Hall notes that Windows CE is a "componentized" operating system with about 600 components. Windows Mobile and
Windows Automotive, meanwhile, are specific builds of Windows CE with just the features needed for specific classes of devices.
Windows XP Embedded is also a componentized OS, but with more like 12,000 components, Hall says. It's basically Windows XP Professional with some embedded-enabling features added, such as the Enhanced Write Filter (EWF), which allows XPe to boot from read-only media like flash, and
Hibernate Once Read Many (HORM), which supports fast boot up.
Unlike the other Windows Embedded OSes,
WEPOS is not componentized. Rather, it consists of a specific XPe image that contains standard and special features that are appropriate for point-of-service (POS) applications. Examples of such features are plug-and-play support for barcode and magnetic card readers, receipt printers, and cash drawers. Hall says this allow POS-oriented developers to focus on their application without concern for the underlying hardware.
The final 10 minutes of the video are a demo of building a
Windows CE 6 image. The demo requires popups to be disabled on your browser. It can also be downloaded separately, if necessary.
View the complete video
here.
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