While it isn’t officially called Windows 8 just yet, Microsoft just dropped a huge bombshell about its next desktop operating system: it’s going to work with ARM designed mobile processors as well as traditional x86 silicon from the likes of Intel and AMD. Trust us folks, this is huge. Read on and we’ll explain why.
What does this revelation mean for you? Your Windows 8 laptop could have a chip from ARM licensees such as Nvidia (With its Project Denver chip) or Qualcomm, rather than Intel inside, which like the one in your phone, is power efficient and quite as a mouse. The result? We’re talking potentially massive battery life and instant start up times the likes of which are just not possible right now, thinner build, and maybe even comparable performance to anything Intel can offer right now for day to day tasks.
While Microsoft isn’t saying when Windows 8 will ship just yet, it’s also a strong indicator that Redmond will be pushing the OS heavily as a tablet operating system, something it’s trying half heartedly with Windows 7 at the moment, to little public interest.
Finally, ARM architecture could bring huge savings to businesses with expensive computers and servers to run, pushing us ever further into the concept of cloud computing. So yeah, this could be revolutionary. Now how will Apple follow up with OS X in the future? We can but dream.
Out TBC | £TBC | Microsoft
