft’s long-standing partnerships with Intel and AMD. Earlier this year, however, officials with the One Laptop Per Child Project (OLPC) hinted that the group was moving to ARM and that Microsoft was considering seriously a port of Windows to the ARM processor.

On June 3, a company spokesperson confirmed there will be no Windows 7 for ARM — at least for now. Microsoft’s official statement:

“At this time, Windows 7 does not support any ARM architecture. Currently, Windows works on both x86 and x64 platforms, which, thanks to the pervasive PC hardware standard, power the vast majority of the world’s laptops and desktops. In the specialized devices space, where ARM is well suited, we offer the Windows Embedded CE platform.”

Note that Microsoft officials did not say the company would never release a version of Windows that would run on ARM. This week’s statement only says Windows 7 isn’t currently available for it. So maybe Microsoft wasn’t able to finish its rumored port of Windows 7 to ARM in time for delivery this year but it’s still on the drawing board … or maybe we’ll see Windows 8 running on ARM.

Microsoft’s decision does mean that the company is leaving the ARM netbook door wide open for Linux, Android and other non-Windows operating systems. At Computex, PC makers showed off five or six new ARM netbooks that are expected to run the Google Android operating system.

Microsoft officials are downplaying the potential impact of Android, Moblin and other Linux variants on netbooks, claiming that the dearth of compatible software will be a limiting factor for these platforms. It’s not surprising, given Microsoft’s love/hate relationship with “small laptops,” as company officials prefer to call netbooks, that Microsoft officials don’t address the potential appeal of netbooks to users who prefer Web-based services/applications….

Microsoft also officials confirmed at Computex that the company and its PC partners are going to launch, as expected, an upgrade program, via which customers buying new Vista PCs will get a free upgrade to Windows 7 once it is available. Microsoft still won’t say when the program will kick off, but is positioning the program as its stop-gap measure for addressing this year’s back-to-school PC market. However, the enthusiast site TechARP says the date the upgrade program will launch is now June 26, meaning users who buy new Vista PCs between June 26 and late October will qualify for a free copy of Windows 7 after it becomes generally available on October 22.

What’s your guess about what’s going on with Microsoft and ARM? Do you still think there will be a port of Windows 7 to ARM (but maybe not until 2010)? Or do you think the Softies are going to stick with Intel and AMD, even if the ARM netbook market gets hot?

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Topics

ARM, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Corp., Netbook, Netbooks, Nettops & MIDs, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Hardware, Software, Mary Jo Foley

Mary Jo has covered the tech industry for more than 25 years for a variety of publications and Web sites, and is a frequent guest on radio, TV and podcasts, speaking about all things Microsoft-related. She is the author of Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft plans to stay relevant in the post-Gates era (John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Disclosure

Mary-Jo Foley

Freelance journalist/blogger Mary Jo Foley has nothing to disclose. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). I do not own Microsoft stock or stock in any of its partners or competitors. I have no business ventures that are sponsored by/funded by Microsoft or any of its partners or competitors.

Biography

Mary-Jo Foley

Mary Jo Foley has covered the tech industry for 25 years for a variety of publications, including ZDNet, eWeek and Baseline. She has kept close tabs on Microsoft strategy, products and technologies for the past 10 years. In the late 1990s, she penned the award-winning "At The Evil Empire" column for ZDNet, and more recently the Microsoft Watch blog for Ziff Davis.

Got a tip? Send her an email with your rants, rumors, tips and tattles. Confidentiality guaranteed.

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RE: Microsoft: No Windows 7 for ARM-based netbooks (for now)
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0 Votes
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Technically speaking - there IS a Windows for ARM
TheWerewolf 3rd Jun 2009
Windows Embedded Compact (aka WinCE) is a subset of the full Windows API with all the old legacy API removed and Unicode-only calls.

It's definitely not the full Windows API, but a lot of stuff is basically the same on both platforms.

It wouldn't be that hard for MSFT to bring the rest of it over - but that would mean killing off WinCE and WiMo as we know it now and replacing it with a full featured OS that would take more space but offer a much richer experience...

Oh wait..

That's exactly what they need to do. happy
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Lets flip the script ...
n0neXn0ne 3rd Jun 2009
... what about apps?

