Embedded Kit Ships New Windows CE

Designers of custom devices can now purchase Windows Embedded CE 6.0, a catalog of OS components and tools that enable developers to create custom OS images for devices such as handheld data terminals. This release introduces a new Windows CE kernel that will better support devices that run multiple complex applications at the same time, such as a combination phone and media player. However, the kernel changes also affect backward compatibility and may affect performance.

A Platform for Diverse Networked Devices

Windows CE is a real-time, Windows-like OS intended for devices that have strict constraints on processing, memory, or power resources. Like any commercial embedded OS, Windows CE is most attractive for devices that require complex software (such as a network stack or GUI system) that would be expensive to develop in-house.

Windows Embedded CE (formerly called Windows CE Embedded and the Windows CE Embedded Toolkit, among other names) delivers a catalog of Windows CE OS components from which device developers can create a custom OS image for a particular device. Windows Embedded CE also delivers Platform Builder, a set of tools for developing custom OS components and applications, incorporating them into OS images, and debugging the resulting images on real or simulated hardware.