Microsoft’s Surface RT has been slow to pick up traction with the customers, somewhat because of the storage debacle, but mostly because of a lack of apps for the ARM platform of the OS. How great it would be if one could run standard x86 applications on the Surface RT tablet. Well, if developer Mamaich has anything to do with it, then you can.
Mamaich, a developer who frequently posts on the XDA Developer’s forum, has made available a tool that will enable running legacy applications on Microsoft’s Surface RT. The tool, still in its beta stage, is still far from complete and has several limitations. For starters, the tool won’t support running legacy apps that are too CPU intensive or those that require specific drivers and services. The biggest catch perhaps, is that the Surface RT you plan to run this tool on must be unlocked/jailbroken.
A tool of this sort will definitely open up major new opportunities for not just developers, but also for those who are actually considering buying the Surface RT but were holding back due to a lack of apps. Mamaich says that even though the tool is in Beta, development looks quite promising, but there is no word on when a final build will be available. Mamaich does point out very clearly that his tool is not going to enable running any and every desktop application on the RT, but it should provide access to a fairly large selection. You can see the list of all the applications that have been ported to work on the RT tablet over here.
One last word of caution: While jailbreaking is considered legal, manufactures do not condone it in the least. Both Apple and Microsoft have clearly stated that Jailbreaking their devices would void the warranty, so tread with caution. We also recommend trying the beta with caution, as most beta apps tend to be a little buggy, if not a complete nightmare.