One response to “Will Windows 8 run x86 apps on ARM tablets — or not?”

1. 

   rc primak September 22nd, 2011 at 00:10

   Without being able to run full-blown application software, ARM has a very dim future. I cannot think off-hand of more than a half-dozen popular or business programs which are x64 applications. And zero that are currently ported to that awful “Metro” interface MS has been demo-ing lately.

   Tablets are handy little gadgets, but they are not computers. Laptops are here to stay. Microsoft should remember that when designing the interface and the hardware for running Windows 8. Otherwise, someone else may leap past MS on even tablets, offering the x86 compatibility MS will not be offering. Not Google or Apple, unfortunately, but someone.

   The alternative is losing most home users and all business users from the Windows 8 marketplace. But we are only talking tablets and low-end PCs and laptops here, right? The stuff of entry-level consumers’ and students’ dreams, not company business plans. AMD and Intel hardware should still be running x86 applications just fine under Win8, no?