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Windows on ARM: Not for the end-user

By | January 18, 2012, 8:02am PST

Summary: While industry experts wonder whether users will be able to buy and install Windows 8 onto ARM devices, I don’t believe that will be the case.

Microsoft is doing a good job keeping details of how Windows 8 on the ARM platform will be handled. Mary Jo Foley has been trying to find out whether users will be able to obtain and install Windows 8 on ARM systems, or if it will be an OEM-only process. I don’t have the answer from Microsoft, but knowing how ARM systems work I can’t believe users will be able to buy Windows 8 for ARM and install it themselves.

Part of the issue with Windows 8 on ARM is how there is a lack of standards for that architecture. OEMs must adopt OS versions, Windows 8 included, to work on a particular chipset and system package. That prohibits the ability of Microsoft to make Windows 8 available directly to end-users for self-installs.

A bigger issue is one that I don’t see a way for either OEMs nor Microsoft to circumvent, and that’s the OS install process for ARM devices. Just like we see on phones, loading a new OS version on ARM tablets/laptops will be a firmware update. This means the entire system is wiped out prior to replacing it with the new OS update. As many device owners can attest, anything interfering with this wipe/update process can leave a device no better than an expensive brick.

I can’t believe that Microsoft will be willing to take the chance letting users install Windows 8 on ARM devices. There is too much exposure to expensive install problems, and it makes sense for the company to handle it like it does on Windows Phones. OEMs will bless a ROM image for a given ARM device, and then push it out to the device in an official OTA update. Even worse, Microsoft may choose to only make Windows 8 available pre-installed on ARM devices. Otherwise it just isn’t going to happen, I don’t believe.

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ARM, Microsoft Windows 8, Microsoft Windows, Operating Systems, Recruitment & Staffing, Software, Human Resources, Workforce Management, James Kendrick

James Kendrick has been using mobile devices since they weighed 30 pounds, and has been sharing his insights on mobile technology for almost that long.

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James Kendrick

James Kendrick has no affiliations or relationships that need to be disclosed.

Biography

James Kendrick

James Kendrick has been using mobile devices since they weighed 30 pounds, and has been sharing his insights on mobile technology for almost that long. Prior to joining ZDNet, James was the Founding Editor of jkOnTheRun, a CNET Top 100 Tech Blog that was acquired by GigaOM in 2008 and is now part of that prestigious tech network. James' writing has appeared in many print publications: Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine, Information Week and Laptop Magazine to name a few. James' coverage of the mobile technology sector has regularly appeared in the New York Times, Salon.com and CNN/ Fortune online. Not just a writer, James has filmed numerous video reviews and how-tos that have garnered well over a million viewers. He has appeared on local news segments and been interviewed by the Associated Press on mobile technology topics. Additionally, James has been podcasting about mobile technology for years.

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RE: Windows on ARM: Not for the end-user
WM_GW 19th Jan
@dave@... ARM will utilize a HAL - as all version of Windows derived from the NT codebase do. The point is that in order to deliver a predictable user experience on what is already a tightly constrained platform. Sure, they could extend that across any ARM system. But a predictable and reliable experience is more critical to Windows 8 on ARM than to any version of Windows before. For that reason, even though it'll of course have a HAL, Microsoft will almost definitely be limiting the devices that they will support it on, and not support third-party HALs for use on non-approved devices.

FWIW, Windows Server 2008 R2 supports NUMA systems with up to 256 logical processors, and I don't believe it requires a custom HAL to do so.
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RE: Windows on ARM: Not for the end-user
kris_stapley@... 18th Jan
Your headline is a bit misleading. "Installing Windows on ARM: Not for the end user" would be more accurate. Windows on ARM is definitely for the end user.
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Yes but intentionally as click bait
Johnny Vegas 18th Jan
Because the whole post is completely non newsworthy. I guess this is the begining of the answer to the question of whether or not JK might step up this year. (sigh)
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RE: Windows on ARM: Not for the end-user
compy386 18th Jan
@Johnny Vegas

That's what I thought. It's an article that has no purpose.
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Contributr
RE: Windows on ARM: Not for the end-user
JamesKendrick 18th Jan
@Johnny Vegas There is a vocal faction asking publicly if they will be able to buy Windows 8 for ARM devices, and install it themselves on whatever device they want.

