Pocket PC 2002 Targets Corporations

Hardware manufacturers are now shipping handheld computers based on Microsoft’s Pocket PC (PPC) 2002 software platform. Based on Windows CE 3.0, this new release is targeted squarely at businesses, especially for mobile line-of-business applications and as a wireless communications device for mobile personnel. When used in conjunction with Microsoft’s just-released Mobile Information Server 2002, PPC 2002 lets users read and compose Exchange e-mail offline, then synchronize over-the-air when a wireless connection is reestablished. However, PPC 2002 devices will continue to be a problem for organizations that value centralized configuration and software distribution because the devices themselves lack management agents, and Microsoft has yet to support Windows CE in its systems management tools, such as Systems Management Server. Also, although the PPC platform is important to Microsoft’s .NET vision, PPC 2002 will have to wait for release of the .NET Compact Framework before it can run .NET applications.