Embedded Beta Slices Up Whistler

By breaking the Whistler operating system into discrete components, and giving embedded system developers control over which components they select, Microsoft is providing embedded system developers with a reduced-footprint operating system that supports existing device drivers and applications. Embedded system developers can use off-the-shelf hardware and well-known development tools and processes, which frees them to focus on the unique aspects of their embedded application, rather than on writing device drivers and other system services.

What Is Whistler Embedded?

Whistler Embedded is a componentized version of Microsoft’s next Windows operating system. Customized configurations of Whistler Embedded, intended for a particular embedded device, can be built on a PC. Rather than running an installation program, an embedded system developer uses Whistler Embedded’s Target Designer to create a custom configuration by first selecting the Whistler components that he needs (including any customized software which can be componentized with the included Component Designer) and then building an operating system image with only those components. Finally, the developer moves that customized operating system image to the target embedded devices.