[Lundon44]

Curious.. We know it's only a matter time for all devices to be hacked. I know a lot of us are gonna wait it out for Surface Pro however, I have to wonder.. Despite the weaker hardware of the Surface RT what are the chances it will be "hacked" and allow us to run Windows 8 Pro?

Would we still need to wait it out for the $1000 version? I can see the need for an Intel i5 and HD 4000 for gaming but that's about it.

[Winning Guy]

ARM processors and x86 processors work process instructions differently.

So we won't see the full blown Windows 8 Pro on any ARM device.

[tissotti]

You are talking about true Windows 8 running on a device with ARM. That's not going to happen.
If that was that easy Microsoft would not be doing this jump to the unknown with Windows 8 and do this major rework. :)

[Lundon44]

Is the Surface Pro running the full Windows 8 or an ARM version of Pro?

[GB330033]

Surface RT has an ARM chip and runs Windows RT
Surface Pro has an Intel chip and runs Windows 8

[tgr42]

Surface Pro is running full Windows 8. There's only one ARM version of Windows, and it's called Windows RT.

If/when people hack the Surface (which is going to be quite locked down), it will be to run other operating systems that can run on ARM like Android, allow native applications other than Office to run (provided they and their dependencies have been ported from x86 to ARM), allow pirating of Windows Store apps, etc.

[cckgz4]

A few questions about RT:

Can I run Xbox music on there?

Will rt tablets have USB ports?

And is there a desktop function

[Lundon44]

Good to know, thanks everyone for the info :)

[Lundon44]

A few questions about RT:

Can I run Xbox music on there?

Will rt tablets have USB ports?

And is there a desktop function

1) Yes (as far as I heard)

2) Yes

3) No, but on the Surface Pro yes. Acer and others will have tablets availble before the Surface Pro that will have desktop mode (full blown Windows 8)

[fwaits]

1) Yes (as far as I heard)

2) Yes

3) No, but on the Surface Pro yes. Acer and others will have tablets availble before the Surface Pro that will have desktop mode (full blown Windows 8)

Not entirely true on #3. There IS a desktop mode, and that's where native IE10 with some flash compatibility, and Office will run out of. You just can't load non-Store applications like you can in the Intel based Win 8 Pro version.

[Lundon44]

Not entirely true on #3. There IS a desktop mode, and that's where native IE10 with some flash compatibility, and Office will run out of. You just can't load non-Store applications like you can in the Intel based Win 8 Pro version.

So you're saying on Pro I couldn't install my Windows 7 programs via usb or something or install Fifa '13 for example..

[vp710]

So you're saying on Pro I couldn't install my Windows 7 programs via usb or something or install Fifa '13 for example..

On Pro yeah, not on RT.

The Surface Pro is like a regular laptop + Windows RT.

[fwaits]

So you're saying on Pro I couldn't install my Windows 7 programs via usb or something or install Fifa '13 for example..

You can't do that in RT, but you can in Pro.

RT = ARM = Store apps
Pro = x86 = Store apps + Desktop apps (Traditional Windows apps)

[power5]

not Sure why rt needs a desktop if you can't run any non metro apps. What can you do on the desktop that you can't do in the metro side?

[jdevenberg]

not Sure why rt needs a desktop if you can't run any non metro apps. What can you do on the desktop that you can't do in the metro side?

Run the desktop version of IE10 (greater compatibility with flash compared to Metro version), run Office, access your file system, control panel, my computer, etc.

[cckgz4]

Not entirely true on #3. There IS a desktop mode, and that's where native IE10 with some flash compatibility, and Office will run out of. You just can't load non-Store applications like you can in the Intel based Win 8 Pro version.

Hmmm......I think I might re-consider the RT then as an option

[Coreldan]

not Sure why rt needs a desktop if you can't run any non metro apps. What can you do on the desktop that you can't do in the metro side?

File management is the "good ol Windows style " on the desktop. Also I'd rather have it as an option too rather than not have it, wouldnt you say?

You don't NEED it to use the RT, but some tasks might be easier through it, such as the file management.

[tissotti]

not Sure why rt needs a desktop if you can't run any non metro apps. What can you do on the desktop that you can't do in the metro side?

This has been argued by bloggers who most say that the desktop should be just removed from RT.
That will likely happen and it's there now just because of some apps like office. When MS is done with the polish we will likely see the desktop disappear on RT.

Anyways there really isn't desktop on RT, it's just visible on couple of Microsoft apps, but you can't enter desktop.

[mparker]

The "Desktop View" on WinRT is really just the Win32 subsystem, it's not really a desktop the way we're used to on other windows systems. Microsoft has said that they're rewriting Office for the WinRT system, but I don't expect this to happen before Windows 9 if at all. At the moment I am not at all impressed with the WinRT API; hopefully in the process of rewriting Office to WinRT they'll fix some of the limitations. My suspicion is that they won't change its Win32 core, and instead will just make it look more like a Metro/Modern app, which would be a shame; if Microsoft can't write a serious app in WinRT then why should the rest of us bother developing for it.

[jimski]

Anybody know if some other resident Microsoft desktop apps will be available on the RT. Like; Notepad and Paint for example.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express Pro

[berty6294]

Anybody know if some other resident Microsoft desktop apps will be available on the RT. Like; Notepad and Paint for example.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express Pro

im sure they will have those programs available for download in the Windows Store if they dont already have "metro" versions preinstalled on the device