Some old rants about HandheldPC

I just found some old threads in www.windowsfordevices.com

http://www.windowsfordevices.com/cgi-bin/board/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=discussionCE&Post=15&Idle=0&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=1&Session=
http://www.windowsfordevices.com/cgi-bin/board/UltraBoard.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=discussionCE&Post=21&Idle=0&Sort=0&Order=Descend&Page=1&Session=

http://www.convergentech.com

I think we just need the sales of PPCs to taper off, then manufacturers will start cracking their brain and maybe find value in the HPC factor devices!

Snappy,

I really don't see that anytime soon. I play both sides of the H/PC~P/PC fence as you know and I think there are two key issues that need to be addressed for H/PCs to make a "come back".

1. Price. With low-end laptops/tablets now in the multiple hundreds of dollars instead of multiple thousands, the pressure to lower the price for the preceived "not quiet as functional" H/PC is there and needs to be heeded. This is one of the reasons that P/PCs sell honestly. At $200-400 you can get one heck of a unit with BT, 802.11b and plenty of storage before you buy the SD card.

2. Developers. Chris and I had an interesting exchange with a to-remain-nameless developer this week regarding some bits he sent for review. It was advertised for Windows Mobile 2003 and, as usual, we tried it on an H/PC. Sure enough, barring some minor (and easily fixable) issues, worked like a champ. We tell the developer this and he was honest enough to say he had never tried it or even thought about the application on H/PCs. Now this chap isn't alone. The Developers need to understand that regardless of OEM status, people out there want new applications. PhatWare should be the example in my view. They continue to update applications for H/PC and every single person in this forum should buy their wares so they can see it is appreciated

3. OEMs. Nothing needs to be said other than OEMs need to pick up this ball again. I find it a riot that new P/PCs are coming into the market with thumbboards and are being touted as "the next step". Uh, hello?

I now yield the floor...

Yeah ... agree with you on your points. Right now the one main reason for me not to use sub notebooks (like the X30 I had last year) is the HPC's excellent batt life, light weight and size.

Me thinks a major tilt factor for HPC would be M$. If M$ declares HPC as the new Crown Prince, at least a few diehard partner OEMs would churn out some new devices. But again, there is the price issue. Ultimately, its again on M$ lap ... me thinks.

But maybe in a sense, XPembedded is going to take over HPCs in the long run. If someone releases a subnotebook with XPembedded, isn't that what we want HPCs to become? An updated OS, browser, support for new hardware devices? Granted, such a device may not have the long (8~10hrs standard) batt life as did HPCs.

Life is such an irony.

XP on mobile cannot become viable until Solid State becomes a viable replacement for the Hard Disk. When it happens, the industry will change beyond all recognition.
No mechanical parts will boost battery times prominently.

That may be a while - isn't there still a risk of using the flash drive so much that it will cease to function? Just starting up Windows 98 causes a lot of disk reading/writing.

PS,
embedded sorta means the OS can be accessed directly from "storage"

Current PC OSes need to be read into RAM because it's way too slow to access the harddrive when processing. And if you have not enough RAM, you need to keep *swapping* data between RAM and harddrive

with embedded system, swapping is eliminated.

Isn't there some embedded XP thingie running on settop boxes right now? Or isit CE.NET? or CE embedded or Embedded what-have-you-got?

There is an XP embedded, but it has a much larger footprint than CE does, and things are subtly different between it and big XP.

XP Embedded style (I'm not saying this is one) motherboard:


Windows XP Professional Features That Windows XP Embedded Does Not Include
Even though Windows XP Embedded is built from the same binary files that Windows XP Professional uses, Windows XP Embedded does not share all the features of Windows Professional. Some features in Windows XP Professional are not appropriate for embedded device scenarios. The following Windows XP Professional features are not included in Windows XP Embedded:

Windows File Protection (WFP)
On Windows XP Professional, WFP prevents system files from being overwritten unless the files that are being installed are digitally signed by Microsoft. Windows XP Embedded does not enforce system file protection, however, because embedded device users do not typically install software. There are also some benefits to excluding WFP from Windows XP Professional. For example, Device Update Agent (DUA), a management tool that was created specifically to support embedded scenarios, performs better when WFP is not included in a run-time image. Another benefit of not including WFP in Windows XP Embedded is a reduced footprint. However, because Windows XP Embedded does not include WFP, it is critical for run-time images to be built with the correct versions of system files.