^o^

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WinCE is a nice blend of speed and functionality...
HypnoToad72 3rd Jun 2009
of which some 3rd parties still figured out how to make better UI add-ons (WisBar 3, TouchFlo 3D, et al...)

But it's compact and straightforward. Though a tad bloaty (a tad less the size of Win95, and WinCE was originally a whittled down Win95...)

A full-fledged Windows OS on an ARM device? Risky.

Especially with Zune, which is a whittled down Windows Mobile OS...

It'd be nice if MS shaved off some system requirements, which in turn improves performance and battery life... but this is MS; their history speaks for itself. (I currently dislike the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, et al, as they - for all their features - feel inferior. Trouble is, they're growing faster and MS is using the same old routine for their mobile platform - they have got to stop bloating things up.)
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No
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
WinCE was NOT based on Win95. It is an entirely different OS architecture than Windows 9x / NT and was built for entirely different markets.

Further: Not sure how you can call WinCE "bloaty" - you can build a WinCE OS image that consumes 4MB RAM and 8MB storage overall!

WinCE is extremely customizable. If you want to build a device running CE, you pick and choose which OS components you want included in your OS. Don't need a display or networking stack? Omit them. Want SVGA + your own wireless stack? You got it.

Zune, in fact, runs on top of it's own customized WinCE OS image. As do all Windows Mobile phones, PPC's, etc.

Reality is, though, that WinCE is better suited to highly constrained, very specific embedded device scenarios.

What MS needs now is to essentially port the Windows OS (not WinCE) down to today's portable devices. Don't forget that MS REALLY went to town cleaning up Windows during Win7 and have made MASSIVE strides in terms of cleanly componentizing the OS infrastructure and removing MANY of the issues that previously impeded its ability to run on smaller devices.
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It's not desktop/laptop/netbook Windows
rosanlo 3rd Jun 2009
Even if MS releases Windows for ARM, it's not going to be code compatible with desktop/
laptop/netbook Windows. The ARM instruction
set is different from the x86 instruction set.

That means you can't take your x86 programs
and run them on the Windows for ARM, unless
MS runs an emulator or software translation
layer like Apple did during Apple's transition
from PowerPC to Intel CPUs.

The ability to run x86 binaries in Windows for
ARM is so critical, I would consider any MS
ARM OS to be crippled, technically and sales-
wise, without it.
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Not entirely accurate
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
Yes, ARM is an entirely different ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) than x86/x64.

However, how many apps do you suppose these days contain ANY assembler? Practically none. The few apps that DO contain assembler should be updated to use compiler intrinsics that make the code non-CPU specific.

The other major issue for porting apps is usually byte ordering. Unlike most CPU's, ARM cores can be prgramatically configured to be little or big endian!! Therefore, all MS has to do is spruce up their ARM C/C++ compiler, update their ARM JIT compiler and recompile their code.

Anyone else who wants their apps to run on Windows on ARM would just need to recompile (& test) their apps. Frankly, it should be a no-brainer for most OEM's.

Remember - MS did a TON of work in Win7 to eliminate/isolate the already miniscule amount of Assembler from the OS sources. They have to make some architectural changes to support ARM's memory management etc., but once that is done, there's little to stop them completing their port to ARM, and VERY little to stop OEM's from porting their apps to support ARM too.
0 Votes
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Contributr
Windows Mobile runs on ARM
Mary Jo Foley 3rd Jun 2009
Hi. Yes, I do realize that Windows Mobile and its embedded platform underpinnings run on ARM. But plain-old Windows doesn't, at least not officially. I wrote a related blog post earlier this year where I wondered whether Microsoft might actually try to create a single Windows platform that could run on ARM devices and PCs: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=2465

MJ
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And that's the point.
sreesiv 3rd Jun 2009
ARM will be intended for much lesser form factor PCs than what can be achieved with today's Intel or AMD chips. Also this will bring in more vendor specificness into the whole range of devices. More precisely those devices 'may' not fall into netbook or small cheap notebook range but will be devices specific to the vendor with customized functionalities. This range, if at all successful will position in between the smart phone/PDA and today's netbooks/small cheap notebook.

