DisARMed - HP Kills ARM-based Windows Tablet, Likely Thanks To Microsoft's Surface

I don't know if I put too much weight on it not being a coincidence. Mind that HP is hardly much of a risk taker anymore. Like they hardly ran into trouble before they gave up on the TouchPad for example.

So the slowly released details of Windows RT and the fact it will be more locked down, won't allow 3rd party desktop apps, etc. Were probably already making HP second guess the decision to support Windows RT tablets. Especially, since the lack of a proper app ecosystem was one of the problems they had with the TouchPad.

While HP has already started to move a bit away from the general consumer market and targeting businesses more and more. Something that the Windows RT version wouldn't have served very well for them.

Though the Surface announcement may have been the last straw for them but I doubt it was the deciding factor by itself. Especially since they're still making a Windows 8 tablet and the Surface covers that too with the pro model.

While I think implications of MS relationship with their partners is being exaggerated. All companies are in it for their bottom line and the bottom line is Windows sells. So long as that remains true then they'll continue to offer Window systems and devices.

Windows RT is just the bigger gamble right now until they can see how consumers react to it and how quickly the app market develops.

While companies also don't always advertise what they're going to do or say they're not when they're really only putting things on hold. Like the news of the ARM servers was first that they're switching to ATOM but later corrected that the ARM version was coming out later. So we'll see if HP really doesn't make a Windows RT tablet a year from now once they see how the other companies are doing.

I think you're mostly right here JD. It will be interesting to see how this pans out but it's interesting to see a shot across the bow of Microsoft. HP is mitigating their risk I think at this point and that makes sense in this situation.

Regardless of their reasoning, I think HP is making the right move.

Chances are good that the RT tablets are going to go over like a lead balloon, and this time two years from now Microsoft's main product will be promises of how much better everything will be in Windows 9 thanks to some new DirectX feature that just can't easily be backported to Windows 7..

3vi1,

You seem to be implying that DX10 was either a gimmick or that Microsoft deliberately refused to backport it. Neither is true.

You couldn't do Aero in XP, or 2D hardware acceleration, or DX10. You couldn't drive more than two GPUs on XP, either. Attempting to backport DX10 into XP, while probably not impossible, would've required an enormous amount of effort for no serious return.

At some point, every software company has to say "We're done updating Version X, we're moving to a new framework built around Version Y. You couldn't do a lot of the things Windows Vista introduced without a new driver model.Implying that this was all a strategy to sell more copies of Vista rather misses the point.

Joel,

I didn't imply DX10 could be backported to XP. Quite the opposite, I implied Microsoft designs their APIs such that they tie new features to the OS when there's really no reason for it to not all be sequestered within the API's libraries.

New features in OpenGL (which has had many features before DirectX) never care which Linux kernel you're running - or even if you're running a BSD or Hurd kernel instead. Then again, The OpenGL group isn't trying to make sure you have to buy a new OS.