Old Hardware Emulated : Pocket PC 2000/2002
Windows CE On The PDA
Pocket PC 2002 starting up.
For the remainder
of the 90's, Microsoft had a tough time gaining a foothold in the
handheld market. Windows CE 2.0 was well received on the palmtop PC's.
However, that market-share was small compared to there PDA counterpart
that were rocking to the tune of PalmOS. The first incarnation of WinCE
on the PDA seemed sparse compared to Palm. At this point, the PDA port
of Windows CE was re-branded as Windows Mobile. Around this point,
Microsoft's fortunes began to change.
For the first time, the Palm platform had that "Oh Crap!" moment when Compaq released the iPAQ in April 2000. The PDA came with the new Windows Pocket PC 2000 operating system. This version of Windows CE was specifically geared towards PDA's in particular. The iPAQ line of PDA's became must own devices for those that wanted the latest and greatest. As how Compaq made IBM look silly in the 80's and 90's, the Houston, Texas computer company would proceed to make Palm look just as absurd in 2000. This was the first time where Palm Computing would have to play catch-up instead of setting the trend. The iPAQ line of PDA's also had multimedia support that was generally lacking in PalmOS devices.
One of the big reasons for the success of the PocketPC 2000 devices was that by this point, the hardware to drive WinCE was catching up to a price point where one could invest into such a device without breaking the bank. The processors could drive Windows CE with descent performance with all the bell and whistles without making any sacrifices. Where the iPAQ line of PDA's expensive? Yes they were. Where they any more expensive than any of Palm's high-end offerings at that time. Not really.
For the first time, the Palm platform had that "Oh Crap!" moment when Compaq released the iPAQ in April 2000. The PDA came with the new Windows Pocket PC 2000 operating system. This version of Windows CE was specifically geared towards PDA's in particular. The iPAQ line of PDA's became must own devices for those that wanted the latest and greatest. As how Compaq made IBM look silly in the 80's and 90's, the Houston, Texas computer company would proceed to make Palm look just as absurd in 2000. This was the first time where Palm Computing would have to play catch-up instead of setting the trend. The iPAQ line of PDA's also had multimedia support that was generally lacking in PalmOS devices.
One of the big reasons for the success of the PocketPC 2000 devices was that by this point, the hardware to drive WinCE was catching up to a price point where one could invest into such a device without breaking the bank. The processors could drive Windows CE with descent performance with all the bell and whistles without making any sacrifices. Where the iPAQ line of PDA's expensive? Yes they were. Where they any more expensive than any of Palm's high-end offerings at that time. Not really.
Pocket PC 2002 in action.
Windows CE for the
PDA had a revamped user interface. What's amazing was that Microsoft
created a OS that took advantage of the PDA atheistic without blatantly
copying PalmOS. The Windows CE experience would be a unique one.
One of the issues with PocketPC 2000, like the previous incarnations of Windows CE, was the lack of applications. However, the main justification for purchasing such a device, even with a small software library, was that the most commonly used applications were already included in the OS. For most users, WinCE already included the essentials. The default CE applications tended to be more feature complete than there Palm offerings. There was one crowd who wholeheartedly embraced these PDA's: IT workers. The Windows CE devices had capabilities that only the Palm handhelds could dream of. Because Windows CE is still a version of Windows after all, it had built-in abilities to connect to various Microsoft services and networks. This made it possible for IT workers to manage network resources from there WinCE PDA's. It was possible to manage SQL databases from such devices as well. Further improvements continued in Pocket PC 2002.
Several of these PDA's shipped with Microsoft Money as well. One could handle there finances on the go. For desktop users already familiar with Microsoft Money on the Windows desktop, it's inclusion on the PDA only seemed like a natural step.
Microsoft ported Word and Excel as well. This allowed mobile users to edit Microsoft office documents on the go without needing there PC right next to them. Sure, it was also possible to edit Word and Excel documents on a Palm device. However, Pocket Word and Excel were usually included by default on many WinCE devices. Also, Pocket Word and Excel tend to incorporate several more feature than there Palm counterparts.
