Windows 8 is Enough? Microsoft OS Family Gets Confusing

Windows 8 is Enough? Microsoft OS Family Gets Confusing
Windows Phone 7: A major rebranding of the Microsoft phone operating system. Quite simply, the weight of Microsoft's mobile world is on Windows Phone 7, as Microsoft has fallen dangerously behind in the mobile race compared to Apple and RIM, with Android phones now also gaining steam. Windows Mobile 6.x phones will not be upgradeable to Windows Phone 7 because of hardware requirements. The OS is scheduled to ship for the 2010 holiday season.

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Windows Embedded Handheld: This is the newest member of Microsoft's mobile OS family and is built on Windows Mobile 6.5 technology (which was built on the Windows CE kernel, now known as Windows Embedded Compact. Confused yet?). This OS will be used on what Microsoft is calling "enterprise handheld mobile devices": durable smartphones and PDAs used by service technicians, field workers and healthcare reps who need custom line-of-business apps such as bar-code scanning and RFID reading. Windows Embedded Handheld will ship by the end of the year and then, in the second half of 2011, a new version based on the Windows Phone 7 kernel, aka Windows Embedded Compact 7, will be released.

Windows Embedded Standard 7: This is Microsoft's operating system for OEMs that want to include Windows 7 features like Aero, Windows Touch, Silverlight 2 and BitLocker in kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, televisions and set top boxes. It is shipping now.

Windows Embedded Compact 7: This is the next generation of Microsoft's Windows Embedded CE, the platform on which Microsoft builds its phone and mobile operating systems. The upcoming Windows Phone 7 is based on Windows Embedded Compact 7 core. On its own, Windows Embedded Compact 7 will be pitched to device makers whose products don't need or are not powerful enough for the full version of Windows 7, such as slates, portable media players and e-readers. OEMs can select from a menu of Windows Embedded Compact 7 features to get just what they need for their devices. The OS runs on either x86 or ARM-based chips and is scheduled to ship in the fourth quarter of this year.

Shane O'Neill is a senior writer at CIO.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/smoneill. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter at twitter.com/CIOonline.

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