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Windows RT is a
mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablet computer, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal computing, personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical laptops are "mobi ...
developed by
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washi ...
. It is a version of
Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...
or
Windows 8.1 Windows 8.1 is a release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and broadly released for retail sale on October 17, 2013, about a year after the retail release of its pre ...
built for the 32-bit ARM architecture (ARMv7). First unveiled in January 2011 at
Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event t ...
, the Windows RT 8 operating system was officially launched alongside Windows 8 on October 26, 2012, with the release of three Windows RT-based devices, including Microsoft's original Surface tablet. Unlike Windows 8, Windows RT is only available as preloaded software on devices specifically designed for the operating system by
original equipment manufacturer An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...
s (OEMs). Microsoft intended for devices with Windows RT to take advantage of the architecture's power efficiency to allow for longer battery life, to use
system-on-chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memor ...
(SoC) designs to allow for thinner devices and to provide a "reliable" experience over time. In comparison to other
mobile operating system A mobile operating system is an operating system for mobile phones, tablet computer, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal computing, personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical laptops are "mobi ...
s, Windows RT also supports a relatively large number of existing USB peripherals and accessories and includes a version of
Microsoft Office 2013 Microsoft Office 2013 (codenamed Office 15) is a version of Microsoft Office, a productivity suite for Microsoft Windows. It is the successor to Microsoft Office 2010 and the predecessor to Microsoft Office 2016. Unlike with Office 2010, no OS X ...
optimized for ARM devices as pre-loaded software. However, while Windows RT inherits the appearance and functionality of Windows 8, it has a number of limitations; it can only execute software that is digitally signed by Microsoft (which includes pre-loaded software and
Windows Store app Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps (formerly Windows Store apps and Metro-style apps) are applications that can be used across all compatible Microsoft Windows devices, including personal computers (PCs), tablets, smartphones, Xbox One, Mic ...
s), and it lacks certain developer-oriented features. It also lacks support for running applications designed for x86 processors, which were the main platform for Windows at the time. This would later be corrected with the release of
Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on ...
version 1709 for ARM64 devices. Windows RT was released to mixed reviews from various outlets and critics. Some felt that Windows RT devices had advantages over other mobile platforms (such as iOS or Android) because of its bundled software and the ability to use a wider variety of USB peripherals and accessories, but the platform was criticized for its poor software ecosystem, citing the early stage of
Windows Store Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform app ...
and its incompatibility with existing Windows software, and other limitations over Windows 8. Critics and analysts deemed Windows RT to be commercially unsuccessful, citing these limitations, its unclear, uncompetitive position of sitting as an underpowered system between
Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design lan ...
and Windows 8, and the introduction of Windows 8 devices with battery life and functionality that met or exceeded that of Windows RT devices. Improvements to
Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 ser ...
's mobile processors, along with a decision by Microsoft to remove OEM license fees for Windows on devices with screens smaller than 9 inches, spurred a market for low-end
Wintel Wintel (portmanteau of Windows and Intel) is the partnership of Microsoft Windows and Intel producing personal computers using Intel x86-compatible processors running Microsoft Windows. Background By the early 1980s, the chaos and incompatibi ...
tablets running the full Windows 8 platform. These devices largely cannibalized Windows RT; vendors began phasing out their Windows RT devices due to poor sales, and less than a year after its release, Microsoft suffered a US$900 million loss that was largely blamed on poor sales of the ARM-based Surface tablet and unsold stock. Only two more Windows RT devices, Microsoft's Surface 2 and the
Nokia Lumia 2520 The Nokia Lumia 2520 is a Windows RT tablet computer originally developed by Nokia. It is Nokia's first and only Windows-based tablet, and the company's first tablet since its Nokia Internet Tablet line. Sharing its design and marketed with the ...
in late 2013, were released beyond the five original launch devices, and no Windows RT counterpart to the Surface Pro 3 was released due to a re-positioning of the Surface line into the high-end market, and a switch to Intel architecture for the Surface 3. These developments left Microsoft's future support of the platform in doubt. With the end of production for both Surface 2 and Lumia 2520, Microsoft and its subsidiaries no longer manufacture any Windows RT devices.