Windows XP Tour
Windows XP Professional includes an interactive, animated tour of the operating system. This tour is not appropriate for end users of embedded devices that run highly customized Windows-based operating systems, so it is not included in Windows XP Embedded.

Windows Setup
Windows XP Embedded does not include certain user interface and infrastructure elements that Windows Setup uses to install Windows XP Professional. Windows XP Embedded does not support the Control Panel user interface that is used to install additional Windows operating system components, for example, the Add/Remove Windows Components option in Control Panel.

Online product activation
Windows XP Embedded does not include online product activation. Instead, Windows XP Embedded-based run-time images are activated by using a run-time product key in the Windows Embedded Studio tools.

Out-Of-Box Experience (OOBE)
Windows XP Professional includes welcome screens and wizards to help new users set up Internet connections and other operating system features. These are not included in Windows XP Embedded because of the highly customized nature of Windows XP Embedded-based operating systems.

Windows Update
Windows XP Embedded does not use the Windows Update Web site (http://www.windowsupdate.com) to detect and patch software components. However, Windows Update can be used with a corporate server running Microsoft® Software Update Services (SUS).

System files that support upgrade scenarios
Windows XP Embedded does not include system files that support upgrade scenarios to Windows XP Professional from Windows 98 or Windows 2000. These files are not necessary in Windows XP Embedded because embedded run-time operating systems are not upgraded in the same way as desktop operating systems such as Windows XP Professional.

Obsolete Windows Image Acquisition files
Windows XP Embedded does not include older versions of Windows Image Acquisition system files. These files are not necessary in Windows XP Embedded and their absence does not affect application compatibility.

MSN® Explorer
MSN Explorer is included in Windows XP Professional, but no longer ships in Windows XP Embedded.

Microsoft® Java Virtual Machine
Microsoft Java Virtual Machine is included in Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1, but is not included in Windows XP Embedded.


So think of it as a fast turn around workstaion for the enterprise.

hey! Seems like XP embedded is what we all always wanted!! Without all the bloat!! haahha

If you have a 1 gig rom... yea.

Is it just me or does anyone else believe that the popularity of the Pocket PC is driven by the "games" market? Once the next best gaming hardware hits the market, PPC will attain the same status that the HPC market currently holds.

Am I wrong?


I think I'll still be pounding on my HPC, long after my PPC is being used as a paperweight.


Of course, that is my totally unbiased opinion.

Well if you were to hear JM (Snoogie to most of you here) talk, the Game Boy Advance is already "all that".
The Nokia one seems to have died completely, so the Cellular Angle - at least in the Sega Game Gear form factor doesn't seem to have worked.

I do think that games are becoming ever more prominent in the market place, and with the CPU power in these systems, the new mobile 3d technology and hardware that is arriving. We will certainly see more and more of this.

I can remember when there were no game specific sites for WinCE out there. These days there are several of them, even specialist on-line retailers.
It gets people excited to have these capabilities on the device - we have in essence the PC games console through the back door here.

There is something to be said that the Piddle PC form factor does offer an ergonomic advantage over the H/PC, despite the often similar hardware. Standing on the train and playing a Golf simulator - as I was observing someone doing a little while back on an iPaq - may not be quite so easy on a Handheld PC.
Sitting down you have the advantage perhaps... but that is but a pipe dream if you have ever been on a commuter train in the UK.

I know of a certain someone who literally squealed in delight at discovering a new game for the Piddle PC. When you are seeing that sort of reaction, marketers and developers cannot be heading down the wrong path.

Such is my completely bias opinion.

The Piddle PC - I like it!

I've never associated the Piddle PC with 'literally squealing in delight', but now that you've placed that thought in my head....it gives me a whole new respect for the avid Piddler.

Simple creatures my friend. Simple creatures.

Have you not heard me call them Piddle PC's before? How strange!

It is a movement, it started here out of my own bias and soon shall dominate the vocabulary of man. "And so the Piddle PC was born"

I'll update the CE History

Soon there will be EPPC ... EmbeddedPiddlePC