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Now, however, Microsoft is also providing another option: the Windows Update tool that is already familiar to users of standard desktop editions of Windows. According to the company, OEM's can include Windows Update in Windows Embedded Standard 7 images, configuring the tool to allow applicable embedded updates to be downloaded to a device. Only embedded update packages can be applied, not those intended for regular Windows desktops, the company adds.
Microsoft says that as of today, Windows Update for Windows Embedded Standard 7 is live. Those who have included the tool in OS images will be receiving two non-operational test updates, "Test Update 1" and "Test Update 2," according to a posting that appeared this morning on the Windows Embedded Standard blog.
Program Manager Paraq Garg writes that Test Update 1 will be presented as an Important Update, which, if a device is so configured, will be downloaded and installed automatically. Test Update 2 will be presented as an Optional Update (below), requiring user input to be installed onto a system. As the screen above shows, however, today's test updates are just a few kilobytes in size, and make no actual changes to a device.
According to Garg, Windows Update is a Feature Package available in the Windows Embedded Standard Toolkit. It may be enabled by selecting the Windows Update User Interface package found in the ICE (image configuration editor) and IBW (image builder wizard), he adds.
When Windows Update has been installed on an embedded device, a screen comes up for Protect My PC during the Windows Out of Box Experience (OOBE), Garg writes. On this screen, he adds, if a user selects the first or second box, Windows Update will be enabled and updates will automatically be downloaded and installed on the device. "Use recommended settings" will install important and recommended updates. "Install important updates only" will download and install updates that are published as important updates.
Windows Embedded Standard 7
Like the previous Windows Embedded Standard 2009, Windows Embedded Standard 7 -- codenamed "Quebec" during its initial development -- is "componentized," letting developers create an OS on their devices with only the drivers, services, and applications they need. Unlike Windows Embedded Standard 2009, which was based on Windows XP, Windows Embedded Standard 7 is based on Windows 7, and is available in both 32- and 64-bit versions, according to Microsoft.
While Microsoft had provided no formal release date for Quebec, promising only that it would be available "within a number of quarters" after Windows 7's release, it made the first downloadable beta (or CTP, to use Redmond's preferred nomenclature) available on Sept. 1, 2009, in advance even of Windows 7's retail debut. The second beta, CTP2, became available not long after, on Nov. 20. Finally, Microsoft unveiled the release candidate last month, also announcing the Windows Embedded Standard 7 moniker for what had been called Windows Embedded Standard 2011.
According to Microsoft, Windows Embedded Standard 7 "delivers the power, familiarity and reliability of the Windows 7 operating system in a highly customizable and componentized form, enabling OEMs in industrial automation, entertainment, consumer electronics and other markets to focus on their core competencies and create product differentiation."
Touting "familiar, easy-to-use development tools and embedded-enabling features," the company adds that the OS will reduce development costs and increase speed to market for thin-client, point-of-service (POS), kiosk, medical, multifunction printers, and other devices.
Key Windows Embedded Standard 7 features highlighted by the company include the following:
Microsoft says the Windows Embedded Standard RC is being provided as five download packages, as follows:
Further information
According to Garg's posting, the only functional updates for Windows Embedded Standard 7 that will be pushed onto Windows Update will be security updates. More details can be found on the Windows Embedded Standard blog, here.