Windows Embedded CE with custom GUI will be a perfect choice for those vendors. I think it will be more appealing to the h/w vendors that any other OS because of the support and the licensing schemes it has.
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You're forgetting the reason that Windows netbooks sell ...
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
... they run Windows and they run customers' existing apps.

Yes, there will be vendor specifics. But you think that the Windows Desktop/Laptop OS ecosystem doesn't already have to deal with this???

There are far more Windows device driver writers than WinCE device driver writers, so porting Windows to ARM will actually be easier in many ways that having to learn WinCE.

Windows CE is NOT the right OS for general purpose, highly mobile computing because it doesn't seamlessly run most existing apps.

On the other hand, if MS ported Windows to ARM and shipped an ARM compiler in Visual Studio / Windows SDK, then most ISV's would just need to recompile their apps in order to run on Windows/ARM.
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Windows Mobile ain't Windows
Mitch 74 5th Jun 2009
It has a different kernel, a different API, and it works differently; it's actually a different OS.

On the other hand, Linux code between ARM and x86 is pretty much the same, and C/C++ code written for x86 won't need much (if at all) modification to run on ARM - you can thus run the same application version (not the same binary, though) on x86 or ARM.

A test was done recently to compile OpenOffice for ARM: it seems to work.

Now, the NT kernel isn't inherently linked to x86: there used to be an NT4 build for Alpha, and Windows XP reached beta level for Itanium.

However, the rest of the OS ecosystem may not run that easily (Microsoft Office, for example, is notoriously impossible to port outside of x86, as the different code bases between Windows and Mac ports indicate.

There's one last hurdle: you can run a complete Linux desktop on 256 Mb of RAM from a 1 Gb install (including applications; source, Ubuntu Netbook Remix image size), while the smallest Win7 install, which includes no applications, requires 6 Gb and 512 Mb of RAM.
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Office for Windows and Mac differ because ...
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
... they run on different OS', not because they run on different CPU architectures.

Specifically, MacOS' lack of COM/OLE technology means that Office for Mac has to be constructed entirely differently to Office for Windows.

However, note that Office14 is (finally) going to be available in pure x64 versions as well as x86. To have accomplished this, Office had to scrub every line of source and make sure it was free of assembler and any other ISA specific dependencies.

Therefore, recompiling Office14+ to Windows/ARM will be not only possible, but also relatively easy.

Regarding RAM: Ignore it - it's a red herring. RAM prices are dropping through the floor so it costs $20 for 2GB laptop memory. In which case, who wants a machine with so little memory that your netbook will always be struggling for resources every time you load up an app that needs some room (browsing, movies, games, etc)?
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They should have listened to you
Chad_z 16th Jun 2009
I wondered whether Microsoft might actually try to create a single Windows platform that could run on ARM devices and PCs:

That would have been a brilliant move on their part. A consistent application and user experience from the high end of the hardware spectrum to the lowest.

Assuming MSFT could have cleared the technical hurdles...that's a safe assumption...then why didn't they do it? The cynical side of me suggests they were, once again, pandering to their hardware OEM's due to the lower margin on appliance type devices.

If MSFT cedes that entire spectrum of the market or tries to peddle Windows Mobile, which rots in my opinion, they're making yet another massive strategic blunder on the order of Vista. How many of those do they have left? MS tends to paper their mistakes with money but the days of endless profit margins may be drying up.
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What this means . . .
CobraA1 3rd Jun 2009
All this really means is that ARM is pretty much going to stay where it's always been - with specialized platforms. I doubt it will become popular in netbooks.
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They said that about netbooks themselves...
storm14k 3rd Jun 2009
MS will release an ARM version just like they extended XP's life and refactored Vista into 7 to work on netbooks when they saw that Linux was about to make quick inroads. Now the question is will they be fast enough to keep Google from blowing the door wide open with Android. While normal Linux distros have to overcome the familiarity hurdle Google has started building an army of familiar users from the smartphone side. People will see these netbooks and say it looks like those smartphones...I'll give it a try.
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So?
CobraA1 3rd Jun 2009
"They said that about netbooks themselves..."

Because "they" (the tech publications) are out of touch with the real world.

No real world people care if it's an Atom or an ARM. They just care if it'll run Windows.

"Now the question is will they be fast enough to keep Google from blowing the door wide open with Android"

Android isn't going to blow any doors wide open. It'll stay on cell phones.

