No Windows 7 Support for ARM Processors, According to Microsoft VP

Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system has been widely appreciated for the performance enhancements it brings, enabling OEMs and PC users to enjoy a better Windows experience on a wider range of computer systems. However, despite previous rumors, the official debut of Windows 7 did not enable support for ARM processors, leaving the upcoming wave of ARM-based smartbooks to run on a flavor of Linux or the Windows CE OS. In addition, it appears that, according to a recent report, the Redmond, Washington-based software giant isn't currently planning to enable ARM processor support for its Windows 7 OS.

According to a recent news article on Digitimes, Microsoft's plan is to continue its collaboration with Intel and have Windows 7 as an operating system with support for x86 processors. The report cites Mike Nash, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Windows platform strategy, who indicates that the much-appreciated operating system will not be supporting smartbook PCs for the time being.

The strategy is pretty much based on the market response, which indicated that users were wiling to pay more for using Windows 7 on their netbooks, rather than adopt less expensive operating systems, such as one of the many Linux-based variants. In addition, as Nash pointed out, the software giant believes that different devices need to be differentiated in terms of value or functionality. Basically, Microsoft believes that its Windows CE product is more suitable for ARM-based devices.

This isn't the first time that news of Windows 7 having support for ARM-based processors has reached the Internet, but it appears that Microsoft is dismissing any previous rumors regarding the development of a Windows 7 edition that will support the said processor architecture. Nevertheless, this clearly doesn't exclude future plans for an upcoming Microsoft OS that will enable the same experience on ARM processors as it does on Intel's processors.