Microsoft attempts another switch to Arm - Project Volterra

[trs96]

Seems like they are now all in on trying to copy what Apple is doing. Noticed how Win11 is looking more like macOS ? Now they are going to make Arm based PCs to run Windows Arm edition. It will have an NPU which is another name for Neural Engine that M1 Macs have. Wonder what Intel thinks of this announcement.

Here's the short 31 second version if you are a developer in a hurry. You might have to listen to Satya twice. 62 seconds. To quote Satya: "We're bringing this to you as a cross-platform capability through the onyx runtime and azure ML along with an ai toolchain to make heterogeneous targeting easy."

Microsoft should call their new ARM PC the WinMini.

âï¸ Hybrid Loop DP ? What the heck is that ?

31 seconds · Clipped by Customac 1 · Original video "Microsoft is switching to ARM to FIGHT Apple's M2 Macs.." by Max Tech

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[craighazan]

I'm not a fan of Windows 11, I thought it was regressive, it caused me more problems than Monterey did on my B550 build, graphics issues were usually the culprit!. I dislike the look of it too, it's trying to hard to be like Apple, it looks like a cheap version of Big Sur, not sure if it's possible to look cheaper than free!. All they did was round the corners, change the font and add a clumsy dock. It wasn't an overhaul like when Apple moved to OS X. Intel is struggling to keep up.

 

[Jamesbond007]

This is just a development kit machine, similar to Apple's DTK before the M1 Macs. Why does Microsoft want to copy Apple that much? That CPU even has a Neural Processing Unit.

Regardless, for me, Windows 11 is rubbish. It is way worse than even Windows 10, which I already don't like, not to say Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 (when augmented by Classic Shell).

Microsoft seems to be finally pushing Windows Arm after a decade of half-hearted tries. Are the other computer OEMs going to release ARM based PCs running Windows 11 (Arm Edition) in a big way this time? We shall see.

But Microsoft is definitely NOT ditching Intel CPUs now, not until the important softwares on Windows Intel are available on Windows Arm anyway, and even if this is really coming, how long will that take?

 

[Middleman]

This is just a development kit machine, similar to Apple's DTK before the M1 Macs. Why does Microsoft want to copy Apple that much? That CPU even has a Neural Processing Unit.

Regardless, for me, Windows 11 is rubbish. It is way worse than even Windows 10, which I already don't like, not to say Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 (when augmented by Classic Shell).

Microsoft seems to be finally pushing Windows Arm after a decade of half-hearted tries. Are the other computer OEMs going to release ARM based PCs running Windows 11 (Arm Edition) in a big way this time? We shall see.

But Microsoft is definitely NOT ditching Intel CPUs now, not until the important softwares on Windows Intel are available on Windows Arm anyway, and even if this is really coming, how long will that take?

I think Microsoft probably thought that they were losing lots of potential sales after the launch of the Apple M1 platform and especially after seeing the financial and technical success of the Mac Studio, maybe they became tempted with the idea. Coupled with the fact that ARM processors are in general faster and more power efficient than Intel chips they probably felt it was worth a stab in the dark at least. For me, the parallel-computing side of Project Volterra is going to be the most interesting part. Just like Apple's older QMaster clustering used with their Final Cut Pro software, it could utilise the power of extra machines to do the processing. That would potentially make it a very fast and powerful platform.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I think Microsoft probably thought that they were losing lots of potential sales after the launch of the Apple M1 platform and especially after seeing the financial and technical success of the Mac Studio, maybe they became tempted with the idea. Coupled with the fact that ARM processors are in general faster and more power efficient than Intel chips they probably felt it was worth a stab in the dark at least. For me, the parallel-computing side of Project Volterra is going to be the most interesting part. Just like Apple's older QMaster clustering used with their Final Cut Pro software, it could utilise the power of extra machines to do the processing. That would potentially make it a very fast and powerful platform.

Maybe it's worth considering that Microsoft doesn't actually make a desktop PC, only laptops? (Well as far as I recall, please put me straight otherwise). So perhaps this is their signal that they may enter the desktop market where Apple has existed all along, with something simpler to build and ship than a full PC like Dell or HP?

When you see those photos of Mac Mini server racks, the prospect of supplying a similar device to the market must be tempting.