News of a delay surfaced in a
DigiTimes.com article published June 21, which stated that a Microsoft spokesman mentioned a first-half 2007 release date in connection with the beta release of Windows CE 6 in the Taiwan market. Microsoft's 2007 fiscal year (FY) begins on July 1, 2006, so the first half of Microsoft's FY 2007 corresponds to the second half of calendar year 2006, which is consistent with a
previously stated expectation of a Windows CE 6 release in the "September timeframe." Subsequent to its initial report,
DigiTimes.com has revised its story.
Windows CE 6 was
introduced during the keynote talk at last month's Mobile & Embedded Developer's Conference (MEDC) in Las Vegas. At that time, Microsoft handed out CDs containing a "preview beta" of the new OS, and shared the following roadmaps for both Windows Embedded and Windows Mobile:
Windows Embedded and Windows Mobile roadmaps
(Click each image to enlarge)The Windows Embedded Roadmap shows the official release of Windows CE 6 arriving in the second half of 2006, followed by a "Windows CE Feature Pack" release roughly a year later. Also noteworthy, is the availability of "Windows Vista with Embedded Restrictions," scheduled for some time next year.
The Windows Mobile roadmap, meanwhile, shows a "Next Operating System Release" scheduled for next year. This next version of Windows Mobile was
revealed in April to be codenamed "Crossbow," and likely to be dubbed "Windows Mobile 5.0 Second Edition" when released, implying that it's an upgrade of the existing Windows Mobile 5.0. "Next Operating System Release + 1," scheduled for sometime in the future, is called "Photon" and is said to be a "more major change." Given the "+1" designation, it will likely become "Windows Mobile 6" when introduced, and presumably is based on Windows CE 6.
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