Microsoft is working with Xiaomi on a Windows (Phone) 10 ROM for one of Xiaomi’s Android phones.
Neither Microsoft nor Xiaomi provided specific details of the Windows 10 software being trialled, but TechCrunch understands from sources that it effectively overrides Android, turning the Xiaomi phone into a Windows 10 device complete with Microsoft services. (Which the company hopes will dazzle Android owners into making the switch.)
That’s to say that the software doesn’t offer a dual boot option, which Microsoft has pushed in the past in India. This is a ROM, based on Windows, that operates much like software from Cyanogen – a company Microsoft was incorrectly linked with an investment in – and other custom ROMs developed by the likes of Tencent and Baidu in China.
This is such an obvious move I honestly can’t believe it took them this long. Microsoft has always had a pretty relaxed and permissive attitude towards the ROM crowd (I can know from way back in the PocketPC days), and releasing Windows 10 ROMs for popular Android phones is a great way to get enthusiasts interested in trying out your platform. I personally really enjoy using Windows Phone, but my HTC 8X is quite outdated, and I would install Windows 10 on my Nexus 5 in a heartbeat if Microsoft offered it.
If you could dual boot WP10 and android that would be amazing!
I hear you. I’ve been thinking about it for a while now. It would be great to have (semi)official Windows ROMs for Nexus devices.
me too, I hope they do it…
That would be great. I’d love to try Windows 10 on my Nexus 5. Don’t really want to buy a new phone later just to get an OS.
If MS comes up with a way to easily install a ROM they’d support converting existing phones to Windows 10 adoption rates will increase dramatically I think.
Blows me away that people get excited over proprietary solutions from mega corporations with nasty track records.
Let’s all jump up and down for joy as we enslave ourselves!
Are you using Firefox OS phone? Or Ubuntu phone?
Nah. Mainly Debian on the Desktop.
Back in the 90s when home build PCs were all the rage, getting a “free” copy of Windows 98 was often the reason people went with Windows over something else to begin with. It’s not like anyone knew what they wanted or needed back then. Things started to sour after Windows XP introduced all it’s phoning home crap, which even limitted mild forms of piracy (like upgrading your hardware, or installing on a second PC after salvaging parts for a spare, etc.) Microsoft’s quest for DRM was a fool’s errand.
Now that they don’t expect to make any money off their OS platform, it makes sense for them to try and get it on as many systems as possible. This play (unintentionally) worked for them before. Let’s just hope they don’t return to the pursuit of DRM…
get you hooked with “free” stuff. then reel you in. Almost makes me wonder if they’re going to copy EA’s microtransaction play.
Uhm, they already can do that. They’re heavily pushing their OneDrive and Office 365 subscriptions and they also have an appstore which supports in-app purchases
Can’t wait to see photos of it.
“Please get our previously-payware OS for free”. Where have I heard this before?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solaris_%28operating_system%29
Desktop Windows might be riding high in market share, but Microsoft is apparently desperate to increase the share of “Metro Windows”.
That’s the reason they are offering free updates to everyone who bought a copy of Windows 7 back in 2009. Windows 7 is Desktop Windows only.
Edited 2015-03-18 20:42 UTC
If the situation was reversed, Microsoft might object to people running Android on Surface devices.
“windows for random chinese phone” is an experimental partnership. it is not “windows for nexus” or “windows for galaxy”, which would cost significant resources for no profit. we’re talking about hundreds of people dedicating months of work just so a few hackers can void their warranty. never going to happen.
Give this man an upvote.
I can’t because stupid OSAlert commenting system.
Mostly true, but surely not true about the “no profit”.
Microsoft is betting most of their consumer and mobile future on “Store apps”. The more users their Windows 10 platform has, the more developers will start to build Store apps.
This is indeed all an experiment, but if it works out the consequences are important.
Also, Microsoft is basically the only one that is making non-lowend Windows Phones and even they haven’t made any high-end phones in the last year. If they can get Windows Phone to run on high-end Android devices that would be welcomed by a lot of enthousiast.
I don’t mean there is “no profit” in getting millions of people to use the windows store. I’m saying offering windows 10 installers for android phones will not get millions of people to use the windows store! It doesn’t matter how many hundreds of enthusiasts they could get.
Precisely this. Linux offers much more than an alternate OS for PCs with Windows pre-installed – it offers the opportunity to create virtually any OS experience you want on virtually any PC you want to put it on, and share it with pretty much everyone on the planet.
Even with that flexibility, only a few million self-installs happened over a decade or so (though the community that formed around it has been incredible!).
Microsoft is offering a fixed custom ROM for one phone, without the source or license to create a vibrant community of ROM builders. Even if they expand the number of devices they support in the endless sea of variety that is the Android hardware market, I just can’t see how this will increase sales in their app store enough to cover the expense.
Most people buy pre-installed. *shrug*
However, it’s certainly good news for Windows enthusiasts who are willing to self-install.