Microsoft makes 1st Windows Embedded 8 releases available

Back in November 2012, Microsoft officials said the first of its Windows Embedded 8 offerings would be available in March. Right on schedule, on March 20, the two primary SKUs of Microsoft's latest embedded Windows product family were made available for download.


Windows Embedded 8 is a componentized version of Windows 8 with additional technologies that adapt Windows for use in and on specialized devices.

Windows Embedded 8 Standard and Windows Embedded 8 Pro are available immediately for OEMs interested in building devices and systems with Windows 8 inside. The releases will be available on Get Windows Embedded 8. Windows Embedded 8 Standard also is available from Microsoft's Download Center.

Read more at source:
Microsoft makes first of its Windows Embedded 8 releases generally available | ZDNet


See also:
Get Windows Embedded 8
 
Interesting.
Thanks Shawn and have a great day :) ...
 

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Hi there

Looks good.
I suppose this is intended to be used in devices like Mobile phones. I could also see this as useful in those places which have public displays - for instance Weather, News or traffic info - especially when there is a dedicated screen. (Airports / railway stations etc). This is where the Metro apps could be of significant use.

What this really could do with though would be a method of switching Metro apps automatically say after a fixed period (1 min for example) which would make those airport / train stations screens more interesting and possibly another area would be to incorporate a bar code reader device so stock etc could easily be checked with a hand held device and sent to a back end system without needing huge expensive ERP software like SAP or ORACLE. Smaller businesses might find this useful too.

The whole CE idea has been around since Windows 3.11 days -- but it's now that these types of devices should come into their own and an embedded OS has a great deal to go for it if Ms gets together with some of the hardware manufacturers rather than just issue the OS and sit back.

Windows 8 CE could easily overtake Windows 8 on the desktop as the scope for use in handheld / other fixed devices is almost unlimited. - What about a "Smarter" TV for example. (Note I don't mean you'd run Embedded windows on a desktop - just the NUMBER of windows 8 embedded licenses will exceed the number of standard Windows 8 ones).

As far as use in phones is concerned - updating the OS in the phone would be really simple -- for some phones these days updating Android releases can be very hit and miss and often after updating some apps don't work etc etc. The security would also be STREETS ahead of Android -- OK when on the Phone network security might be OK but how many people use their phones on public Wifi systems - with Chrome --I don't even think the word SECURITY exists on that browser.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Point Of Sale terminals maybe?

How did that old joke go? The new windows release is made up of CE, ME and NT. :zip:
 
Last edited:

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Hi there
Ms could be on to a HUGE winner with this one. I don't think "The Fruit company" would even KNOW what these are - much less devise an OS for one.

Interesting people like Motorola are on board -- This is where Ms needs to be as revenues from its consumer divisions must inevitably fall -- for all sorts of reasons and nothing to do with Windows 8.

People just don't NEED to update their hardware that often any more so once you've sold say a license of Windows that's IT for say the next 10 years for that person. Office versions last even longer --Office 2003 and even Office 97 probably do more than most people actually ever use.

Competing types of mobile devices also make the use of desktop computers significantly less than before -- Soon the traditional desktop will essentially be restricted to workplaces and specialized hobbyists (gamers etc) with home users only very occasionally using them.

A slow long drawn out lingering decline will ensure Ms keeps a healthy revenue for a good while yet - but without new products and sources of income Ms will eventually like so many other seemingly invincible companies eventually disappear.

Getting involved in this sort of hardware and providing an OS for it seems a great way to go. - Not sure though how I'd react if my car was stranded and it said "Please connect to the Ms server to update your subscription which has now expired". (Well I would know but I'm not saying. !!).

Cheers
jimbo
 

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I definitely see Windows 8 Embedded being in Point Of Sale terminals. Actually, it already is in a good chunk of them already with Windows Xp Compact Embedded, like in Redboxes, self-check out stands, CoinStars I think, and POS terminals of companies that run a Microsoft powered enterprise.

Windows 8 would be a GOOD improvement. It could bring new POS terminals based off more efficient hardware that is power efficient, better touch support and that fun stuff.

On mobile, I actually read a few months back that The Home Depot will be using Windows 8 Embedded on these phones they have to better handle customer orders, service requests and such. The live tile UI better supports that than the traditional model of simple static icons.
 

