Windows CE

Windows CE (also known officially as Windows Embedded Compact post version 6.0,^[2][3] and sometimes abbreviated WinCE) is Microsoft's operating system for embedded devices and minimal computers. Windows CE is a different operating system and kernel. It is not a trimmed-down version of desktop Windows. It is not Windows XP Embedded which is NT-based.

Windows CE

Developer	Microsoft Corporation
OS family	Windows CE
Working state	Current
Source model	Closed source (shared source kernel[1])
Latest release	2013 / June 2013
Available in	Multilingual
Platforms	x86, MIPS, ARM, SuperH
Kernel type	Monolithic kernel Hybrid kernel
License	Proprietary software(Microsoft EULA)
Official website	Windows CE

The Zune portable media player, as well as the Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 smartphone platforms are based on Windows CE.

Windows Embedded Compact 2013 (version 8) is the final version of Windows CE. It had mainstream support until October 9, 2018, and extended support ended on October 10, 2023.^[4]

Versions

Version	Changes
1.0	Released in November 1996 [MSCE1].[5] Codenames "Pegasus/Alder".[6] Devices named "handheld PC" (HPC).[5]
2.0	Released in September 1997 [MSCE2].[5] Codename "Birch".[6] Devices named "Palm-sized PC".[5] Real-time deterministic task scheduling. Architectures: ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, StrongARM, SuperH and x86. 32-bit color screens. SSL 2.0 and SSL 3.0.
3.0	Released in June 2000 [MSCE3].[5] Codename "Cedar".[6] Major recode that made CE hard real time down to the microsecond level. Base for the Pocket PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002 and Smartphone 2002.[5] Priority levels was increased from 8 to 256.[5] Object store was increased from 65 536 to 4,19 million allowed objects.[5] Restricted access to critical APIs or restricting write access to parts of the registry.[5]
4.x	Released in January 2002 [MSCE4].[5] Codename "Talisker/Jameson/McKendric".[6] Changed the driver structure a lot. And added Features. Base for "Pocket PC 2003".[5] Bluetooth support.[5][7] TLS (SSL 3.1), IPsec L2TP VPN, or Kerberos.[5]
5.0	Released in August 2004.[6] Adds lots of features. Codename "Macallan".[6] Automatic report of bugs to the manufacturer.[8] Direct3D Mobile, a COM-based version of Windows XP's DirectX multimedia API.[8] DirectDraw for 2D graphics and DirectShow for camera and video digitisation support.[8] Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) support.[9]
6.x	Released in September 2006. Codename "Yamazaki".[6] Process address space is increased from 32 MB to 1 GB. Number of processes has been increased from 32 to 32 768.[10] User mode and kernel mode device drivers are possible. Device.exe, filesys.exe, GWES.exe has been moved to Kernel mode. SetKMode and set process permissions not possible. System call performance improved.[11]
7.0	Released in March 2011. Multi-core CPU support (SMP) Wi-Fi Positioning System Bluetooth 3.0 + HS support Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) DRM technology Media Transfer Protocol Windows Phone 7 IE with Flash 10.1 support NDIS 6.1 support UX C++ XAML API using technologies like Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight for attractive and functional user interfaces Modernized graphics based on OpenGL ES 2.0 Advanced touch and gesture input Kernel support for 3 GB physical RAM and supports ARMv7 assembly (has support for "x86, SH (automotive only) and ARM.") the platform builder requires Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 with Service Pack 1 installed. Mainstream Support ended on April 12, 2016, and Extended Support ended on April 13, 2021.
8.0 (2013)	Released in June 2013 DHCPv6 client with stateful/stateless address configuration.[12] L2TP/IPsec over IPv6 for VPN connectivity.[12] Snapshot boot.[12] Improved XAML data binding and Expression Blend support.[12] OOM Model improvements from 7.[12] HTML help viewer added.[12] The previously default desktop shell has been eliminated. the platform builder requires Microsoft Visual Studio 2012, 2013 or 2015 installed. Mainstream Support ended on October 9, 2018, and Extended Support ended on October 10, 2023.