someone (someone@somewhere.com) on 1/14/11 wrote:
---------------------------


>Even if there are millions of ARM/Windows systems shipped
>(somehow getting around the chicken/egg SW problem)

There is no chicken & egg problem. They can sell millions of devices just for three applications: accessing Internet content, using Web apps with browsers, playing multimedia.
Apps come later.

And it's reasonable that older app model, that Windows apps used is on its way out. Consider for example encyclopedia: in old times encyclopedia was a software that you got in a form of multiple cds and installed it on your harddrive. This model is totally wrong as a typical user of an encyclopedia does few accesses per week, so forcing everyone to load everything on their PCs is bad. Now users of encyclopedia only get information they need from the Net.

The old client programs have also morphed into something network-centric. Even bloatware: Word is just a tool that you join collaboration server (Sharepoint, Alfresco) with, Excel is a tool to connect to data warehouses.

There's a rumor that Microsoft is going to introduce new application model in Windows 8, that will have all the applications on servers, while clients will only cache what's revelant for them. So basically apps will have to be rewriten anyway.


>Where do you think these thousands of ARM/Windows apps
>are going to come from?

If people who can program have this devices then some apps will automatically appear. Although large corporations usally wait some time for numbers to be enough. If they wait too long, they risk their software to become irrelevant, because of incompatibility with popular clients.

Besides even now there are lots of apps where ARM dominates, eg. ARM palmtops with barcode & radio ID scanners are used in warehouses and by sales guys in malls, border guards using palmtops for mobile border checks, police using palmtops in car patrols with their custom apps.

>If you are a Windows developer
>why would greatly complicate your life to address ~0% of
>your customer base?

To gain new customers, to allow for use of your app in a very mobility-requiring environments, because its both: fun by itself, and trendy among managers. Old customers may not be interested in conversions.