74 27 Nov- 10 Dec2 019 Do you agree? Let us [email protected]
RTwasquietlytakenoutthebackand
shot,nevertobeseenagain.
Neveronetobedisheartenedbyan
outrightdisaster,Microsoftisnow
havinganotherstabintheformofthe
SurfacePro X.Onceagain,it’safoldy
tablet-cum-laptop
thingthatlooks
absolutelylovely–
althoughI’vealways
hadmydoubtsabout
thatclip-onkeyboard,
whichneversits
comfortablywhen
you’retypingonyourlap.
ThisisaWindows 1 0Homedevice,
notWindowsRT,butit’ssaddledwith
thesamedirtysecret–it’susingan
ARM-compatibleprocessor,which
meansitcan’trunmanyeveryday
Windowsapps.IfyoulookatMicrosoft’s
websitefortheSurfacePro X(bit.ly/
surface4 89 ),you’lldowelltonoticeit’s
anythingbutaregularWindowslaptop.
Butthere–midwaydownthepageina
discreetgreybox–isthesmallwarning
that“AppcompatibilitymayvaryonaBarry Collins is bemused by Microsoft’s
endlesscapacit ytorepeatthe same mistakes
Page 404
Windows 10 ARM-basedPC”.
Whatdoesthatmeaninpractice? Any
app youwishtor un on theSurfacePro
Xhas to have been rewrittentorun on
64-bit ARMprocessors.Thatessentially
leavesyou with ahandfulofapps,
mainly ones that
Microsoft makes
itself,becau se
fewother
developers can
be bothered to
go to thecost
and complexity
of r ecompiling apps that aregoingtobe
used by 0.1% of th eircustomer base.
So,Micros oftisw orkingaroundthis
with an “emulation layer” –apiece of
softwarethat takestraditional Windows
apps andtranslatesthem on thefly to
run ontheARM processors. That may
soundclever, butlikesomeone
translatingaspeec hfromFrenchto
English, it slows thingsdown. That’s just
aboutacceptable when it’s something
simple like aweb br owserorword
processor,but it falls apartatthe seams
when it co mestoheavyweight apps
such as Photoshopor3Dgames, which
–accordingtoearly reviews–are
completely unusable on theSurfacePro
X. Worse, if aWindows appisa lready
64-bit,asmanyare,Micros oft’s
emulatorwon’tworkatall.
So,onceagain,you’v egot aWindows
device th at won’trun manyWindows
apps.Thatmight just ab outbe
forgivable if this thingcostaround
£400,the priceofasimilarly hobbled
Chromebook.But it star ts at £999,
goingall theway up beyond £1,800 for
thetop-of-the-rangespec.
I’ll betmyright ARMthey’ll be fi lling
skipswith allthe returned SurfacePro X
devicesoncebuyersworkout they’ve
been hoodwinkedagain.WindowsRTturned out
to beassuccessfulasBill
Oddie’sswimsuit calendar
(don’tGoogleit)I
fthe definition of insanityis doin gthe
same thingoverand over ag ainwhile
expectingadifferentresult,someone
needsto sendtwo pencilsandapair
of underpantsto Redmondto go full-on
Blackadder GoesForth.
Cast your mi nd backto2012, when
Microsoft launched WindowsRT(theRT
standsfor Really Terrib le). RT,which
launched alongsideWindows 8, was
theversion of Windows designed for
deviceswith th ekindofARM-
compatible proc essors youfindin
phones and tablets.The theorywas that
thesedevices wouldoffer much longer
batterylife, thetrade-off beingyou
couldn’trun most of thetraditional
Windows appsthatare coded to work
withIntel/AMD’s x86processors.
Windows RT turned outtobeas
successful as Bill Oddie’s swim suit
calendar (don’t Google it). Thepoor
chumps whoboughtanRTdevice
quickly discoveredtheyhad aWindows
PC that couldn’trun Windowsappsand
promptlytook it backint heir droves.
Retu rn rateswentthrou gh theroofandIllust
rat
io
n:
An
dr
ew
To
rr
ens
Xmarks the
Windowslaptoptoavoid