History

At the 2011
Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event t ...
, it was officially announced that the next version of Windows would provide support for
system-on-chip A system on a chip or system-on-chip (SoC ; pl. ''SoCs'' ) is an integrated circuit that integrates most or all components of a computer or other electronic system. These components almost always include a central processing unit (CPU), memor ...
(SoC) implementations based on the
ARM architecture ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architectures for computer processors, configured ...
. Steven Sinofsky, then Windows division president, demonstrated an early version of a Windows port for the architecture, codenamed Windows on ARM (WoA), running on prototypes with
Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, ...
Snapdragon ''Antirrhinum'' is a genus of plants commonly known as dragon flowers, snapdragons and dog flower because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They are native to r ...
,
Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globa ...
OMAP The OMAP (Open Multimedia Applications Platform) family, developed by Texas Instruments, was a series of image/ video processors. They are proprietary system on chips (SoCs) for portable and mobile multimedia applications. OMAP devices generally ...
, and
Nvidia Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
Tegra 2 chips. The prototypes featured working versions of
Internet Explorer 9 Internet Explorer 9 or IE9 (officially Windows Internet Explorer 9) is a web browser for Windows. It was released by Microsoft on March 14, 2011, as the ninth version of Internet Explorer and the successor to Internet Explorer 8, and can replace p ...
(with
DirectX Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (APIs) for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with "Direct" ...
support via the Tegra 2's
GPU A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...
),
PowerPoint Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc. It was released on April 20, 1987, initially for Macintosh computers only. Microsoft acquired Powe ...
and
Word A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...
, along with the use of
class driver {{inline, date=May 2015 In computing, a class driver is a type of hardware device driver that can operate a large number of different devices of a broadly similar type. Class drivers are very often used with USB based devices, which share the esse ...
s to allow printing to an
Epson Seiko Epson Corporation, or simply known as Epson, is a Japanese multinational electronics company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of computer printers and information- and imaging-related equipment. Headquartered in Suwa, Nagano ...
printer. Sinofsky felt that the shift towards SoC designs were "a natural evolution of hardware that's applicable to a wide range of form factors, not just to slates", while Microsoft CEO
Steve Ballmer Steven Anthony Ballmer (; March 24, 1956) is an American business magnate and investor who served as the chief executive officer of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014. He is the current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball As ...
emphasized the importance of supporting SoCs on Windows by proclaiming that the operating system would "be everywhere on every kind of device without compromise." Initial development on WoA took place by porting code from
Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...
;
Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants. Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whi ...
s were used to test early builds of WoA because of lack of readily available ARM-based tablets. Later testing was performed using a custom-designed array of
rack-mount A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is wide. The 19 inch dimension includes the edges or "ears" that protrude from each side of the equ ...
ed ARM-based systems. Changes to the Windows codebase were made to optimize the OS for the internal hardware of ARM devices, but a number of technical standards traditionally used by x86 systems are also used. WoA devices would use
UEFI UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI Forum. They define the architecture of the platform firmware used for booting and its interface for interaction with the operating system. Examples ...
firmware and have a software-based
Trusted Platform Module Trusted Platform Module (TPM, also known as ISO/IEC 11889) is an international standard for a secure cryptoprocessor, a dedicated microcontroller designed to secure hardware through integrated cryptographic keys. The term can also refer to a ...
to support device encryption and
UEFI Secure Boot UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI Forum. They define the architecture of the platform firmware used for booting and its interface for interaction with the operating system. Examples ...
.
ACPI Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) is an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components, to perform power management (e.g. putting unused hardware components to sleep), auto con ...
is also used to detect and control
plug and play In computing, a plug and play (PnP) device or computer bus is one with a specification that facilitates the recognition of a hardware component in a system without the need for physical device configuration or user intervention in resolving resou ...
devices and provide power management outside the SoC. To enable wider hardware support, peripherals such as
human interface device A human interface device or HID is a type of computer device usually used by humans that takes input from humans and gives output to humans. The term "HID" most commonly refers to the USB-HID specification. The term was coined by Mike Van Fl ...
s, storage and other components that use USB and
I²C I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit, ), alternatively known as I2C or IIC, is a synchronous, multi-controller/multi-target (master/slave), packet switched, single-ended, serial communication bus invented in 1982 by Philips Semiconductors. It is wid ...
connections use class drivers and standardized protocols.
Windows Update Windows Update is a Microsoft service for the Windows 9x and Windows NT families of operating system, which automates downloading and installing Microsoft Windows software updates over the Internet. The service delivers software updates for ...
serves as the mechanism for updating all system drivers, software, and
firmware In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide h ...
. Microsoft showcased other aspects of the new operating system, to be known as
Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for download via MSDN and TechNet on August 15, 2012, and later to ...
, during subsequent presentations. Among these changes (which also included an overhauled interface optimized for use on touch-based devices built around
Metro design language Microsoft Design Language (or MDL), previously known as Metro, is a design language created by Microsoft. This design language is focused on typography and simplified icons, absence of clutter, increased content to chrome ratio ("content bef ...
) was the introduction of
Windows Runtime Windows Runtime (WinRT) is a platform-agnostic component and application architecture first introduced in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 in 2012. It is implemented in C++ and officially supports development in C++ (via C++/WinRT, C++/CX or ...
(WinRT). Software developed using this new architecture could be processor-independent (allowing compatibility with both x86- and ARM-based systems), would emphasize the use of touch input, would run within a sandboxed environment to provide additional security, and be distributed through
Windows Store Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform app ...
—a store similar to services such as the
App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the c ...
and
Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store and formerly the Android Market, is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certified devices running on the Android operating sy ...
. WinRT was also optimized to provide a more "reliable" experience on ARM-based devices; as such,
backward compatibility Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especiall ...
for
Win32 The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces (APIs) available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. The name Windows API collectively refers to several different platform implementations th ...
software otherwise compatible with older versions of Windows was intentionally excluded from Windows on ARM. Windows developers indicated that existing Windows applications were not specifically optimized for reliability and energy efficiency on the ARM architecture and that WinRT was sufficient for providing "full expressive power" for applications, "while avoiding the traps and pitfalls that can potentially reduce the overall experience for consumers." Consequentially, this lack of backward compatibility would also prevent existing
malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depr ...
from running on the operating system. On April 16, 2012, Microsoft announced that Windows on ARM would be officially branded as Windows RT. Microsoft did not explicitly indicate what the "RT" in the operating system's name referred to, but it was believed to refer to the WinRT architecture. Steven Sinofsky stated that Microsoft would ensure the differences between Windows RT and 8 were adequately addressed in advertising. However, reports found that promotional web pages for the
Microsoft Surface Microsoft Surface is a series of touchscreen-based personal computers, tablets and interactive whiteboards designed and developed by Microsoft, running the Microsoft Windows operating system, apart from the Surface Duo, which runs on A ...
tablet had contained confusing wording alluding to the compatibility differences and that
Microsoft Store Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform app ...
representatives were providing inconsistent and sometimes incorrect information about Windows RT. In response, Microsoft stated that Microsoft Store staff members would be given an average of 15 hours of training prior to the launch of Windows 8 and Windows RT to ensure that consumers were able to make the correct choice for their needs. The first Windows RT devices were officially released alongside Windows 8 on October 26, 2012.
Windows 8.1 Windows 8.1 is a release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on August 27, 2013, and broadly released for retail sale on October 17, 2013, about a year after the retail release of its pre ...
, an upgrade for Windows 8 and RT, was released in
Windows Store Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform app ...
on October 17, 2013, containing a number of improvements to the operating system's interface and functionality. For Windows RT devices, the update also adds
Outlook Outlook or The Outlook may refer to: Computing * Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft * Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft * Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...
to the included Office RT suite. The update was temporarily recalled by Microsoft shortly after its release, following reports that some Surface users had encountered a rare bug which corrupted their device's
Boot Configuration Data The booting process of Windows Vista and later versions differ from the startup process part of previous versions of Windows. In this article, unless otherwise specified, what is said about Windows Vista also applies to all later NT operatin ...
during installation, resulting in an error on startup. On October 21, 2013, Microsoft released recovery media and instructions which could be used to repair the device and restored access to Windows 8.1 the next day.


