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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!"
Does it run linux?
The snow doesn't give a soft white damn whom it touches. -- ee cummings
Now the worlds most hated technology item. can be combined with world's most hated OS!
Each device should be spec'ed with its estimate of MTBR (mean time between reboots).
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.
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an actual quote from one of the devices
"They also wanted to reduce the footprint of their OS image to further harden their OS image from viruses & hackers, just another reason they chose Windows XP Embedded for their device. "
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
While everyone (here at least) would rather see *nix running on these devices, I'm none too suprised that Microsoft is pushing embeded Windows.
Their basic strategy from their inception has been to throw money at a problem untill someone finds a fix. Look at the X-Box (the lack of a Japanese market) or any number of their other projects.
Since Microsoft already has strong ties with most of the vendors, and plenty of money to throw at promoting embeded Windows, it only follows that they will continue to grow in that market.
"See you, space cowboy." -Spike
If you had read the link you posted you would have discovered that the BMW which trapped the minister in his car was a 520. Windows is in the BW 7 series so how was it possible for Windows to have trapped a person in a car without being the OS which controls these systems? Even on the BMW 7, Windows only controls the entertainment, climate, and security controls. If BMW crashes because of an OS problem, you won't be able to finger Windows. Nice try though.
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.
I note that a bunch of these items are not yet shipping, including the Phantom Gaming System that came in 3rd in this years Vaporware Awards
Engineering is the art of compromise.
The difference between a PocketPC Phone Edition and Smartphone is the later is phone first, pda second, the former is pda first, phone second. So do your research and buy the righ tool for the job.
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Is it just me or are these predictable blue screen comments getting boring? I've been using NT4 > Windows 2000 > Windows XP > Windows 2003 for 6 or 7 years now, and I can recollect 4 or 5 blue screens, most of them on NT4 and in all cases running dodgy software. I don't know anyone who does get regular bluescreens on the NT kernel based windows.
I dual booted and installed Redhat 7.1 a few years back and got 2 kernel dumps in 2 days... sure, I probably did something wrong, but the machine was running windows fine.
Read reviews of shopping cart software
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.