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Spotlight On Windows-Powered Gadgets And Gizmos
An anonymous reader writes "WindowsForDevices has published a big article showcasing seventy-three consumer devices that were on display in Microsoft's device expo at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Each device runs Windows CE, Windows Mobile (Pocket PC, Smartphone, etc.), or Windows XP Embedded. A photo and brief description are provided for each. Some cool stuff!"
As neat as some of these inventions are, the logical section of my brain is forced to conclude that this is yet another step in the wrong direction for desktop Linux.
A few years ago, I found an Open-Source project online and just jumped right in. Using the Web interface, IRC, etc., I was able to teach myself proper C++ coding and Linux system software design, which allowed me to realize my dream -- starting my own (Linux) company. Fast forward 12-16 months, and I find myself hounded daily by CFOs, CTOs, and other executives waiting for our bubble to finally bulge into a profitable, hugely influential corporate entity. Unfortunately, it's lack of corporate tie-ins that Microsoft utilizes (abuses?) so frequently which keeps companies like my own down in the basement, while the Microsofts, Nortons, Computer Associates, etc. all help one another and co-sponsor many new projects.
The desktop Linux companies like mine do not network very well. I've had discussions about this with subordinates, but it seems that there are a few issues: 1) Lack of social tact among Linux startups 2) Lack of tie-ins between true GNU/Open-Source/Free Software and the corporate Linux companies such as my own, and 3) Lack of raw capital. While a company like Microsoft has billions at its disposal to pay other companies to develop Windows-only gadgets, startup Linux entities such as my own have little or no pull among hardware vendors. This is readily apparent by reading SourceForge -- roughly 25% of the projects hosted there seem to involve reverse-engineering non-Linux devices. The worst part is that such tactics are usually illegal and can place young hackers in jail just because they wanted to use the Web camera they got for Christmas on their Gentoo/Mandrake machine.
What we need is better alliances, more open communication, and more money (this is capitalism, and unfortunately one thing I've found is that money really does influence people and get things "done" so to speak). Sites like this one (Slashdot) and the OSDNs, Red Hats, and other big players in the Linux market need to support the fledgling companies and give hardware hackers incentive to create new, LINUX-ONLY hardware gadgets that will finally make Linux a viable piece of desktop operating system software for everyday Ma' & Pa' users. The all-to-often heard phrase of "lusers" or "lamers" when referring to people who aren't computer experts is disappointing because with a negative attitude, nothing significant can be accomplished.
So let's keep our heads held high, support one another, and spread the word to both hardware and software vendors about what Linux has to offer -- not only on the server side, which is the only area it's highly popular, but for desktop PC users as well. It may sound silly, but at pep meetings I like to say "Hey guys, remember that we are a TEAM, and Together Everyone Accomplishes More."
Thanks for hearing me out, friends. There are some novel and intriguing ideas proposed above. Let them sink in and don't ever forget it!
Background: 28/M/Bi-Sexual; Owner of a Linux company; MBA Harvard 2003; B.S. Comp Sci MIT 2000
My wife has a Samsung SPH-i700 wireless phone from Verizon Wireless (motto: I am your father, Luke), and while it is a great tool to retrieve email remotely, it is an absolute JOKE as a wireless phone. To make a call, you must tap the start menu, then select "Phone" from the menu. My wife, a relatively small woman, finds the handset clunky and impossible to hold for more than a few minutes, so she uses speakerphone for almost every single conversation. The thing also loves to be tethered to an electrical outlet at every opportunity, battery life is dismal.
People who want to create features for wireless phones need to realize that ringtones in the workplace or in the presence of anyone over 14 make the owner of a ringing phone look asinine, camera phones are for perverts, and that anything that chews batteries generally makes my phone less useful.
Give me a phone that is lightweight, gets decent talk time off a single charge (I'd LOVE to be able to carry my phone an entire work week without charging), and that has features I'll actually use, and I'll be a customer for life.