This article gives my take on that question, and the reasons why I think they won't be able to. It is news, IMHO.
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RE: Windows on ARM: Not for the end-user
dksmidtx Updated - 18th Jan
@Johnny Vegas

Climb down off your high horse friend. James is addressing a very active debate going on out there in the developer world - can you upgrade existing ARM tablets with Win 8 (just Google Windows 8 on "HP Touch" or "Blackberry Playbook" or "Galaxy Tab" or "HTC Flyer" and you will see a lot of discussions that pretty much agree with James' assessment. I have had a lot of friends ask "If we buy this cheap Android tablet, can I upgrade to Windows 8?"
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UEFI Could Be the Answer If Companies Would Let It Be
CFWhitman Updated - 18th Jan
The funny thing about this is UEFI could be a big part of the answer for standardization if the various companies would let it be. For that to happen, various companies would have to agree to the possibility of enabling custom mode and/or disabling secure boot for UEFI (custom mode is of course the more secure option). Microsoft could be instrumental in doing that if they would reverse their position on that topic, but they are not necessary at this point. Hardware manufacturers that released such devices with other operating systems than Windows 8 installed would work as well. If that were to happen, then there could be an end user installed version of Windows 8 for ARM devices.

At this point, though, nobody seems to want standardization yet. They are all too eager to get the lion's share. Eventually that could change. It's possible that several companies that finish out of the running in the current round of sales of ARM devices (or the next round) will join together to agree on a standard (very possibly including UEFI, but not definitely). It's happened before.
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Why is this even discussed as an "issue"?
William Farrel 18th Jan
The headline would be just as truthful if it said -

"iOS - Not for the End user" or "Android - Not for the end user"

Never hear of that being talked about as "an issue"
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RE: Windows on ARM: Not for the end-user
eatredmeatfeelgood@... 18th Jan
Headline should be 'not for the end user to install' headline misleading. While I agree many asked for user ARM install I think mostly it is naivety of platform. this would just match what we already see in iOS & Android.
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Microsoft actually solved this already
dave@... 18th Jan
Ironically, Windows hasn't cared one bit about system architecture since Windows NT came along. Sure, Windows runs on plain old PCs. And it runs on slightly more modern PCs, with ACPI active BIOS support. And it runs on all kinds of x86 but not PC based servers.

The secret here is the Windows Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). This is also the reason that, back in the days of Alpha, MIPS, and PowerPC support, Windows pretty much just worked, despite the fact that there was only one version per architecture, and yet, every vendor had a slightly different architecture. Windows NT ran, for example, on the original PReP PowerPC platform that Apple rejected, and the CHRP platform that Apple kinda-sorta supported for awhile... same identical version of Windows. Different HAL.

On an x86 system, the Windows bootloader loads the HAL as part of the boot process. That HAL is provided by Microsoft for regular PCs, but if you have a 32 processor custom designed NUMA architecture server, you create the HAL and that same version of Windows (well, the one licensed for 32 processors, but otherwise identical) boots just dandy.

For ARM, all they need is a similar idea: a HAL in flash. Once you have that, any OS could easily boot and run on any of the ever-so-slightly-different ARM system architectures. Of course, Microsoft has no interest in supporting such a thing... they will dictate what they want to see in Windows on ARM systems, just as they do with Windows 7 Phone. But there's absolutely no technical problem today supporting slightly different architectures from device to device.
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RE: Windows on ARM: Not for the end-user
WM_GW 19th Jan
@dave@... ARM will utilize a HAL - as all version of Windows derived from the NT codebase do. The point is that in order to deliver a predictable user experience on what is already a tightly constrained platform. Sure, they could extend that across any ARM system. But a predictable and reliable experience is more critical to Windows 8 on ARM than to any version of Windows before. For that reason, even though it'll of course have a HAL, Microsoft will almost definitely be limiting the devices that they will support it on, and not support third-party HALs for use on non-approved devices.

FWIW, Windows Server 2008 R2 supports NUMA systems with up to 256 logical processors, and I don't believe it requires a custom HAL to do so.
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RE: Windows on ARM: Not for the end-user
danbi 19th Jan
What about upgrades? Windows is known to need regular updates.. how ill these be implemented? Who will provide the upgrades? The OEM or Microsoft?

How is going this to be different than the current Android situation?

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