History of Windows CE
Windows of the future: Polaris, C-Shell and Windows Core OS
Throughout its existence, Microsoft has repeatedly tried to enter a market other than the computer market. And over the entire existence of the company, a huge number of projects have accumulated that immediately turned out to be unsuccessful or did not last long. The only exception was the story with Xbox.
It should be noted that there were some very interesting attempts. For example, with Windows CE. This operating system was very similar to Microsoft’s most famous creation: Windows, but it had its own differences. It was assumed that everything except computers would run on this mobile OS. Windows CE existed for quite a long time, but in the end this OS never became widely known. Moreover, it began to be seen as a threat to Windows itself.
Why? Let’s talk.
The beginning of the way
Microsoft began studying the mobile device market in 1990. Two years later, the company officially announced the start of work on the Windows CE (Compact Edition / Compact Embedded) project. Development was slow: the OS was created separately from the user interface. In addition, Microsoft was scattering its forces: based on early developments and the already existing Windows 95, two projects Pulsar and WinPad were developed in parallel.
The WinPad project was supposed to be something completely new for users accustomed to standard Windows controls. Pressure-sensitive screens, handwriting recognition, and other features not required on a desktop computer. Such serious companies as Compaq, NEC, Motorola, Sharp were involved in the project. Early versions of WinPad were included in betas of Windows 95 (then Chicago) to synchronize devices based on it with “large” computers. This mobile OS was based on a stripped-down Windows 3.1, and it was supposed to run primarily on devices with Intel Polar processors. But it was not possible to complete the project.
The reason for the failure was declared to be the insufficient readiness of the existing hardware base. At that time, 32-bit processors were just beginning their triumphant march as part of desktop computers. There was no talk about the availability of power in mobile devices. It is believed that the main mistake was the attempt to use Windows code without significant rework. Perhaps the company was hoping for rapid development in the hardware capabilities of wearable devices. In 1994, the project was closed.
In the case of the Pulsar, the concept of a wireless, all-in-one device with rudimentary input functions (control via a few buttons) and an architecture completely different from a desktop computer was promoted, but again it proved to be too innovative. After evaluating the research results, Microsoft decided to abandon the idea of creating such a device.
The issue of entering the mobile device market has received a lot of attention. Microsoft executives wanted companies and consumers to see Windows as ubiquitous and not just a desktop operating system. A kind of Windows ecosystem.
The marketing idea for Windows CE was to “relieve users from having to learn an entirely new paradigm.” Note that the concept of a laptop computer, which was like a continuation of a desktop PC, was new and unusual for other computer manufacturers of that time.
Mobile OS
Technical difficulties and the high cost of production became the reason to disband the Pulsar and WinPad divisions and create a new project: Pegasus. The first development provided a good hardware base, and the second – 32-bit code for RISC processors. Work began to boil with renewed vigor, and by 1995 intermediate versions of Windows Pegasus appeared. The OS code was written taking into account the architecture features of mobile devices. There were strict restrictions on the use of certain hardware, which made it possible to solve the problem of power consumption, which became a stumbling block for the WinPad. Data synchronization with a desktop computer was carried out using a separate program, H/PC Explorer.
Windows CE 1.0 was introduced on September 17, 1996. The first computers that worked with it appeared towards the end of the year. Windows CE was essentially a stripped-down version of Windows 95. This was great and terrible simultaneously. Good – because consumers received a familiar work environment. Bad – because many functions were inconvenient or unnecessary, and the interface was overloaded.
The first version of Windows CE was a multi-tasking, multi-threaded and multi-platform OS with real-time support. About 600 components were available to developers, using which they could create their own operating system images that included only the functionality necessary for a given device.
Windows CE was originally designed to be compatible with universal Windows operating systems. Therefore, the kernel and components of the first version of Windows CE were largely unified with the kernel and components of the Windows NT family of desktop operating systems.
Windows CE was optimized for devices with a minimum amount of memory: the kernel could run on 32 KB of memory. With a graphical interface (GWES), Windows CE required 5 MB to run. The devices often had no disk storage and were designed as “closed” devices, with no user expandability (for example, the OS could be “hardwired” into ROM).
