By Frank McPherson
As a Microsoft Windows CE MVP (i.e., Most Valuable Professional), I help many people with problems they have with their devices. Many of the problems you might have can be categorized into one of the three following areas:
- Misunderstanding the different components that make up Windows CE, and the different versions of those components;
- Communication between the device and the desktop computer;
- Managing memory on the device.
In this and future articles I will explore each of these categories in-depth, highlighting what I think are common problem areas and challenges. This month's article covers the different parts of Windows CE. At the end of this article is an exclusive chart that will help you keep track of the different versions.
Who you gonna call?
Users often don't understand what Windows CE really is. Because Microsoft is so dominant in the computer market, many people tend to blur the distinction between the hardware device and the software running on it. However, as I'm sure you know, Windows CE is an operating system and not hardware. Understanding this becomes important when you have a problem and need to call someone for help. For example, let's say you have a brand new Hewlett-Packard Jornada 820 and you're having problems getting it to connect with your Internet service provider. Who do you call?
If you equate your Jornada (the device) with Windows CE (the OS) your first reaction might be to call Microsoft. What you'd find if you did this is that Microsoft would have directed you to the hardware manufacturer, in this case HP. They do this because you didn't purchase Windows CE from Microsoft. Rather, HP is really Microsoft's customer. HP purchases Windows CE from Microsoft to include with their (HP's) hardware. This is the nature of HP's OEM (i.e., Original Equipment Manufacturer) agreement with Microsoft, and as part of that agreement HP has responsibility for providing support to their customers. This is also the nature of most OEM operating system deals.
Searching for upgrades in all the right places
Another way this affects you is with upgrades of Windows CE. Microsoft writes the upgrades and then provides them to Windows CE OEMs (like HP and Compaq), who in turn decide whether or not they're going to provide these upgrades for their individual devices.
This isn't just an arbitrary decision on the part of a manufacturer. When the software is provided by Microsoft to the manufacturers it's not ready for prime time; there are portions of Windows CE that are actually written by the OEMs. Therefore, it is not a simple matter of just burning new ROMs (i.e., Read Only Memory chips) with the latest software, a manufacturer must also determine if selling the upgrade will cover the cost of developing, distributing, and managing the physical aspects of the upgrade. For example, Philips decided they wouldn't provide a version 2.11 upgrade for the Velo 500, presumably because it wasn't cost effective or there were technical hurdles that got in the way.
