7 replies to this topic 2 votes

[MLIFE]

Does Windows 8 support via emulation Windows 8 RT apps?

[lunamonkey]

Not if they are strictly RT apps. There was one the other day that was cross compatible (Skydrive I think), but that's up to the developer.

Edit: Are you talking "Modern" apps?

[Dutchie64]

Sorry if this sounds harsh,

but did you ever -read- anything on W8/RT by now?

What do you think the Metro/Modern UI/Start Screen/App Store apps are?

It would be different if you would have asked this about the WP8 apps. But that is coming soonish, as all the info about the 'Blue' updates seems to go in that direction.

So, no W8 doesn't have to emulate the 'RT' apps. It's build into the system.

[MLIFE]

@Lunamonkey: Thank you for the info.
@Dutchie64: Thank you for the info. I am a Mac user so I haven't followed Windows 8 development very closely. I tried googling for a definitive answer on my question but could not find it.

All I know is that Windows 8 RT is a slightly limited Windows 8 experience (relatively closed platform and limited API availability) on the ARM architecture compared to Windows 8 Pro for the X86 chipsets. I wasn't sure if Windows 8 had support for applications designed/compiled just for the RT.

That there is a difference, doesn't mean that the PRO version could not have built in support for apps solely designed/compiled for Windows RT.

[duddit2]

both RT and x86 versions of windows 8 support modern apps, available via the store. These apps are not written for windows RT or x86, they are written for the WinRT (WinRT is the framework, Windows RT is a version of windows) runtime which is included in all versions of windows 8 and server 2012.

So yes, write once and publish to the store, it will then be available to all versions of windows 8 and server 2012.

As mentioned earlier there is rumour that windows phone 8 apps may be coming to windows 8 'blue' update, but its fuzzy.

[Dashel]

Are there RT apps that only support ARM? I know there are several x86 ones that exist.

[Deranged]

Dashel, on 12 February 2013 - 15:52, said:

Are there RT apps that only support ARM? I know there are several x86 ones that exist.

I believe it is possible, but I don't think anyone has released such.

[+goretsky]

Hello,

I think Microsoft has made it clear to software developers that creating Modern Windows Store (formerly Metro design language) apps that make use of the Win32 API framework will result in the app getting pulled from the Windows Store (assuming it managed to get listed in the first place). In extreme cases, I suppose the developer might lose access to the store, entirely. I would imagine that any attempt to use any kind of native code for the ARM CPU would result in a similar action.

The only narrow exception I can think of would be for a hardware manufacturer who wanted to provide a Modern Windows Store app that managed some hardware, like toggling the backlight on the keyboard or something similar. If something like that were to occur (and, again, I'm only speculating) I would imagine the program would have to go through a far lengthier review process with a lot more scrutiny to ensure it doesn't cause any instability, performance issues, contain any vulnerabilities and so forth.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky