A Native Version of Chrome Arrives for Arm-based Windows PC
- Reference: 0173389553
- News link: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/03/26/1740214/a-native-version-of-chrome-arrives-for-arm-based-windows-pc
- Source link:
> The official release comes two months after an early version of the browser was spotted in Chrome's Canary channel. Qualcomm says the release "will roll out starting today."
>
> The release will be a big deal for any Chrome users with Windows machines powered by Arm-based processors, who'll now have access to a much faster native browser. That's in contrast to the x64 version of Chrome they've previously had to run in an emulated state with slow performance. Arm-based users have previously been able to turn to Microsoft's Edge, which is already available for Windows on Arm devices.
[1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/26/24112273/chrome-native-windows-on-arm-qualcomm-snapdragon
Really, really bad news (Score:4, Interesting)
The big advantage Microsoft has had for years is backward compatibility
Switching to ARM will kill backward compatibility and cause many users extreme pain
Some hardware requires Windows specific software to run. In many cases, a newer version will never be available because the company decides not to make one or the company is dead. The hardware, sometimes costing thousands, or even millions, is still usable
Same with software. A lot of old software still works fine, and will never be updated. This may be because the creators are out of business, or the software was custom written for a particular special case
Microsoft should not assume that all users have minimal needs. There are a lot of very specialized uses for Windows out there
Re: Really, really bad news (Score:1)
"The big advantage Microsoft has had for years is backward compatibility"
Has had? No, just had, until Windows Vista. Backwards compatibility went to shit then and has gotten even worse since.
ARM is actually less of a problem than Windows version, because the x86 to ARM translator is now pretty good.
Re: (Score:2)
I've played multiple sides of this debate, there's millions of unemployed programmers who would love to migrate your legacy apps. The fact is that static apps have gone away to the service model of constantly up to date software. Microsoft has ended support for dos, win16, legacy bios, and Internet Explorer apps already with Windows 11 and that is just on the x64 version of Windows. After October 2025 companies will be forced to update their legacy software as many companies and insurance policies prevent r
Windows 11 ARM64 has x86 emulators (Score:2)
The ARM64 version of Windows 11 has emulators for both x86-32 and x86-64 applications, and it works for most programs.
Re: (Score:2)
Wintel is still alive and kicking. Windows on ARM (WARM) is still in its infancy. It's not going to knock off Wintel overnight (and probably won't ever).
They'll make DOZENS of users happy! (Score:2)
That is across all versions...
Who uses it? (Score:2)
A very long time ago, Microsoft released a board for Intel 8088 PCs called the Mach 20 which jacked the computer up to a 80286 so it could run OS/2. They managed to sell a whopping 11 boards.
While Windows for Arm can't be such a massive flop as the Mach 20, I do won't who the hell would ever want to run Windows on something which doesn't have an x86 architecture. Whatever "advantage" comes from using Arm in power savings or speed is negated by having to emulate x86 for the majority of stuff that makes Windo
Finally! (Score:3)
Privacy invasion on non-x86 platforms at last!
Re: (Score:2)
Google should now get ahead of the curve and release Chrome on Windows 11 on RISC-V!
No such product from Microsoft yet exists, thankfully. :)
Reminder they rolled out the m1 version very quick (Score:2)
While dragging their heels on the Windows version for years. Shows who's really in charge of the browser industry .