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Comment by rbanffy | Hacker News Reader

I only hope the OEMs also offer the same hardware without Windows. Choice is good.

Unfortunately, all the mentions of Microsoft working together with OEMs in developing single-chip touchscreens and so on may indicate Microsoft will want to limit availability of competing devices with different OSs.

As always, everybody loses but them.

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A WinRT machine will not support installing a different OS (a pity but the writing's been on the wall about that since around the iPod), but the OEMs themselves own the tech used to build the device and can make equivalent devices for other OSes.

Not sure how much of it the own. The article mentions Microsoft being active in developing technology such as the single-chip touchscreen.

Which may be neatly sidestepped by LCDs similar to the Sharp ones expected to ship with the iPhone 5.

Would you level the same criticism at any of the other brands which are fairly OS-hardware tied?

AFAIK Google never demanded locked bootloaders ans Apple makes their own hardware. If Microsoft wants to cripple their own tablet, that's ok with me, but why demand their licensees to cripple theirs? It only shows how afraid they are and how low they are prepared to go.

What else would you run on it? Android? Why not just buy an Android tablet then?

There are a plethora of Android devices available from more OEMs than the few that are shipping Windows RT devices. I don't see that changing except for the fact that they're not selling very well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Android_devices#T...

>Unfortunately, all the mentions of Microsoft working together with OEMs in developing single-chip touchscreens and so on may indicate Microsoft will want to limit availability of competing devices with different OSs

How will that stop Google from developing whatever they want in conjunction with the OEMs? Not to mention collaborating with their subsidiary Motorola. I don't see how Microsoft can limit that even if they wanted to.

> How will that stop Google

It won't. It'll only prevent these devices from getting different OSs.

Also, keep in mind I'm not talking about Android. I use Ubuntu every day and all the pieces are in place for Ubuntu-based fully-functional (as in "you can work exclusively on it") ARM devices. Windows on ARM's key "advantage" is the ability to run Office, but since Linuxes/BSDs on ARM (or MIPS, if you are so inclined) can run the full desktop software suite just like their x86 counterparts (perhaps more slowly, but that's beyond the point here), their advantage is negated. Their only remaining advantage is being able to run Microsoft Office.

I use Ubuntu on my HP Touchpad. Functionally it works well, but in practice it's awful. it really seems to be expecting more than 1GB of RAM, even though I'm running Xfce. I can easily pin the processor at max with most tasks, even though it's a dual core 1.5Ghz. Touch is still awful, despite Unity. There's no good on-screen keyboard. Ubuntu is Windows 7; it looks good for touch but it's really not.

Everything works, but not well. I don't see Surface or other mass market tablets being able to run it any better.

More specifically...to run Microsoft Office...on a touch screen. The utility of this is still unexplored.

What stops people from using Office (RT) with a mouse/trackpad and keyboard? They're making Office for ARM, not Office for touch devices exclusively. ARM doesn't imply that you have to use touch screens.

>I use Ubuntu every day and all the pieces are in place for Ubuntu-based fully-functional (as in "you can work exclusively on it") ARM devices

What's stopping anyone(including OEMs) now or later when Windows RT launches from making "Ubuntu-based fully-functional" tablets? Why the obsession with trying to shoehorn Linux onto Windows RT tablets?

Because until OEMs start manufacturing tablets with sensible bootloaders that can boot anything, Windows RT devices will be the only game in town.

These tablets will be built in volume. Up until now, with x86 PCs, alternative OSs enjoyed an ecosystem of mass produced, cheap computers that could run competitive OSs. Microsoft is trying to stop this from happening in the ARM device space.

>Because until OEMs start manufacturing tablets with sensible bootloaders that can boot anything, Windows RT devices will be the only game in town.

WindowsRT tablets the only game in town? What? Whatever will happen to the iPad and all the Android tablets and why?

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