"Google has started building an army of familiar users from the smartphone side."

No, Apple has. Google is just dreaming.

"People will see these netbooks and say it looks like those smartphones...I'll give it a try."

They might also associate phones with being more limited, with PCs (Windows) being able to do more. If Windows stays on netbooks, nobody is going to care that companies are selling netbooks that act like glorified cell phones.
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The don't care if it runs Windows....
storm14k 3rd Jun 2009
...they just care how much it costs. As it stands the ARM based netbooks may cost substantially less.

No Apple built an army of cellphone users. Google is building one. If you think the OEM's that are releasing those 18-20 Android based phones this year alone are dreaming then YOU are dreaming.

To the contrary Verizon users seem to like that a netbook is a glorified cellphone. They won't care when its no longer Windows...and it will be. The cell carriers will jump at the chance to sell the same product at the same price that they are now without having to subsidize it. Goodnight Windows.
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Goodnight Windows??? Try again...only with feeling...
Cayble Updated - 3rd Jun 2009
You are absolutly out of your mind if you think Windows is even on the road that heads the way out, so to speak.

Start with reality. MS does not simply work on a few basic pieces of software, like their flagship OS and Office suite, along with cooking up patches for XP. MS is always going to have people who are looking at what might be the next big thing and looking into how they might become part of it.

Agreed, sometimes MS is a day late and a dollar short when getting into the game, and it cost them, like the Zune, a great device that is stuck wishing it could catch up. But by the same token MS has had some considerable successes such as the X-Box and some have yet to be shown if there will be any long term success like search. But the real issue is, when it comes to MS letting someone get such a jump on them in any area that counts, as far as their long term viability goes; FORGET IT.

Anyone with a brain can see what the reaction is at MS when they even see so much as a meager blip on the radar that might pose a genuine threat to their position. Witness the wildly quick turnover from Vista to Windows 7.

Anyone who uses Vista regularly, who doesn't have an existing preference for a non Windows OS will tell you that in the end, there is nothing really wrong with Vista, it works fine and is secure and does exactly what its supposed to do. But! Even though the other two OS's (which we all know and hence need not be named)only wish they had the market share Vista has, MS has detected that Vista has not quite meet their expectations in sales (blame that on XP's still venerable workability more then anything)and as such they have seen that tiny threatening blip on the radar and have reacted, with what some would call lightning speed compared to Vistas long awaited release, and hammed out Windows 7 to an overwhelming round of applause.

Just because MS is actually a business, and makes decisions based on what they expect will be profitable, don't think that means they cannot save themselves from some obvious impending catastrophe. In Microsoft's relatively short history we have clearly seen at least two common approaches to exploiting the marketplace.

First, they look at whats new, whats coming up and see if there is a reasonable way to get into that new market, but don't blow the bank in a rush to create some perfect product for that new market because even some new perfect products fail to win the day sometimes, and if the bank was blown to create it and it doesn't sell enough, then its down the tubes for the whole works. Unfortunately that leads to some hit and miss like the X-Box and Zune.

Secondly, keep an ever watchful eye on the very bread and butter that created the company and drove it to the market place; the core software sales such as Windows and Office. Keep all eyes pealed for that tiny blip on the radar, and if that so much as raises its head, pull out all stops and correct the course at all costs and recapture the moment so to speak. Never ever let that blip go unanswered. That has been shown again and again with MS. Recall the Windows ME to XP transition? MS will watch for every and any threat towards their bread and butter in the marketplace and you can count 100% that each and every blip on that radar screen is scrutinized with far more care, attention and rapid heavy handed response then their silly farting around with mp3 players and video game consoles.

Saying that MS is just going to sit around and watch Google/Android slowly but surely take over the OS market over a period of years without being able to notice or do anything about it is like saying a hunter is going to sit in his log cabin and listen while an 800 pound grizzly bear makes it quite apparent he is gradually chewing through the front door, and the hunter never bothers to load up his nitro express elephant gun and blow its head off although he has plenty of ammunition and thats what he has always done in the past.

