10-18-2002, 07:58 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Windows Media Player 8.5 and Xscale
There have been a lot of questions around whether or not WMP 8.5 that comes with EUU3 is optimized for the Xscale processor. The answer is no. I received the following information from a Microsoft Windows Media Player Program Manager:
"One of the key features of Windows Media Player 8.5 for Pocket PC was overall performance improvements which are across the board no matter what processor you are running. These performance improvements are not XScale (in particular Cotulla) specific."
So there you have it. Probably not what you wanted to hear, but I'm happy to have performance enhancements that improve my experience on the StrongARM-based XDA. And until you Xscale owners try this player and see what these performance improvements do for you, it's too early to cry foul. 
Derek Brown made the following statement regarding this issue in a Brighthand thread:
"We made a decision several years ago to move away from supporting several processor architectures and target a single core. We believe this ultimately benefited our OEMs, developers and customers by unifying our platform around a single processor architecture -- ARM V4.
The PXA250 utilizes the ARM V5 instruction set with backwards compatibility for ARM V4. When we completed the Pocket PC 2002 software in June 2002, we optimized for the most broadly compatible processor core available at the time (ARM V4), which it still remains today. Choosing to support one processor core ensures we don�t fragment our platform for developers and cause extra work for our ISVs to optimize their applications each time a new processor technology is released.
By staying with an ARM V4 architecture we assure longer life for our customers existing hardware � for instance if we were to move to an ARM V5 architecture we would have to obsolete the all SA1110 iPAQ devices.
Microsoft considers mobile devices a strategic business. We are committed to working closely with Intel and other silicon vendors on delivering future versions of our Pocket PC and Smartphone devices. We have released specific software modifications to our OEMs that in total are all of the optimizations we believe are possible to maximize PXA250 performance (without causing incompatibilities for our OEMs and developers).
So the answer to your question is no unless it could meet the broader requirements listed above.
Derek Brown"
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10-18-2002, 08:34 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 61
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What can we expect from all those upcoming 300 MHz xscales knowing that the current 400 MHz version is only almost as fast as a Strongarm....or significantly slower when using WMP for movies?
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10-18-2002, 08:42 PM
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10-18-2002, 08:57 PM
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Mystic
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,768
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slow
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Ce
What can we expect from all those upcoming 300 MHz xscales knowing that the current 400 MHz version is only almost as fast as a Strongarm....or significantly slower when using WMP for movies?
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I thought the same thing. Consumers will be 'upgrading' from 206Mhz to 300Mhz and actually get less with the current trend... except for maybe better battery life.
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Jonathan (JonnoB)
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." -Edmund Burke
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10-18-2002, 09:09 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 157
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I understand not wanting to fragment the market, but nearly ALL new Pocket PC devices are utilizing X-Scale now. Since each vendor has to re-release the EUU3 for each model of device, why didn't Microsoft offer them an EUU3 update with WMP 8.5 that had X-Scale optomization and one without. It represents nearly 100% of all new Pocket PC sales.
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Charles Pickrell
Sacramento Mobiole Computing SIG
A chapter of the NorCal Mobile Computing SIG
www.mobilecomputingsig.com |
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10-18-2002, 09:39 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 400
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Why can't I cry foul til I've tried it? Bloody FOUL on MS for being so slow to support the people who are expanding their market share! They don't seem to have this problem with PCs anymore, although they did at one point.
To me this smacks of the Palm, "I'm the best so I don't have to improve" mentality. If Intel is going to have to design and build the chips then write the software for it what the H*** do we need MS for???? :evil: Are they trying say Intel has better programmers than MS or that they just don't give a damn about the people buying all of the new Xscale Pocket PCs?
I've been upgrading my PPC every 6 months or so for over 2 years now, but if MS wants to start playing games with support I can stop contributing to their bottom line. While I've always been a Microsoftie they are starting to alienate me as a consumer.
My PPC is my friend and as such deserves the best not some lame excuse like "we don't want to fracture the market" (by actually supporting the newer, faster chips). If they felt that way why aren't they still only making DOS for the 8088 PCs? They were more than willing to "fracture" the PC market every time a new chip came out! I guess when it suits their purposes it is ok to "fracture the market", but not for something as lowly and undeserving as supporting the people who are helping them take market share from Palm every quarter.
It used to be the Zen of Palm - "Our users don't want all that stuff in a handheld" Now it's the We Care MS - " We care about all our users with StrongARM so we can't support Xscale" Like they are mutually exclusive! :evil:
Rant over for now :twisted:
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10-18-2002, 09:44 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,329
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Another slap in the face from MS development. Glad I'm still on a StrongARM based device. :?
Is this the sort of thing that could stall Pocket PC sales this fall?
Dang 3rd post in a row that is hacking on MS today. I must be in a mood. :? Maybe I need to go home and listen to some mood music.  Hmm maybe the activation WMA from Windows XP. that's kinda nice.
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10-19-2002, 12:15 AM
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Thinker
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 433
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dear microsoft, hope you guys listen to our wish an make it come true, if not then we will find a better player hehhehehehe :lol:
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10-19-2002, 08:10 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 185
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by vincentsiaw
dear microsoft, hope you guys listen to our wish an make it come true, if not then we will find a better player hehhehehehe :lol:
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Don't they give us their XScale answer for quite a while sounding like: "Dear customer, get stuffed. You don't have an alternative to our OS anyway. So why should we actually do anything else then telling you how great we and our ridiculous products are. OK, we helped spreading the fairy tale how fast XScale would be while actually making sure it would never happen. If you really dislike it so much... go and get a better alternative... hahahahaha".
I wish SONY lots of success with their devices. Not that I'd ever buy one. But that's the only voice MS actually understands
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10-19-2002, 06:43 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Charles Pickrell
I understand not wanting to fragment the market, but nearly ALL new Pocket PC devices are utilizing X-Scale now. Since each vendor has to re-release the EUU3 for each model of device, why didn't Microsoft offer them an EUU3 update with WMP 8.5 that had X-Scale optomization and one without. It represents nearly 100% of all new Pocket PC sales.
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But how do you know that there won't be Pocket PCs released in the next year that will be running on an ARM processor from Motorolla, TI, etc.? If Microsoft optimises for Intel's XScale, what does this mean for devices running ARM processors from other manufacturers? It means that Microsoft has to go back to having multiple versions of their software just like back in the ARM/MIPS/SH3 days. Do you want to go back to that chaos? I sure as heck don't - it was really confusing for the consumer.
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