Windows CE provided application developers with a set of APIs based on the standard Win32 API and supplemented by a specialized API for embedded devices. Since CE only supported part of the Win32 API and had certain specifics related to the embedded nature of the OS, applications written for desktop versions of the Windows operating system may require additional adaptation and modification to run them on embedded devices. In any case, programs needed to be recompiled to run on the device.
It must be said that Windows CE was a fairly functional OS, but very demanding in terms of hardware performance. To implement everything in hardware, Microsoft announced the Palm-Size PC platform (“Palm-sized Personal Computer”). The hardware of the devices was built on the basis of RISC processors with SuperH (SH3) or MIPS architecture.
Palm-size PC devices had a good display with a resolution of 320×240 pixels. The interface resembled Windows desktop. Well, in general, in terms of performance, Palm-size PC devices were better than Palm OS devices. However, performance added size and weight. And PDAs based on Windows CE were more expensive, although they were inferior in terms of autonomy to Palm devices.
Collaboration with Casio, Compaq, HP, LG Electronics (formerly GoldStar), NEC and Philips allowed us to quickly release several different devices, such as HP 300LX, Philips Velo1, NEC MobilePro 400, Cassiopeia A10, Compaq C120, LG Phenom GP40M. In total, the company managed to sell about half a million devices with Windows CE 1.
This was facilitated by the introduction of the OS into retail equipment. Perhaps 5-10 years ago you paid attention to the interface of a point-of-sale terminal or barcode scanner that was used in stores. The clunky, sometimes pistol-shaped devices ran Windows CE.
Despite Microsoft’s apparent success, the Palm Pilot, released around the same time, was much more successful. It was lighter, and even without a keyboard. Palm used the Graffiti handwriting recognition system. Instead of trying (and failing due to 1990s technical limitations) to decipher a person’s actual handwriting, Graffiti forced consumers to learn a simplified alphabet where each letter could be written with a single stroke. This not only made text input more reliable, but also allowed Palm to create a compact device with a large touchscreen, not unlike modern phones.
The stark contrast between the heavy Windows devices with clunky interfaces and the more usable Palm devices led to the fact that only NEC and Casio used Windows CE on their devices, occupying just over 3% of the total market share. And Palm shipped more than 360,000 devices, capturing more than half the market.
The battle may be lost, but the war is not lost
Having lost to Palm in the first battle, Microsoft did not give up. Already in 1997, a version of Windows CE with serial number 2 was published (codenamed Mercury; interestingly, on the official Microsoft website the history of Windows CE only dates back to version 2.1 – Birch SP1). Such haste raised a wave of rumors that the first version of Windows CE was nothing more than a beta, and the second differs from it only in bug fixes. But in reality, the OS kernel underwent major changes during the transition.
The list of processors on which Windows CE 2.0 could run included two dozen models, including Intel x86 (486, Pentium), NEC VR4x0x (MIPS), Hitachi SH3/SH4, AMD Elan SC400, IBM PPC 4036C, Motorola PowerPC 82x and other. In reality, manufacturers only used MIPS and SH3.
The OS was able to work with network adapters, modems, VGA screens, expansion connectors with PCMCIA and CompactFlash interfaces, and other peripherals. The bundled software has undergone noticeable changes: Pocket Access and PowerPoint have appeared. Based on Windows CE 2.0, the Casio E-10, Philips Nino 210/300, Everex Freestyle, Palmax PD-300 and a dozen more PDAs were released, some of which are still operational.
With version 2.10, support for TCP/IP, FAT32 file system, fast infra-red (with transfer speeds of up to four Mbit/s), and USB bus (slave only) appeared. Manufacturers immediately began to release new models: Casio Cassiopeia E-100, Compaq Aero 1530/21xx, HP Jornada 420/430SE, Philips Nino 500.
Update 2.11 for Handheld PC introduced one interesting feature: working on a PDA with Microsoft Word and Excel files without additional transformations. This functionality will disappear from future releases of software for Windows CE, but will appear in its main competitor – Palm OS (in the form of Documents To Go).
There have been interesting attempts to make Windows CE marketable. For example, in 1998, Microsoft released the Windows CE Toolkit for the Dreamcast. Sega and Microsoft agreed that Microsoft would provide an optimized version of the Windows CE operating system with integrated DirectX services as the OS for use with the Dreamcast.