Windows Mobile also came with MSN Messenger, which allowed instant messaging for those subscribed to the service. Social media was in its infancy. For the first time, friends could communicate with each other using there handhelds. This was also around the time that AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) was installed on countless PC's worldwide. There was a AIM client for WinCE as well. Social media though has a lot of evolving to do, and MSN Messenger would lose out as others took the ball from Microsoft and ran with it.
Shortly after the introduction of Windows Mobile, Microsoft released the Windows Media Player SDK. Shortly thereafter, WMP (Windows Media Player) was released for WinCE. WMP would become that killer app that would define the platform as many would take there songs and videos on the go. One of the first products that would embrace WMP was the Compaq iPAQ. This move solidified the iPAQ's coolness factor and popularity while simultaneously exposing the flaws in PalmOS's ability to incorporating new multimedia features in there OS.
One of the issues with PocketPC 2000, like the previous incarnations of Windows CE, was the lack of applications. However, the main justification for purchasing such a device, even with a small software library, was that the most commonly used applications were already included in the OS. For most users, WinCE already included the essentials. The default CE applications tended to be more feature complete than there Palm offerings. There was one crowd who wholeheartedly embraced these PDA's: IT workers. The Windows CE devices had capabilities that only the Palm handhelds could dream of. Because Windows CE is still a version of Windows after all, it had built-in abilities to connect to various Microsoft services and networks. This made it possible for IT workers to manage network resources from there WinCE PDA's. It was possible to manage SQL databases from such devices as well. Further improvements continued in Pocket PC 2002.
Several of these PDA's shipped with Microsoft Money as well. One could handle there finances on the go. For desktop users already familiar with Microsoft Money on the Windows desktop, it's inclusion on the PDA only seemed like a natural step.
Microsoft ported Word and Excel as well. This allowed mobile users to edit Microsoft office documents on the go without needing there PC right next to them. Sure, it was also possible to edit Word and Excel documents on a Palm device. However, Pocket Word and Excel were usually included by default on many WinCE devices. Also, Pocket Word and Excel tend to incorporate several more feature than there Palm counterparts.
Windows Mobile also came with MSN Messenger, which allowed instant messaging for those subscribed to the service. Social media was in its infancy. For the first time, friends could communicate with each other using there handhelds. This was also around the time that AIM (AOL Instant Messenger) was installed on countless PC's worldwide. There was a AIM client for WinCE as well. Social media though has a lot of evolving to do, and MSN Messenger would lose out as others took the ball from Microsoft and ran with it.
Shortly after the introduction of Windows Mobile, Microsoft released the Windows Media Player SDK. Shortly thereafter, WMP (Windows Media Player) was released for WinCE. WMP would become that killer app that would define the platform as many would take there songs and videos on the go. One of the first products that would embrace WMP was the Compaq iPAQ. This move solidified the iPAQ's coolness factor and popularity while simultaneously exposing the flaws in PalmOS's ability to incorporating new multimedia features in there OS.
While web browsing
is taken for granted today, this wasn't always the case. Even though
PalmOS could accommodate web browsers, it didn't come with one. The
Windows CE platform was the first one to ship a web browser by default.
Today, there's not any sites that will work with Internet Explorer on
the PPC2000. However, the ability to surf the web at all, especially
without going through a proxy server, was a added bonus. Back in the
day, many of the popular sites, like the BBC or NYTimes, operated mobile
version of there websites for these users to visit.
It had to be noted
that while PalmOS had e-readers before Windows CE did, it didn't include
one by default while WinCE did. Not only that, the Microsoft Reader
supported ClearType fonts. This font engine allowed books to look much
more like printed text compared to the system fonts used on Palm OS. The
fact that such a application was included with PPC2000 was a
demonstration of how many people used there PDA's as e-readers.
This also reflects a very massive missed opportunity for the Redmond Giant. Microsoft was experimenting with tablet-sized e-readers years before Apple and Amazon did. Reading the article "Microsoft's Lost Decade" by Vanity Fair, Microsoft was at the forefront of very advance e-reading technology.
