Betting on processors built using the ARM architecture seems to be the path that many manufacturers are choosing. Apple has been launching computers such as laptops or desktops using this type of architecture for a couple of years now, but it is not the only company behind the proliferation of these new computers with ARM.
Traditional companies have released computers compatible with ARM processors and operating systems such as Windows. Of course, the main difference is a slower adoption than is happening with Apple equipment, although all this may change soon with a new feature that has appeared in Windows 11.
And, it is that, One of the main disadvantages of ARM processors is their incompatibility with x64 applications, which are the ones commonly used in all computers.. Apple fixed this by releasing Rosetta which, to put it simply, is a dynamic translator between different architectures.
Now Windows computers would have their own Rosetta-like program to ensure that the applications used in a general way could be used in computers with ARM processors. The Neowin medium would have echoed this situation thanks to the information that Microsoft itself would have published.
The name of this functionality would not be as striking as Apple’s, being named, at least for now, as ARM64EC. These last two letters would be the key to everything since they would refer to emulation compatibility. What it is about is that it would offer an interface in which developers can create code for both ARM and x64.
What this would do is make it easier for programs written specifically for ARM to be able to run on computers with processors that do not have this architecture, although the most interesting is the opposite case since it would be possible to use x64 programs on computers with ARM processors.
Microsoft has taken a rather cautious route when developing this new program since it has been a year after it. and only now that it has reached the point of optimal maturation has it decided to release it to the general public. There is no clear date for this, but it is known that it will arrive when version 17.3 of ARM64EC is released.
Now all that remains is to wait for it to be generally available so that we can start testing it and see how it works on ARM computers, as well as on computers with a conventional x64 architecture. This may be the boost ARM processors in Windows need.