Predictably, the media continued to gush over Apple's iPhone and agonize over the health of company CEO Steve Jobs. As for Bill Gates, Microsoft's famous co-founder put in his last full-time day at the company in June. Later on, though, he appeared with comedian Jerry Seinfeld for a
couple of TV spots, in what many regarded as a confusing attempt to promote the Windows Vista operating system.
Amidst all this turmoil, Microsoft's "Windows Embedded" software quietly continued to proliferate. Hundreds of new Windows-powered devices reached the market, including smartphones, PMPs (portable media players), miniature projectors, remote controls, e-book readers, GPS gadgets, thin clients, and car infotainment systems. Ironically, given that Microsoft now promotes Windows software with the overall "Life Without Walls" tagline, there's even one Windows Embedded device you can actually walk through (Thermo Scientific's
PM12 Personnel Gamma Portal Monitor).
The biggest tech story was generally agreed to be Intel's release of the Atom processor, described by the chipmaker as "our smallest processor, built with the world's smallest transistors." Built using a 45nm process, the Atom comes in a 13 x 13mm
Z5xx package, or the 22 x 22mm
N270 and
230 versions. Later also offered in a dual-core
330 version, the Atom seemed to be an ingredient in every other new hardware product released during 2008, including thin clients, COMs (computer on modules), POS (point of sale) systems, and a lot more.
In particular, Atom CPUs were an ingredient in the year's hottest product category, the low-cost notebook computers generically known -- to the dismay of trademark holder
Psion Teklogix -- as
netbooks. While barely large enough for adults to type on, netbooks flew off store shelves, as reported by many
market research reports.
So popular were netbooks, in fact, that they provided Windows XP with an extended lease on life as a desktop operating system. Microsoft had planned to phase retail sales of XP out, in favor of Windows Vista -- but, given that Vista's hardware demands are too much for entry-level netbooks, such a move would have left many of them running Linux. Therefore, Microsoft
licensed a version of Windows XP Home Edition to netbook manufacturers. Later, the company also announced that the successor to Windows Vista --
Windows 7 -- would be "netbook friendly."
Back in traditional "embedded" territory, Microsoft was even more active. In April, for example, it released
Windows Mobile 6.1, the latest version of its operating system for smartphones and other mobile devices. The same month, it also announced plans to
rebrand all its embedded operating systems using the "Windows Embedded" moniker. The x86-specific product Windows XP Embedded (XPe), for example, would become known as Windows Embedded Standard, while Windows CE would become known as Windows Embedded Compact.
These plans were fleshed out in June via the announcement of the Windows CE-based
Windows Embedded NavReady 2009, and in October via shipment of
Windows Embedded Standard (WES) to device manufacturers. Among other things, Microsoft also provided new versions of its
.NET Micro Framework development environment for deeply embedded systems.
While Microsoft and Intel were, as ever, key drivers for the embedded industry during 2008, there was a lot more to the year. Smartphones, for example, sprouted screens with resolutions up to 800 x 480 pixels, and gained up to 32GB of flash storage. Next-generation ARM processors were announced that reportedly will provide devices with extended battery life, plus the capability of playing back HD video. And GPS functionality spread to an ever-increasing number of phones and other handheld computers.
To help our readers see 2008 in perspective, we've culled through nearly 1,000 stories published by
WindowsForDevices.com during 2007, and selected approximately 150 that we feel had the most impact. Brief summaries and links to the complete stories are provided in the five categories listed below.
Most Significant Stories for 2008