Its possible in some wild or unusual circumstance but so unlikely its silly to speculate its what will happen without being able to explain the reasons why. And currently, there is no reason why.
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Sure they do
CobraA1 Updated - 11th Jun 2009
Sure they care. You think Microsoft is holding onto their position by sheer luck?

No way. They're holding onto their position people people do care about Windows, because Windows runs the applications they are familiar with.

"No Apple built an army of cellphone users."

Netbooks aren't cell phones, and people don't see them as cell phones. Doesn't matter. Yes, you are still dreaming.

"To the contrary Verizon users seem to like that a netbook is a glorified cellphone."

Bull. You're still dreaming. It's a PC, plain and simple. People are not pretending they are cell phones.
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Nonsense
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
"they just care how much it costs"

This is just plain not true. Before Windows netbooks arrived, Linux netbooks owned 100% of the market. When netbooks running they just care how much it costs arrived, Linux lost 95% of its market in 12 months.

This proves that customers are more than willing to pay a 10% ($30-$40) premium for a netbook that runs Windows and therefore runs all their existing apps and looks, feels and works just like they're used to.
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Windows will probably never run on ARM....
JoeMama_z 3rd Jun 2009
What would be the point? it's not like any applications would run on an ARM based Windows, well certainly legacy apps wouldn't.

It makes a whole lot more sense to focus on WinMo 7 and carry forward the millions of WinMo applications.
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You need to do a little homework!
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
Two points:

1) 99% of apps today simply need to be recompiled in order to become x64 or ARM apps.

If MS ports Windows to ARM, and ships an ARM compiler/JITter, the VAST majority of OEM apps will just need to be recompiled in order to run on Windows/ARM.

There are VERY FEW apps that include ISA-specific dependencies (e.g. assembler) these days which means that most apps just need a recompile in order to run on ARM.

2) There are 1,000,000 times more Windows apps than there are WinMo apps.

And now that, increasingly, many of those apps are .NET apps, they'll run without change on Windows/ARM.
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Is there an "ARM Netbook" market?
TheTruthisOutThere@... 3rd Jun 2009
The simple answer is no, no-one will buy a netbook specifically because it has an ARM processor.

They'll look at them and compare the (perhaps) lower price and (perhaps) better battery life, and then weigh that against the lack of Windows. In the netbook market, Windows has already proved to be a product feature people both want and are prepared to pay for.

I'm not saying ARM netbooks won't sell - I'm sure they will - but I don't see they offer such significant advantage people will give up Windows to get it.

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Price alone...
storm14k 3rd Jun 2009
..will cause people to give up Windows to get it. Peopple gave up Windows on the original netbooks for the price. Thats why you now have XP on netbooks and Win 7 period. I still think most of you have not come to the realization that the impending success of Linux on netbooks is the only reason you have Win 7 today.
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Nope. Delusions.
Cayble 3rd Jun 2009
"I still think most of you have not come to the realization that the impending success of Linux on netbooks is the only reason you have Win 7 today"

Other then to point out that 90% of the population still doesn't even know what a netbook is, your ridiculous comment, which implies that the almost non existent netbook market drove MS to complete a new OS for desktops and laptops in such a high speed fashion is so without merit it deserves no further comment.

Retarded.

Sorry, couldn't help myself under the circumstance.
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Non-existent netbook market?
MisterMiester 3rd Jun 2009
Are you kidding me? With the stagnant PC market the only bright spot has been the rapid growth of netbooks:

http://www.displaysearch.com/cps/rde/xchg/displaysearch/hs.xsl/Strong_mini_note_shipments_buoy_notebook_PC_Market_Q3_08.asp

Now it's absolutely true that Windows 7 itself was not a direct result of Linux competition, Microsoft owns that one with the failure of Vista, but the abomination that's called Windows 7 Starter is. In fact starter it's so hobbled you can't even personalize your background with it for crying out loud:

http://windowsteamblog.com/blogs/windows7/archive/2009/05/29/let-s-talk-about-windows-7-starter.aspx

Sorry if something as minor as facts get in the way of your little diatribe.
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Sorry if you don't know what the facts mean
Cayble 4th Jun 2009
Your linked article says: "With the stagnant PC market the only bright spot has been the rapid growth of netbooks"

It also says that in about 2 years+ time (2011) the netbook market will settle, indicating it is about 2 years away from peaking, and it will peak at only about 16% of the market. I think its not an unfair comment to suggest that 16% may be optimistic, but even so, its nothing like 16% right now, and its true that right now, as in today, the vast majority of people are still not even sure what a netbook is. I asked several different people and most just thought I meant notebook, only a couple got it right. Netbooks are still not taking up much shelf space at the stores and out of dozens of people I know who own computers only one owns a netbook.

