IP: POCKET PC A STEAMROLLER

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> 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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