Windows CE Gets a Refresh Windows Embedded CE 6.0 Makes Its Debut Andy Patrizio
Microsoft today introduced Windows Embedded CE 6.0, an update to its real-time operating system (RTOS) for non-computer devices, and with it, a whole lot of source code.
With this release, Microsoft is offering the entire Windows CE kernel through its Shared Source program, whereas before the company only offered portions of the kernel.
It's also offering source code from device drivers, parts of the networking stack, the file system and event scheduler, according to Mukund Ghangurde, group product manager for Windows Embedded CE at Microsoft (Quote).
Windows CE has been around for a decade and has gained quite a bit of use in smartphones, PDAs, set-top boxes and other consumer devices. It's doing quite well, growing 47 percent in 2006 over the prior year. This is the first year that Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded division has been profitable.
Windows Embedded CE 6.0 now supports 32,000 simultaneous processes and up to 2GB of virtual memory address space per process.
"We're scaling up for the next few years," said Ghangurde. "This gives plenty of headroom for device makers. Once they standardize on it, they can stay with it for 10 years. As their devices get more powerful they can add more functionality."
Microsoft obviously expects some heavy-duty application development to take place, because it has integrated the Windows CE Platform Builder integrated development environment (IDE) into Visual Studio Professional 2005, its IDE for professional developers.
Visual Studio 2005 comes with Windows Embedded CE 6.0 for no extra charge, and the Windows CE 6.0 development package is the same price as 5.0, $995.
Microsoft has added a new cellular phone support component called cell-core, which allows Windows CE-based devices to connect with cellular networks, including sending and receiving calls, either voice calls or machine-to-machine data exchanges.
Steve Balacco, an analyst with Venture Development, said version 6.0 is evolutionary, but a "positive step in the right direction," in terms of product offerings.
The increase in CE's capacity and overhead reflects increasingly complex devices that are coming in the next few years and will be needed, Balacco added.
Windows Embedded CE 6.0 uses a volume-based royalty licensing model and is available for a 180-day evaluation from Microsoft.
News courtesy of internetnews.com November 2, 2006
