Intel to put Windows 8 on phones | Hacker News Reader

Intel to put Windows 8 on phones

zdnet.com

11 pointsFlemlord7 comments

I don't know that much about Windows Phone 7 but my understanding is that developers code against a version of the CLR, so their apps should be easily ported to a new OS.

Developers for Windows Phone 7 target either XNA for games (which in theory is why they are able to integrate with XBox Live) or Silverlight for everything else.

I assume that if Microsoft intends for Windows Phone 7 to be a long-term platform (which their statements at CES cast some doubt about) they may add in further parts of .NET into the SDK.

I think they've always planned for Windows Phone to be merged into mainline Windows eventually, once the hardware is ready (though expecting that to be the W8 timeframe is a bit optimistic on Intel's part). That's why they've been careful not to expose the underlying CE kernel to third-party native code (only through a .NET VM) - so they can change the kernel without breaking things.

Not sure how that makes it "not a long-term platform", though - that's like saying consumer Windows in the 90s wasn't a long-term platform because they eventually swapped out the 9x kernel for NT. The switchover, when it eventually comes, should be mostly transparent to users and developers.

Yet another Microsoft attempt at mobile? If they screw Windows Phone up, I doubt they will get another chance from the public.

Microsoft is good at one thing: backward compatibility, if they throw this away, I don't know if they will have enough value remaining in their offerings.

I really think Microsoft should either man up, and create a descent mobile OS, or simply stop creating new crap every once in a while.

This is an Intel plan, not Microsoft. They're trying to get press for x86 designs in mobile more than anything. Clearly Intel and Microsoft's interests are diverging here, or CES wouldn't have had the Win8 on ARM bomb dropped.

The x86's real selling point is that it's the best platform for running Windows. Now that Windows is becoming less relevant its in trouble. In some sense Intel has more riding on the success of Windows than Microsoft does...

Aside: to unpack that, x86 is the best for running all the x86 software out there. It has by far the greatest range of software, which is why wintel sacrificed so much for back-compatibility.

If that catalog is at all usable in a phone form-factor, then it is valuable. Worst case: you dock to a monitor/keyboard most of the time. But who knows, with built-in projectors, and an eeePC size keyboard covering the entire phone, perhaps it is a goer.

The biggest problem is if the form-factor is totally unusable for desktop software, when there is no desktop. Personally, I think it would be awesome to run regular software on a tiny tiny phone. Awkward, but awesome.

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