Showing posts with label Qualcomm. Show all posts
Perhaps this will succeed where Windows RT failed.
Microsoft dipped its toe in the ARM waters with Windows RT but it ultimately proved a failure, primarily because of the lack of applications. That doesn't mean the company is going to give up on the dominant mobile market processor, however.
At the WinHEC show in China last week, Microsoft announced it has finally created a native version of Windows 10 running on Qualcomm Snapdragon processors with full x86 compatibility. This isn't Windows RT, it's full Windows 10, but you’ll be able to run Win32 apps and Windows Universal Apps.
The initial version of ARM Windows 10 only supports 32-bit apps, but that's not a big deal since most mobile devices have 4GB of memory or less anyway. And it should be noted this is Windows 10 on Snapdragon, not Windows 10 on ARM. Sure, Qualcomm's processors are fairly ubiquitous but they aren't everywhere. You won't be running Windows 10 on an iPad any time soon.
This enables Microsoft to get down into the lower-cost mobile market. The Surface tablets and notebooks are nice but they aren't cheap. That's partly due to being essentially x86 PCs. An ARM-based tablet has an overall lower cost of materials and lower price, so it gets Windows into places Microsoft currently isn't playing with the Surface line.
"For the first time ever, our customers will be able to experience the Windows they know with all the apps, peripherals, and enterprise capabilities they require, on a truly mobile, power efficient, always-connected cellular PC," said Windows chief Terry Myerson in a blog post announcing the breakthrough, along with other WinHEC news.
"With Windows 10 on cellular PCs, we will help everyone make the most of the air around them. We look forward to seeing these new devices with integrated cellular connectivity and the great experiences people love like touch, pen and Windows Hello, in market as early as next year," he added.
PCWorld (a sister publication of Computerworld) reports that the emulation will be built around a new, unreleased chip the Snapdragon 835 that's in production now and is due to ship in the first half of 2017, according to Qualcomm. The first Windows-on-ARM devices are expected by the second half of next year.
This will be a major challenge for Qualcomm. Emulation is always tricky business. Remember Transmeta? The difference here is Intel has basically given up on the mobile market. It bailed out of the tablet and smartphone business last year, basically handing it to ARM. So at least they don't have to deal with Intel on the hardware side.
But Qualcomm still faces a considerable challenge of ARM-to-x86 emulation. We don't know anything on the performance specs of the 835, only that it's a 10nm part.
Apps on the x86 architecture have mostly been limited to desktop processors - until now. At the 2016 WinHEC Conference in China, Microsoft announced that ARM processors will soon be able to run the full desktop experience of Windows.
During the Windows 8 time frame, as The Verge recounted, Microsoft implemented Windows on ARM under Windows RT, which proved to be unpopular since RT was only capable of running apps from the Windows store - that meant no x86 apps.
This has been rectified with the software giant's partnership with Qualcomm. Through emulation that is built into Windows 10, ARM processors will be able to run x86 win32 programs.
Executive Vice President Terry Myerson noted on Windows Blog: "For the first time ever, our customers will be able to experience the Windows they know with all the apps, peripherals, and enterprise capabilities they require, on a truly mobile, power efficient, always-connected cellular PC."
With a Snapdragon chipset, Microsoft demoed Windows 10 on ARM running the desktop Office suite, Adobe Photoshop, and Halo Spartan Assault. This showed how easily desktop apps might be handled on laptops and tablets by hardware partners, and even phones with Continuum, all the while taking advantage of the light footprint that mobile processors provide.
Lumia 950 XL release with Continuum, a feature of Windows 10 Mobile that let's phone act like computers when connected to a display. While Microsoft did not discuss Continuum in relation to this x86 emulation, this ARM implementation of Windows 10 could make Continuum that much more potent.
As it stands, Continuum for Windows 10 Mobile can only be taken advantage of using apps specifically design under the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) architecture, but Windows 10 on ARM can bring desktop apps to phones.
Windows 10's support for ARM processors is set to release next year. Stay tuned for more exciting updates!
Microsoft said yesterday that it is paving the way for easier, faster Windows 10 computing on mobile devices with new support from Qualcomm's Snapdragon ARM processors. The partnership, announced at a Windows hardware engineering event in China, could lead to new mobile products running Windows 10 "as early as next year," according to Microsoft executive Terry Myerson.
The Windows 10-Snapdragon union could pose a threat to Intel's position as the market leader in PC chips, a number of observers have noted. At the same time, however, Microsoft yesterday also announced it was collaborating with Intel to bring new security and artificial-intelligence features to PCs, with a focus on gaming and mixed-reality applications.
The Windows 10-Snapdragon union could pose a threat to Intel's position as the market leader in PC chips, a number of observers have noted. At the same time, however, Microsoft yesterday also announced it was collaborating with Intel to bring new security and artificial-intelligence features to PCs, with a focus on gaming and mixed-reality applications.
Together,
developments like these could signal that significant shifts in the
microprocessor market are on the horizon. They could also enable a second
chance for Microsoft to bring the full Windows experience to mobile devices, an
effort the company failed to achieve with its previous Window RT mobile
operating system.
Targeting
Windows Users on the Go
In
a blog post about several announcements made yesterday in China, Myerson -- who
is executive vice president for Microsoft's Windows and Devices Group -- said
the new Snapdragon-powered collaboration with Qualcomm is aimed at meeting
"our customers' growing needs to create on the go."
"For
the first time ever, our customers will be able to experience the Windows they
know with all the apps, peripherals, and enterprise Relevant Products/Services
capabilities they require, on a truly mobile, power efficient, always-connected
cellular PC," Myerson said. "With Windows 10 on cellular PCs, we will
help everyone make the most of the air around them."
By
using Qualcomm's ARM chips instead of Intel's X86-based processors, Microsoft
hopes to enable a new generation of Windows 10-native mobile devices like
tablets and laptops. Traditionally limited to low-power applications, ARM chips
are becoming increasingly powerful and bring the added advantages of support
for longer battery life and cellular-based, always-on connectivity.
Second
Chance for Microsoft
Thanks
to "compatibility with the Windows 10 ecosystem, the Qualcomm Snapdragon
platform is expected to support mobility to cloud computing and redefine how
people will use their compute devices," Qualcomm executive vice president
Cristiano Amon said yesterday in a press announcement.
Myerson
noted that the partnership will enable Microsoft's hardware partners to
"build a range of new Qualcomm Snapdragon-powered Windows 10 PCs that run
x86 Win32 and universal Windows apps, including Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft
Office and popular Windows games."
Microsoft
had previously targeted the mobile computing market with ARM-based devices
running Windows RT, which launched in late 2012. However, that OS failed to
gain traction among consumers, and production of Windows RT-based devices like
the Surface 2 and Lumia 2520 tablets came to an end in early 2015.
Meanwhile,
a new collaboration between Microsoft and Intel called Project Evo will aim to
"further push the boundaries of personal computing" with smarter
voice-machine communication, new virtual and mixed-reality applications, better
gaming and "true always-connected computing," according to an
editorial penned by Navin Shenoy, senior vice president and general manager of
Intel's Client Computing Group.
"The
work we are doing will help drive innovation in other areas too, from
hardware-enhanced single- and multi-factor authentication powered by Windows
Hello and Intel Authenticate for enhanced PC security to an even greater focus
on connectivity -- starting today with LTE," Shenoy wrote. "This
includes offering a wide range of PC form factors and price points that give
people choice in mobility, whether they are carrying an ultra-thin and light
notebook or a cool 2 in 1."
