RSSWindows, Windows Everywhere
By Ed Oswald | Published October 6, 2005, 7:00 PM
These days, Microsoft is no longer content with just being on your computer screen. The largest software company in the world has repositioned Windows to not only become the operating system for home computers, but also for other devices that we use everyday.
"These embedded devices serve a single purpose," Mike Hall, technical product manager for Windows Embedded, told BetaNews. "Things like ATM machines, a point-of-sale system in a retail store, or a traffic control system."
However, it can be difficult to understand exactly what Microsoft is attempting to offer developers. Hall explained the differences between the two operating systems the company offers as part of the Windows Embedded program.
The two platforms are Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded. Their componentized structure provides many benefits to the developer. "[They] can choose which technologies they want in the final operating system image," Hall explained.
The advantage of this approach is a much smaller version of Windows than currently possible with XP. A standard Windows installation could use up to several gigabytes of space, which an Embedded install shrinks the minimum space down to 40 megabytes, and Windows CE as little as 200 kilobytes.
Hall compared the way the two operating systems work to children's building blocks, where the various components can be combined and taken apart to serve an individual need. "It's like Legos," he said.
Each solution targets a different market. Most know Windows CE from its initial start in 1996 as an operating system for handheld devices
But Windows CE is actually several years older than that, beginning in 1993 when Microsoft embarked on its interactive TV project and Microsoft "Pulsar." Pulsar was described by those who knew it to be a "pager on steroids" with smartphone-like functions, however it never got off the ground as research showed the device was ahead of its time.
The miniature version of Windows became the flagship mobile operating system for Redmond until early this decade when it was replaced by Pocket PC and then Windows Mobile 5.0. However, Hall says not to be fooled by the name. "Windows Mobile 5 is based on Windows CE version 5," he explained.
Windows CE is now positioning itself for uses where power consumption may be a concern. "Putting an x86 processor into some of these devices is just not a good idea," Hall explained, saying most of the processors require a great deal of power to run properly.
Microsoft hungers... MORE MARKET. MUST DESTORY iPOD.
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|just what everyone needs, MS OS in all mobile devices....next....cars....fire extinguishers and alarms....medical life supporting implants..... dosent this worry anyone????? i lose sleep over this kinda stuff. ELECTRONICS APPOCALYPSE!!!!!!
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|Windows has been associated with the BSoD [Blue Screen of Death] and other software/hardware failures in comparison to Linux and Mac, so... yes, many a bug would occur in emergency utilities like fire extinguishers and alarm systems. We need electronic law--a prevention of invention into certain fields of medicine/security.
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|Hello.
MS CE OS is in these devices already. BMW Cars, Smart Phones, Media players, Cable Boxes.
Same development environment as windows..
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|read "if cars were like computers" i think its on satirewire
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|MS Cars, you have to randomly pull over cause the car "Crashes"
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|Microsoft owns.
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|... owns everything.
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|True, and only for business situation/psychology reasons.
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|My lunch will never be the same. ;_;
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|200kb eh? I wonder what an OS that small can actually do.
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|The ability to run applications, very important, very powerful, just take a look at dos. 6MB full install with every tool one might need, under 200kb with important functions, drivers, and no compression.
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|kick ass, take names, and chew bubblegum, all in time for lunch... ever play a DreamCast? if you had even tried to utilize it, even if you WERENT a programmer, you would have realized its raw power... any idea what OS it uses? yup, thats right, Windows CE
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|I can see it all now MS Toasters and MS Blenders...you have to activate it every time you use different breads.
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|"Mum, the coffee machine says it needs to update to version 2 named 'Cappuchino'"
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|More kitchen chores coming up. Get up every morning and reboot all the appliances.
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|good solid and very funny sarcasm, probably after the digital apocalypse we might all go back to the good old campfire and have some "real" coffee...remember when "Big Brother" was a far away science fiction fata morgana ? now you can watch your neighbour on his/her roof, sun bathing through "google earth"...pretty soon one will be considered an outlaw if not connected and registered through "The Net"...the future is only as bleak and dim as our own narrowmindedness and fears....woops...time for my update...brb....
