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Moving towards Windows CE (Doug Boling)

July 8 - Doug Boling, a contributing editor to Microsoft Internet Developer and the author of Programming Windows CE from Microsoft Press, presented the highlights of Windows CE and delineated the main issues involved in programming Windows CE. 
    The talk was meant to introduce people to the Windows CE world and was not very technical. It also didn't have a very large audience, suggesting that a large percentage of the attendees had previous significant experience with Windows CE. This was clear from the final, rather long Q&A session.
    Briefly, during his one-hour presentation, Doug illustrated the major architectural features of Windows CE sprinkling here and there useful tips and insightful explanations about the system's behaviour. In particular, two issues really struck me. The positioning of Windows CE with respect to Windows 9x and Windows NT, and the features of the built-in security system.
    Personally I'm not a Windows CE expert. However, I formed the impression that such an operating system must be considered as the last member of the family of Microsoft's Win32 operating systems. It's simple, small and lightweight, has limited support for lots of Windows components, with reduced hardware capabilities, all of which led me to think of it as a stripped-down version of Windows 95.
    Instead, as Doug demonstrated, Windows CE places itself just in the middle between Windows 98 and Windows NT. It is not as insecure as Windows 9x but it is not as secure as Windows NT can be. It is based only on Unicode, but it supports today - or it is going to support in the upcoming 3.0 version (see www.microsoft.com/msj/0799) - almost all of the major and successful Windows applications, from IE to Office, up to SQL Server.
    Doug said that Windows CE is protected against stupid programming but not against malicious programmers. From this point of view, it is better than Windows 98, but far from as good as Windows NT. As a smart and seasoned programmer, you can always figure out a way to break Windows CE's integrity and cause the entire system to crash.
    Doug also pointed out a number of potentially dangerous programming styles, that under certain conditions of stress can slow down the machine or cause it to totally lock. In most cases, it is just the unwanted consequence of bad programming styles.
    Overall, it was a good speech and he was a great speaker, but the content was not that great. On the other hand, this is just what the session was supposed to deliver. For more in-depth coverage, refer to Doug's book, Microsoft's Web site or the proceeding of Windows CE specific conferences.

Dino Esposito