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Although I've never understood how Microsoft is able to get a full installation of Windows Embedded to be 4 gigs! :eek:
 

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Although I've never understood how Microsoft is able to get a full installation of Windows Embedded to be 4 gigs! :eek:

Stuff you would never use or need is striped out?
 

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Although I've never understood how Microsoft is able to get a full installation of Windows Embedded to be 4 gigs! :eek:

Stuff you would never use or need is striped out?
Doubt it, as EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING is in a full install of Windows Embedded. It's weird, every bit of the Desktop features and UI are there, as well as advanced boot options I believe. Nothing is stripped.

I think it has to do with something pertaining to how Windows NT 6 operates, as that is literally 4 times the size of Windows xp/NT 5 kernel. xp took about 4 gigs, vista takes 16, as well as 7 as well as 8 to an extent, although it's more like 13 or so. That's not the whole operating system, but it's probably due to the system keeping a double copy of system files to use for Automatic Repair and such. There isn't an install.wim file as that would take a while to unpack that when Automatic Repair runs, but those files are there unpacked on the drive, not visible through the UI. That would make the most sense as back with xp to do something like that, you needed the install CD.
 

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Although I've never understood how Microsoft is able to get a full installation of Windows Embedded to be 4 gigs! :eek:

Stuff you would never use or need is striped out?
Doubt it, as EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING is in a full install of Windows Embedded. It's weird, every bit of the Desktop features and UI are there, as well as advanced boot options I believe. Nothing is stripped.

What does the Desktop Features and UI have to do with anything?They more than likely stripped a lot of stuff needed for backwards compatibility to off-color systems and older legacy code and what not. As long as they know they're only going to one specific platform and don't have to have support in there for all of them, there is a lot of stuff they can drop.
 

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I don't have any experience with Windows embedded. Don't you create a custom install (image) based on the hardware?
 

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I don't have any experience with Windows embedded. Don't you create a custom install (image) based on the hardware?
You can, but you have the option to install a full Windows shell regardless. That's usually how POS terminals are done, they have the full Windows install generally, with a specific app that starts up, or usually as you say, customized and cooked.
 

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Stuff you would never use or need is striped out?
Doubt it, as EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING is in a full install of Windows Embedded. It's weird, every bit of the Desktop features and UI are there, as well as advanced boot options I believe. Nothing is stripped.


What does the Desktop Features and UI have to do with anything?They more than likely stripped a lot of stuff needed for backwards compatibility to off-color systems and older legacy code and what not. As long as they know they're only going to one specific platform and don't have to have support in there for all of them, there is a lot of stuff they can drop.

Hi there

the TARGET devices are usually dedicated single application devices for example Point of sale stuff -- however you need the WHOLE of the OS on your development platform to CREATE the parts of Windows CE you need for your hardware.

Some of the hardware companies will be making more than ONE type of device .

Obviously you probably wouldn't need to install the whole development UI on the end device of course.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Stuff you would never use or need is striped out?
Doubt it, as EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING is in a full install of Windows Embedded. It's weird, every bit of the Desktop features and UI are there, as well as advanced boot options I believe. Nothing is stripped.

What does the Desktop Features and UI have to do with anything?They more than likely stripped a lot of stuff needed for backwards compatibility to off-color systems and older legacy code and what not. As long as they know they're only going to one specific platform and don't have to have support in there for all of them, there is a lot of stuff they can drop.
No, they really don't. LITERALLY EVERYTHING is in a full install of Windows Embedded, and it takes roughly 4 gigs. There isn't ANYTHING really stripped out. If you were to use for example, Windows 7 and Windows 7 Embedded Standard that has a full install done, you really will not be able to tell the difference between the two unless if you go in winver to show the OS differences.

Windows Embedded has the option of doing a full install of Windows, along with tweaked install options. One I think is just purely meant for things like POS terminals such as a Redbox kiosk (or kiosks in general) where the Windows core boots up, then it boots the kiosk application. That's obviously a REALLY small footprint, but that's an option that can be done.

I've seen self checkout POS terminals run a full install of Windows xp Embedded, the checkout app starts up within Windows, runs the self check of the system components, then boots the app's UI.
 

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Hi there
That's also true if the hardware wants to do it - but it isn't always necessary -- for example a smart TV would only need a small part of Windows CE to tune the channel(s), browse the internet, select input source, and possibly read external storage devices and play multi-media from them and of course read from the remote controller.

