Microsoft joins Linaro, Arm and Qualcomm Technologies to advance Windows on Arm

February 10, 2022 -- Linaro Ltd, the open-source collaborative engineering organization developing software for the Arm® ecosystem, today announced that Microsoft has joined Linaro as a Member of Linaro’s Windows on Arm Project.

Linaro, Arm and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. have been working together for the past year to advance Windows on Arm by building an ecosystem which supports native development, in response to user demand. In April 2021, the companies announced the availability of the Windows 10 on Arm bot support and binary as part of the LLVM 12.0.0 release. LLVM is one of the main tools the open-source community uses to compile their code. At the end of September 2021, Qt 6.2 was released, with Windows on Arm hardware being available as a Technology preview. The current plan is to be able to provide full support for Windows 11 in a Qt 6.2 patch-level release. Qt is a GUI toolkit that provides cross-platform support for many open source and commercial packages across the major operating systems. Both the LLVM 12.0.0 release and the Qt 6.2 release are enabling developers to recompile applications faster as there is now native Windows on Arm support.

Microsoft has been supportive of all these efforts and is now officially joining the Windows on Arm Project to help accelerate growth of the ecosystem.

“We are pleased to be joining Linaro alongside Arm and Qualcomm to help advance the Windows on Arm ecosystem,” said Kevin Gallo, CVP Windows Developer, Microsoft. “Native development for Windows on Arm requires an end-to-end toolchain with a strong ecosystem. This makes it easier for developers to create and unlock delightful experiences for their customers.”

“Enabling developers around the world to innovate quickly and seamlessly on Arm technology is critical, and Microsoft joining this Linaro project is a significant step forward for the Windows on Arm ecosystem,” said Geraint North, senior director of ecosystems and engineering partnerships, Client Line of Business, Arm. “Working together with Microsoft, Qualcomm and Linaro will help to further enable the open-source developer community and drive broader adoption of Windows on Arm platforms.”

“Qualcomm Technologies enables Windows on Arm products powered by Snapdragon® compute platforms to deliver leading power and performance, 5G cellular connectivity and up to multi-day battery life. The Windows on Arm ecosystem driven by Snapdragon innovation also brings AI acceleration, advanced camera and audio capabilities to thin, light, and fanless designs that deliver next-generation user experiences outpacing traditional x86 options,” said Rami Husseini, Director of Product Management at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “Linaro, Arm, and Microsoft help usher in the products and experiences that users deserve and we are excited to expand support for the open-source community around Windows on Arm and deliver new experiences to consumers.”

“We are pleased to welcome Microsoft to the Windows on Arm project in collaboration with Arm and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., said Andrea Gallo, VP of Business Development. “We will continue to address gaps in the upstream CI for packages to run natively on Windows on Arm and target optimal performance with reduced power consumption.”

Having started with LLVM and Qt, the Windows on Arm project is now planning to focus its attention on Python, looking at the ecosystem of support packages and libraries. Some of the work already underway has resulted in acceptance upstream and Windows on Arm will be part of the next release. To find out more about the project, go to the Windows on Arm project page.

To learn more about the portfolio of Snapdragon compute platforms, click here.

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About Microsoft

Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

About Linaro

Linaro works with businesses and open-source communities to develop software on Arm-based technology. Through its collaborative projects, Linaro strives to solve Arm ecosystem quality issues, deliver upstream support for Architecture and OS requirements, and solve problems of fragmentation which limit market deployment. All this work helps accelerate the deployment of secure and high-quality Arm-based products to market.