[Info-vax] Microsoft On ARM Failure (was Re: VSI licensing policy (again))

[Craig A. Berry]

On 9/22/21 8:37 PM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
> On Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 11:55:56 PM UTC+12, dgso... at gmail.com wrote:
>> I guess Microsoft has the power to dictate requirements here ...
> 
> To whom? Nobody else seems to be bothering with Windows-on-ARM.

Perhaps, but Microsoft makes their own hardware and is still releasing
new ARM-based devices:

<https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/09/arm-based-surface-pro-x-gets-an-899-wi-fi-only-model-but-few-other-upgrades/>

<https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/business/surface-pro-x/processor>

I think someone mentioned up-thread that the x86 emulation is 32-bit
only, but that is changing and will be in Windows 11:

<https://blogs.windows.com/windows-insider/2020/12/10/introducing-x64-emulation-in-preview-for-windows-10-on-arm-pcs-to-the-windows-insider-program/>

Maybe this will all fizzle and end up like Windows on Alpha or Itanium.
But Microsoft is big enough that a small percentage of Windows devices
running on ARM is still a big market, so it's not at all obvious this
will follow the same pattern.