Differences from Windows 8

While Windows RT functions similarly to Windows 8, there are still some notable differences, primarily involving software and hardware compatibility.
Julie Larson-Green Julie Larson-Green (born 1962) is the former chief experience officer (CXO) of the Office Experience Organization at Microsoft, where she worked 1993 through 2017. She subsequently joined Qualtrics as their CXO. Larson-Green notably managed the ...
, then executive vice president of the Devices and Studios group at Microsoft, explained that Windows RT was ultimately designed to provide a "
closed Closed may refer to: Mathematics * Closure (mathematics), a set, along with operations, for which applying those operations on members always results in a member of the set * Closed set, a set which contains all its limit points * Closed interval, ...
,
turnkey A turnkey, a turnkey project, or a turnkey operation (also spelled turn-key) is a type of project that is constructed so that it can be sold to any buyer as a completed product. This is contrasted with build to order, where the constructor builds ...
" user experience, "where it doesn't have all the flexibility of Windows, but it has the power of
Office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific ...
and then all the new style applications. So you could give it to your kid and he's not going to load it up with a bunch of toolbars accidentally out of
Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Windows line of operating systems (in ...
and then come to you later and say, 'why am I getting all these pop-ups?' It just isn't capable of doing that by design."


Included software

Windows RT does not include
Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP) is the first media player and media library application that was developed by Microsoft for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as ...
, in favor of other multimedia apps found on Windows Store; devices are pre-loaded with the in-house
Xbox Music Groove Music (formerly Xbox Music or Zune Music Pass) is a discontinued audio player software application included with Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. The app is also associated with a now-discontinued music streaming service, Gro ...
and
Xbox Video Microsoft Movies & TV (US only), or Microsoft Films & TV (Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand), previously Xbox Video and Zune Video, is a digital video service developed by Microsoft that offers full HD movies and TV shows available ...
apps. All Windows RT devices include Office 2013 Home & Student RT—a version of
Microsoft Office Microsoft Office, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...
that is optimized for ARM systems. As the version of Office RT included on Windows RT devices is based on the Home & Student version, it cannot be used for "commercial, nonprofit, or revenue-generating activities" unless the organization has a volume license for Office 2013, or the user has an
Office 365 Microsoft 365 is a product family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft. It encompasses online services such as Outlook.com, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, programs formerly marketed under the name ...
subscription with commercial use rights. For compatibility and security reasons, certain advanced features, such as Visual Basic macros, are not available in Office RT. Windows RT also includes a
BitLocker BitLocker is a full volume encryption feature included with Microsoft Windows versions starting with Windows Vista. It is designed to protect data by providing encryption for entire volumes. By default, it uses the AES encryption algorithm i ...
-based device encryption system, which passively encrypts a user's data once they sign in with a
Microsoft account A Microsoft account or MSA (previously known as Microsoft Passport, .NET Passport, and Windows Live ID) is a single sign-on Microsoft user account for Microsoft customers to log in to Microsoft services (like Outlook.com), devices running on ...
.


Software compatibility

Due to the different
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
of ARM-based devices compared to x86 devices, Windows RT has software compatibility limitations. Although the operating system still provides the traditional Windows desktop environment alongside Windows 8's touch-oriented
user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
, the only desktop applications officially supported by Windows RT are those that come with the operating system itself; such as
File Explorer File Explorer, previously known as Windows Explorer, is a file manager application that is included with releases of the Microsoft Windows operating system from Windows 95 onwards. It provides a graphical user interface for accessing the f ...
,
Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated IE or MSIE) is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft which was used in the Windows line of operating systems (in ...
, and Office RT. Only
Windows Store app Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps (formerly Windows Store apps and Metro-style apps) are applications that can be used across all compatible Microsoft Windows devices, including personal computers (PCs), tablets, smartphones, Xbox One, Mic ...
s can be installed by users on Windows RT devices; they must be obtained from
Windows Store Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform app ...
or sideloaded in enterprise environments. Developers cannot
port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as H ...
desktop applications to run on Windows RT since Microsoft developers felt that they would not be properly optimized for the platform. As a consequence, Windows RT also does not support "new-experience enabled"
web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...
s: a special class of app used on Windows 8 that allows web browsers to bundle variants that can run in the Windows RT "modern-style user interface" and integrate with other apps but still use
Win32 The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces (APIs) available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. The name Windows API collectively refers to several different platform implementations th ...
code like desktop programs.


