Maybe Windows 8 on Gtab someday? - G Tablet Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

http://liliputing.com/2011/01/microsoft-next-gen-windows-will-run-on-arm.html

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I saw this on some of the CES report too.
I use Windows 7 and enjoy it greatly. But I don't see it as being a tablet operating system. (I actually did use it with a touch/stylus laptop a while.)
But I use my tablets differently. And I won't be using them to do MS Office Work either (except maybe to read/preview.)
I don't know why Microsoft can't figure out that we use different machines for different purposes.
Rev
P. S. -- I didn't write this well -- but I think most power users will get what I'm talking about. One device won't do all things for all people -- not even those made by the fruity folks!

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Actually Windows CE was the only real mainstream platform almost 10 years ago on PDAs, like the Casio Cassiopeia. Touch screen, windows support for documents, etc. I could see this on a tablet, it wouldn't be a first. What I find most interesting is how Microsoft sat on their tech back then and let everyone walk around them on mobile devices in under 10 years.
In fact, I still have a working version of the Casio, overclocked and all. I should dig it out, it was a nice little device in its time.

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Wtf would you want Windows on your gTab? You're not going to be running the vast majority of software on it...

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I'd bet it's for the arm based netbooks

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There is absolutely no vesion of windows that would ever work on a tablet device in the way that Apple Os4 for ipad and upcoming honeycomb are designed to work
Tablets are going to replace 50% of the netbook market (for the people who want something even lighter and do not do office type intensive tasks on their net books) and probably result in 1/3rd of the smart phone users abandoning their smart phones in favor of using a tablet (lower data plan, larger screen, faster processors...portable enough to keep with you tucked away some where when a lap top was too heavy). With wi fi springing up nearly EVERYWHERE, there wont even be a need for a month plan/3g/4g set up for 75% of users.
This is going to be a huge market.
Here is how i see it going.
The Google/tablet market is going to dominate in the same way as the Windows/PC market did through the 90s and 00s for the computer.
Apple with its walled garden approach will lose most of its gains in the tablet market and wind up basically in the same market share position it did when going against MS/PC on the computer front.
MS is going to keep pushing its "frankenstein" tablet approach trying to cram a windows OS that is NOT optimized nor designed from the ground up for tablets until it becomes AT BEST the PS3 of tablets (very powerful..the most expensive, with less support, less market share, and really having largly unused features and applications compared to the android).
To continue that analogy, Droid will wind up beig the "xbox" of tablets, while apple will be come the "wii" of tablets and (MS will become the "ps3" of tablets).
Going back to the PC analogy. Droid will become the microsft of tablets, apple will remain....well apple, while microsoft ends up in the category largely reserved for corporate/industrial/server users.

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I think you all missed the "next Gen" part, I.e., they're not talking about an existing version of Windows on ARM, so we don't really know what that would look like yet.
Jim

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jimcpl said:
I think you all missed the "next Gen" part, I.e., they're not talking about an existing version of Windows on ARM, so we don't really know what that would look like yet.
Jim
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Next generation" in Microsoft speak means "larger, more bloated, slightly more functional than last generation" or at least that has been the case with EVERY SINGLE iteration of MS releases since 1993 when i had a win 3.1 pc ( with the possible exception of win 7 which is basically win vista on a diet with less bugs made more user friendly.
Heck the entire REASON for win64 was to increase the amount of Ram windows can use ( my desk top now runs w 8Gigs of ram).
Win CE win moble never came close to whar ipad os4 is or what i believe honeycomb to be. The upcoming win7 tablets look to repeat history.
I am not saying you are wrong about win8, but if you are right, it would represent a fundamental change in the MS paradigm. SOMETHING i dont believe has ever happened since they ripped off apple os after they ripped off xerox.

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MS has stated that Windows 8 will be their biggest gamble yet, supposedly with a more apple like experience.

