Windows 8 Desktop Apps for ARM: Maybe

Great reporting by Joanna Stern, in an interview with Mike Anguilo, Microsoft’s VP of Windows planning1:

When asked about Microsoft’s plans to explain the legacy program situation, Angiulo said that “there is a significant amount of marketing that we are capable of doing that can get through — we can afford to tell a story and tell it long enough and clearly enough. We will make sure it is absolutely clear where your legacy apps will run.” However, he followed that up with a kicker: “porting things and whether we open native desktop development are either decisions that are either not made or not announced yet.”

So Microsoft hasn’t yet decided whether legacy (a.k.a. traditional desktop) apps will be able to be recompiled/ported to ARM. No question it’s technically possible — the question is whether they want to allow it. My guess is it’s a political fight inside the company.

  1. “VP of Windows planning”? Microsoft needs to reimagine their job titles. ↩︎︎

★ Friday, 16 September 2011