Let’s talk a little about the advantages of Windows CE 6.0 R3.  It is the latest release from Microsoft. But there are important advantages to the newest version and we will try to shed a little light in this area.

Microsoft lists 6 reasons why WinCE 6.0 is superior to 5.0

1. Process address space is increased from 32MB to 1 GB.
2. Number of processes has been increased to 32K from 32.
3. User mode and kernel mode device drivers are possible.
4. Device.exe, filesys.exe, GWES.exe has been moved to Kernel mode.
5. SetKMode and set process permissions not possible.
6. System call performance will improve

These highly technical reasons focus exclusively on the internals of the operating system and are mostly invisible to the developer or end user, with one exception.

The kernel is the core of the operating system. When Microsoft originally developed WinCE it was believed that many of the systems using it would be “headless appliances”, that is devices without displays or mass file storage. So the designers placed everything related to user interface and file systems outside of the kernel. This allowed the 32MB kernel memory space to contain more real core os features including monitoring and communications drivers, but keyboards, graphics, touch screens and file storage drivers all resided in the “Files” portion of memory and require a task switch to access the rest of the OS. Moving everything into the kernel means less task switching for the OS, resulting in faster execution of applications. Some estimates go as high as 20% faster execution for applications with high levels of graphics interface, such as on screen mapping.

But there are additional reasons why WinCE 6.0 is superior to 5.0.

1. WinCE 6.0 is fully integrated with Visual Studio 2005. This allows application developers to use the same tools for Windows development as was used for the WinCE development. Visual Studio 2005 also contains an emulation feature which allows application development to begin before hardware has been purchased.
2. .NET 3.5 in natively supported in the OS and doesn’t have to be added by your application, keeping your applications smaller.
3. WinCE 6.0 R3 includes Internet Explorer Embedded and Silverlight which allows more robust browser applications to be written.
4. WinCE 6.0 includes AYGShell API, which ensures compatibility with Windows Mobile applications. This can be important for applications intended to be used by both Vehicle computers and Windows Mobile based handhelds.
5. Bluetooth is an integrated driver in WinCE 6.0 and works more seamlessly in the OS and faster as its part of the kernel as described above.
6. WinCE 6.0 R3 includes Touch Gestures, similar to what is used in iPhones, opening up the possibly of a whole new generation of exciting applications.

So while many hardware vendors are still selling forklift computers and mobile data terminals  based on Windows CE 5.0 or even 4.2, it’s important to look for devices that use WinCE 6.0 to get the most out of your application!

If you want to learn more visit http://www.e-consystems.com/WindowsCE5vs6.asp or http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee504812.aspx.