News Report: Microsoft to Bring x64 App Emulation to Arm Processors

DavidC1

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May 18, 2006
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Oh good only Apps are being brought. Not Applications.

Wait, you guys are saying its the same thing?

Apps = Simple, single task software usually in the smartphone space
Applications = Fully featured software usually in the PC space

Back on topic. Emulation/translation not only slows it down but compatibility is also suspect. It'll be slightly better than the current situation that's all.
 

alextheblue

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Oh good only Apps are being brought. Not Applications.

Wait, you guys are saying its the same thing?

Apps = Simple, single task software usually in the smartphone space
Applications = Fully featured software usually in the PC space

Back on topic. Emulation/translation not only slows it down but compatibility is also suspect. It'll be slightly better than the current situation that's all.
  1. Semantics, and outdated at that. "Apps" on a smartphone or PC today includes a wide range of things. Increasingly you'll find the distinction blurring.
  2. Current x86-32 emulation is already quite decent. x86-64 emulation is nothing but a boon to users, and will vastly increase compatibility with the field of x86 software. Granted, native ARM binaries are far better, but it's great to still have reasonable x86 capability.

It's also not pure emulation, every bit of MS code these programs rely on (Win32 libraries, for example) are already compiled to ARM which helps.