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

[Andrew Brehm]

On 24/09/2021 03:41, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:
> On Friday, September 24, 2021 at 6:00:11 AM UTC+12, John Dallman wrote:
> 
>> They seem to have decided that Windows on ARM is /strictly/ for mobile
>> devices.
> 
> Which seems like an attitude that is doomed to fail, when you consider the variety of ARM-based machines like the Raspberry π.
> 
> Also the most powerful computer in the world right now <https://top500.org/lists/top500/list/2021/06/> is based on ARM CPUs, and it has been at the top spot for over a year.
> 
> And naturally, Linux runs on all of these things.
> 

What really makes it doomed to fail is the non-availability of the devices.

It is cheaper to run insider versions of Windows 10 for ARM on Parallels on a M1 Mac than it is to buy a WOA device, if it can even be found.

WOA devices are extremely rare, expensive, and almost impossible to get in Europe.

And since MSFT gave up on Windows 10 IoT Core on the Raspberry Pi 4, Windows on ARM has become even more of a laughing stock.

I would love to use Windows on ARM if I could run the IoT Core version on my Rapis and the full version on a tablet and/or laptop. But it's too expensive and too difficult.

(Incidentally, the emulator works well and runs both x86 and x64 software as well as 32 bit ARM software.)