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|I wonder what would happen if there was a power outage in the future. Everyone will be walking around like zombies with blank looks on their faces waiting for their wireless connection.
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|Hehehe yeah, that's the one thing everyone seems to ignore. And it's like.. "woah, this new technology is cool and will radically change the way we live and work and...
Wait... what if there's a power outage? The old stuff we used to use didn't fail in a power outage.
Oh... @#$%^. :("
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|All electronics are based on the elemental and physical reliance of the "system." To have the entire structure operate, every critical part of the structure MUST be functioning. Even worse, more often than not, all electronics require power. Better keep a big battery ready.
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|lol@Adrian
In any case, google's doing the same thing...Symantec's doing the same thing, and any big company that isn't, soon will be. It's natural that technology companies progress into other fields, building upon the last one's success.
Silly comments like "this just means there is more places to crash"....aside, Tivo's crash, Scientific Atlantas crash, the point being, anything which has software and an OS running on it, can and probably will crash at some point througout its life cycle, so I mean...your comment itself is moot. Personally, I don't have a problem with MS stuff. I almost prefer it. After, all - no matter what anyone says, they've built an OS which withstands millions of people. Ask a complete tech newbie to setup and run linux, and install realplayer on there...and you'll see just how easy windows is.
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|ASk them to install it on OS X Tiger. See how hard Windows is.
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|Then ask them to burn a friggin' CD.
Windows: Drag files to CD, right-click, select write to Disk. Done.
OSX Tiger: Create burn-folder on desktop, open burn folder, open finder, drag files to burn folder from finder, click "burn", kick the desk because you put the CD in before clicking burn, remove CD, re-insert CD, Name CD, click burn, scream.
Yeah, Mac is *soooo* easy.
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|LOL!
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|Hmm, have you done this?
Sucks to be a Mac user!
Linux: Insert CD, drag files to opened burner window, file -> write to CD, enter a title, burn.
Just as easy as Windows. :-)
Server 2K3?
grumble grumble - Services - enable IMAPI CD burning service, remove cdrom device (only sometimes), REBOOT, drag files to CD, right click, burn.
:-)
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|>> Windows: Drag files to CD, right-click, select write to Disk. Done.
Mmm...makes me want XP. My Win2k certainly doesn't behave like that.
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|..."Then ask them to burn a friggin' CD.
Windows: Drag files to CD, right-click, select write to Disk. Done.
OSX Tiger: Create burn-folder on desktop, open burn folder, open finder, drag files to burn folder from finder, click "burn", kick the desk because you put the CD in before clicking burn, remove CD, re-insert CD, Name CD, click burn, scream."...
HUH! Man oh man, your Mac OS X skills are really lacking... I'll give you the real skinny on burning discs;
1- Insert CD
2- Drag contents to CD
3- Control-Click (or Right-Click), Select "Burn Disc"
4- Eject and Enjoy :-)
How hard is that??!
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|I don't even use the XP built-in CD burning. I've heard bad things about it. I used to use Nero Express (which came with my computer) until it decided to stop burning at 6% all the time for no reason at all and crash. >:( Maybe my CD burner is dying. DeepBurner works fine with it tho.
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|Except you forgot to note that the built in drag-and-drop burning in XP is absolutely horrid and half the time you'll end up with an unreadable coaster. Not to mention if burning on the drive is enabled, inserting any CDR media that's already been burned causes Explorer to go into "Not Responding" mode for about 30 seconds.
Better than nothing though, I guess :)
And to correct the FUD: on a Mac you simply insert the blank CD, drag files to it, drag the CD icon to Burn. That's not too hard is it? And you don't end up with a coaster.
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|Don't use it unless you like to waste discs :)
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|so true, cant wait untill they release osx for normal pc.
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|this just means there is more places to crash.
