One of them, Mary Jo Foley, has noted on her blog that Microsoft showed off the traditional Windows desktop on ARM tablets at its September Build conference. But Paul Thurrott (below left) -- editor of Supersite for Windows -- appeared with Foley (below right) on the Windows Weekly broadcast Dec. 1 to say that when ARM Windows appears, the desktop will be no more.



Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley discussed the possible demise of the Windows desktop on Windows Weekly
(click to play)

According to Thurrott, Microsoft is leaning toward cutting the Desktop [below left] from Windows 8 ARM tablets. That would mean only Metro-style apps [below right] would be supported on that platform."

Windows 8's traditional desktop (left) and Metro-style Start Screen (right)
(Click either to enlarge)

"How they'll handle this is still being hotly debated within Microsoft, but as of this week, the plan ... is for ARM versions of Windows 8 not to include the Windows desktop," Thurrott said. "They see this as their pure-play, iPad-style answer," he added.

Thurott expressed doubt regarding whether the desktop would be nixed from the version of Windows 8 supplied for ARM notebooks, as opposed to tablets -- but we think it's a safe bet that if it's AWOL from one, it will be AWOL from the other. That's because traditional Windows applications (such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc. etc. would need to be rewritten to run on ARM CPUs anyway, which in many cases would be a non-trivial undertaking.

In contrast, Windows 8's Metro-style applications will run on tablets, netbooks, and desktops, and will move from x86 to ARM systems with few changes. (In some cases, perhaps almost none at all.)

Why it's a big deal for power users

So why is losing the desktop a big deal? Well, it would make the ARM version of Windows 8 the first major version of the operating system that doesn't actually offer, uh, windows.

Windows 1.0 was designed to allow users to run multiple programs at once and also view their output simultaneously. In fact, the operating system emphasized the "simultaneous" part by tiling running applications so each was always on show.

The automatic tiling soon went by the wayside in subsequent versions, but a hallmark of Windows has always been that it lets power users run multiple programs simultaneously and arrange them as they wish. This trait, which of course is shared by Macintosh OS X and Linux, is key for those who still want to get real work done with their PCs.

Unfortunately, the new Metro-style interface has been dumbed down to imitate Apple's iOS and Google's Android. When an application is run, it takes over the full screen.

In the Windows 8 Preview Edition at least, Metro-style apps may be unpredictably suspended ("tombstoned"). As in iOS and Android, it seems, whether or not they keep running is under the control of the operating systems (and, hopefully, the application's programmer), not the end user.

We think the lack of real windowing support and background processing in the Metro-style environment could have serious implications for power users and enterprises. (And if, ultimately, there's a server version of ARM Windows 8, will administrators have to control it via Metro too?)

Microsoft still needs to provide more clarity on these points -- and that's an opinion shared by developers who attended the Build conference in September, as we learned from this blog entry by Microsoft MVP Ward Bell.

Windows 8 can't exactly window apps, but it can snap one onto part of the screen
(Click image to enlarge)

To be fair, Windows 8 can "snap" one Metro-style application to the side of the screen (above), allowing a user to keep an eye on a reduced view of it while performing other work. And the x86 version of the operating system can thusly display Metro-style apps and the desktop simultaneously.

Still, this isn't really windowing. If Microsoft is actually going to take away the desktop -- and applications that can offer on-screen toolbars, ribbons, and a wealth of other not-necessarily-finger-friendly controls -- from ARM Windows 8, us old fuddie-duddies who actually produce content instead of just consuming it will just have to stick with x86 CPUs.

Jonathan Angel can be reached at jonathan.angel@ziffdavisenterprise.com and followed at www.twitter.com/gadgetsense.

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