Microsoft Announces New ARM-Based Windows At CES

The next version of Windows will be able to run on ARM-based processors which are increasingly popular in mobile devices and servers, Microsoft announced at the at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Future Windows versions will support System on a Chip (SoC) architecture, in particular ARM-based systems from partners such as Qualcomm, Nvidia and Texas Instruments, said Microsoft in a 5 January press conference, which also showed Windows 7 running on a handful of new ultra-light devices, including an Acer laptop with dual touch-screens, and the next version of its surface touch-screen technology.

Steven Sinofsky, president of Windows and Windows Live Division, suggested soon after taking the stage that tablets, mobile devices and traditional PCs were rapidly converging in terms of their hardware requirements and capabilities. ARM chip designs currently dominate much of the burgeoning mobile market, which Microsoft is anxious to penetrate.

A growing OS market

Windows currently dominates the x86 platform used by traditional PCs, but the rise of powerful mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets—powered largely by ARM chip designs—has effectively created a whole new market for the operating system, provided it can work out the engineering details.

“Under the hood there’s a ton of differences that need to be worked through,” Sinofsky told the audience. “Windows has proven remarkably flexible at this under-the-hood sort of stuff. We work on storage from Flash all the way up to terabytes of storage” and “Windows kernel on alternate architectures.”

Microsoft executives used part of the conference to demonstrate that ARM could power Windows with little slowdown.

“New version of Internet Explorer running ARM, hardware accelerated,” Michael Angiulo, a corporate vice president for Microsoft, said as he demonstrated applications on a laptop with an Nvidia Tegra chip.

Battery-efficient platforms

Microsoft also demonstrated a new line of laptops running Windows 7, including an Acer laptop with a second touch-screen in place of a keyboard, in order to emphasise how Intel and AMD are still working with the company to develop battery-efficient platforms that take advantage of evolving technologies like touch.

Intel and AMD are both continuing to develop SoC architecture offering better battery life and lower heat.

“We’re very slate-focused this week,” Sinofsky said, “but we want smaller, cooler, etcetera to happen on all our form factors. Consumers have a right to demand everything from us as providers of new technology to them.”

Executives also demonstrated a new version of Surface, the company’s table-sized touch-screen tablets. This new version runs Windows 7 and is fronted with Gorilla glass.

ARM-based Windows

However, ARM remained the primary focus of the conference. When questioned about whether current Windows applications would run on the new ARM-enabled version of the operating system, Sinofsky explained that “x86 programs don’t run on ARM architecture, and it’s not likely that there’ll be virtualisation.”

Without getting into further detail, he added: “We’ll have a lot more to say about developers and opportunities down the road. Whenever Windows works on new hardware, our job is to allow the flexibility and choice of that new hardware to shine through.”

Sinofsky offered no firm release date for the new ARM-based Windows.

In the line waiting to enter the press conference, media and analysts conjectured freely about Microsoft’s announcement, with predictions ranging from the unveiling of a new line of Windows-powered tablets to Windows 8.

Microsoft struggling in tablet and smartphone race

While Microsoft’s flagship products—including Windows 7 and the Office franchise—continue to buoy the company’s revenues, it has been struggling to catch up with rivals such as Apple and Google in the tablet PC and smartphone arenas.

The recently released Windows Phone 7 is Microsoft’s attempt to reverse its eroding market-share in the latter, but heading into CES it had yet to offer a substantial consumer tablet effort.

Over the previous few months, Microsoft executives have suggested their tablet foray in 2011 would rely on a new generation of Intel microprocessors designed for mobile devices.

With the AMD announcement, the possibility exists for future generations of Windows tablets running both Intel and ARM chips.

Microsoft’s announcement preceded CEO Steve Ballmer’s keynote at the Las Vegas Convention Center later yesterday evening, where he highlighted the company’s forays into the consumer realm, including the Kinect hands-free controller for Xbox 360 and Windows Phone 7.