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I see no reason why Windows 8 wouldn't work on the G-Tab.
Microsoft demoed it on a 3 year old laptop last month and aside from a few minor bugs, it worked very smooth.
It will also offer multiple interface options such as a Windows 7 phone like interface as well as a standard windows interface so that could also be very handy if they can pull it off properly.
They also promised ARM process or support and with the dual core processor in the G-Tab (mine currently running at 1.5 ghz) I think I would find it quite handy to be able to run some Windows apps while on the road somewhere.
I'm quite confident we will see a port of Windows 8 for the G-Tab, though I hope they're also able to support dual booting so I'm not stuck with just one OS option.
It seems pretty optimistic of Microsoft to think they can pull all of this off but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt just for trying.
Just my two cents.
-Maj

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I'm with Maj, but thee thing is will they make a ARM version of thee OS
A link you might find interesting: http://forums.legitreviews.com/about36766.html
More recent news article:http://rcpmag.com/articles/2011/09/20/analysis-will-windows-8-support-x86-apps-or-wont-it.aspx

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Im not a windows fan. I don't want to see another crummy version of windows especially on a tablet. I would rather see droid os on a laptop and oust windows altogether.

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I like Windows 7 on my desktop, I have XP and Ubuntu dual-booting on my laptop, and Gingerbread on my Atrix and Gtab.
MS does need to realize that our different devices are used for different purposes and need to be configured and run differently for that. I do not believe they can make it all happen with one OS. You would need such disparate branches that they would essentially be different OSs.

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U might be right. I know someone was saying that windowsce 7 was or might be similar since windows 8 is geared from window mobile phone 7

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With only 512Mb it will run like a dog, even ice cream sandwich needs more then 512m to run smooth from what I read. Now that the new Nvidia chip being 7 times faster according to Apple, most tablet will be under power to run the new crops of OS IMO.

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Way off base on Windows and it's role in our computing lives, and especially off base on what Microsoft can and cannot do. I have many complaints about Microsoft but they are FAR more advanced in mobile than they ever get credit for.
Apple took an iPod OS and made it into a phone and then a tablet. Windows mobile wasn't nearly as good a product but that was partially an attempt to make the mobile devices capable of running what they expected from Microsoft. Apple can get away with abandoning previous functionality (not so easy for them today with the share on tablets and phones) but Microsoft is expected to have that functionality.
If Microsoft would have come out with a capacitive touch tablet with the limitations of the first iPad they would have been justifiably booed. Not the same for Apple or Google who didn't have that legacy.
Windows on a tablet is a natural and will happen. Will it happen on out gTab? Maybe not but that would be more a function of Viewsonic and their ability to support us out into the future than it does with Microsoft.
---------- Post added at 08:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:15 PM ----------
kieso said:
Im not a windows fan. I don't want to see another crummy version of windows especially on a tablet. I would rather see droid os on a laptop and oust windows altogether.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'd be a fool.
If you want a laptop or desktop to be a productive tool you need the capability a full blown OS offers. Android and our tablets serve a different purpose.
When my tablet gets closer to the capability of my netbook then we can talk about the future of Android.
(I do love my gTab. It works great!)

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TeamSpeed said:
Actually Windows CE was the only real mainstream platform almost 10 years ago on PDAs, like the Casio Cassiopeia. Touch screen, windows support for documents, etc. I could see this on a tablet, it wouldn't be a first. What I find most interesting is how Microsoft sat on their tech back then and let everyone walk around them on mobile devices in under 10 years.
In fact, I still have a working version of the Casio, overclocked and all. I should dig it out, it was a nice little device in its time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have a BE-300! They are a cool little device and it was cutting edge back in the day. The modding on that device was one of the reasons that I bought a gTab, I remember the fun I had flashing and hacking that device. I just ordered a new minolta np 200 battery yesterday and plan to resurect the old girl when it arrives (soldering iron required)!
As for windows 8 I think it looks like a fisher price OS!

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Just as an FYI, I was checking out the Windows 8 Consumer trial download page and this is what they posted so far as minimum requirements:
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Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device or higher
To use touch, you need a tablet or monitor that supports multitouch
To access Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768
To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768
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It seems like the GTab is in the ballpark. And from what I read, it is indeed supposed to support ARM architecture. The only concern would be the 512k ram but I still think it's do-able.
-maj

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Majestyk said:
Just as an FYI, I was checking out the Windows 8 Consumer trial download page and this is what they posted so far as minimum requirements:
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Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device or higher
To use touch, you need a tablet or monitor that supports multitouch
To access Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768
To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768
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It seems like the GTab is in the ballpark. And from what I read, it is indeed supposed to support ARM architecture. The only concern would be the 512k ram but I still think it's do-able.
-maj
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Click to collapse
As I recall windows 7 also said 1gb was its minimum ram, but I had it running perfectly fine on an old pentium 2 with 512mb. But as I also recall, Win8 requires a version of arm the gtablet doesn't have.