The collaboration was intended to allow developers to use the same tools and instruction sets to create games for both Windows and the Dreamcast. However, of the over 600 games officially made for the Dreamcast, only 78 used Microsoft’s game development option. For example, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, ported to the Dreamcast in May 2000, failed to make it to market due to “lack of experience” on the port team and “issues associated with using Windows CE.”
The latest update to the 2.x line was version 2.12. Not a single device supporting this OS was released – manufacturers were waiting for the first digit of the version to be changed.
Work on the mobile version of Windows was carried out together until 2000. In the new millennium, Windows CE has become a true mobile platform. The third version of Windows CE, codenamed Cedar, appeared in June 2000, and it became the basis for the Pocket PC 2000/2002, Handheld PC 2000 and Smartphone 2002 platforms. In these OS, the developers implemented a basic set of programs for working outside the office, some entertainment applications and wireless connection modules. It is important to emphasize the difference between the Windows CE OS kernel and a specific delivery package, which may include various add-ons. Microsoft has released solutions for keyboard (handheld) and keyboardless (Pocket PC) devices, as well as an automotive version (CE for Automotive, October 2000). The list of supported processor architectures has been reduced to ARM, SH3 and MIPS.
Subsequently, based on the Windows CE 3.0 kernel, Microsoft released modifications Pocket PC 2002 (Merlin, October 2001), CE for Automotive 3.0 (December 2001), Smartphone 2002 (Stinger). These versions were only functional on ARM architecture processors (Intel StrongARM, Intel XScale). The corporation did not develop the handheld direction, considering this area to be in little demand.
2003 was a year of dramatic changes, Windows CE and developments based on it became history, and the first Windows Mobile was introduced to the world. In addition to the previous features, Windows Mobile 2003 added L2TP/IPsec VPN, the option to send SMS in response to a call in Phone Edition, the Jawbreaker game, a special application for viewing, editing and sending pictures, and Bluetooth support was also improved.
OS that dilutes the brand
Windows CE could run on a large number of devices, mostly incompatible with each other at both the software and hardware levels. This was not bad, but within Microsoft there was an attempt to rethink the development strategy and return Windows CE to its original direction.
One Windows CE executive suggested keeping the original system for use only in PDAs, abandoning its other varieties, and then creating a division within Microsoft that would work on creating specialized embedded software for mobile phones. Gates rejected the idea.
In 2000, Microsoft released an updated version of the handheld. The new platform, called Pocket PC, lost several desktop interface concepts that didn’t make sense on small screens (like the taskbar) or on any device that would fit in a pocket (double-tap to activate an icon). The appearance of the system has also been optimized: bezels have disappeared and toolbar icons have been smoothed out. Visually, the system was still inspired by Windows, but the sense that the developers were trying to cram as many desktop elements as possible into the 3.5-inch screen was not as obvious as before.
The release of the Pocket PC in April 2000 marked the point at which Microsoft began to move the Windows CE brand out of consumer view. The platform, as well as its “sibling” Handheld PC 2000 and its later offshoot Smartphone 2002, were still based on Windows CE. But the devices were released with a different name: Microsoft Windows Powered Pocket PC.
The abandonment of the Windows CE brand was explained a week after the launch of Pocket PC. It turned out that this was part of a realignment within Microsoft, where the divisions responsible for Windows CE and embedded versions of desktop Windows were combined into one team. According to a Microsoft press release, the new “Windows Powered” brand was intended to “simplify and unify all Microsoft embedded and hardware solutions.”
Fears that Windows CE was “diluting” Microsoft were fueled in part by feedback from salespeople who complained that people wanted to buy light, thin, instant-on devices rather than laptops running the regular Windows operating system, like “H/ PC ” PDAs that ran Windows. CE.
Windows didn’t return to mobile operating systems in earnest until 2005, when the Pocket PC and smartphone platforms were partially combined into “Windows Mobile”. The name Windows Powered remains little known. Only five years later something relatively famous appeared: Windows Phone 7 OS.
The end of the story
2012 marked the end of Windows CE as a system with which Microsoft wanted to create consumer products. Windows Phone 8 received the same kernel as desktop Windows. The move brings the company closer to the vision it had in 1994 and announced with the first version of Windows 10 in 2014: a single system used on all that from telephones and laptops to consoles and IoT gadgets. The company also released a stripped-down version of Windows 10 for customers who were still using Windows CE on their devices.
Thus ended the first part of the history of Windows CE. Do you suppose it was a decent attempt?