Hardware compatibility

In a presentation at Windows 8's launch event in New York City, Steven Sinofsky claimed that Windows RT would support 420 million existing hardware devices and peripherals. However, in comparison to Windows 8, full functionality will not be available for all devices, and some devices will not be supported at all. Microsoft provides a "Compatibility Center" portal where users can search for compatibility information on devices with Windows RT; on launch, the site listed just over 30,000 devices that were compatible with the operating system.


Networking and device management

While Windows RT devices can join a HomeGroup and access files stored within shared folders and libraries on other devices within the group, files cannot be shared from the Windows RT device itself. Windows RT does not support connecting to a
domain Domain may refer to: Mathematics *Domain of a function, the set of input values for which the (total) function is defined ** Domain of definition of a partial function ** Natural domain of a partial function **Domain of holomorphy of a function * ...
for network logins, nor does it support using
Group Policy Group Policy is a feature of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems (including Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server 2003+) that controls the working environment of user accounts and computer accounts. G ...
for device management. However, Exchange ActiveSync, the Windows Intune service, or
System Center Configuration Manager Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, formerly System Center Configuration Manager and Systems Management Server (SMS) is a systems management software product developed by Microsoft for managing large groups of computers providing remote con ...
2012 SP1 can be used to provide some control over Windows RT devices in enterprise environments, such as the ability to apply security policies and provide a portal which can be used to sideload apps from outside Windows Store.


User interface

After installation of the KB3033055 update for Windows RT 8.1, a desktop
Start menu The Start menu is a graphical user interface element used in Microsoft Windows since Windows 95 and in other operating systems. It provides a central launching point for computer programs and performing other tasks in the Windows shell. It is name ...
becomes available as an alternative to the Start screen. It is divided into two columns, with one devoted to recent and pinned applications, and one devoted to live tiles. It is similar to, but not identical to,
Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on ...
's version.


Support lifecycle

Windows RT follows the lifecycle policy of Windows 8 and Windows 8.1. The original Surface tablet fell under Microsoft's support policies for consumer hardware and received mainstream support until April 11, 2017. Mainstream support for Windows RT (8.0) ended on January 12, 2016. Users must update to Windows RT 8.1 to continue to receive support. Mainstream support for Windows RT 8.1 ended January 9, 2018, and extended support for Windows RT 8.1 will end on January 10, 2023.


Devices

Microsoft imposed tight control on the development and production of Windows RT devices: they were designed in cooperation with the company, and built to strict design and hardware specifications, including requirements to only use "approved" models of certain components. To ensure hardware quality and control the number of devices released upon launch, the three participating ARM chip makers were only allowed to partner with up to two PC manufacturers to develop the first "wave" of Windows RT devices in Microsoft's development program.
Qualcomm Qualcomm () is an American multinational corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, and incorporated in Delaware. It creates semiconductors, software, and services related to wireless technology. It owns patents critical to the 5G, ...
partnered with
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
and HP,
Nvidia Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...
with Asus and
Lenovo Lenovo Group Limited, often shortened to Lenovo ( , ), is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in designing, manufacturing, and marketing consumer electronics, personal computers, software, business solutions, and related se ...
, and
Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globa ...
with
Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure systems, ...
. Additionally, Microsoft partnered with Nvidia to produce
Surface A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...
(retroactively renamed "Surface RT") – the first Windows-based computing device to be manufactured and marketed directly by Microsoft. Windows RT was designed to support chips meeting the ARMv7 architecture, a
32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calculati ...
processor platform. Shortly after the original release of Windows RT,
ARM Holdings Arm is a British semiconductor and software design company based in Cambridge, England. Its primary business is in the design of ARM processors (CPUs). It also designs other chips, provides software development tools under the DS-5, RealView ...
disclosed that it was working with Microsoft and other software partners on supporting
64-bit In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit CPUs and ALUs are those that are based on processor registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. A ...
AArch64 AArch64 or ARM64 is the 64-bit extension of the ARM architecture family. It was first introduced with the Armv8-A architecture. Arm releases a new extension every year. ARMv8.x and ARMv9.x extensions and features Announced in October 2011, AR ...
. Multiple hardware partners pulled out of the program during the development of Windows RT, the first being Toshiba and Texas Instruments. TI later announced that it was pulling out of the consumer market for ARM system-on-chips to focus on
embedded system An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded ...
s. HP also pulled out of the program, believing that Intel-based tablets were more appropriate for business use than ARM. HP was replaced by
Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
as an alternate Qualcomm partner. Acer also intended to release a Windows RT device alongside its Windows 8-based products, but initially decided to delay it until the second quarter of 2013 in response to the mixed reaction to Surface. The unveiling of the Microsoft-developed tablet caught Acer by surprise, leading to concerns that Surface could leave "a huge negative impact for the indowsecosystem and other brands."


First-generation devices

The first wave of Windows RT devices included: *
Microsoft Surface Microsoft Surface is a series of touchscreen-based personal computers, tablets and interactive whiteboards designed and developed by Microsoft, running the Microsoft Windows operating system, apart from the Surface Duo, which runs on A ...
(released October 26, 2012, concurrently with general availability of Windows 8) * Asus VivoTab RT (released October 26, 2012) * Dell XPS 10 (released December 2012; discontinued on September 25, 2013) * Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 11 (released December 2012) * Samsung Ativ Tab (Released in United Kingdom on December 14, 2012; American and German releases cancelled) After having planned to produce a Windows RT device close to its launch, Acer's president Jim Wong later indicated that there was "no value" in the current version of the operating system, and would reconsider its plans for future Windows RT products when the Windows 8.1 update was released. On August 9, 2013, Asus announced that it would no longer produce any Windows RT products; chairman Johnny Shih expressed displeasure at the market performance of Windows RT, considering it to be "not very promising". During the introduction of its Android and Windows 8-based ''Venue'' tablets in October 2013, Dell's vice president Neil Hand stated that the company had no plans to produce an updated version of the XPS 10.


