Trying to get some momentum going for the third plank of its operating system strategy, Microsoft Corp yesterday announced it’s shipping version 2.0 of its cut-down Windows CE system software for portable and appliance devices to 10 OEMs. It wheeled out some big CE users such as Dow Jones and the US Marine Corp to provide some words Casio, Hewlett-Packard, NEC and Philips have already said they’ll upgrade their respective devices to 2.0, which includes a slew of enhancements. It supports full color display, connection to local PCs and ISPs through the same LAN, auto-synchronization with PC files and applications now called ActiveSynch, additional security, LAN and WAN wireless connections, GIF, JPEG and audio, plus a ‘pocket’ version of the PowerPoint application enabling mobile users to give presentations. Introduction slides and slide ordering can be changed and slides hidden, providing some flexibility.
