Windows RT Petition


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A member over at the xda-developers forums has started a petition for the following purpose:

 

"We are petitioning for Microsoft to provide a mechanism to enable the execution of non-Microsoft signed desktop applications. This will open up the platform and enable 3rd party application developers and hobbyists to write Windows desktop software for the platform. Moreover, this will extend the life, value, and usefulness of all existing Windows RT & RT8.1 tablets that have been released in the last 2+ years."

 

The petition is here:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/windows-rt-desktop

 

Original xda forum topic http://forum.xda-developers.com/windows-8-rt/rt-development/windows-rt-petition-t3014313

 

I'm asking others to consider signing the petition. I  am Surface RT owner myself, and while I love the device, it's been a disappointment to watch how Microsoft has handled Windows on ARM, first locking it down, then intentionally breaking the "jailbreak" instead of supporting (or at least leaving alone) the community that was building around it, and finally providing no upgrade path to any future Windows releases. Providing a way to make more use of our Windows RT devices would not only show some goodwill to those who spent good money on their product, but would also allow the community to support it now that Microsoft is leaving the OS behind...

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I'm pretty confident you will be able to run desktop apps on Windows RT when Windows 10 comes out.  So long as the RT device has a screen size of more than 7" and those desktop apps are modern.

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I'm pretty confident you will be able to run desktop apps on Windows RT when Windows 10 comes out.  So long as the RT device has a screen size of more than 7" and those desktop apps are modern.

 

Windows 10 won't be coming to Surface RT from what I understand.

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Windows 10 won't be coming to Surface RT from what I understand.

This article mentions the following:

Microsoft has also been dancing around the issue of what will happen to Windows RT - the company has only committed to delivering an update that "will have some of the functionality of Windows 10" [emphasis ours].

So it won't be fully Windows 10, from the sounds of it.

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This article mentions the following:

So it won't be fully Windows 10, from the sounds of it.

 

I believe there was even more info out there.

 

Something a long the lines of "It won't be Windows 10 because Windows 10 would rob you off your desktop screen on your Surface RT"

 

So there was no middle ground and they just decided to give them a visual? update.

 

 

EDIT:

 

Because of the screen size?

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I believe there was even more info out there.

 

Something a long the lines of "It won't be Windows 10 because Windows 10 would rob you off your desktop screen on your Surface RT"

 

So there was no middle ground and they just decided to give them a visual? update.

 

 

EDIT:

 

Because of the screen size?

 

 

So it's basically WP 7.8 

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So it's basically WP 7.8 

 

From what I understood, yes. I could be wrong...

 

However I certainly see why some people would want to have a desktop and even the ability to load programs without having to crack the device on Windows RT. ( Such as the XDA crowd)

 

No reason MS can't release Windows 10 arm and have some hidden registry which enables the desktop.

 

Essentially XDA will most likely figure out how to do this themselves .. but there is still the issue of loading programs on the device.

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This article mentions the following:

So it won't be fully Windows 10, from the sounds of it.

That is my understanding as well, though we have yet to hear what exactly is in this update. But it really doesn't matter what is in the update, the point is there is no upgrade path from Windows RT 8.0/8.1 on 10" devices, which is all that has been released so far seeing as the mini was cancelled. Which is why I think this petition would really benefit those of us that purchased RT devices, as it would extend the life of them once Microsoft has moved on...

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Windows RT should die, it was not a good idea and was pushed to too many clueless people 

It was an option.  It worked great for me as a mobile device with LTE service that I could use for light work away from the laptop.

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Windows RT should die, it was not a good idea and was pushed to too many clueless people 

I'm not sure how it was a bad idea. I believe that Microsoft's Julie Larson-Green did a good job of explaining why the company did what it did.

Windows can do anything you want it to do. You can write all the way to the metal. You can add things into your startup groups that would affect your battery life long-term. There are cool, powerful scenarios, but they come at a cost in mobility. And so Windows on ARM, or Windows RT, was our first go at creating that more closed, turnkey experience, where it doesn't have all the flexibility of Windows, but it has the power of Office and then all the new style applications. So you could give it to your kid and he's not going to load it up with a bunch of toolbars accidentally out of Internet Explorer and then come to you later and say, why am I getting all these pop-ups. It just isn't capable of doing that by design.

 

So the goal was to deliver two kinds of experiences into the market, the full power of your Windows PC, and the simplicity of a tablet experience that can also be productive.

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  • 3 months later...

Petition update, as of May 11th 2015, 429 out of the needed 500 have signed this petition. Please considering signing even if you don't have an RT device, as the proposal would really help those of us that do. Thanks!

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Unfortunate as it may be like many other pieces of software it may become beyond economical reasoning to sustain the system or simply not in the direction the company is wanting to go with its devices.

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I don't get it. I'm myself a Surface RT owner, but I don't see the use for such petition. Current hardware can run full Windows 8.1/ Why would there still be a need for RT? Please explain.

 

Edit: ok I seem to have misread. The petition asks support for existing RT devices.

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The fact that Windows RT doesn't allow the execution of non-signed apps, to me, is it's selling point. If you don't understand that, you completely didn't understand the product and it's place in the market.


I'm very sad to see it go, honestly.

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I just hope the update makes it possible for Windows RT devices to run the new store and the new Windows apps.

For the rest is Windows 8.1 better anyway on a 10" tablet :)

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I guess people signing this petition haven't checked how Windows 10 works on a tablet.

(Hint: not looking good)

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The fact that Windows RT doesn't allow the execution of non-signed apps, to me, is it's selling point. If you don't understand that, you completely didn't understand the product and it's place in the market.

I'm very sad to see it go, honestly.

 

The point here is choice. People bought a tablet from Microsoft that is no longer going to receive updates. It's being abandoned by Microsoft, but people spent money on it. The app signing requirement could/should become optional in an update (meaning you don't have to turn it off), allowing people to at least have a little fun with the product they bought from Microsoft.
 

I guess people signing this petition haven't checked how Windows 10 works on a tablet.

(Hint: not looking good)

 

Windows 10 is not finished yet. It was (always) going to be optimized for desktop usage first... then for tablet use. The tablet interface is getting better and better with each update.

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It should be treated like any other device with the universal platform stuff, they've fixed the biggest issues with how store apps worked (Don't need to basically be written from scratch) so they can provide support for normal applications while also keeping the security restrictions in place.

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