When Intel blabbermouthed about the fact that Windows 8 wouldn’t allow backwards compatibility on legacy apps, Microsoft was quick to deny that their statement was “factually inaccurate.” But what part?
Intel’s senior vice president Renee James had said that “there will be four Windows 8 SoCs for ARM. Each one will run for that specific ARM environment, and they will run new applications or cloud-based applications….They are neither forward- nor backward-compatible between their own architecture – different generations of a single vendor – nor are they compatible across different vendors. Each one is a unique stack.”
Microsoft hit back with the following statement last night, denying James’ claims:
“Intel’s statements during yesterday’s Intel Investor Meeting about Microsoft’s plans for the next version of Windows were factually inaccurate and unfortunately misleading. From the first demonstrations of Windows on SoC, we have been clear about our goals and have emphasised that we are at the technology demonstration stage. As such, we have no further details or information at this time.”
Either Intel really did get something wrong there; Microsoft’s lying through its teeth, or the Windows 8 team is hurriedly changing exactly what James had spelled out. We know a lot of things about Windows 8 already, but thanks to James’ comment, I have a feeling we know even more now. [BusinessInsider]