Windows CE 6.0 R2 adds several new components that make it easier to build products that connect to the Web, to PCs, and to other devices. The R2 update does not change the core kernel or architecture, so manufacturers should find it fairly easy to upgrade their devices to take advantage of the new capabilities. Meanwhile, despite Vista having shipped in Dec. 2006, Windows XP continues to live on in the embedded space—a 2008 update to Windows XP Embedded will include the .NET Framework 3.0 along with bug fixes from Windows XP SP3, and an embedded version of Vista is not due until 2009 or 2010.

CE Gets R2

Windows CE 6.0 introduced a new kernel that allowed for a larger number of running applications and services, along with support for more memory. But the new architecture also brought some compatibility problems, particularly for device drivers and some low-level applications that rely on the kernel. Unlike that release, R2 is limited to adding new and updated components to the current kernel.

Some of the new components in the R2 release include the following:

Web Services for Devices. With R2, Windows CE supports a number of Web services protocols designed to help PCs and devices discover each other, communicate securely with each other, and send and receive notifications. The supported protocols are part of a standard known as Devices Profile for Web Services (DPWS) and implemented in Windows Vista as part of the Windows Rally initiative. (Microsoft calls its implementation on Windows CE "Web Services for Devices.") The protocols could help manufacturers create devices, such as digital picture frames, that automatically find a PC or other device and exchange information, such as locating family photos and automatically displaying them. DPWS is meant to be a successor to Universal Plug and Play, although it is based on entirely different technologies.

Updated media support in IE. R2 includes an update to the Windows Media control used to play video in Internet Explorer (IE). The new control, version 7.0, is based on the one used in the desktop versions of IE and makes it easier for devices to access online video using the same server infrastructure as desktop clients.

Updated terminal services support. R2 supports Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) 6.0, the latest version of the protocol used to allow PC and other devices to access desktop applications running on a server. RDP 6.0 is already included in Windows Vista, is available as a download to Windows XP SP2, and will be part of Windows Server 2008.

Video calling. Windows CE's existing support for Voice over IP (VoIP) has been extended to include making and receiving one-to-one video telephony calls. In addition, device manufacturers can now create VoIP devices that offer a 320-by-240 pixel screen in either portrait or landscape mode and can customize the appearance of the user interface by applying skins or modifying the layout.

New drivers. R2 is updated to support serial ATA hard drive connections, as well as including new board support packages (collections of Windows CE components and drivers for a specific processor and related hardware).

Pluggable font engine. R2 allows manufacturers to replace the existing Windows font-rendering engine. This is particularly important to manufacturers creating CE-based printers for the Asian market because some third parties offer font-rendering technologies that are more memory-efficient with complex Asian character sets.

Vista Embedded Out to 2009

Windows CE is not Microsoft's only embedded product—the company also offers a componentized version of its desktop OS for building more full-featured devices that aren't power constrained, or that need to run unmodified Windows applications.

Although Windows Vista shipped in Dec. 2006, a componentized version will not come until 2009 or 2010, which is after the next desktop OS, code-named Windows 7, is expected. In the meantime, Windows XP Embedded will gain some improvements, including the latest version of the .NET Framework, version 3.0. Microsoft has also indicated that XP Embedded could be updated to include some features or components from Windows 7, but the contents of Windows 7 are as yet unknown, making it impossible to predict precisely what improvements XP Embedded will see.

The delay between the release of the desktop and embedded versions of Windows Vista is unusual: the initial release of XP Embedded trailed the desktop version by only one month, and the SP2 release trailed by less than 90 days. There are several reasons for the long lag time between the release of the desktop edition and an embedded version, including the following:

Lack of demand. Vista has much steeper hardware requirements than Windows XP, putting it beyond the reach of most embedded devices. Furthermore, many of Vista's new features, such as the Aero user interface, are of little interest to device manufacturers. For those that do want to use Vista, Microsoft provides special licensing terms that allow them to use the normal Vista OS to create specialized devices.

Componentization reset. The key task in creating an embedded version of Windows is to produce a componentized version—one that lets developers choose the parts of the OS that they want to include. The long delay suggests that Vista's changes to the underlying architecture of Windows effectively forced a restart to the componentization required for the embedded edition.

Resources

The architecture of Windows CE 6.0 is described in "Embedded Kit Ships New Windows CE" on page 7 of the Dec. 2006 Update.