My point was that Linux on netbooks did not lead to the creation of Windows 7. Secondly, Like it or not, Windows 7 Started edition is going to be a very low cost version of Windows to make it appealing to have on a low cost system, read in netbook there, but as such, they don't want this low cost OS finding its way into the main stream, so MS takes away some of the glitz and a couple features to make it less attractive to those who might try to migrate it onto regular systems. Its the way things go when you deal with a product that is for sale as opposed to a product that goes for free. Your nonsense about Linux creating Windows 7 Starter is not based on fact and is incorrect.

Netbooks exist, independent of the fact that either Linux or Windows 7 exists. Netbooks require an OS, Windows makes operating systems so they did what any company that likes to sell their products do, they created a product for netbooks.

To say that Windows 7 Starter is a result of Linux competition implies that if there was no Linux to go on netbooks then MS wouldn't have an OS for netbooks either. I guess we would just leave netbooks for Apple and OSX? Who, (Apple) actually doesn't make netbooks so I guess your saying there just wouldn't be any netbooks.

To repeat, we know however MS "hobbled" Windows 7 Starter they did so not for any thing Linux has ever done, they did it to make it a low class form of Windows largely to make it a less attractive OS so people wouldn't start thinking it was a great desktop/laptop solution. Further, anything hobbled to increase performance on lightweight hardware again has nothing to do with Linux. The hardware exists so common sense dictates what features are reasonable for the OS based on the hardware, not the fact that Linux exists.

Sure, stick to the facts, but put some effort into understanding them as well.
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Linux lost 95% of the netbook market in 1 year to Windows!
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
Not sure what you're smoking, but you should slow down?

True, netbook sales were okay with Linux. Okay but no more.

Then Windows netbooks arrived and sales took off. Most retailers were seeing so many Linux netbooks returned that they couldn't affort to support / refund those customers, so they decided to drop Linux netbooks. Today, you can barely find any retailer offering Linux netbooks - they're ALL running Windows.

Oh ... and as for your FUD around Windows7 starter: Win7 starter is "designed for entry level PCs and available only in certain regions". Since many netbooks available today are VERY low-end and don't have powerful graphics capabilities, Win7 Starter turns off most of Win7's advanced graphics capabilities in order to save battery and make sure that users netbooks don't stutter, and become unresponsive. If you have a more powerful netbook, then you can upgrade your Win7 starter to Home Premium which gives you everything that a retail desktop/laptop will have.

I've been running Win7 Ultimate (along with Visual Studio, SQL 2008, Office 2008 and many other tools & apps) on my N10 and am delighted with its speed, performance, battery life, etc.
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30% is non-existent?
TripleII-21189418044173169409978279405827 5th Jun 2009
30% of all laptop sales are netbooks. It is projected that it might be flirting with 50% (although cooler heads predict 40%) of all notebook sales will be netbooks. This could be closer to 60% of all new sales if ARM based subnotebooks are included in the count by the end of the year.

TripleII
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Android ARM netbooks will sell like hot dogs.
TripleII-21189418044173169409978279405827 5th Jun 2009
T-Mobile is keeping pace selling Android phones to a much smaller base of customers with Apple's iPhone and the much larger base of AT&T customers. Android is sought after. I will be purchasing the first available ARM based netbook. 3rd quarter Acer. It plays 1080p video and optimized flash from Adobe.

Your facts are not supported by evidence. Despite MS re-purchasing brick and mortar outlets, 1/3 of Dell's netbooks are Ubuntu and HP's new MEI is doing very well. Acer still reports 30% (not North America, MS still owns the playground) sales are Linux.

You have to look at the big dogs. Intel is now so pro Linux and Open Source you would think they don't see any real future in Windows. Google is not out to lose money. 7 ARM netbooks are in the pipeline. What do all these companies see that you don't? You seem to think that North America = the world, that is not the case.

