Windows 10 To Support ARM Chips With X86 Emulation Next Year; Qualcomm Chips First To Support It

[Lucian Armasu]

Qualcomm announced that its next-generation processors would be able to run all legacy Windows applications, by using an x86 emulation feature for ARM chips that should be available to Windows 10 next year.

Windows 10 To Support ARM Chips With X86 Emulation Next Year; Qualcomm Chips First To Support It : Read more

 

[alextheblue]

You'll still want native code for maximum performance. But a lot of Win32 programs don't need extreme horsepower, and even with emulation will run well enough. So while it won't replace UWP, it fills in the gaps where their existing tools, APIs, bridges, etc aren't yet reaching. With MS and Qualcomm both putting resources towards it (special instructions or other CPU tweaks, OS-level optimization) it's viable. With Intel abandoning their low-margin low-power Atom efforts, MS probably felt like they need to give it a shot.

Now, while this may work fairly well on a ~5-15W tablet/hybrid/laptop model, I'm not certain about phones and Continuum. They may very well be able to pull it off, but it would need the highest-end low-power chip they can get their hands on to allow for a Win32-capable Continuum experience. For now though they need to continue to make improvements to Continuum, which are already in the pipe, to give it a more desktop-esque operation when docked.

 

[tntom]

Looks like the Surface Phone is right around the corner.

This is potentially really big if they execute it well. Win10 might just accomplish what everyone envisioned Apple would do (combine OSX and iOS) but never did when Macbook Air and iPad came out.

 

[Guest]

So, hummm, QEMU on Windows? Having used Hyper-V, I'm not really impressed by Microsoft answer to virtualisation, and I doubt their emulation will be better than what already exists. If it's transparent enough, probably it will get some traction. Hyper-V did and it's terrible (IMO).

Microsoft is facing huge obstacles. On one hand, web apps rendering the OS irrelevant. On the other, emulation and virtualisation rendering the OS irrelevant.

At an extreme point, the only reason to be OS specific are performance and ecosystem, and those are where I still see Microsoft shinning, i.e. gamming and legacy.

Unfortunately, I don't see possible growth for Microsoft in other areas. They won't be in servers or phones. At least they are trying.

 

[RedJaron]

Looks like the Surface Phone is right around the corner.

I want this to be the case, but I have my doubts. I've been very disappointed with how MS has handled Windows Phone in the last two years.

 

[ZolaIII]

Mufff this is going to fall. A entry lv phone SoC this day's equipped with quad core ARM A53 @ 1.5GHz is capable of running full 64 bit Linux distros smooth for a native windows however it would need to be clocked at around 2 GHz for a same effect & as this is going to be a emulation & it will be about 60% efficient that brings us to quad A57 @ 2 GHz or quad A72-73 @ 1.8 GHz this is still at least a high end mid range SoC's & still doesn't meet efficiency needs for most pocket devices. Naturally you need much more than that for a specialised high end programs. To make this work Microsoft do need a emulator but for legacy programs while they parallel build a native translation to ARM V8 instruction set of the current or future OS & programs. That's the only way I see this working so this just another shortcut attempt is going to fall like others before.

 

[Clamyboy74]

Ready for when someone manages ro run windows 10 on an iPad/phone?

 

[falchard]

This will make Windows Phone slightly more appealing.

 

[NightLight]

this is kinda huge!

 

[alextheblue]

To make this work Microsoft do need a emulator but for legacy programs while they parallel build a native translation to ARM V8 instruction set of the current or future OS & programs. That's the only way I see this working so this just another shortcut attempt is going to fall like others before.

The OS and it's APIs/libraries are native ARM. Most if not all of MS' software is going to be native ARM. All of the Modern RunTime UWP apps are going to be compiled to native or near-native (IL) as needed. Seamless OS-level x86 emulation is only utilized when necessary, for Win32 programs. Even then, the performance penalty, while steep, isn't as bad as I initially thought. The video of them running Win32/x86 World of Tanks on a Snapdragon 820 was impressive. It's a great way to bridge the gap between Windows on x86 and Window on ARM. Oh and they DO have bridges leading to UWP (which run on x86 and ARM), for developers. But even if they achieve a critical mass of UWP software, that doesn't completely negate the need for Win32, so this is a good step for them to take.

Oh, and they're going to have hardware requirements. By the time it is released, they may require specific Snapdragon model(s) that not only meet or exceed the performance of the 820 they were demoing it on, but also may have specific optimizations for x86 emulation. Initially it looks like they're targeting tablets and laptops, so clockspeeds should be fairly high too.

 

[Guest]

DOA, next

 

[LordConrad]

Sounds like the second coming of Transmeta. Older XP software should be fine, but anything new will be painfully slow.