Second-generation devices

In September 2013, Nvidia CEO
Jen-Hsun Huang Jen-Hsun "Jensen" Huang (; born February 17, 1963) is a Taiwanese American billionaire business magnate, electrical engineer, and the co-founder, current president and CEO of Nvidia Corporation. Early years and education Huang was born in Ta ...
stated that the company was "working really hard" with Microsoft on developing a second revision of Surface. The Microsoft Surface 2 tablet, which is powered by Nvidia's quad-core
Tegra 4 Tegra is a system on a chip (SoC) series developed by Nvidia for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices. The Tegra integrates an ARM architecture central processing unit (CPU), graphics proc ...
platform and features the same full HD display as the
Surface Pro 2 The Surface Pro 2 is a Surface-series 2-in-1 detachable produced by Microsoft. Unveiled at an event in New York City on September 23, 2013 and released on October 22, 2013, it succeeds the Surface Pro released in February 2013. While maintaini ...
, was officially unveiled on September 23, 2013, and released on October 22, 2013, following Windows 8.1 general availability the previous week. On the same day as the Surface 2's release,
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
(the acquisition of their mobile business by Microsoft had just been announced, but not yet been completed) unveiled the Lumia 2520, a Windows RT tablet with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor,
4G LTE In telecommunications, long-term evolution (LTE) is a standard for wireless broadband communication for mobile devices and data terminals, based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA standards. It improves on those standards' capacity and speed by us ...
, and a design similar to its
line Line most often refers to: * Line (geometry), object with zero thickness and curvature that stretches to infinity * Telephone line, a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system Line, lines, The Line, or LINE may also refer to: Art ...
of
Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design lan ...
products. An LTE-capable version of the Surface 2 was made available the following year. In January 2015, after its stock sold out on
Microsoft Store Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform app ...
online, Microsoft confirmed that it had discontinued further production of the Surface 2 to focus on Surface Pro products. Microsoft ended production of the Lumia 2520 the following month, ending active production of Windows RT devices after just over two years of general availability. With the end of production for both Surface 2 and Lumia 2520, Microsoft and its subsidiaries no longer manufacture any Windows RT devices.


Cancelled devices

Microsoft originally developed a "mini" version of its Surface tablet later known as Surface Mini and had planned to unveil it alongside the Surface Pro 3 in May 2014; it was reportedly cancelled at the last minute. Images of the product were leaked in June 2017, revealing specifications such as a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, an 8-inch display, and support for the
Surface Pen The Surface Pen is an active stylus and digital pen developed by Microsoft for its series of Surface computing devices. It is designed to showcase the pen computing capabilities of Microsoft's Windows 8/8.1 and Windows 10 operating systems. ...
instead of a keyboard attachment. In July 2016, an image depicting a number of cancelled Nokia-branded Lumia devices was released, depicting a prototype for a second Nokia tablet known as the Lumia 2020. Details revealed in September 2017 showed the product to have an 8.3-inch display and the same Snapdragon 800 chip as that of the Surface "mini" tablet.


Reception

Windows RT's launch devices received mixed reviews upon their release. In a review of the Asus VivoTab RT by '' PC Advisor'', Windows RT was praised for being a mobile operating system that still offered some PC amenities such as a full-featured
file manager A file manager or file browser is a computer program that provides a user interface to manage files and folders. The most common operations performed on files or groups of files include creating, opening (e.g. viewing, playing, editing or pr ...
, but noted its lack of compatibility with existing Windows software, and that it had no proper media player aside from a "shameless, in-your-face conduit to
Xbox Music Groove Music (formerly Xbox Music or Zune Music Pass) is a discontinued audio player software application included with Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. The app is also associated with a now-discontinued music streaming service, Gro ...
."
AnandTech ''AnandTech'' is an online computer hardware magazine owned by Future plc. It was founded in 1997 by then-14-year-old Anand Lal Shimpi, who served as CEO and editor-in-chief until August 30, 2014, with Ryan Smith replacing him as editor-in-chief ...
believed Windows RT was the first "legitimately useful" mobile operating system, owing in part to its multitasking system, bundled Office programs, smooth interface performance, and "decent" support for a wider variety of USB devices in comparison to other operating systems on the ARM architecture. However, the OS was panned for its slow application launch times in comparison to a recent iPad, and spotty driver support for printers. The small number of "quality" apps available on launch was also noted—but considered to be a non-issue, assuming that the app ecosystem would "expand significantly unless somehow everyone stops buying Windows-based systems on October 26th." Reception of the preview release of RT 8.1 was mixed; both ''
ExtremeTech ExtremeTech is a technology weblog, launched in June 2001, which focuses on hardware, computer software, science and other technologies. Between 2003 and 2005, ExtremeTech was also a print magazine and the publisher of a popular series of how- ...
'' and ''
TechRadar ''TechRadar'' is an online publication owned by Future and focused on technology. It has editorial teams in the US, UK and Australia and provides news and reviews of tech products and gadgets. It was launched in 2007 and expanded to the US in ...
'' praised the improvements to the operating system's tablet-oriented interface, along with the addition of Outlook; ''TechRadar''s Dan Grabham believed that the inclusion of Outlook was important because "nobody in their right mind would try and handle work email inside the standard Mail app—it's just not up to the task." However, both experienced performance issues running the beta on the
Tegra 3 Tegra is a system on a chip (SoC) series developed by Nvidia for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices. The Tegra integrates an ARM architecture central processing unit (CPU), graphics proc ...
-based Surface; ''ExtremeTech'' concluded that "as it stands, we’re still not sure why you would ever opt to buy a Windows RT tablet when there are similarly priced
Atom Every atom is composed of a nucleus and one or more electrons bound to the nucleus. The nucleus is made of one or more protons and a number of neutrons. Only the most common variety of hydrogen has no neutrons. Every solid, liquid, gas, a ...
-powered x86 devices that run the full version of Windows 8."


