CES 2014: Intel’s Dual OS Platform Allows for Instant Switching Between Android and Windows

Of all the products announced at CES thus far, the one that stands out in my mind is ASUS’ Transformer Book Duet TD300. Aside from the slick hardware, the fact that it can run both Android and Windows in either tablet or notebook mode is fantastic. Even cooler, though, is the fact that we’re talking about Android running on x86 Intel hardware.

While the press release for ASUS’ product was detailed, it failed to mention that this ability is made possible by Intel, a fact that was established during Intel CEO Brian Krzanich’s pre-opening CES keynote, seen below.

The big reason Intel has passed-over targeting Android for its consumer platforms is because the OS isn’t considered to be as secure as it should be. Given the openness of the platform, I can’t quite disagree there, although I can’t find a real difference in this regard between Android and Windows. Nonetheless, Intel saw that some people had a need to run both OSes on the same machine (perhaps made known thanks to older ASUS releases?), and thus “Intel Dual OS Platform” was established.

This platform goes beyond simply allowing Android on x86 to run, because that’s been done on the smartphone front before. Instead, what’s notable is the fact that at the touch of a button, you’ll be able to switch between Windows and Android nearly instantly. As soon as the button is pressed, the PC will save the state of either OS you’re in, and then resume the state of the other. The demo shown on stage was impressive.

Tying into the security factor here, Krzanich also announced that Intel has great interest in making sure all mobile platforms are secure, so it’s going to be making its mobile McAfee solution free to end-users soon. While it could be assumed that Intel’s own platforms would be required for this, the company is keeping an open attitude – Krzanich said that ARM would absolutely qualify for this perk. Good guy Intel.