Submitted by Yesterday, Microsoft released the first Community Technology Preview release of Windows Embedded Standard 2011, freely downloadable to play with. This is the first Windows Embedded release based on Windows 7, and therefore brings a whole number of Windows 7 technologies to the embedded Windows world. The final release is expected somewhere during the second half of 2010.
Originally, the next Windows Embedded release would be based on Windows Vista, but due to the rather lacklustre public response to this operating system, Microsoft abandoned that idea in favour of a Windows 7-based release – us technical folk know that Windows 7 is an improved Vista anyway.
So, what does this new release bring to the table? It comes with 64bit support, the Aero user interface, support for Windows Touch, and Windows Presentation Foundation. It also includes the latest versions of several regular Windows applications and frameworks, like Windows Media Player 12, Internet Explorer 8, Remote Desktop Protocol 7.0, and .NET Framework 3.5. On top of that, it has full support for Active Directory group policies, and also comes with new power management features which should lead to better battery life.
Note that Windows Embedded is not Windows Mobile; Windows Embedded is a componentised version of Windows-regular, tailor-made for embedded scenarios. OEMs can cherry pick those drivers, services, or parts of Windows needed for their specific devices.
You can download it from Microsoft Connect.
well, i am excited about it anyways. The last XP build was absolutly perfect as far as stability and small foor print, really looking forward to the capabilities of windows 7 being an instal of 300 megs or less (average desktop like install for MS’s embeded stuff).
I was wondering what was happening on the embedded front.
I don’t do that sort of thing much anymore, so I’m not plugged in, but I like to know…
Why can’t Microsoft give us home users the option of using embedded instead of the bloated mess that is their desktop offerings?
Microsoft don’t give it to us, but the option is there if you have no qualms about legal grey areas. I think Windows XP Black Edition, which a friend was using until the 7 RC came out, was based on Embedded.
Embedded was designed for hardware manufacturers (not consumers) and, as the name implies, was intended to be “embedded” in silicon.
Well, duh. What I was asking, essentially, was why the consumer versions of Windows have to be so bloated when they can, and do, make Windows with all its technologies small enough to be an embedded os of moderate size? Sometimes I’m convinced that Microsoft and the various CPU manufacturers are in collusion to force hardware upgrades along every few years.
Um, that’s bogus. Windows 7 doesn’t require any additional hardware beyond what Vista required.
Where is the bloat? the majority of space is being taken by the big cabnet of drivers which Microsoft includes. The only thing missing from the embedded version are the level of driver support included with the base operating system; less services enabled and installed on the assumption that a system integration is not selling a general purpose device.
I know it is ‘cool’ to senselessly bash Microsoft but please, could people raise the bar when entering into critiquing Microsoft’s products – go beyond the pathetic and superficial. There are issues with Windows but don’t get fixated on, “ooh, big number means bad!”.