Windows Embedded Roadmap

Windows XP Embedded will be updated to include technologies that are important to Microsoft, such as its Silverlight platform for building rich interactive applications, and the Network Access Protection (NAP) client, which will allow devices built on Windows XP Embedded to connect to Windows Server 2008. Also, a new personal navigation device platform based on Windows CE will ship with features such as support for Live Search and MSN Direct. The updates make the two main Windows Embedded OSs more attractive to device manufacturers and developers, but Windows Embedded name changes may obscure the products’ underlying architectures and identities.

Windows Embedded Standard 2009

Windows XP Embedded, which will be renamed Windows Embedded Standard 2009, will be updated to include the updates released as Windows XP SP3. In the process, it will gain several new components that are strategic to Microsoft, including the following:

Silverlight 1.0, a cross-browser and cross-platform plug-in for delivering audio and video. Silverlight 1.0, which was announced in Apr. 2007 and shipped in Sept. 2007, is focused on the most widespread use of Adobe’s Flash: Web video. (Silverlight 2.0, which was announced at the same time as version 1.0, adds a cross-platform version of the .NET Framework and makes Silverlight a general-purpose platform for rich interactive applications [RIAs]. It is not included in Windows XP Embedded Standard 2009, but will probably be added to a later version of this embedded OS.)