[ale] Hacking Your Smartphone ( next Thursday's talk)

[Charles Shapiro]

Looks like the choice for open and free smartphones is gonna be
Android and . . . Android.  Microsoft's Steven Sinofsky ( prez of
Microsoft's Windows division,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Sinofsky ), has this to say about
Windows on smartphones (aka Windows 8 on ARM, or WOA ):

WOA does not support running, emulating, or porting existing x86/64
desktop apps. Code that uses only system or OS services from WinRT can
be used within an app and distributed through the Windows Store for
both WOA and x86/64. Consumers obtain all [WOA] software, including
device drivers, through the Windows Store and Microsoft Update or
Windows Update.

In short, if you want to develop or run your own software on your own
portable device, Android is It.  IOS or Winders won't do.  Further, if
you want to develop an application which runs on both a Windows device
and a Windows smartphone, you're going to have to use the Microsoft
delivery system to distribute it.  No in-house repositories or distro
methods allowed!

I for one welcome our new Steve Ballmer overlords.  With tar,
feathers, and a fence rail.

-- CHS