Windows 8 for ARM to drop backward compatibility?

Earlier this week Intel senior vice president Renee James said that Microsoft will make multiple versions of Windows 8, and that the ARM versions won't have backwards compatibility with old x86 programs.

Microsoft's response is that Intel's statements are inaccurate and misleading, but the company refuses to share any details at this time.

The ARM version of Windows 8 might have just become the most desired version of Windows in our hearts and minds. After us talking about legacy code and backwards compatibility in Windows for years now, an Intel senior vice president, Renee James, has just stated that Windows 8 on ARM will not have any form of compatibility for legacy applications whatsoever.

Microsoft has responded to Intel's claims. "Intel's statements during yesterday's Intel Investor Meeting about Microsoft's plans for the next version of Windows were factually inaccurate and unfortunately misleading," the company said, "From the first demonstrations of Windows on SoC, we have been clear about our goals and have emphasized that we are at the technology demonstration stage. As such, we have no further details or information at this time."

One possible implication of Intel's slip is that Windows 8 may come in two trees, a Windows 8 that runs on x86 and includes a Windows 7 mode to run legacy applications, and an ARM edition that lacks the Windows 7 mode. The interesting thing about migrating the legacy stuff to an optional package is that it could make the Windows 8 base code a lot leaner.

Source: OS News