HACKER Q&A
📣 8jef

Why can't we have a single Arm standard for os' and apps?


Fragmentation in Arm ecosystem is just overwhelming. First, not 2 hardware platform can share a single os install script. To each its own. Pi here, Rockchip there, Alwinner, whatever. Even within a single company, you need as many flavour as there are boards. Then, on the software side, not all arm app versions works everywhere. I'm well aware of the multiple obstacles in the way. I'm just asking: why not agree on fewer compatibility standards? That would help a lot in making arm more usable.


  👤 simonblack Accepted Answer ✓
There's no difference in the x86 world either. (Windows, Apple, Linux)

More to the point, why would you need to have a single Arm standard? And which one would you select? What would make your selection better than somebody else's?

No differences means no competition, no competition means no advances are obligatory for anybody. Stagnation results.

Computer monocultures are historically bad for lack of development (Internet Explorer stagnation during the 90s) and are more susceptible to attacks (Windows viruses, once again, mainly during the 90s, when Windows was supreme in the x86 world).