Market relevance and response

The need to market an ARM-compatible version of Windows was questioned by analysts because of recent developments in the PC industry; both Intel and AMD introduced x86-based system-on-chip designs for Windows 8, Atom "Clover Trail" and "Temash" respectively, in response to the growing competition from ARM licensees. In particular, Intel claimed that Clover Trail-based tablets could provide battery life rivaling that of ARM devices; in a test by ''
PC World ''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
'', Samsung's Clover Trail-based Ativ Smart PC was shown to have battery life exceeding that of the ARM-based Surface. Peter Bright of ''
Ars Technica ''Ars Technica'' is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, sc ...
'' argued that Windows RT had no clear purpose, since the power advantage of ARM-based devices was "nowhere near as clear-cut as it was two years ago", and that users would be better off purchasing Office 2013 themselves because of the removed features and licensing restrictions of Office RT. Windows RT was also met with lukewarm reaction from manufacturers; in June 2012,
Hewlett-Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
canceled its plans to release a Windows RT tablet, stating that its customers felt Intel-based tablets were more appropriate for use in business environments. In January 2013, Samsung cancelled the American release of its Windows RT tablet, the Ativ Tab, citing the unclear positioning of the operating system, "modest" demand for Windows RT devices, plus the effort and investment required to educate consumers on the differences between Windows 8 and RT as reasons for the move. Mike Abary, senior vice president of Samsung's U.S. PC and tablet businesses, also stated that the company was unable to build the Ativ Tab to meet its target price point—considering that lower cost was intended to be a selling point for Windows RT devices. Nvidia CEO
Jen-Hsun Huang Jen-Hsun "Jensen" Huang (; born February 17, 1963) is a Taiwanese American billionaire business magnate, electrical engineer, and the co-founder, current president and CEO of Nvidia Corporation. Early years and education Huang was born in Ta ...
expressed disappointment over the market performance of Windows RT, but called on Microsoft to continue increasing its concentration on the ARM platform. Huang also commented on the exclusion of Outlook from the Office 2013 suite included on the device and suggested that Microsoft port the software for RT as well (in response to public demand, Microsoft announced the inclusion of Outlook with future versions of Windows RT in June 2013). In May 2013, reports surfaced that
HTC HTC Corporation ( zh, t=宏達國際電子股份有限公司, s=宏达国际电子股份有限公司, p=Hóngdá Guójì Diànzǐ Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī, first=t) or High Tech Computer Corporation, (literally ''Hongda International Electron ...
had scrapped plans to produce a 12-inch Windows RT tablet as it would cost too much to produce, and that there would be greater demand for smaller devices. The poor demand resulted in price cuts for various Windows RT products; in April 2013 the price of Dell's XPS 10 fell from US$450 US to $300, and Microsoft began offering free covers for its Surface tablet in some territories as a limited-time promotion—itself a US$130 value for the Type Cover alone. Microsoft also reportedly reduced the cost of Windows RT licenses for devices with smaller screens, hoping that this could spur interest in the platform. In July 2013, Microsoft cut the price of the first-generation Surface worldwide by 30%, with its U.S. price falling to $350. Concurrently, Microsoft reported a loss of US$900 million due to the lackluster sales of the device. In August 2013, Dell silently pulled the option to purchase the XPS 10 from its online store without a keyboard dock (raising its price back up to US$479), and pulled the device entirely in September 2013. Microsoft's discount on the Surface tablet did result in a slight increase of market share for the device; in late-August 2013, usage data from the advertising network AdDuplex (which provides advertising services within Windows Store apps) revealed that Surface usage had increased from 6.2 to 9.8%.


Restrictions and compatibility limitations

In contrast to Windows 8 (where the feature had to be enabled by default on OEM devices, but remain user-configurable), Microsoft requires all Windows RT devices to have
UEFI Secure Boot UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a set of specifications written by the UEFI Forum. They define the architecture of the platform firmware used for booting and its interface for interaction with the operating system. Examples ...
permanently enabled, preventing the ability to run alternative operating systems on them. Tom Warren of ''
The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media ...
'' stated that he would have preferred Microsoft to "keep a consistent approach across ARM and x86, though, not least because of the number of users who'd love to run Android alongside Windows 8 on their future tablets", but noted that the decision to impose such restrictions was in line with similar measures imposed by other mobile operating systems, including recent Android devices and Microsoft's own
Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design lan ...
mobile platform. The requirement to obtain most software on Windows RT through Windows Store was considered to be similar in nature to the application stores on other "
closed Closed may refer to: Mathematics * Closure (mathematics), a set, along with operations, for which applying those operations on members always results in a member of the set * Closed set, a set which contains all its limit points * Closed interval, ...
" mobile platforms; where only software certified under guidelines issued by the vendor (i.e. Microsoft) can be distributed in the store. Microsoft was also criticized by the developers of the
Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements current ...
web browser for effectively preventing the development of third-party web browsers for Windows RT (and thus forcing use of its own Internet Explorer browser) by restricting the development of desktop applications and by not providing the same APIs and exceptions available on Windows 8 to code web browsers that can run as apps. However, the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
, in response to a complaint about the restrictions in relation to an
antitrust case In the United States, antitrust law is a collection of mostly federal laws that regulate the conduct and organization of businesses to promote competition and prevent unjustified monopolies. The three main U.S. antitrust statutes are the Sherma ...
involving Microsoft, ruled that "so far, there are no grounds to pursue further investigation on this particular issue." As mandated by the EU, the
BrowserChoice.eu BrowserChoice.eu was a website created by Microsoft in March 2010 following a decision in the European Union Microsoft competition case. The case involved legal proceedings by the European Union against Microsoft and found that, by including Int ...
service is still included in Windows 8.


