Re:Windows systems set to be merged by Microsoft
by jiggy2011 on Wednesday July 23, 2014 @10:04AM
(#8074397)
I was thinking more of trying to translate an entire heavyish weight x86 application on a mobile phone, probably not pleasant.
You're right that the API issue is basically orthogonal, but I can't see how this could be done without having either a very bloated phone OS or an overly restricted desktop OS.
As for storage, if a unified platform supported every legacy API, the same problem exists whether it is x86 or ARM, so that seems orthogonal to this discussion. Regardless it's worth considering how mobile and tablet devices have exploded in capabilities (my smartphone has 2GB of RAM. Windows XP required 64MB).
Would it support every legacy API? Not necessarily. Being unified doesn't necessarily mean that, and Microsoft has threatened Win32 and friends for time eternal (e.g. http://www.windowsdevcenter.com/pub/a/windows/2004/07/13/win...). Unified can simply mean that from this point forward, WinXX is unified, or the .NET platform is holistic and all-encompassing (which has always been the goal of that platform, but somehow keeps getting screwed up), or whatever.