Microsoft starts offering advice in how to code for Arm
- Reference: 1697518573
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/10/17/microsoft_arm_advisory_service/
- Source link:
Citing research from analyst firm Counterpoint that finds Arm-powered PCs will enjoy 25 percent market share by 2027, up from 14 percent today, Microsoft’s corporate veep for customer experience engineering Mike Adams, proclaimed “app compatibility for Windows on Arm is essential to the continued viability of your apps!”
And essential to the viability of Windows on Arm, which will be less attractive if buyers perceive it can’t handle their favourite programs. Microsoft therefore needs to make sure Arm-powered PCs don’t miss out, or hardware manufacturers will also eschew the platform, meaning the software giant misses out on Windows license revenue and the chance for further subscription loot as users sign up for its 365 suites.
[2]
Adams’ post states that most software written for Windows “just work under emulation”, but also advises “developers can port their apps to run natively with minimal effort”, leaving it unclear if the purpose of this program is to have developers convert their x86 code to Arm-native apps or just ensure their existing code runs under emulation. The post, for what it’s worth, describes the experience of working with Microsoft to develop native apps.
[3]
Adams’s post described Arm devices as “lightweight, have lightning-fast connectivity, offer extended battery life, and have advanced camera and audio capabilities in addition to many other benefits.” Those benefits, he argues, “can drive increased customer adoption of Arm devices which is driving more ISVs to develop Arm-optimized versions of their applications.”
[4]Microsoft makes Windows-on-Arm in VMs on Macs official – with Parallels for starters
[5]Windows on Arm users finally receive Native PowerToys
[6]Microsoft ships non-Surface PC: a cheap Arm box for devs
[7]Qualcomm predicts 2024 is the year Windows on Arm goes large
The Arm Advisory Service is an extension of Microsoft’s [8]existing App Assure program that helps developers move apps from Windows 7 to Windows 10 or 11.
Adams’s post mentions technical workshops, suggestions on “platform features to enhance the Arm application experience”, plus code samples and reviews to help with Arm development as some of the service’s inclusions. The veep also mentions “Break-fix assistance with issues that arise when porting or building Arm apps” and an “escalation path to Microsoft engineers to assist with software development and provide product feedback.” in the US Eastern Daylight Time zone (UTC -4).
Those restrictions may be annoying. But the mere fact that Microsoft feels this program is needed us surely significant. ®
Get our [9]Tech Resources
[1] https://blogs.windows.com/windowsdeveloper/2023/10/16/windows-launching-arm-advisory-service-for-developers/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZS5bSWrPoC7y5zuuYibl1gAAAQU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZS5bSWrPoC7y5zuuYibl1gAAAQU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/17/windows_11_arm_vms_authorised/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/08/powertoys/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/25/windows_dev_kit_2023/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/11/03/qualcomm_q4_2022/
[8] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/fasttrack/microsoft-365/app-assure
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Maybe
Most of the laptops today Counterpoint cites are using ARM are running macOS, the rest are running Chrome. If the total share reaches 25% it will be because of greater success by Apple or Google, not the failed Windows on ARM experiment. Microsoft has supported other architectures before but they've always thrown in the towel eventually. They have even thrown in the towel on ARM once already, though that was not much of an effort.
I would put the odds at 50/50 at best that Microsoft still supports ARM by the end of the decade. They gain nothing by supporting another architecture, when everyone knows that not only will x86 continue to be supported but will always be the most important platform with ARM permanently relegated to second class status. This isn't like Apple where they introduced support for ARM Macs but that was a migration strategy, not a coexistence strategy with two platforms. Supporting two architectures without any migration strategy just increases your support costs, and increases the burden on developers who follow you.
The market share of Windows ARM PCs is so small it isn't worth it for developers to support ARM - even its very existence costs them money as they have to worry about people having support issues who might be running on ARM and using Microsoft's translation software. If they have an issue is that a bug in your software, in Windows, or in Microsoft's translation? Or maybe some third party piece like a driver that happens to interact with what they were doing.
Qualcomm is the only company interested in making Windows ARM happen, mainly because they saw the smartphone market had matured and expanding into new markets is the only way they can achieve further growth. Eventually they will throw in the towel when they realize they will never succeed in taking any real Windows market share, and without any vendor support Microsoft will give up as well.
Re: Maybe
Linux is cheaper to run and far more secure and infinitely more flexible.
Who needs simple printing or reliable sound, anyway?
Re: Maybe
It's not like Windows is any better. Windows doesn't even have a basic thing like aggregation of audio interfaces and it prints when it feels like it.
Re: Maybe
Linux printing and sound issues pretty much went away nearly a quarter century ago.
Is that really all that's holding you back from using Linux? Might want to re-assess your priorities to fit in with the real world.
Re: Maybe
Real time audio is still pretty broken.
Re: Maybe
Printing is more reliable on my linux box at home than from our windows laptops or the various apple devices in our house.
Re: Maybe
if at first you don't succeed...
For years I used a Lenovo Yoga as my main email/web PC - it had great battery life and always on. Where Microsoft went terribly wrong was presuming that it would dominate, and locked it down to control the market.- its unlikely they will make the same mistake again.
While Windows-11 has been mostly a "why bother", some of us adopted it for the WS/g Wayland driver that enables GPU access from Docker containers. Wayland support is a prerequisite for Windows Subsystem for Android, which is a potential game changer, if managed right. Windows might just succeed in the tablet space.
Although most have probably missed it, Windows is now the main OS for thin-clients - the future of desktops is thin-clients and MS has already won here
Microsoft offering advice on how to code?
In other news, undertaker to offer medical advice ...
Re: Microsoft offering advice on how to code?
Each developer will be given access to Windows and Office source code repositories with the advice "don't do what we've done here".
Cross platform coding
...Never a MS strongpoint.
I remember windows mobile, had to code for it separately and when switch from mobile 6.x to win phone 7, devs had to either essentially write new 7 apps from scratch or ditch "new" version(s) of windows mobile (a lot did drop win mobile) as no tools provided for porting 6.x code to phone 7..
Win mobile would have been a great chance to develop ability to write once and target multiple platforms (e.g. desktop & mobile way back then) but it did not happen.
Still playing catchup with MAUI not gaining much traction as long suffering devs so wary of MS massively promoting something and then ditching it (silverlight anyone?) and early supposed "stable" versions were anything but.
Obv, coding "to the metal" is a different thing entirely, but for anything written using a "high level MS language", MS always seemed to hate the idea of write once run anywhere and just loved platform specific projects.
Maybe
Maybe by 2027 a quarter of all PC's will be ARM. But those won't be running Windows....but Linux.
You see, Windows has no advantages over Linux when running on an incompatible processor which negates decades of Windows legacy software. Linux is cheaper to run and far more secure and infinitely more flexible.