I predict that ARM based netbooks (assuming they play flash and video smoothly) will sell like candy when released, and so much so, MS will attempt to freeze the market (and fail) with announcements of Windows 7 on specific ARM netbooks by the end of 1Q10. CE won't cut it.

TripleII
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posix
no_zd_user_name 3rd Jun 2009
if microsoft truly writes posix compliant software i would be suprised.

They cant get odf straight
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ODF
JoeMama_z Updated - 3rd Jun 2009
OASIS can't get ODF right.

Oh and, what the heck does POSIX have to do with the article?
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POSIX is so relavent that MS dropped it in Vista.
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
WinNT 3.1 --> 2003 had a certified POSIX subsystem until Vista when MS cut it because nobody used it.

And as Joe said - what has POSIX got to do with this thread?
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Never going to happen ...
MisterMiester 3rd Jun 2009
An ARM version of Windows 7 is never going to happen for one simple reason, applications. Time and time again we hear that the reason Linux does not gain any traction is due to the lack of applications.

If Microsoft was to produce an ARM version they would have to compete on a level playing field with Android, Moblin, and Ubuntu without the juggernaut of the Windows ecosystem.

Does anyone actually believe hardware and software vendors would allow Microsoft to extend their power into another platform willingly after the rabid behavior they've exhibited in the past?
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Are you mad?
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
How many ISV's would love to just recompile their apps and have them run on Windows/ARM, opening their apps up to a whole new (huge) market?

Now ask how many of those ISV's are excited about rewriting their apps to run on a free OS for a community that doesn't want to pay for software?

Hmmmm. I know which way I'll be voting.
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No "Windows tax" with ARM Notebooks
Jim.Callahan 4th Jun 2009
Linux users have often had to pay for a licensed copy of MS Windows with a new PC and then install Linux (the so called, "Windows Tax").

If a user can't install a full version of MS Windows XP, Vista or "7" on an ARM notebook there is no rationale for the "Windows Tax."

According to Wikipedia the "Windows Tax" was disclosed in,
"The Findings of Fact in the United States Microsoft antitrust case established that "One of the ways Microsoft combats piracy is by advising OEMs that they will be charged a higher price for Windows unless they drastically limit the number of PCs that they sell without an operating system [MS Windows] pre-installed. In 1998, all major OEMs agreed to this restriction."[31] This has been called the "Windows tax" or "Microsoft tax".[32][33][34][35]"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft

Does Intel Moblin on Intel Atom count as a pre-installed operating system?

Jim Callahan
Orlando, FL
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You read VERY selectively ...
de-void-21165590650301806002836337787023 16th Jun 2009
... you omit to point out the result of the DOJ findings: Microsoft now has to charge the Top20 OEM's the same per-machine price for each edition of Windows.

If you want to, you can go to Dell or any other retailer offering Linux PC's and purchase a new machine running Linux free of any "Windows Tax".

If you want to, you can buy the parts and have a couple of fun hours building your own custom PC to your exact specs. And you can install whatever OS you acquire a license to. And you can opt to do this free of any "Windows Tax" if you so wish.

And, yes, should you so wish, you'll be able to buy an ARM netbook sans any "Windows Tax".

But when Microsoft DO port Windows to ARM, and provide ARM compilers built into Visual Studio and the Windows SDK, ISV's in their millions will be able to recompile their apps and have them run on Windows/ARM with no/little change.

And just as they can with netbooks today, customers will be free to choose whether they want a device running Windows that can run all their existing apps and that works just like they expect it to ... or they can choose to learn a whole new world and replace all their existing apps, games, etc.

I'm pretty sure which choice customers will make.
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RE: Microsoft: No Windows 7 for ARM-based netbooks (for now)
kamal@... 14th Aug 2010
There are rumours that Microsoft is planning to release a new version of Windows 8, and it is wildly believed that the new Window 8 will support ARM Processor. Recently Microsoft has agreed to license an ARM CPU design license, if the information is correct the for certain Microsoft will port ARM into the new Windows 8, and this will mean an end to the WinTel monopoly.

Source:
http://www.payasyougomobilephones.mobi
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RE: Microsoft: No Windows 7 for ARM-based netbooks (for now)
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