It was one year ago, at Computex 2012, when Microsoft’s RT operating system made its debut by appearing on the Asus Tablet 600. Now, one year later, and at the tail end of Computex, we have yet to see anything even remotely close to including the Windows RT OS. Designed to run on power-efficient ARM processors, both Windows RT and ARM were suspiciously absent at this years event, as the show was seemingly dominated by Windows 8 and Haswell.
Windows RT has seen a very shaky reception since its release back in October 2012, but it’s not dead in the water just yet. Qualcomm already pledged its support for Windows RT 8.1, claiming that it is creating a Snapdragon 800 processor that should run very well with the Windows OS. According to The Verge, Qualcomm president and COO Steve Mollenkopf said the Snapdragon 800 will offer “about 75 percent better performance than the S4 Pro.” Hopefully, this future creation will provide a much needed stimulus to Windows RT and convince more developers to consider using the OS in their future devices.
Analysts are speculating that the lack of Windows RT support may stem from the increased interest in the upcoming Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1 updates. The introduction of the Qualcomm chip may also have something to do with the absence of Windows RT units at this year’s event. It is highly possible that many developers are putting their potential creations on hold until both the update and Snapdragon chip are available for use.
