Windows CE 6 previewed

Microsoft just dolled-up Windows CE in a new beta dress dubbed Windows CE 6 and turned her out at the Mobile and Embedded DevCon show in Vegas baby, Las Vegas. The new flavor of this embedded OS features a redesigned kernel with expanded capacity for up to 32k simultaneous processes while remaining true to the features and functionality of previous CE generations. So what the hell does that mean to you? Well, as the basis for Windows Mobile we should see new products based on both embedded CE (set-top boxes, industrial automation and medical devices) as well as sophisticated SmartPhones and PocketPCs coming sometime in 2007.

[Thanks, kerunt]

[Atanas Boev @ May 9th 2006 5:21AM]

Of course it is not dying, its revived just on time for the OLPC ;)

[Dan @ May 9th 2006 5:26AM]

They use Windows in medical devices... now I'm really scared.. Brings more meaning to the blue screen of death.

[Steve @ May 9th 2006 5:32AM]

An FYI to the submitter.

Windows for smart phones, Windows for handhelds ALL RUN ON TOP OF WINDOWS CE.

The Window Mobile team just takes CE and then builds the platform on top of that leaving out any components they don't require and modifying the interface to be more 'mobile' friendly.

So yes, CE is still very relevant and will very much be likely 'prancing about' on your next Windows-based handheld or smartphone as all future releases of Window Mobile will be based on it.

[Stewart Johnson @ May 9th 2006 5:35AM]

It'd be good to do some fact checking before posting!

Windows CE is the architecture technology behind Windows Mobile and Pocket PC -- they're all built on top of Windows CE. You'll likely see a new release of Windows Mobile soon enough built on top of the new Windows CE.

[Thomas Ricker @ May 9th 2006 6:13AM]

Steve and Stewart, Thanks for pointing out the vagueness of the previous post. I have updated above.

Thomas

[Kensai @ May 9th 2006 6:44AM]

Above all the new incarnation should be STABLE!

[Intrepid @ May 9th 2006 7:24AM]

COOL. And to those of you that knock it - try using a Windows Mobile device. They are stable and user friendly and now outsell any other embedded OS.

[Tony Rayo @ May 9th 2006 7:49AM]

*decides to make a life-support machine out of old Dreamcast* HIZZAH!

[Atanas Boev @ May 9th 2006 9:46AM]

There was actually a time when WinCE was killed - I mean not sold as a separate OS. What MS calls a separate OS is a tricky thing, as they claim XP and Tablet XP are "completely completely separate operating systems". (hex diff is around a MB).
But at one point all WinCE pages silently disappeared from MS website. Then it was NEC if I remember, which had brand new "H/PC" device, which suddenly became unsupported by the OS vendor. Then, pages appeared again.
For me as a user WinCE is much more "completely separate" OS from WM than Win98 from XP. I have PPC, I have H/PC (an old HP-720), I have even a WinCE phone (Neonode). Programs are almost completely incompatible;)

[morgan @ May 9th 2006 9:52AM]

#7, Are you kidding me??? I have a t-mobile MDA. It's crashed more in 6 weeks than my sidekick did in 2 years. Everything about windows mobile seems rough, unfinished, and not user friendly. Let's take an already poorly designed OS and cram into a tiny device. Yes, it's flexible, yes there's a lot of stuff out there for it. But for the love of pete, make it stable and do some freakin usability testing for once. But then this is microsoft we're talking about. Usability is job #9...

[JSM @ May 9th 2006 10:33AM]

Gotta agree with #10 - now I've just gotten an xv6700, and I chose it over Treos/blackberry for a reason, BUT, I have had to soft reset it 5 times in 10 days, usually when I try to do things just a little too quickly and it chokes, but several times because it just didn't like a particular email - really living with WinCE is like living with windows - decent usability but frequent resets.

Anyone know whether I will be able to upgrade my 6700 to 6.0 - there was talk of an upgrade path this time but...

[vagrant @ May 10th 2006 2:07AM]

I've got the MDA as well and not one reset. Of course I don't run the T-Mobile ROM on it and have it clocked up to 240Mhz. Battery life is fantastic and the applications are very snappy. I ran Palm for years, the latest was the UX50.(OUch - the price for it hurt when it hit the salesroom floor, but...it was "the" device until the MDA hit.)

Anyways, I'll upgrade my smartphone next year too. Hello CE6.

[dennis @ May 10th 2006 12:40PM]

I'm with morgan and JSM... WinMobile, WinCE, whatever...they all kinda suck and, yes, I get to reboot my phone periodically. (who ever heard of rebooting a PHONE?)

I have Verizon's VX6600 (an HTC handheld running WinMobile 2003) w/ EVDO service and I am forever having to re-enter my password to maintain my EVDO connection and I have to soft reset my phone usually twice a week because it will fail to make a call or pick up a call when its ringing...

The reason for having this over a Treo 650 is my goofy employer won't support the sync piece for Palm anymore (Billware rules here!) and I live in an "IT lockdown" shop where I can't install my own software.

When it works well, the ability to do phone stuff, handheld computing, internet stuff (gmail and google homepage on your phone is sweet!) and so on is really nice. When it gets persnickety, it can be a royal pain in the butt.

It would be really great if someone invested some time, effort and cash into making WinMobile as stable as some people want to claim that it is.

my $0.02 worth...

[Jason Browne, @ Aug 4th 2006 1:46PM]

Hi

I see that your blog covers Windows CE 6. We just started up a new blog yesterday that focuses strictly on CE 6 that you might find interesting…..please stop by.

Thanks!
Jason Browne, platform Engineer Manager