.Net World : A Brief Introduction

Windows CE .NET

Window CE .NET is the successor to Windows CE 3.0 Designed from the ground up for the embedded marketplace , Window CE .NET aims to deliver a robust real time operating system for rapidly building the next generation of smart mobile and small footprint devices. With a complete operating system feature set and end-to-end development environment Windows CE-based devices that requires rich networking hard real time, and a small footprint , as well as rich multimedia and Web browsing capabilities.

Windows CE .NET offers:

Scalable wireless technologies: Windows CE.NET include scalable wireless technologies that enable mobile devices to flexibly connect into existing infrastructures.

Supported wireless technologies include: Bluetooth, allows a devices to use a Bluetooth-enabled cellular phone as a data modem , and to use a Bluetooth-enabled local area network (LAN) access point to provide network connectivity.

802.1x/Zero Configuration: 802.11 zero configuration, aim to simplify setup of 802.11 network and to enable seamless roaming from one 802.11 network to another. 801.1x and EAP enhance the security of 802.11 by enabling user/password, certificate, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) specific authentication to log on to the network.

Object Exchange (OBEX) protocol: Windows CE .Net’s support for OBEX works over Bluetooth and infra red data association (IrDA) protocols . Object Exchange (OBEX) is an efficient, compact binary protocol that enables a wide range of devices to exchange data spontaneously in a simple, efficient manner.

Media Sense: This feature improves the roaming experience for mobile devices users by notifying application of network status.

Real time collaboration and communication (RTC/SIP): Real time communication (RTC) enables messaging, presence, and audio (voice over IP between any two IP-enabled devices.

Reliable core operating system services for demanding embedded designs: Windows CE .ET offers reliable core operating system services that enable the most demanding real time embedded designs across a breadth of devices . New and enhanced operating system features include.

Small footprint: Continuing the effort to minimize the operating system footprint for embedded devices, Windows CE .NET provides granular Kernel componentization. Windows CE .NET supports a minimum configuration platform as small as 200 KB with minimum Kernel functions only.

Enterprise-scale: Network security enhancements include support for the Kerberos Security Protocol.

Wide selection of CPUs: Windows CE .NET provides a high level of processor flexibility with support for the following four families of microprocessors and emulation technologies like ARM, MIPS, SHx, x 86 etc.

Real time processing: Real time processing support for the most demanding support for the most demanding deterministic applications with 256 priority levels and nested interrupt support.

.Net enabled for creating rich personalized experiences: Windows CE .NET enables you to build smart Microsoft .NET-enabled devices and create rich, personalized experiences.

XML: XML allows developers to easily describe and deliver rich, structured data from any application in a standard consistent way.

Net compact Framework: The .NET Compact Framework supports all processors supported by windows CE .NET .For more information on how to develop application using the .NET Framework, please see .NET on the MSDN site.

Look in the .NET Compact Framework Read me for specific information about implementation issues in your embedded design.

Microsoft Direct3D API: Provides support for interactive three-dimensional (3-D) graphics applications by allowing device dependent access to 30d video-display hardware in devices-independent manner.

Windows Media 8 compressor/ decompressor (codec) & controls: Supports the latest Microsoft Windows Media 8 codes and controls ,which allows for the latest high-bandwidth encoded multimedia streams.

Easy-to-use end-to-end tool set: Windows CE .NET provides an integrated end-to-end tool set to help developers reduce both OS and application development time, allowing them to get devices to market faster.

Emulation technology: Windows CE .NET include emulation technology to enable developers to build and test their designs on their Windows 2000 or Win XP professional workstations without additional hardware investments.

The new platform wizard provides a foundation for starting  device designs for:

* Cellophanes / Smart phones
* Custom devices
* Digital imaging devices
* Industrial automation devices
* Internet/media appliances
* Personal digital assistants (PDA)/Mobile handhelds
* Residential gateways
* Retail point-of-sale
* Set-top boxes
* Tiny kernels
* Web pads Windows thin clients.

CE .Net also provides support for managed and native code to write applications for Windows CE .NET, Microsoft offers a rich set of languages for creating managed .NET-enabled or unmanaged (native) applications.

.NET Compact Framework

The .NET Compact Framework is Microsoft’s mobile application platform technology that harnesses the power of XML Web services on mobile devices. As a subset of the .NET Framework, the .NET Compact Framework shares same programming model and application development tools, enabling .NET developers to transfer their existing skills to build mobile applications, which is expected to accelerate adoption of mobile solutions.

It provides key features for smart devices such as a programming model unified with the .Net framework on desktop and server, integral XML web services support, enterprise-class data access using ADO.Net and XML, and rich class libraries that enable developers to build powerful applications in minimal time. Runtime features such as managed code and just-in-time compilation help ensure reliable, high performance applications for a better user experience.

The .Net compact framework is complemented by other technologies such as Microsoft SQL server 2000, windows CE edition version 2.0 and the Microsoft mobile internet toolkit (MMIT), SQL server CE is the compact, relational database for rapidly developing applications that extend enterprise data management capabilities to new smart devices. The SQL server CE is the only mobile database that integrates with the .Net compact framework, allowing data to be locally and securely stored and extracted to interact with back-end applications or web services.

The Microsoft mobile internet toolkit offers a wide reach to project applications to any kind of mobile device with a browser. The development experience for these technologies is unified through Microsoft Visual Studio.net, which provides a consistent set of tools and interfaces for building applications using Microsoft’s mobile technologies.