Will running older software be less of a concern with Windows 8?
Would you buy a Windows tablet that doesn't run older Windows applications?
That's the question that keeps dogging me when I see Microsoft demonstrating tablets based on ARM processors from Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Nvidia. Tablets with those processors will not run so-called Intel "x86" legacy software (though they will run a full version of Office 15).
Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky wrote about this on February 9. "If you need to run existing x86/64 (Intel-based) software, then you will be best served with Windows 8 on x86/64."
And he reiterated this at Mobile World Congress on Wednesday.
Curious what readers thought, I read through the comments below this post.
Not surprisingly, there were comments that claimed legacy software is not important. And others that said it is.
I lean toward the latter. In short, if you're going to buy a Windows 8 tablet, why not buy one that at least offers the option of running the galactic library of Windows apps? After all, don't consumers favor platforms with a large selection of apps? (Albeit, in the case of Intel/x86, older apps not optimized for tablets.)
Would you buy a Windows tablet that doesn't run older Windows applications?
That's the question that keeps dogging me when I see Microsoft demonstrating tablets based on ARM processors from Qualcomm, Texas Instruments, and Nvidia. Tablets with those processors will not run so-called Intel "x86" legacy software (though they will run a full version of Office 15).
Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky wrote about this on February 9. "If you need to run existing x86/64 (Intel-based) software, then you will be best served with Windows 8 on x86/64."
And he reiterated this at Mobile World Congress on Wednesday.
Curious what readers thought, I read through the comments below this post.
Not surprisingly, there were comments that claimed legacy software is not important. And others that said it is.
I lean toward the latter. In short, if you're going to buy a Windows 8 tablet, why not buy one that at least offers the option of running the galactic library of Windows apps? After all, don't consumers favor platforms with a large selection of apps? (Albeit, in the case of Intel/x86, older apps not optimized for tablets.)