The design team showed there device prototype to Bill Gates, who disliked the user interface because it didn't look like Windows. By the early 2000's, all the Microsoft projects were to become vehicles to drive Windows and Office sales. This was why the Windows CE palmtop versions look like a stand desktop PC. The Microsoft e-reader tablet was shelved.
The e-reader technology was later incorporated into other Microsoft products for there desktop computers. However, the early lead that Microsoft could have had in the tablet space was lost due to a bureaucracy that was more concerned with protecting what they had instead of innovating. Amazon and Apple though would take this idea from prototype to production, while print money and dominating markets in the process.
This also reflects a very massive missed opportunity for the Redmond Giant. Microsoft was experimenting with tablet-sized e-readers years before Apple and Amazon did. Reading the article "Microsoft's Lost Decade" by Vanity Fair, Microsoft was at the forefront of very advance e-reading technology.
The design team showed there device prototype to Bill Gates, who disliked the user interface because it didn't look like Windows. By the early 2000's, all the Microsoft projects were to become vehicles to drive Windows and Office sales. This was why the Windows CE palmtop versions look like a stand desktop PC. The Microsoft e-reader tablet was shelved.
The e-reader technology was later incorporated into other Microsoft products for there desktop computers. However, the early lead that Microsoft could have had in the tablet space was lost due to a bureaucracy that was more concerned with protecting what they had instead of innovating. Amazon and Apple though would take this idea from prototype to production, while print money and dominating markets in the process.
Microsoft greatly
improved the default apps in Windows Mobile as well to reflect Palm's
offerings. There was a note-taker that could accept input via the
stylus, which resembled Graffiti on the Palm Pilot. As a result of these
programs, compared with the previous SDK, PPC2000/2002 didn't feel
barren. It came with a rich array of applications for the user to start
tapping away immediately. The PDA also came with Solitaire as well for
those that want there Klondike Solitaire on the go.
The Pocket PC 2002 SDK
Microsoft never
shipped a PocketPC PC2000 device emulator. The Windows CE 2.0 SDK was
updated to support that platform. However, Microsoft would release a SDK
for PocketPC 2002 which included a hardware device emulator in place of
a simulator. The 2002 device emulator is where these screenshots came
from. Like the PalmOS emulators, the device emulator used a ROM image
that represented the firmware that contained the OS.
Finding third-party programs that could run on the emulator was impossible. Support for 3rd-party software is much more forgiving in the 2003 SDK. For general usability, the emulator works well enough. However, sharing files back and forth between the desktop and emulator was very hard to enable. First, I had to disable PAE in Windows by editing the boot.ini file in Windows XP (on my VM). The PocketPC 2002 emulator refuses to run with PAE enabled.
Internet is supported via the emulated Ethernet adapter. To enable networking support within the emulator, I had to install Virtual PC 2007 because the device emulator used the same network driver that VPC used. After getting Internet working, I created a shared folder on my XP side. I could only connect to that folder within the emulator once I renamed my WinCE device within the system settings. Using the network path //winxp/wince_crap, I was able to connect to the share folder. However, the ability to move files was disabled on the emulator side. I could only paste files into the emulator, not copy from it. However, the [Ctrl]+[C] (copy) and [Ctrl]+[P] (paste) keyboard shortcuts still worked.
At first, I couldn't copy files from the emulator to the desktop because I didn't have access to the shared folder. However, this was due to a settings permission assigned to that shared folder where writing files to the folder was disabled by default. After quickly changing the folder permissions, I could now copy files to and from the emulator.
This was done because the Windows Device Emulator for the Pocket PC 2002 SDK didn't support a "shared folder" option. Later versions of the Microsoft device emulator did support such a feature by default. One could still set one up manually if one knows how to use network paths, shared folders, and Ethernet configurations. One other gripe that I had was that the setup program for the PPC2002 SDK didn't create the shortcuts to launch the emulator. As a result, I had to manually create a batch file to manually start the emulator from command-line. Basically, I learned a lot more about the PPC2002 Device Emulator than what I wanted to know. Despite that, I will share my command-line entry here:
[CMD]
Finding third-party programs that could run on the emulator was impossible. Support for 3rd-party software is much more forgiving in the 2003 SDK. For general usability, the emulator works well enough. However, sharing files back and forth between the desktop and emulator was very hard to enable. First, I had to disable PAE in Windows by editing the boot.ini file in Windows XP (on my VM). The PocketPC 2002 emulator refuses to run with PAE enabled.