"Jailbreak" exploit

In January 2013, a
privilege escalation Privilege escalation is the act of exploiting a bug, a design flaw, or a configuration oversight in an operating system or software application to gain elevated access to resources that are normally protected from an application or user. The re ...
exploit was discovered in the Windows kernel that can allow unsigned code to run under Windows RT; the exploit involved the use of a
remote debugging In computer programming and software development, debugging is the process of finding and resolving '' bugs'' (defects or problems that prevent correct operation) within computer programs, software, or systems. Debugging tactics can involve i ...
tool (provided by Microsoft to debug
WinRT Windows Runtime (WinRT) is a platform-agnostic component and application architecture first introduced in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 in 2012. It is implemented in C++ and officially supports development in C++ (via C++/WinRT, C++/CX or W ...
apps on Windows RT devices) to execute code which changes the signing level stored in
RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...
to allow unsigned code to execute (by default, it is set to a level that only allows code signed by Microsoft to execute). Alongside his explanation of the exploit, the developer also included a personal appeal to Microsoft urging them to remove the restrictions on Windows RT devices, contending that their decision was not for technical reasons, and that the devices would be more valuable if this functionality were available. In a statement, a Microsoft spokesperson applauded the effort, indicating that the exploit does not pose a security threat because it requires administrative access to the device, advanced techniques, and would still require programs to be re-compiled for ARM. However, Microsoft has still indicated that the exploit would be patched in a future update. A
batch file Batch may refer to: Food and drink * Batch (alcohol), an alcoholic fruit beverage * Batch loaf, a type of bread popular in Ireland * A dialect term for a bread roll used in North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Coventry, as well as on the Wirra ...
-based tool soon surfaced on
XDA Developers XDA Developers (also known simply as XDA; often stylized as xda-developers) is a mobile software development community launched on 20 December 2002. Although discussion primarily revolves around Android, members also talk about many other opera ...
to assist users in the process of performing the exploit, and a variety of ported desktop applications began to emerge, such as the
emulator In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use pe ...
Bochs Bochs (pronounced "box") is a portable IA-32 and x86-64 IBM PC compatible emulator and debugger mostly written in C++ and distributed as free software under the GNU Lesser General Public License. It supports emulation of the processor(s) (inc ...
,
PuTTY Putty is a material with high plasticity, similar in texture to clay or dough, typically used in domestic construction and repair as a sealant or filler. Although some types of putty (typically those using linseed oil) slowly polymerise and be ...
and
TightVNC TightVNC is a free and open-source remote desktop software server and client application for Linux and Windows. A server for macOS is available under a commercial source code license only, without SDK or binary version provided. Constantin Kapli ...
. Afterwards, an emulator known as "Win86emu" surfaced, allowing users to run x86 software on a jailbroken Windows RT device. However, it does not support all Windows APIs, and runs programs slower than they would on a native system.


