Imagine they did Mac on ARM like this, they wouldn't be done in 2045. Is there some big faction in Microsoft that just doesn't want Windows on ARM to succeed because it looks like they are trying to kill it by committee and the absolute complete lack of velocity.
Transitioning Mac to ARM consisted of redesigning a half-dozen products to work with a single SOC. Transitioning Windows to ARM would require hundreds of manufacturers to work together for the same level of integration, which is ultimately more restrictive than the now-license-free x86. Microsoft is probably hoping that Windows On Arm will appease their business-class users until a truly killer RISC ISA like RISC-V is primed to hit the market.
Arguably, a MacOS/*nix system is relatively easier to port to another architecture.
Windows best selling point has always been backward compatibility with x86 and most prior generations of releases. Thus, Windows 10 is likely the final release of the product as far as we are concerned, and the current 11 release is considered nonviable... unless MS changes the current product trajectory.
Microsoft is just full of these strange decisions. People back then used to say Microsoft would never abandon backwards compatibility when it comes to a new product, but they attempted that several times now from Windows RT to Windows S Mode. The move to Windows 11 has also made them drop a lot of hardware that wasn't even that old.
You would think this would mean that they would then be pushing the bleeding edge hardware in their own devices? But no they're still opting for generations old hardware in brand new Surface devices. Perhaps then they would commit to ARM more seriously to really push the limits without care for legacy software, but all we get is an overpriced Windows dev box with no serious roadmap for other first party software.
At this point, all decisions at Microsoft are done at complete random.
Available Today: Windows Dev Kit 2023 a.k.a. Project Volterra - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33319535 - Oct 2022 (393 comments)