Microsoft will introduce Windows for ARM processors in January

Several news publications at once, including the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg , came out with unexpected, but quite predictable news: in Microsoft Windows, after Windows 2000, supported only x86, x86-64 and IA-64 platforms, support for ARM would be added. Microsoft has previously supported ARM as a key architecture for Windows CE, but ARM support is being added to the NT kernel for the first time. The official announcement of this event is expected at CES 2011 in January. It may take about two years to release the final version of the system - in this period, according to WSJ estimates, it is possible to create a comprehensive database of drivers.

This news is interesting not so much in the context of mobile and tablet devices and ultraportable laptops, as in the context of the future redistribution of the server market. The recently announced ARM Cortex-A15 processor version of the server version will contain up to 4 cores operating at a frequency of 1.5-2.5 GHz with ultra-low power consumption, and are great for distributing static content. Due to the greater unification of the server software, it may well turn out that the x86 sunset will start not from portable devices, but from the network infrastructure.