Windows CE 6 beta boasts a redesigned OS kernel architecture, expanded capacity for simultaneous processes and a new integrated tool set. Microsoft said these features would help device makers more quickly create devices, such as IP set-top boxes and GPS-based mobile phones and PDAs, which support more applications for high-demand categories.
Windows CE 6 also has a plug-in for Visual Studio 2005, which gives developers a single tool to develop both operating systems and applications, Microsoft said.
With Windows CE 6, not only do we now have a single unified tool that allows us to develop software for embedded operating systems and applications, we have a more powerful and flexible kernel that serves as a platform for next-generation device requirements, said Chris Tacke, principal partner at OpenNETCF Consulting LLC, who doubles as a Windows Embedded ‘Most Valuable Professional.’
These two features alone allow developers to build and debug the entire device solution quickly and easily, and all without having to learn two tool sets, he said, in a statement.
The new OS kernel architecture supports significantly more simultaneously running processors, from 32 up to 32,000, each of which runs in a 2GB virtual memory address space, Microsoft said. This allows developers to incorporate larger numbers of more complex applications into more devices that offer advanced multimedia and Web services and wireless networking.
And Windows CE 6 is backward compatible with older versions. It also builds on Microsoft’s Shared Source Initiative, which gives devs access to millions of lines of CE source code, said the company. Devs and device makers can modify and distribute custom components within their CE-based products.
Intel Corp said it would continue to work with Microsoft to boost the performance of CE- and Intel XScale-based technology. We continue that collaboration with Intel’s third-generation Intel XScale technology-based processor family, code- named ‘Monahans,’ and Windows CE 6, said Barry Evans, general manager of Intel’s applications processor business unit.
