Build 2022, the Microsoft Developer Conference, is happening and they’ve showcased some extremely cool hardware that they’ll be launching later this year. It is Volterra Project and is intended for developers who wish to create applications for the version of Windows 11 for ARM processors. So let’s see what it consists of and what its characteristics are and how it differs from a classic PC.
Historically, we have always associated Microsoft with Intel. Not surprisingly, its first commercial product was the BASIC language interpreter for the Intel 8080. Since then, most of its software products have been created to run on compatible processors from the brand co-founded by Gordon Moore. However, they had occasional breakouts to other sets of registers and instructions. Let’s not forget, for example, that Windows NT in the 1990s supported non-x86 processors such as MIPS, PowerPC, SPARC, etc. Well, for some time now Redmond’s interest in ARM processors has not been a secret. Notably thanks to its collaboration with Qualcomm.
Here is Project Volterra, the development kit for Windows 11 under ARM
The relationship between Microsoft and Qualcomm is not a secret, in the same way that the former’s business model is not either. And it is that the two continue in a collaboration that has been working for years. The latest is the Volterra project. a computer for application development on Windows 11 under a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and therefore under ISA ARM. To do this, the software giant has adopted a series of applications from scratch so that they work natively. Among which the following stand out:
- Visual Studio 2022 and Code.
- Modern .NET 6
- Java
- Classic .NET Framework
- Windows Terminal
- The Windows Subsystem for Linux
- The Windows Subsystem for Android
Although what really interests us is the hardware. As you can see, Project Volterra comes as a compact, screenless unit. Which is reminiscent of the Intel NUC or the Apple Mac Mini. The interior is a Qualcomm processor of unknown model. Although we believe it is one of the custom variants of Microsoft Surface. Where to us it stands out the inclusion of a neural processor or NPU to accelerate artificial intelligence algorithms. Let’s not forget that these are becoming more and more common in applications. We would therefore be faced with the closest thing to what a Mac Mini is today, but with Windows as the operating system.
Remember that Microsoft is not a hardware company. And so we know that there are products in the market such as Surface computers and Xbox consoles. Although we cannot forget that Microsoft earns money for each operating system installed on a PC. Therefore, its interest is not limited to those of Intel and AMD, but to go further.
