Microsoft made a keynote announcement at the start at Computex which got lost in the shuffle of all the mighty Slate and Tablet PC’s we saw over the last few days. They announced a new operating system that is more multi-media and wireless based called Windows Embedded Compact 7.
It is an operating system seemingly tailored towards mobile devices such as Slate and Tablet systems, to use in lieu of Windows 7 as the only operating system of choice for developers who do not want an Android based system. It is a lighter version of Windows 7 and stripped down to be ideal with touch screen and smaller mobility devices that do not need the horse power of a true Windows 7 OS.
A press release we looked at had the following;
“The Windows platform creates tangible opportunities for our hardware partners to diversify their product portfolios and deliver rich computing experiences across a broad range of devices,” says Steve Guggenheimer, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s OEM division, “The Windows Embedded Compact 7 (3) toolkit will allow for richer customer experiences on a variety of specialized devices. We look forward to continued collaboration with our hardware partners to bring the very best experiences to customers worldwide.”
Also found on the same press release are some features the new OS Supports;
• Dual Core CPU Support (SMP, ARMv6)
• WIFI Positioning System
• Bluetooth 3.0 + HS
• Cellcore
• DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance)
• DRM technology
• Media Transfer Protocol
• IE8 Rendering Rich Media Plug-Ins
• NDIS 6.1 support
• UX C ++ XAML API using technologies like Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight for attractive and functional user interfaces
• Advance touch and gesture Input
One of the heavy features about this new OS is aimed at consumers, who want a more wireless and multimedia experience, offering the ability to share and manage content across networked devices. In other words, it allows entertainment devices connected to the Internet around your home to share content on the fly. Think about that next time the latest viral video shows up on your favourite streaming website and you want to share it with the family.
You all will be pleased to know that Windows Embedded Compact 7 will also come with a powerful update to Microsoft Internet Explorer, including support for Adobe Flash 10.1, a very basic media player with tons of codecs, easy library management, and seamless integration with Windows 7-based PCs.
The Future of Microsoft’s role as an OEM and Operating system provider may be their entrant point on the emerging Slate PC market. Android is the current OS of choice and 75% of the new Slates showed off here at Computex are all running Google. The Odd men out are a few smaller tablets running Windows 7, and the HP Hurricane running WEB OS. Microsoft currently does not have any plans to develop a Slate or Tablet PC, and with the axing of the Courier Device, it looks like the only way they will capitalize on this boom period of Slate PCS will be to provide the Operating System.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
