Comments on: ‘$98’ laptop: World’s cheapest? And what are the catches? http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/98-laptop-worlds-cheapest-and-what-are-the-catches/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Wed, 15 Feb 2012 08:05:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Felix Torres http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/98-laptop-worlds-cheapest-and-what-are-the-catches/comment-page-1/#comment-1125154 Felix Torres Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:30:16 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/08/14/98-laptop-worlds-cheapest-and-what-are-the-catches/#comment-1125154 Actually, while WinCE has it roots in the last century, MS has been regularly updating it and version 5 is the underpinings of Windows Mobile; it is by no means the "equivalent of WinME" or anywhere near the same OS that ran the old PocketPCs. What MS does with WinCe is that they offer it both "raw" to OEMs who want to use it for embedded systems or professional/industrial gadgets and as a "consumer-ready" cellphone product called WindowsMobile that includes communications tweaks and bundled apps. So Windows Mobile hasn't supplanted CE but rather depends on it. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/windowsce/default.mspx Windows CE computing products are very common in asia and it is broadly used in set-top boxes and low-end computers conceptually descended from the old Atari and Commodore 8-bit systems that used TVs as their displays. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms905511.aspx WinCE 5.0 dates from 2004 and WinCE 6.0 from late 2007, both are broadly used in new releases depending on device needs and WinCE 6 is still under development for use in Windows Mobile 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE_5.0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_CE_6.0 Bottom line: for the intended market this is a credible product at a desirable price point; it has abundant third-party support in the region and consumers are familiar with it. As a product for western consumers it is probably not a good fit as western application development has been targetting the Windows Mobile platform, not the underlying OS. WinMo apps *may* or not run on it but it would be more of a hobbyist/hacker effort not a consumer-grade experience. Basically, the twain just aren't meeting on this one. :-) Actually, while WinCE has it roots in the last century, MS has been regularly updating it and version 5 is the underpinings of Windows Mobile; it is by no means the “equivalent of WinME” or anywhere near the same OS that ran the old PocketPCs.

What MS does with WinCe is that they offer it both “raw” to OEMs who want to use it for embedded systems or professional/industrial gadgets and as a “consumer-ready” cellphone product called WindowsMobile that includes communications tweaks and bundled apps. So Windows Mobile hasn’t supplanted CE but rather depends on it.

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/products/windowsce/default.mspx

Windows CE computing products are very common in asia and it is broadly used in set-top boxes and low-end computers conceptually descended from the old Atari and Commodore 8-bit systems that used TVs as their displays.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms905511.aspx

WinCE 5.0 dates from 2004 and WinCE 6.0 from late 2007, both are broadly used in new releases depending on device needs and WinCE 6 is still under development for use in Windows Mobile 7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_CE_5.0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_CE_6.0

Bottom line: for the intended market this is a credible product at a desirable price point; it has abundant third-party support in the region and consumers are familiar with it.
As a product for western consumers it is probably not a good fit as western application development has been targetting the Windows Mobile platform, not the underlying OS. WinMo apps *may* or not run on it but it would be more of a hobbyist/hacker effort not a consumer-grade experience.

Basically, the twain just aren’t meeting on this one. :-)

]]> By: Evan Leibovitch http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/98-laptop-worlds-cheapest-and-what-are-the-catches/comment-page-1/#comment-1125113 Evan Leibovitch Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:10:14 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2009/08/14/98-laptop-worlds-cheapest-and-what-are-the-catches/#comment-1125113 Windows CE has been around for more than a dozen years; this "new" computer has the same OS that ran the HP Jornada and the Cassiopeia. It was MS's PalmOS alternative from before Linux was an embedded-device threat. But it wasn't easily adapted to phone use, and was generally replaced by what is now Windows Mobile. To me this is the equivalent of a PC maker coming out with a new model pre-loaded with Windows ME, and suggests that the CPU is slow even by current smartphone standards. At least it should have good battery life. The only reading software of which I'm aware that could even try to run on this would be Mobipocket, and my guess is that its successful installation would be doubtful. Windows CE has been around for more than a dozen years; this “new” computer has the same OS that ran the HP Jornada and the Cassiopeia. It was MS’s PalmOS alternative from before Linux was an embedded-device threat. But it wasn’t easily adapted to phone use, and was generally replaced by what is now Windows Mobile. To me this is the equivalent of a PC maker coming out with a new model pre-loaded with Windows ME, and suggests that the CPU is slow even by current smartphone standards. At least it should have good battery life.
The only reading software of which I’m aware that could even try to run on this would be Mobipocket, and my guess is that its successful installation would be doubtful.

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