So, fellow Windows users, who among you can’t wait to run to your local electronics store this fall and install Windows 8 – on your three-year-old home built benchmark buster? As exciting as a new version of Windows can be, this time the excitement’s all about the ARM-based opportunities that an entirely new hardware and software platform can provide. Microsoft’s been a little squirrely on Windows 8 for ARM hardware (Which they’re referring to as “WOA” for short), but Steven Sinofsky, President of the Windows division broke it all down in a massive article at MSDN. If you’re a Windows developer it’s required reading, but we’re breaking it down here for the consumer side of things.
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‘ARM’ Stories
Windows 8 ARM version may still include a desktop mode
Excitement over the news that Windows 8 will be coming in an ARM-powered version for tablets and other low-power devices has been somewhat tempered by the idea that it will be hobbled, restricted to the pretty yet less powerful Metro user interface. Today Microsoft laid those fears to rest somewhat, implying via its MSDN blog that both the X86/x64 and ARM versions would get the old-school desktop mode, familiar to any heavy Windows user. That's great news for anyone who wants a full computing environment in a small package, not the mobile-style interface of the iPad and Android tablets.
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Apple OS X to ARM port progress revealed
Apple's work on porting OS X to ARM processors has been revealed by an academic paper the company initially insisted on keeping secret, potentially paving the way to the much-rumored ARM-based MacBook Air. The handiwork of former intern turned CoreOS engineer Tristan Schaap, the project - "Porting Darwin to the MV88F6281" - detailed how the underlying part of OS X was coaxed into running on a Marvell ARM chipset.
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Windows 8 has tablet advantage over Android says ARM chief
ARM processors and Microsoft's Windows may not be commonly found cohabiting the same device, but ARM CEO Warren East reckons Windows 8 could have the edge over Android in tablets thanks to the platform's brand recognition. "Consumers are familiar with Microsoft and very familiar with Windows and they're less familiar with an Android environment" East said during the company's financial results call this week, CNET reports. "Microsoft has an awareness advantage with consumers that the Android folks didn't have."
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Windows 8 on ARM stable release in February tip developers
Microsoft's stable Windows 8 on ARM release will be distributed among developers in February, sources claim, while previous suggestions the platform won't arrive until mid-2013 could well be untrue. There's no obvious reason that ARM-version of Windows 8 - expected to run on iPad-rivaling tablets as well as ultraportable notebooks - should be "staggered" from the traditional x86 build, an insider told CNET, with the claim that ARM alternatives to Intel and AMD based Windows 8 machines could undercut them by "hundreds of dollars less."
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Microsoft Windows 8 Tablet hardware requirements posted in full
It's time to get powerful with your Windows 8 tablet, developers, as manufacturers are today having the hardware requirements laid out for them for the tablets they're all starting to make for the seasons of love inside 2012. While we've seen a few Windows 8 tablets already, none of them have been consumer ready, so as Microsoft lays down the law here for future devices wanting to run Windows 8 officially, the races have begun. Five buttons, for starters, will need to physically appear on the device for it to be a true Windows 8 device.
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Windows 8 tablet drawbacks mount: ARM locked-down, x86 overpriced
Windows 8 is shaping up to be the best OS Microsoft has had in years, but limitations around ARM-based tablets and concerns over x86-based model pricing could sour the platform's launch later this year. Microsoft has mandated that ARM Windows 8 machines - expected to be the bulk of low-cost Windows 8 tablets - must have their Secure Boot system locked down, ComputerWorld reports, or in order words users must not be allowed to load non-Windows platforms onto ARM hardware.
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Intel smartphone chip only “roughly good enough” says ARM
Intel's Atom Z2460 should get the company "a few smartphone design wins" chipset stalwart ARM has conceded, but insists that the Medfield processors set to show up in Motorola and Lenovo handsets are only "roughly good enough for mobile phones." ARM regards the company as "a serious competitor" CEO Warren East told Reuters at CES this week, but pointed to the fact that Intel's underwhelming track record in power-efficient processors is likely to undermine its success.
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Marvel Armada 1500 Google TV Hands on
Google announced a major shift for its Google TV last week: a shift to the same ARM-based architecture that runs Android smartphones and tablets. The first partner to jump on board is chip maker Marvell. Their new Armada platform is an integrated ARM solution that it will deliver to OEM partners to include in set-top boxes and all-in-one Google TV televisions. They were showing off the new Armada system at CES, and we snuck in to get a look.
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TI to demo Windows 8 on OMAP 4470
Texas Instruments has brought along a new demo to CES 2012, showing Windows 8 on an OMAP4470 processor ahead of the Windows-on-ARM release tipped to take place in mid-2013. The aim, TI says, is to show just how well Microsoft's next-gen OS runs on an ARM chipset, helped ably, the company tells us, by the PowerVR SGX544 GPU.
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Google TV ditches Intel for ARM
Google TV is jumping from x86 to ARM-based chipsets, in the hope of reducing power consumption, noise and price of the set-top boxes, after the first generation of the platform failed to set the smart TV world alight. Chipset manufacturer Marvell has announced that its ARMADA 1500 HD “Foresight” SoC will be at the heart of the new Google TV STBs, an HD/3D capable chip that can simultaneously decode two 1080p streams in addition to performing SD-to-HD upscaling.
Raspberry Pi sub-$35 computer hits eBay for over $2,300
Sales of the Raspberry Pi computer have begun, albeit on a small scale, with ten of the first $35 boards being allotted to eBay where initial bidding has already exceeded £1,500 ($2,325). Powered by an ARM11 700MHz chip capable of running Quake III, general sales will begin in around a month according to the Raspberry Pi foundation, meaning early-adopters are willing to pay a hefty mark-up to grab one of the initial dev units.
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