| Microsoft officially releases Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 |
Nov. 14, 2007
Microsoft has officially launched "Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2" at the Embedded Technology Conference 2007 in Yokohama, Japan. Today's announcements included not only a laundry list of new Windows CE features and enhancements, but also "Spark," an initiative designed to cut the cost of CE development for hobbyists and academics.
Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 FeaturesSupport for Remote Desktop Protocol 6.0. RDP 6.0 includes support for Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS), Network Level Authentication, Server Authentication, and 32-bit color graphics.
Support for Microsoft Web Services on Devices (WSDAPI), which is an unmanaged code implementation of the Devices Profile for Web Services (DPWS) protocol standard.
Support for Video over IP telephony calls.
Additional Voice over IP (VoIP) functionality, including a VoIP boot loader application and resources for QVGA landscape mode and QVGA portrait mode user interfaces.
Support for the Pocket Outlook Object Model (POOM) and ActiveSync in the VoIP Home Screen and VoIP Contacts applications.
New sample board support packages (BSPs).
Support for Auto Proxy Configuration Support in Internet Explorer 6 for Windows Embedded CE.
New driver that supports USB CCID Smart Card readers.
Support for Windows Media Player OLE Control Extension (OCX) 7.
New componentized flash driver and new partition driver for the management of flash memory.
Improved Secure Digital (SD) bus driver that supports SDHC specification 2.00 functionality, for example Secure Digital High-Capacity (SDHC) cards.
Sample Serial ATA driver, extended from the ATAPI driver, which supports the Promise PDC40518 SATA card.
Support for pluggable third-party font drivers.
Support for Extended File Allocation Table (ExFAT) and FAT32 on the x86 BIOS Loader, which provides access beyond 2 gigabytes (GB) of hard disk space. |
Most of the new features had already been revealed (see sidebar), both via online release notes and by Windows Embedded General Manager Kevin Dallas. Dallas discussed some specifics of the Windows CE enhancements in his ESC keynote in October, and in a recent interview with our sister publication eWEEK.com.
Dallas is scheduled to deliver a keynote on Nov. 16 at the Yokohama embedded conference, which will be followed by a variety of technical sessions. Microsoft will also offer a CE 6.0 R2 "virtual launch" webcast on Thursday, Nov. 15.
Third-party support
At today's conference, third parties chimed in to provide support for CE 6.0 R2. For example, Monotype Imaging pays homage to the operating system's increasing international reach with an installable font engine, iType.
iType -- which supports OpenType and TrueType fonts -- includes SmartHint technology aimed at ensuring clear display of East Asian text, according to the company. Monotype claims its Chinese SmartHint solution requires 43 percent less memory on a device, compared to standard Chinese TrueType fonts available from the Windows CE kit.
Other announcements came from Adeneo, which said it will create a new board support package (BSP) for CE 6.0 R2. Yarick Chammings, the company's Windows Embedded group manager, said "Adeneo is thrilled to implement Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 ... Now with the full Web Services for Devices API embedded, developers can ... easily establish connections to Windows Vista.
Bill Raasch, vice president of market development at STMicroelectronics, meanwhile, said STM will ship a CE 6.0 R2 BSP for its STi7109 decoder. "This offering will undoubtedly help us in expanding our reach into the set-top market," he said.
Finally, Wyse announced plans to support the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) 6.0. As noted in the table at right, RDP 6.0 includes support for new functionality including Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS), Server Authentication, and 32-bit color graphics.
Spark Initiative
Microsoft revealed a "community-focused" initiative, code-named "Spark," that aims to foster collaborations between Microsoft and select hardware vendors. The initiative is "designed to bring the benefits of embedded development ... to hobbyist developers and the academic community," Microsoft said in a statement.
As part of the initiative, Microsoft says it will begin offering BSP certification at no charge, which will apply to both commercial and non-commercial use. Third-party vendors had previously been charged around $1,500 for each BSP they submitted to Microsoft for certification, according to reports.
Microsoft says it will also bundle its tools and CE 6.0 R2 with third-party hardware reference designs for non-commercial users -- such as hobbyists and academics -- priced at little more than the cost of the hardware alone. Spark will extend "access to the complete set of developer tools, embedded operating systems, and board packages for nonprofessionals to create any kind of embedded device they can imagine," Microsoft says.
Availability and further information
Windows CE 6.0 R2 is downloadable now from Microsoft's website, here, and release notes are available, here.
Those wishing to attend the "virtual launch" of Windows CE 6.0 R2 on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 9:00 AM PST may do so by registering here.
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