Internet is supported via the emulated Ethernet adapter. To enable networking support within the emulator, I had to install Virtual PC 2007 because the device emulator used the same network driver that VPC used. After getting Internet working, I created a shared folder on my XP side. I could only connect to that folder within the emulator once I renamed my WinCE device within the system settings. Using the network path //winxp/wince_crap, I was able to connect to the share folder. However, the ability to move files was disabled on the emulator side. I could only paste files into the emulator, not copy from it. However, the [Ctrl]+[C] (copy) and [Ctrl]+[P] (paste) keyboard shortcuts still worked.
At first, I couldn't copy files from the emulator to the desktop because I didn't have access to the shared folder. However, this was due to a settings permission assigned to that shared folder where writing files to the folder was disabled by default. After quickly changing the folder permissions, I could now copy files to and from the emulator.
This was done because the Windows Device Emulator for the Pocket PC 2002 SDK didn't support a "shared folder" option. Later versions of the Microsoft device emulator did support such a feature by default. One could still set one up manually if one knows how to use network paths, shared folders, and Ethernet configurations. One other gripe that I had was that the setup program for the PPC2002 SDK didn't create the shortcuts to launch the emulator. As a result, I had to manually create a batch file to manually start the emulator from command-line. Basically, I learned a lot more about the PPC2002 Device Emulator than what I wanted to know. Despite that, I will share my command-line entry here:
[CMD]
Microsoft's
fortunes began to change with PPC2000 and 2002. The rapidly evolving OS
now had hardware suitable to running at adequately without sacrificing
features and within a reasonably price-point. Despite the general lack
of software compared to PalmOS, the applications that were available for
the platform were very rich and capable. The rapidly involving platform
was constantly gaining features that was redefining the expectations of
the PDA. A PDA wasn't just expected to keep appointments anymore. With
the Compaq iPAQ line of PDA's, a growing number of people expected video
and mp3 playback and Internet surfing as well. These users expected an
image viewer and e-reader by default. People expected to edit Word and
Excel documents on the go. The growing power of PDA's were redefining
people's expectations.
Microsoft not only provided these features, but they also provided a solid foundation to them and new ones in the future. WinCE has multitasking and multi-threading support. There was also memory management and protection. System crashes were rare in Windows CE. Microsoft provided a intuitive user interface that took advantage of the PDA platform, but yet, did it in its own unique way. This further solidified Windows CE as a very capable alternative to PalmOS.
Palm users had many of these features already. However, there was a growing number of disgruntled complaining that said features not included with the OS by default. How come Microsoft could do this and Palm couldn't. Also, how come PalmOS constantly crashed while WinCE rarely did. At first, this disgruntled group of users was a small one. However, this crowd would grow and size and become more vocal in the following years.
Microsoft not only provided these features, but they also provided a solid foundation to them and new ones in the future. WinCE has multitasking and multi-threading support. There was also memory management and protection. System crashes were rare in Windows CE. Microsoft provided a intuitive user interface that took advantage of the PDA platform, but yet, did it in its own unique way. This further solidified Windows CE as a very capable alternative to PalmOS.
Palm users had many of these features already. However, there was a growing number of disgruntled complaining that said features not included with the OS by default. How come Microsoft could do this and Palm couldn't. Also, how come PalmOS constantly crashed while WinCE rarely did. At first, this disgruntled group of users was a small one. However, this crowd would grow and size and become more vocal in the following years.
Articles of Interest
Wikipedia : Windows Embedded Compact - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Embedded_Compact
Wikipedia : Windows Mobile - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile
Wikipedia : iPAQ - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPAQ
Wikipedia : Pocket PC 2000 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_PC_2000
Wikipedia : Pocket PC 2002 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_PC_2002
Vanity Fair : Microsft's Lost Decade - https://www.vanityfair.com/news/business/2012/08/microsoft-lost-mojo-steve-ballmer
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