Windows 7 for ARM? (Microsoft calls it Windows Embedded Compact 7…)

Posted by Charbax – May 5, 2010

Windows CE brand logo
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So the Microsoft engineers have been working hard on their next generation of Windows for ARM processors, the next generation of Windows CE. Will it take advantage of all the ARMv7 features, ARM Cortex A8 and ARM Cortex A9 and other hardware acceleration features, such as using the GPU to accelerate its user interfaces? Windows Phone 7 Series is based on the Windows Embedded Compact 7 core.

I asked Olivier Bloch, Microsoft Embedded technical evangelist a few questions on how Windows Embedded Compact 7 is different from Windows 7 for x86:

Windows Embedded CE and its next version, Windows Embedded Compact 7 are not based on Windows binaries (vs. Windows Embedded Standard which is a componentized embedded version of Windows).

Windows CE has been developped from scratch with a different OS architecture and driver model ensuring hard real time and very small footprint. Windows CE is also disigned to run on different CPU architectures (x86, MIPS, SH, ARM). The other big difference is that you compile Windows Embedded CE when you design a CE OS.

(…)

Windows Embedded team is investing a lot in adding new features, creating new tools to support these new features, analyzing the Embedded market really seriously…

I also (jokingly) asked him if it was going to be open-source and free, to that he could not reply.

Anyways, it will be very interesting to see how much Microsoft is investing in this development of their embedded OS core that Microsoft would like to be used across ARM powered devices like Tablets, Laptops, Set-top-boxes, E-readers and more.

What will Microsoft price it at? And if they price Windows at a low price for future ARM Powered laptops, tablets and phones, as Android is free and open source, will the potential auto-cannibalization of Microsoft’s x86 based PC/Laptop be a problem for Microsoft to be able to keep its overall revenue and profits?

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  • http://twitter.com/adntaylor Alex Taylor

    Hi Charbax,

    Windows Embedded Compact 7 is a very distant relative to the Windows NT group, such as Windows 7, but has its own strengths and weaknesses compared to that. However there is zero application compatibility, so should be treated as a totally different OS!

    Being based on Windows CE, it will largely be shared source (i.e. you can access the code, so there are few issues of hidden, private APIs that only MS can use) and your licence fee will has traditionally been somewhere between $3 and $20, depending on what applications you need and how many licences you buy.

  • http://armdevices.net/ Charbax

    Could there be some kind of binary conversion system which would allow developers to port their x86 Windows apps over to the Embedded Windows OS?

    I understand none of the x86 .exe applications will install, I just wonder what will Microsoft try to do to make it a significant upgrade from previous Windows CE.

    What do you mean by “shared source (i.e. you can access the code)”, does that mean Windows Embedded Compact 7 is open-source, only Microsoft makes changes to it, and costs a licence to be used?

  • http://www.reg-cleaner.org/ Best reg cleaner

    Many cell phone use Windows Embedded Compact as OS, it seems good.

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    Windows CE is also disigned to run on different CPU architectures.

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