| Special Report: Microsoft previews Windows CE 6 |
May 09, 2006
[Updated May 10] -- Microsoft unveiled a beefier version of Windows CE during a keynote at its annual Mobile & Embedded Developer's Conference (MEDC) in Las Vegas, May 9. Windows CE 6 offers a higher capacity for complex applications, fueling "more intelligent devices that offer advanced multimedia and Web services, and wireless networking," the company claims.
| Update | Microsoft on Nov. 1, 2006 introduced "Windows Embedded CE 6.0." Read our comprehensive coverage here. |
The upgrade sports a redesigned kernel that implements a significant increase in the number of simultaneous application processes, along with increased per-process virtual memory addressability.
Mukund Ghangurde, Microsoft's Group Product Manager for Windows Embedded, told WindowsForDevices that the "redesigned kernel" expands the number of simultaneous processes from 32 to 32,000, while enlarging the virtual memory that is addressable by each process from 64MB to 2GB.
Despite the added functionality, "the footprint of the kernel is pretty much the same as what it was before," Ghangurde said. "The [Windows CE 5.0] kernel is about 300KB in size, and our development team assures us that [the Windows CE 6 kernel] is going to be pretty much in that same ballpark," he added. "Clearly we don't know yet, because there's still development work being done, but our objective is to be very close to that. We realize that for our customers, footprint is very important."
Enabling an open platform
These Windows CE enhancements "create the opportunity for device makers to build devices that are more open and reusable -- devices that can have a wide variety of applications running on them," Ghangurde said.
"If they're devices that are distributed by service providers, let's say, service providers can download applications to devices, and also end users can download their own applications onto the devices," Ghangurde explained. "Products like mobile phones, GPS handhelds, and even set-top boxes would be candidates for devices that could be more open."
"If you look at the devices where Windows CE has traditionally been used, they tend to be closed devices -- think of a heart monitor device, or an industrial control device or robot. You really don't need them to be open, there's not anything available in the form of applications. For anything like a heart monitor, you definitely don't want the end customer to be downloading applications onto that."
Now, however, "we're seeing increasing numbers [of devices] that have that requirement [for openness]." That's really where that increased number of processes come from, he explained.
Ghangurde noted that because Microsoft's Windows Mobile software platform is also based on Windows CE, the newly expanded capabilities of Windows CE 6 will find their way into future releases of Windows Mobile, providing similar benefits for makers of Pocket PCs and Smartphones, among other Windows Mobile-based product categories.
Ghangurde did not offer any hint of when a Windows Mobile 6 based on Windows CE 6 can be expected, however. "At some point in time in the future, you'll see Windows CE 6 be used as a base for the Mobile platform as well," he said.
"[The new capabilities of the Windows CE 6 kernel are] lining up really well with where we see the requirements from OEMs (original equipment manufacturers)," added Ghangurde.
Notwithstanding the major version number change -- from 5.0 to 6 -- Ghangurde was not specific about other bug-fixes, additions, or enhancements associated with the Windows CE 6 kernel and other OS components, beyond the increased number of simultaneous processes and enlarged virtual memory addressability. It seems reasonable to assume, however, that many other changes have also been made to the OS.
"Continuity of most features and functionality"
According to Microsoft's announcement of Windows CE 6, the new OS "provides continuity of most features and functionality from previous generations of Windows CE, allowing device makers to leverage their previous investments in user-interfaces, applications, middleware, and drivers."
Several hundred fully tested components will be provided with Windows CE 6, as was done with Windows CE 5.0, Ghangurde said.
Additionally Windows CE 6 now supports Windows .NET Compact Framework 2.0, the next version of the .NET Compact Framework (CF). Version 2.0 will provide backward compatibility with applications written for .NET CF version 1, according to Ghangurde.
Windows CE 6 "will continue to provide a lot of the features and functions that were available in previous generations of Windows CE," with the result that "OEMs and developers can leverage their investment in Windows CE user interfaces, apps, middleware, and driers into the next generation of devices that they'll be designing," Ghangurde continued.