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|if windows crashed ? that's so ..... you can't believe it
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|very good read, thanks
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|Imagine your Car is a Windows Mobile device...
Windows halt = Brakes mal function = > Crash.
Bye bye.
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|Actually, the BMW 7 Series has run Windows CE for years.
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|"Actually, the BMW 7 Series has run Windows CE for years."
It's a scaled down version of WIN CE 5.0 and it's major function is that of a media controler. Nothing at all to do with brakes.
It is called Windows Automotive 5.0
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|How do you know? I am pretty sure with that commment you are not a BMW engineer. Maybe the media controller is a central database for other functions in the car, and the brakes communicate with the central cotroller unit, which in turn updates status and reports errors from the brake system back to the main computer.. So you are not certain if the brakes are related or not?
The new cars are using a central system, which has to be SOME OS. So why not windows?
Windows is NOT the problem. Its USERS! People don't take simple precautions, and they want to load every damn program just because they are there, that's why Windows Crashes. If you load it, and make sure it works, and keep users away from changing the core components, Windows is every bit as secure as ANY other OS. As soon as you let someone, with just a little bit of knowledge affect how it works, THAT's when you have problems.
The main diff between MS products and everyone else is research. MS has spend the time, money, and feedback on giving people what they want, THAT's what makes Windows great. But they can't control what happens to Windows after a user touches it...
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|"Windows is NOT the problem."
I disagree, as does Microsoft which prompted their security initiative.
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|Yeah man, you're right. It's the programs like rundll32.exe and iexplore.exe that contain all the exploits. :P
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|"How do you know? I am pretty sure with that commment you are not a BMW engineer. Maybe the media controller is a central database for other functions in the car, and the brakes communicate with the central cotroller unit, which in turn updates status and reports errors from the brake system back to the main computer.. So you are not certain if the brakes are related or not?"
Well the fact that a media controller doesn't NEED to have ANYTHING to do with the brakes could have something to do with it. Plus the fact that if it did and it was defective you'd have heard about it from the media 100 times over by now.
I'm sure that someday computers and cars will become more blended, but when that happens, if it's unreliable and dangerous, people won't buy it. And if they do, they're stupid and will die. And then the average world IQ goes up and makes it unlikely to happen again. Then all the smart people left don't buy the product and MS or whoever is forced to improve it or stop developing it. Problem solved and we've rid the world of a few idiots in the process too! (Please note I don't condone murdering idiots.)
I agree with the second half of your post, however. Microsoft has had a bad track record for faulty software, but I do think they have gotten much better in recent years. I was able to run XP for 8 weeks straight at one time, long enough for the uptime variable to turn over and reset to 0. That was fun. :)
At the same time, Microsoft used to be hard pressed to actually FIND a reason to improve their software. They have a virtual monopoly on the x86 OS at the moment.
Hopefully with Apple making it's recent moves and with Linux becoming more popular, MS will be driven to improve and compete just as in every good industry, and the end users will ultimately benefit with higher-quality software.
In the browser realm you can already see it with Firefox and the free Opera. What came on the heels of Firefox? Oh look, a major version update of IE is being developed! See, even diehard IE users got something out of Firefox and Opera!
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|Windows Stinks!!!
No, Mac Stinks!!
Oh No... Windows Stinks!!!
Gets kind of old after the one millionth thread of this.
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|"(Please note I don't condone murdering idiots.)"
I do(in droves, better still, use them for weapon testing), however, beyond that i have to agree with you, sci-fi horror stories of an apocolyptic virus that destroys our culture as we know it, are just that, science FICTION
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|Welcome to the club dude ;)
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|Maybe their radio runs CE, but never the car!
The CPU that controls the ABS (Anti-Lock Brakes), Fuel Injector Pulsing, Timing, Valves, etc. would never run Windows. Even as a joke I would not do this because that is not what it's designed for.
The computers that control cars like Beaners are built just for that specific car. Don't be fooled!
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