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They’ve never successfully built up a non-x86 userbase on Windows.

An architecture switch where a lot of software won’t run well (or at all) is a big risk for them that people could start to go elsewhere in non-trivial numbers.

Apple, Linux, Chromebook.

Yes they have a compatibility layer for running x86 on ARM. They could make it for other archs. But that’s still a big effort and consumers may not trust.

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I think at this point, Azure and their OpenAI partnership are enough to weather the transition to ARM. It is just software, and Apple has (TWICE) shown how to do it right.

That said, has anyone checked in with Lisa Su on this?

Apple has done it, but they’re not slavish to backwards compatibility like MS. They don’t have anywhere near as many games or random line of business apps, and I suspect their users are more loyal than much of the Windows base that just bought what was cheaper/most common.

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