| Working with Windows®CE |
(July, 1999) |
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Digital recently completed an SI contract* with Microsoft and I went to Microsoft's USA headquarters in Redmond, Washington to have meetings with four Microsoft employees.
These four are in charge of creating strategic plans in manufacturing fields. They have created strategies for Windows DNA and also are reporting to the Windows®CE account director, program manager, and SI secretary general, as well as others. Here, I will summarize our discussions.
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| Windows®CE's most popular features are: |
| (1) |
That application development can be performed using a WindowsNT® environment.
(Many software engineers are accustomed to developing programs in Windows environments.) |
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| (2) |
New programs can be added easily to an application that has been created via a packaged software.
(In this case, however, program(s) must be added in the Windows®CE environment.) |
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| (3) |
Any Windows system's data can be used on another Windows system. |
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| (4) |
Windows®CE is likely to be used as on-site information terminal to access web pages on Internet/Intranet, as well as from the on-site servers.
(Windows CE Version 2.12 has IE (= Internet Explorer)'s functions.) |
The major difference between Windows®CE versions 2.11/2.12 and version 3.0 is that they have different interrupt environments, i.e. whether or not they provide real time performance. Other than this, these versions have essentially the same functionality.
Windows®CE version 2.11/2.12's operation speeds will vary drastically depending on the BIOS headless conditions.
Therefore, setting up the usage environment according to each market and adjusting each BIOS, driver, and application size optimally for the basic kernel size of 256KB, the optimal OS environment can be obtained.
To organize the many types of user software development environments, Visual C, Visual Basic, and Visual JAVA are provided. However, the versions of these programs are different from those used for Windows®95/Windows®98/WindowsNT®.
These points and others show us just how different CE is from Windows®95, Windows®98, and WindowsNT®.
However, we talked at the meetings about the large number of customers who are still thinking that applications that can operate on the Windows®95/Windows®98/WindowsNT® can also operate on the Windows®CE. Also, we noted that many users are still concerned about using a Windows system as a control-related OS.
In the future, we believe that a careful study of hardware specifications is required, since a Windows®CE control application's operating environment is different from that of Windows®CE used as an HMI application. In addition, when using Windows®CE as a PLC, the size of the BIOS used can be reduced by setting up Windows®CE according to the PLC's OS specifications. Furthermore, compact PCI buses are expected to be released soon for PLCs.
We also talked about the future strategies for the Japanese market. We at Digital feel that we must now educate our customers about Windows®CE's OS being dependent on the hardware used, and that it is different from the hardware independent Windows®95/Windows®98/WindowsNT® OSs.
I would also like to suggest that you read the book "BILL GATES BUSINESS@THE SPEED OF THOUGHT" written by Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft. Microsoft's employees told me that this book explains the basic concepts used to create the digital nervous system, or "Windows DNA". |
Masashi Murakami, Sub-chief of the Product Planning Department
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* To provide solutions that completely cover our panel computer's Windows operating environment in the FA field, Digital concluded a Windows CE system integrator agreement with Microsoft. |
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