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Windows CE 6 Arrives Complete with Kernel Source
An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft has launched the sixth edition of their embedded OS Windows CE and this time has included the full source. From the article: 'Developers can now access shared source code for the Windows CE kernel -- as well as certain device drivers and application-level components -- directly from within the Windows Embedded CE 6.0 distribution package. To do this, they click on a function in the IDE that installs the shared source, and indicate their acceptance of the associated shared source license.'"
We do a lot of embedded linux projects - mainly custom boards, done around some sort of ARM chip with standard connectivity - LCD, ethernet, or wireless options.
My company invested a lot of time in implementing and setting up our own toolchain and utilities, support libraries etc around the linux kernel. What we end up with is a redistributable result with no liscencing whatsoever.
Of course, it requires you be able to work to produce a flash image and toolchain. Once that pain is dealt with..and there is pain, a lot of it on a custom board.. then you're free to do whatever you want.
x1000's, people count pennies, and WinCE is not pennies.
..don't panic
Hmmm...
;) Who better than the Open Source community?
This must mean Windows CE has some flaws their developpers can't figure out.
``CE 6.0 supports up to 32,000 processes with 2 GB of virtual memory per process, versus CE 5.0's maximum of 32 processes having a maximum of 32 MB virtual memory each
That's a huge leap.
What kind of portable or industrial machine is going to need those kinds of capabilities, much less have the onboard hardware to fully utilize 'em?''
At any rate, 32 processes and 32 MB per process clearly doesn't cut it anymore. It's about time they lifted those limitations.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
!(I'm sure this will help make Diebold machines much more secure.)
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Seriously, I'm sure this may not be under exactly a GPL license but rather a MS derivative. Nevertheless it can prove very useful for a large number of embedded device developers. Heck, I've been more impressed by developing for their late Windows CE operating systems than doing the same for Windows XP. :-P Windows CE 6 seem to be an OS that can truly do a heck of a lot of things for the hardware it's running on, and I'll be damned if it isn't a more impressive craftmanship than Vista...
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I see the moderators are giving points to anyone with a keyboard these days...
A few minor corrections:
- Platform Builder doesn't cost $3,000. It costs $995. And that's after a 120-day free eval.
- PB used to be its own toolchain and IDE. Now it's been integrated into VS2005. (I'm not sure how MS plans on doing the eval, though my beta was good for 180 days.)
- WinCE core licenses (no Pocket IE, no Media Player) are about $3. Upgrading to Professional (including both IE and WMP) bump it up to about $13. This is actually *less* than an MS-DOS license.
- "enough code to flash CE 6 onto a CE 5 device" Uh, what are you talking about?
- Windows Mobile, which is a customer of the Windows CE group, is what your mobile handheld device runs. It's its own OS. So you're not just going to "drop the new kernel" in there. Most PDA OEM's, from what I've heard, aren't going to support a CE5 -> CE6 upgrade.
Have fun: Join D.N.A. (National Dyslexics Association)
From TFA: The opening up of Windows CE's kernel source code is likely to make Windows CE more attractive as an alternative to Linux in many embedded applications and devices that require substantial customization of the OS, or where source code availability has been mandated by the development team. Additionally, Microsoft touts the terms of its BSD-like shared source license as being preferred by many device and equipment manufacturers that don't want to be compelled to make their OS customizations public and available to their competitors.
On the other hand, following a long to an older article, I read: In terms of impact to Microsoft's Windows CE Shared Source and Shared Platforms initiatives, Windows Embedded product manager Nic Sagez told WindowsForDevices.com that these programs are not migrating to the new licenses any time soon. However, Sagez did not rule out the possibility of a longer term change, based on customer feedback and market requirements.
Back to TFA: For the first time, Microsoft is making 100 percent of the source code of the Windows CE kernel available as part of the Windows Embedded CE 6.0 operating system package, to everyone who gets the OS package.... but nowhere does it explain just which of the many licenses described in the earlier article is actually being used. It seems disingenuous to "touts the terms of its BSD-like shared source license" if the license it's using isn't BSD-like... and, clearly, it's not:
Developers and companies are permitted to use the evaluation version to begin their projects, and need not pay anything to Microsoft until the time limit expires, after which a non-evaluation version is available for $995 -- or when they begin to ship product that requires run-time royalties, Microsoft says.
Run-time royalties? BSD-like license? Please!
Wow, you both seem to be trolling. The Microsoft Shared Source Licenses are actually quite simple to read and easy to understand. The GPL is actually far more complex, imho.