On November 1, 2006 Craig Mundie, Chief Research & Strategy Officer, Microsoft, was busy launching Windows Embedded CE 6.0. About 4000 engineers from around the world had logged in to watch Mundie over the webcast as he talked about the evolution of Windows CE over time, since its first release (Handheld PC) in 1996.

A group of embedded engineers in Bangalore were glued to their desktops to know about the latest ingredients of Win CE. They were excited about the additional capability of the CE 6.0 new kernel. More so, they were excited to know about the expanded shared source code which includes the entire kernel. CE’s kernel is the first and only real-time kernel available in source code form!

This group of engineers had got together in 2004 to form the WinEmbedded Group. Their goal: To create awareness about Windows CE and Windows Mobile (customized platform for general PDA use) among embedded software professionals across India. The forum also intended to share the understanding about the usability of the tools among its members.

Although there were initial hiccups to kick-start the activities, the group was strengthened by technical evangelists from Microsoft. The group’s broader agenda took the form of Mobile & Embedded Developers Conference (MEDC).

One of their professing methods was to conduct Hands-on-Lab sessions—a process where Windows CE and Windows Mobile software is used to develop an application. Such sessions receive a great response from both the professional and student community. When the first session was conducted in 2005 on Windows CE 4.2, registration had to be closed one week before the lab session, due to the over-flowing response. In a typical session, participants learn the fundamentals of embedded computing, the development life cycle of an embedded OS. And then they are guided to build their OS using the Platform Builder.

Post your valuable comment here

Post your valuable comment here

More articles from this issue