January 21, 2011, 3:29 PM — A few weeks ago, when Microsoft was only rumored to be coming out with a version of Windows that would run on the ARM chips that run tablets like the iPhone, much of the talk was about whether a non-Intel version marked a split in the Wintel empire.
Now the interesting talk is more about Intel dissing Microsoft over the split, and vice versa.
For more than two decades Microsoft and Intel have formed an unassailable power base in the market first for PCs, then servers, then big servers, then really big servers with virtual servers and clouds and data centers running on them.
It got to be kind of a big deal.
In announcing a version of Windows that would run on chips other than those of Intel or those that copy Intel architectures, Microsoft did create a break in that alliance.
It didn't acknowledge that, of course, and only said the ARM version was necessary to keep up with customers who were moving to or adding tablets and smartphones and other devices that could quickly become the "personal computer" that replaces the PC.
Microsoft didn't want that to happen if the post-PC was running something other than Windows so, belatedly -- very, very belatedly -- it did something about it. It decided to port Windows to ARM.
Intel wasn't any better. Even two weeks after the Windows ARM demo, Intel execs were being quoted saying ARM chips, whose very low power use is a huge advantage in mobile devices, would suck up as much power as Intel chips when they got to similar levels of power and sophistication.
Intel has a whole division dedicated to producing low-power chips designed for mobile devices and has had some success, but not in tablets or phones, where it counts.
Now Intel is blaming Microsoft for being behind the curve in developing for mobile -- specifically pointing out Microsoft's very high level of suckage in touch interfaces.
Wintel, Intel is saying, is being dropped off the back of the mobile-computing train because Microsoft is holding us back. Nyaa, nyaa. Nyaa
Not that there isn't some truth in that. It's just that Microsoft isn't the only one lagging.
Despite tons of research and lots of attempts at products, Microsoft has still not come out with a decent touch interface for Windows.