"This is really going to enable OEMs to build richer devices, and it's going to create opportunities for the entire ecosystem in terms of ways to add value, whether it's through application development, or integration, or training, or support," he added.
 | NMD Feature Pack
(Click for details) |
Windows CE 6 will also support the recently introduced Windows CE Networked Media Device Feature Pack (NMD FP). The free NMD FP targets the rapidly growing consumer DVR/IP-STB market, by equipping Windows CE with a DVR engine, networking capabilities, device drivers, and video codecs typically required to develop consumer NMDs and IP-STBs.
Additionally, like Windows CE 5.0, large portions of Windows CE 6 will be released under Microsoft's Windows CE Shared Source license, which offers "extensive" access to "millions of lines of Windows CE source code," Microsoft said.
Microsoft says its Windows CE shared source program lets developers and device makers "modify and redistribute custom components, while retaining intellectual property rights over the changes they make." The license also "includes a flexible template that lets OEMs create unique, customized user interfaces to further differentiate their devices."
Migrating apps from Windows CE 5.0 to Windows CE 6
Is an application written for Windows CE 5.0 likely to be able to run without modification on Windows CE 6?
"Yes, it likely will be able to run without modification on 6, if it adheres to some of the guidelines that are in the .NET Compact Framework 2.0, [so] it should run without any problems in Windows CE 6, because it'll be the same APIs that were supported in previous versions of Windows CE," Ghangurde replied. ".NET Compact Framework 2.0 can be looked at as a superset of the prior version."
Unifying embedded OS and app development
Another key aspect of the Windows CE 6 release, according to Ghangurde, is that Platform Builder, the Microsoft IDE (integrated development environment) that developers use to customize and configure Windows CE, will now be offered as a plugin for Visual Studio 2005. Visual Studio (VS) is the Microsoft IDE used to develop applications that run on any of Microsoft's Windows OSes, including Windows CE.
The conversion of Platform Builder into a plugin for VS "is significant, because there are millions of developers who are familiar with VS 2005, and now those developers have a single familiar tool with which to develop software for both operating systems and applications," Ghangurde said. So, the ability to integrate Platform Builder directly into Visual Studio creates "one tool for doing both types of development -- and that's pretty significant," he added.
This "[allows] developers to build and debug the entire device solution quickly and easily and all without having to learn two toolsets," resulting in "improv[ed] developer productivity and decreas[ed] product time to market," stated Chris Tacke, a Microsoft "eMVP" (Windows Embedded Most Valuable Professional) and principal partner at OpenNETCF Consulting.
 Happy 10th birthday, Windows CE!
Microsoft also noted that the May 9 release of Windows CE 6 comes on the tenth anniversary of the original introduction of the OS.
"Together with our partners we're excited to celebrate the ten year milestone of Windows CE by offering a new version of our software that will fuel the future of smart connected devices around the world," stated Suzan DelBene, vice president of Microsoft's Mobile & Embedded Devices (MED) division. "Once again, we've improved the technologies and tools we provide developers to speed time-to-market and help to differentiate their products and services."
Availability
Attendees at this week's MEDC 2006 (Mobile & Embedded Developer's Conference) in Las Vegas will receive CDs containing a preview beta of Windows CE 6, Microsoft said. In addition to a beta of Windows CE 6, the kit will include an evaluation copy of Visual Studio 2005.
"The beta will not be available broadly online," Ghangurde added. "We have a select group of customers that we're working with as part of a formal beta program, and then there's the beta that is being provided to the broader community as a way of previewing the software, getting a head start, learning about it, developing strategies, supporting applications, device drivers, etc. For that second group, MEDC is the vehicle for distributing beta CDs."
"After that, the whole team is going to be busy preparing for the final release of Windows CE 6.0, which will be in the September timeframe," he concluded.
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