Demise

In November 2013, speaking about Windows RT at the UBS Global Technology Conference,
Julie Larson-Green Julie Larson-Green (born 1962) is the former chief experience officer (CXO) of the Office Experience Organization at Microsoft, where she worked 1993 through 2017. She subsequently joined Qualtrics as their CXO. Larson-Green notably managed the ...
made comments discussing the future of Microsoft's mobile strategy surrounding the Windows platform. Larson-Green stated that in the future (accounting for Windows, Windows RT, and
Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design lan ...
), Microsoft was " otgoing to have three obile operating systems" The fate of Windows RT was left unclear by her remarks; industry analysts interpreted them as signs that Microsoft was preparing to discontinue Windows RT due to its poor adoption, while others suggested that Microsoft was planning to unify Windows with Windows Phone. Microsoft ultimately announced its "Universal Windows Apps" platform at Build 2014, which would allow developers to create WinRT apps for Windows, Windows Phone, and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
that share common codebases. These initiatives were compounded by a goal for
Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on ...
to unify the core Windows operating system across all devices. Critics interpreted Microsoft's move to cancel the launch of a smaller Surface model in May 2014 as a further sign that Microsoft, under new CEO
Satya Nadella Satya Narayana Nadella (, ; born 19 August 1967) is an Indian-American business executive. He is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft, succeeding Steve Ballmer in 2014 as CEO and John W. Thompson in 2021 as chairman. Before becoming CEO, ...
, and new device head
Stephen Elop Stephen Elop (born 31 December 1963) is a Canadian businessman who most recently worked at Australian telecom company Telstra from April 2016. In the past he had worked for Nokia as its first non-Finnish CEO and later as Executive Vice President ...
(who joined Microsoft upon the purchase of Nokia's mobile phone business in September 2013, only to depart the company the following year), was planning to further downplay Windows RT, given that the company had shifted its attention towards a higher-end, productivity-oriented market with the Pro 3—one which would be inappropriate for Windows RT given its positioning and limitations. Analysts believed that Microsoft was planning to leverage its acquisition of Nokia's device business for future Windows RT devices, possibly under the Lumia brand; On January 21, 2015, Microsoft unveiled
Windows 10 Mobile Windows 10 Mobile is a discontinued mobile operating system developed by Microsoft. First released in 2015, it is a successor to Windows Phone 8.1, but was marketed by Microsoft as being an edition of its PC operating system Windows 10. Wind ...
, an edition of Windows 10 for smartphones and sub-8-inch tablets running on ARM architecture; unlike RT, which was based upon the user experience of the PC version, Windows 10 on these devices is a continuation of the Windows Phone user experience that emphasizes the ability for developers to create "universal" Windows apps that can run across PCs, tablets, and phones, and only supports the modern-style interface and Windows apps (although on compatible devices, a limited desktop experience will be available when connected to an external display). Following the event, a Microsoft spokesperson stated that the company was working on a Windows RT update that would provide "some of the functionality of Windows 10", and the company ended production of both the Surface 2 and Lumia 2520. Microsoft's purchase of Nokia ultimately turned out to be a failure, and Microsoft would eventually leave the consumer mobile phone market, selling its assets to
Foxconn Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New ...
and
HMD Global HMD Global Oy, branded as HMD and Nokia Mobile, is a Finnish mobile phone manufacturer. The company is made up of the mobile phone business that Nokia sold to Microsoft in 2014, then bought back in 2016. HMD began marketing Nokia-branded smar ...
in May 2016. Newer Intel processors for mobile devices were more competitive in comparison to ARM equivalents in regards to performance and battery life; this factor and other changes made by Microsoft, such as the removal of Windows OEM license fees on devices with screens less than 9 inches in size, spurred the creation of a market for lower-end tablets running the full Windows 8 operating system on Intel-compatible platforms, leaving further uncertainty over Microsoft's support of ARM outside of smartphones—where they remain ubiquitous. Such a device came in March 2015, when Microsoft unveiled a new low-end Surface model, the
Intel Atom Intel Atom is the brand name for a line of IA-32 and x86-64 instruction set ultra-low-voltage processors by Intel Corporation designed to reduce electric consumption and power dissipation in comparison with ordinary processors of the Intel Co ...
-based Surface 3; unlike previous low-end Surface models, Surface 3 did not use ARM and Windows RT. It was succeeded in 2018 by the Pentium Gold
Surface Go The Surface Go is a 2-in-1 detachable in the Microsoft Surface series that was released on August 2, 2018. It was unveiled by Microsoft on July 10, 2018. This was the first generation of the Surface Go. In May 2020, this has been superseded ...
. Windows 8.1 RT Update 3 (KB3033055) was released on September 16, 2015; it adds a version of the updated Start menu seen in early preview versions of Windows 10 (which combines an application list with a sidebar of tiles), but otherwise does not contain any other significant changes to the operating system or its functionality, nor any support for Windows 10's application ecosystem. ''
The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts. The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media ...
'' characterized this update as being similar to
Windows Phone 7.8 This page provides details for the version history of the Microsoft's Windows Phone branded mobile operating systems, from the release of Windows Phone 7 in October 2010, which was preceded by Windows Mobile version 6.x. Windows Phone 7 Wind ...
—which similarly backported user interface changes from
Windows Phone 8 Windows Phone 8 is the second generation of the Windows Phone mobile operating system from Microsoft Corporation, Microsoft. It was released on October 29, 2012, and, like its predecessor, it features a flat design, flat user interface based on t ...
(which switched from a
Windows Mobile Windows Mobile is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones and personal digital assistants. Its origin dated back to Windows CE in 1996, though Windows Mobile itself first appeared in 2000 as Pock ...
-derived platform to one derived from the NT kernel), without making any other significant upgrades to the platform.


Impact on Windows 10


ARM support

On December 7, 2016, Microsoft announced that as part of a partnership with Qualcomm, it planned to launch an ARM version of Windows 10 for Snapdragon-based devices, initially focusing on laptops. Unlike Windows RT, the ARM version of Windows 10 supports using an emulation layer to run software compiled for 32-bit x86 architectures. The following year, Microsoft announced the ''Always Connected PC'' brand, covering Windows 10 devices with cellular connectivity; the launch featured two Snapdragon 835-powered 2-in-1 laptops from Asus and HP, and an integration of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X16 gigabit LTE modem with AMD's Ryzen Mobile platform.


Windows 10 S

On May 2, 2017, Microsoft unveiled
Windows 10 S Windows 10 has several editions, all with varying feature sets, use cases, or intended devices. Certain editions are distributed only on devices directly from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), while editions such as ''Enterprise'' and ''E ...
, an edition of Windows 10 designed primarily for low-end mobile devices targeting the education market (competing primarily with
Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
's Linux-based
ChromeOS ChromeOS, sometimes stylized as chromeOS and formerly styled as Chrome OS, is a Linux-based operating system designed by Google. It is derived from the open-source ChromiumOS and uses the Google Chrome web browser as its principal user interfa ...
). Similarly to Windows RT, it restricted software installation to applications obtained via Windows Store. Windows 10 S was replaced by S Mode, a mode in which manufacturers can ship Windows 10 computers with the same restrictions, but they can be turned off by the user.


References


External links

*
Windows RT 8.1: FAQ

Windows 8 vs Windows RT 8: what's the difference?
{{Mobile operating systems 2012 software ARM operating systems Mobile operating systems Tablet operating systems Windows 8 Discontinued versions of Microsoft Windows no:Windows 8#RT