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I have the possibility of owning a Microsoft Surface. It's clearly not possible to install apps downloaded from the Internet. But is it still possible to launch executables stored on an SD card or USB stick, such as with PortableApps? edit: My question isn't intended strictly limited to portableApps, but any ARM-compiled non-Store software. Is it the origin of the software, or some other mechanism of the OS that prevents executables from running?
1NO; All PortableApps are x86 software. Windows RT does not run x86 software. – Ramhound – 2015-05-16T03:04:15.633
@Ramhound I think saying that Windows RT cannot run Windows API (WinAPI) software and can only run WinRT software is more correct. – paradroid – 2015-05-16T03:55:03.103
@paradroid - How so? How is saying Windows RT cannot run x86 software, Win32 software specifically, not correct? Even more so. Windows RT cannot run Java applications either, which I would consider x86 applications, not WIn32 applications. – Ramhound – 2015-05-16T03:58:07.287
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@paradroid: "Windows RT cannot run Windows API (WinAPI) software" - That is technically incorrect. Windows RT is Windows compiled for ARM and so has (almost) the full Win32 API. That's how MS' desktop apps like Notepad, Paint, Office etc. function. However end users can only install apps from the Store, and these can use only a small subset of the Win32 API available to WinRT apps (as well as WinRT-specific APIs).
– Karan – 2015-05-16T06:06:06.6271@Ramhound: It's pointless bringing Java into the discussion, because the apps are just bytecode that can generally be executed by both 32 and 64-bit x86 JVMs or in a native ARM JVM if one were available. In fact, jailbroken WinRT8 can indeed run many Java apps in IKVM (Java VM in .NET). – Karan – 2015-05-16T06:11:27.313
I updated the question. I see I needed to be a bit less specific. – Otheus – 2015-05-16T18:11:56.217