> What microsoft has done to make the transition as smooth as possible?

Building the software translation (i.e. emulation) layer and testing / validating the top 20 or so most popular "apps": social media, spotify, office, etc. I think most of these are ARM native.

> What are game developers told to do to make their games compatible?

Qualcomm gave a GDC talk about this, though I can't seem to find it now. There are a handful of options, including just running it via x86 emulation. You can also recompile for ARM directly, or use some kind of hybrid solution where some system-related components use native ARM code and the rest remains emulated x86.

I'm no more a fan of Microsoft than the next average HN reader, but I think Microsoft is doing some real leg work here. That being said, I get the impression that it's very much Qualcomm-driven.

Disclaimer: Qualcomm employee but don't have anything to do with any of this

This article talks about the presentation with some photos of the slide decks

https://www.theverge.com/24107331/qualcomm-gdc-2024-snapdrag...

I feel like Microsoft's current stand on this is weird. They're either not as enthusiasting as Qualcomm and just riding along, or their terrible execution makes them move really slow.

Which means the ball is in qualcomm's court.

There's not much Qualcomm can do about Microsoft lifting its bum to help them, but they can support a kickass Linux experience.

And why intel sits around licking Microsoft's boots. All these decades when they too could have been pushing good Linux support as a hedge against Microsoft doing exactly this I'll never know.

The second m1 dropped, amd and Intel should have been all in on pushing a well-supported Linux desktop to compete with that. They dropped the ball of course and let Microsoft just fumble away with Windows like they have been for the last decade and a half.

Implementing this hedge in these gigantic multi-billion dollar companies would have been what maybe five $10 million a year? Peanuts.