Give me a PDA with a sorry excuse for a phone built-in, and I'll go find another vendor.
Blogging Weight Loss, Distance Education, and more at verlin.com
Some products (eg the XPDA-9) must be real sincve they appear on the list more than once.
Many of these are more development/experimental devices than real products. Quite a few, eg. Cerfcube run WinCE or Linux.
What is most interesting with WinCE is to see the number of "design losses", rather than design wins. Many products went first generation on WinCE and then were redone on Linux. I have not heard of the reverse, but I expect there might be a few cases.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
One of the contributors over at The Register uses (or did) a Psion. He did an upgrade which required a reboot. Even though he'd had the device for years, and is tech savvy, he did not even know about the little recessed reset switch.
I recently spoke with someone doing fieldwork using an ipaq. They were working in streams etc so decided to use one of those waterproof pods to protect the device. Whenever the unit crashed they'd need to pop the ipaq out of the case to reboot it. Eventually this became such a chore that they tossed the waterproof pod and just took their chances with splashes etc.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
It would be OK. You could SSH into the Linux based billboard, export the display to your Linux laptop and have a field day with it. You could put all kinds of funny text up there. The possibilities are endless! Imagine a gimp made image of your principal with some Brittany Spears nude shots. Man, what I would give to be back in High School. I graduated in 1991, back then we had crap for computers.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land,
it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -James Madison
Anythign that Can Run Windows CE can Run Linux... I am pretty sure You would be pretty hard pressed to find a Platform that Runs Windows CE that allready doesn't have a good working port of linux.
Who needs WiFi when we can have Packet Over Sheep! http://datacomm.org/PoS-InternetDraft.txt
Great so on the embedded version instead of giving you the blue screen (a pretty much constant occurance on XP, according to Bill G. most of their users experience OS crashes 2-3 times a day). The device reboots, even when the error was possibly recoverable. Great.
That means less pictures of blue screens, but the same number of problems, in fact since rebooting at best accomplishes that same as a blue screen the goes away and at worst causes more damage, that means MORE problems.
If the system is in a state where the code that makes it reboot executes properly it's pretty much guaranteed NOT to be in a state where it should be shut down. That would cause severe problems with things like ATM transactions.
Wouldn't be a Compaq (Comcrap) would it? They're the new Packard Bell you know. Crappy shitty bug ridden machines, the company I work for blows through them like toilet paper on a diahrea day.
Seriously though I build machines on a fairly regular basis, I have 4 in use almost constantly in my home and I run support for all the machines I build.
The last time that I, myself, had a BSOD was 4 months ago when I tested a piece of software a customer wanted on their PC (bad shareware - real bad). If my wife or son saw a BSOD they'd freeze in place until someone fixed it. So I'm going on 1 BSOD in the last six months for 10 machines (mine, my 2 work machines, and 4 others I support). So that's well around 99.9999% uptime.
Of course they're getting boring. No knowledgeable Windows user actually gets BSOD's on a regular basis anymore. What you need to understand is that trolls such as those posting these comments are not worth wasting your time on. Just add them to your list of foes and move on.
It's a fact that 99% (possibly more) of BSOD's in modern day Windows operating systems are caused by bad hardware or bad drivers. Third party drivers. Now, the zealots would no doubt argue that a faulty driver shouldn't be able to bring the whole operating system down. Well, this is not a characteristic unique to Windows. Linux cries like a stuck pig over bad drivers, too. At least for Windows, I can find drivers for _all_ my hardware. For that, I'm willing to stand having to dodge a few BSOD's, just like most Linux users have nothing against spending hours tweaking text-based config files getting their systems running properly.
I've never received an unfair metamod for modding down an anti-MS troll, btw, so most Slashdotters (the ones dedicated enough to metamod, anyway) probably agree that BSOD jokes no longer have a place here.
Quality, performance, value; you get only two, and you don't always get to pick.