January 23, 2013, 4:55 PM — It's more than a week now since a website posted a tool for jailbreaking Windows RT devices, and now it is also posting a list of applications that will run on the broken devices.
The site, xda-developers, lists a set of desktop apps reported to work on jailbroken Windows RT tablets. The jailbreak tool is here.
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The important thing about these apps is that they are traditional Windows desktop apps, not the Modern apps (a.k.a. Windows Store apps) that are designed specifically to run on Windows 8 and that cater to the operating system's touch-centricity.
One of the specs for Windows RT is that the operating system doesn't support desktop apps at all except for the specially crafted Microsoft Office that comes standard with the tablets. Customers are restricted from porting any applications to the devices except those that are sold through the Windows Store.
Some of the applications that will run on the broken devices need no modification; some do, according to the xda-developers discussion thread. Some of those that run unmodified are Keepass Portable (a password storage wallet); MonoTorrent (BitTorrent client); and ShareX (a screen capture and upload utility).
For its part, Microsoft says it's actively investigating the break tool and will take whatever action it deems appropriate.
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