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Windows CE's 20th Birthday

Handheld PC News

Posted 8 years ago | News | Chris Tilley 3 comments

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On the 16th of November 1996, Windows CE was officially released to the world. Which means that overnight Windows CE celebrated its 20th birthday.

The sad thing is that it would seem that even Microsoft have forgotten the milestone as a quick search around reveals that the occasion has gone unnoticed.

With the operating system now forgotten as it is, it is easy to forget that for nearly 16 of those 20 years, Windows CE was the core of the Microsoft Embedded Platforms product-line for both commercial and consumer device right up to and including Windows Phone 7 in 2012. When it was finally usurped by Windows NT in Windows Phone 8 and the Windows Embedded line fizzled out after the release of Windows Embedded Compact 2013 (although technically you can still purchase Windows Embedded Compact 2013).

So from the people behind the last place left standing in the Windows CE Community -- A very happy birthday Windows CE.

View: History of Windows CE
Posted on 18 November 2016 at 14:31By Chris Tilley (C:Amie)

Comments on this article

Chuck E's Avatar Chuck E 27 December 2016 6:17:50 PM
Thanks for this article to remind me how much Windows CE still means to me. There's just an "innocence" about it. I was really hoping Windows Phone would succeed in the marketplace, whatever its core would end up being. To me Windows Phone would have been a constant reminder of good old Windows CE.
C:Amie's Avatar C:Amie 30 January 2017 5:32:20 PM
I really don't understand why they just gave up on WP (yet are still developing the OS). What's the game plan?

It was finally starting to get serious and was quickly becoming great phone option for enterprise... Windows 10 arrived and... nada.

Microsoft is extremely good at repeating history though. Have a good idea, release something that doesn't do anything thing well and does lots of things poorly into to a non-existent community, fail to create a community, ignore feedback, invest loads in trying to force a community to happen artificially, fail, let it...
scotterbug's Avatar scotterbug 21 September 2017 3:43:46 PM
I miss the CE days too. To get my fix I have a Nokia Windows phone. It has the kickstand shell that props it at a 45 degree angle. And I have a rechargeable mini Bluetooth keyboard that sits in front of it so I can type on REAL keys and not the stupid touch screen keyboard on the phone!
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