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IP: POCKET PC A STEAMROLLER
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 15:49:31 -0400
From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> Thursday, September 20, 2001 Mobile computing commentary by Ephraim Schwartz - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - POCKET PC A STEAMROLLER Posted September 14, 2001 01:01 PM Pacific Time I HAVE ALWAYS heard the faint rumbling in the background, like the sound of a huge machine that just won't go away. Now, as the rumbling gets more distinct, like the sound of a waterfall as you get closer and closer, I think the truth is undeniable. Are you wondering what I'm talking about? Remember WordPerfect? Remember Lotus 1-2-3? Well, I'm betting that a few years from now a nostalgic columnist will ask, Remember Palm? United Parcel Service, in the midst of a $100 million multiyear upgrade to its wireless LAN infrastructure, will use Windows CE as the platform. "We are a Windows shop with 5,000 IT people, primarily Windows developers. It is natural to have them develop the applications for the terminal," says David Salzman, program manager at UPS Information Services. Salzman is the man overseeing the switch from more than nine different terminals and seven software systems to a single Windows platform using 200,000 Pocket PC terminals from Symbol Technologies, in Holtsville, N.Y. What really has me convinced of the inevitability of Pocket PC dominance isn't a single example, it is the continuous incorporation of enterprise capabilities into the embedded operating system. Actually, Microsoft now has two embedded operating systems. Far be it from me to pass judgment, but is this technology or marketing? Regardless, you should understand the difference between the two systems. Talisker is the next version of Win CE, an embedded OS whose components can be used in everything from refrigerators to in-vehicle computing. Pocket PC 2002 is the next version of Win CE 3.0 and is the only OS for the Pocket PC platform. Pocket PC 2002, announced earlier this month, will enable a Pocket PC 2002 handheld, such as the "Hewlett-Packard" iPaq, to become a thin client running in terminal emulation and using what was formerly called the Citrix client. This will allow users to access the network remotely and rapidly, because it captures only keystrokes and sends them back and forth. The system also supports strong encryption and VPNs. Talisker, still in beta with an expected release date late in the fourth calendar quarter, will support wireless technologies Bluetooth and Ethernet 802.11x, the latter with Zero Configuration. Zero Configuration will allow users to roam from one network or subnet to another without having to sign off and sign on again. Talisker has many more enterprise-level hooks built in to it. Go to msdn.microsoft.com/embedded for a preview version. As corporate planners and developers get comfortable with wireless connectivity and mobile devices, they are demanding the kind of infrastructure capabilities that Microsoft can offer, I believe, more readily than Palm. So, if you think I am under the hypnotic spell of Microsoft, make my day and send an e-mail to ephraim_schwartz () infoworld com. Ephraim Schwartz is an editor at large in InfoWorld's news department. Get this column free via e-mail each week. Sign up at http://www.iwsubscribe.com/newsletters.
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- IP: POCKET PC A STEAMROLLER David Farber (Sep 22)