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A comment on The End of x86?. Parent comment

Re:The End of x86? by wmf on Thursday October 21, 2010 @05:40PM (#1817553)
I don't think Windows Phone is based on NT.

Apple and Android have shown that you can build a mainstream platform ecosystem from nothing in 2-3 years, so who needs Windows compatibility?

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Re:The End of x86? by nl on Thursday October 21, 2010 @06:09PM (#1817659)
Neither Apple iOS or Android were "build from nothing in 2-3 years".

iOS is based on OS-X, which is based on NeXT, which is based on BSD (~40 years of work)

Android is based on Linux (so ~20 years of work)

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Re:The End of x86? by wmf on Thursday October 21, 2010 @06:49PM (#1817772)
My point is that they went from zero apps and zero users to lots in 2-3 years. IMO the argument that Windows backwards compatibility is the only way to get the long tail of tens of thousands of apps has been refuted.
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Re:The End of x86? by nl on Thursday October 21, 2010 @08:34PM (#1818092)
Oh right. Yes, I agree, then.

All a new platforms needs is a great webbrowser (which these days seems to mean "port webkit") and it's instantly viable.

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