Slashdot Mirror
Windows XP Embedded
Embedded Geek writes: "Embedded Systems Programming has a piece
about Microsoft organizing its employees to advocate their embedded products in online newsgroups (part of "a new culture at Microsoft" making "an effort to shed the company's reputation as an incommunicative giant.") This is coordinated with Microsoft's launch of Windows XP Embedded at their Embedded Developers' Conference (the countdown clock on their homepage says Wednesday but the launch party is Thursday)." News.com notes that this will be used in slot machines and ATMs. Insert obligatory free-money joke.
In a S/390?
This space left intentionally blank.
that already is running lots of ATM's out there. Do you ever see a BSOD on a cashpoint - I haven't?
Given the increase in complexity and code size its going to be interesting to see how it goes into devices.
That perception, Microsoft says, is precisely why everyone on the development team of its Talisker embedded operating system now logs hours every week, chatting about the OS in news groups, checking out "bug reports" on a dedicated Web site and meeting with users face-to-face at "plugfests," where they discuss Talisker programming experiences.
Congrats to Microsoft for inventing web based bug tracking. Truly this is a great day for software.
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
While I was at MSFT over the summer, a friend at work asked me why Open Source projects had such a community around them no matter how small they were while it seemed harder for MSFT products to build a community around them (as opposed to users which they had plenty of). He mistakenly assumed that the availability of source code was what built the community which from my minor participation in a number of Open Source projects was incorrect.
The main reason users tend to form a community around Open Source projects is that there is direct communication between the users of the product and the developers of the product without the layer of bullshit introduced by marketing and management. If I post to the dbXML, Scoop or JDEE mailing list, I know I'll get at least one response from an actual developer of the product who will make a solid attempt to solve my problem as opposed to paying umpteen dollars to be put on hold by some pimply faced teenager who probably couldn't code his way out of a paper bag.
While at MSFT I planned to evangelize such a user-centric view of interaction but never got around to doing it on as large a scale as I liked. I did however try my best to make sure that as many questions to the newsgroup of our product were answered by someone at MSFT, if not me then someone whom I felt could answer the question. It looks that finally some like minded people are springing up in other parts of MSFT.
Now I know this probably won't happen..but the mention of ATM got my attention.
Wouldn't the use of and embeded version of XP, which will be used for authentication and disbursement of monies, be an incentive for MS to get people and banks to use it's Passport service for authentication/verification etc?
Think about it. They want to get spending data etc, so this would be the perfect opportunity. Now I'm not bashing MS for making an embeded version of XP.
We all know CE wasn't the best...but still are making money out of it and they can most likely capitalize on XP's new features.
Personally I'd stick w/ whatever was already out there for the banking systems...I trust them more than I do MS.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
The embedded devices market is not all about small and fast. And even where the issue is small and fast, the XP kernel may well prove to have more to offer than many UNIX designs.
There is a wide range of embedded devices, from washing machines to cars, to industrial process machinery. Until recently only a small fraction of those systems had anything as sophisticated as an operating system.
If on the other hand you want to build a next generation audio system you are likely to find that you need an O/S, you need some sort of file system to store your MP3s, you have an ethernet and possibly a WiFi interface to support, you may even support PCMCIA or compactflash. XP has major advantages in that space since you are guaranteed to have a driver available.
The bloatware charge is and always has been bogus. People don't seem to understand that the value of a 3 year old PC is $150 and so there is no particular reason why Microsoft should limit a $100/$200 O/S so that it can run under the constraints of that machine. 512Mb SIMMs are on sale these days for the price of 16Mb SIMMs a couple of years back, nobody actually makes 20Gb 3.5" disks any more, they are too small to bother with.
RAM and disk space are not constrained resources on the PC, so don't expect companies in that space to constrain them in their products. The O/S kernel is kept small because the performance of the machine depends on large parts of it being in primary or secondary cache most of the time.
The features of XP that will be much more relevant to the embedded systems space are its multi-tasking and scheduling control. I don't expect any traditional UNIX kernel to do well there, the UNIX architecture was never designed for and is simply not up to RT tasks. Thats why the RT Linux varieties have major mods to the internals to support features such as guaranteed scheduling etc.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
Most of us have always been like me: when we comment, we acknowledge our association with MS,
... excuse me, cosupport, of a bill that would have banned most free software, not to mention other activities by the RIAA and MPAA as well) of why they are trying to hijack the internet and sqelch the "unorderly" information that has abounded since the formation of the Internet and in particular the world wide web, empowering anyone to speak out and share their opinion and whatever information they may have in a very organic and most unorderly fashion.
ahem. Some of you acknowledge your bias, however many, many of you do not. So much so, and on so many occasions, that Microsoft astroturfing has become a cliche on slashdot, kuro5hin, and numerous other forums.
We need to protect that orderly flow of information.
Which underscores Microsoft's philosophy (and to be fair, others. Let's not forget Disney's cosponsorship
Please, spare us the insult to our intelligence by trying to rewrite Microsoft's most recent history in its interaction with this site, the free software community, and the internet at large. Such flimsy attempts to mislead the public are only amusing for so long and I, for one, grow weary of such nonsense.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
Welcome to WinXP for ATM
Please wait.
Enter your card.
New hardware found! Installing card-reader, please wait.
Please remove card from ATM.
Rebooting...
Welcome to WinXP for ATM
Please wait.
GPF, press "1, Clear + Enter" to reboot.
Rebooting...
Welcome to WinXP for ATM
Please wait.
Scandisk found errors on card-reader.
Enter your card.
Errors on your card have been found. Would you like to create a recovery-card?
"No."
It looks like you have never used this ATM before, would you like to transfer your profile?
"How do you know that?? No!"
You have selected withdraw cash.
Access Denied. Only a user with administrative rights may perform this action.
"F***.. Gimme back my card!"
Unable to remove card, there has been a sharing violation. This card is in use by another user.
"WTF????"
My life is one big siesta in which I'm dreaming I wished my life was one big siesta.