With a point of sale terminal hardware checking might be desirable on startup -- you don't want invalid financial data being transmitted to the remote back end system. It's still up to the designer of the equipment on how to implement the OS and what features to enable.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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You can include almost anything in an Embedded Windows, or leave out all but certain core components.

A full install can install EVERYTHING, but the OS build could just be a text based console without a GUI, for example, the processing power behind a voice operated security clearance gate. Speak into a microphone, present a fingerprint, or enter a PIN and the gate lets you through, and logs you into the place, and out again when you exit, recording the data on a server somewhere.

An embedded system could present as a thin client on a low spec workstation running server-side applications, a set top box or a home theatre system, an information kiosk, not only a fixed device, but for instance a portable guide on a small tablet device in a museum capable of presenting further data about an exhibit, even packaging a cloud-based review of that particular museum visit for later study. POS systems linked to Warehouse JIT Stock controllers have already been mentioned.

Your automobile computer, GPS and in-car entertainment could also be running Windows Embedded, not only keeping the engine running efficiently, and in the right direction, but simultaneously providing music for the driver and a computer game or movie for the young passengers in the back.

Things like media center are just componentized parts of the Windows Embedded suite which uses the same codebase as the retail Windows 8, but you could just use Windows 8 RT components for a particular device.

Windows 7 Embedded Standard trial was certainly worth playing with, since you could build systems more-or-less indistinguishable from the Retail Windows 7 Ultimate OS with 90 days lifetime (or longer with education licenses), which could be extended if needed, but all the Windows 8 Embedded trials I have seen so far, timebomb your OS builds after 30 days, which doesn't seem worth the effort of building them.
 

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I'll check it out :)

Thanks Shawn !
 

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I'll check it out :)

Thanks Shawn !

~Sorry double post~
 

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    Some wired stuff
You can include almost anything in an Embedded Windows, or leave out all but certain core components.

A full install can install EVERYTHING, but the OS build could just be a text based console without a GUI, for example, the processing power behind a voice operated security clearance gate. Speak into a microphone, present a fingerprint, or enter a PIN and the gate lets you through, and logs you into the place, and out again when you exit, recording the data on a server somewhere.

An embedded system could present as a thin client on a low spec workstation running server-side applications, a set top box or a home theatre system, an information kiosk, not only a fixed device, but for instance a portable guide on a small tablet device in a museum capable of presenting further data about an exhibit, even packaging a cloud-based review of that particular museum visit for later study. POS systems linked to Warehouse JIT Stock controllers have already been mentioned.

Your automobile computer, GPS and in-car entertainment could also be running Windows Embedded, not only keeping the engine running efficiently, and in the right direction, but simultaneously providing music for the driver and a computer game or movie for the young passengers in the back.

Things like media center are just componentized parts of the Windows Embedded suite which uses the same codebase as the retail Windows 8, but you could just use Windows 8 RT components for a particular device.

Windows 7 Embedded Standard trial was certainly worth playing with, since you could build systems more-or-less indistinguishable from the Retail Windows 7 Ultimate OS with 90 days lifetime (or longer with education licenses), which could be extended if needed, but all the Windows 8 Embedded trials I have seen so far, timebomb your OS builds after 30 days, which doesn't seem worth the effort of building them.

This here, yep! :thumb:

Although I'm really interested in seeing some Windows 8 Embedded car audio systems, that would cool! I recently had a crazy idea of possibly using Windows 8 with a low powered Atom processor JUST to run a music setup with an amplifier system.... That was a tad overkill, but the cool part was a periscope that used a smartphone camera, so when you're in traffic and all of a sudden it stops and you're like, "What in the blue hell is this?! Utah?!" Pop open the digital periscope, you can see what's up, quite literally. Although Windows RT could possibly work as well.... with a power antenna....
 

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    AMD FX 8320
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    Crosshair V Formula-Z
    Memory
    16 gig DDR3
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS R9 270
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Seagate Barracuda (starting to hate Seagate)
    x2 3 TB Toshibas
    Windows 8.1 is installed on a SanDisk Ultra Plus 256 GB
    PSU
    OCZ 500 watt
    Case
    A current work in progres as I'll be building the physical case myself. It shall be fantastic.
    Cooling
    Arctic Cooler with 3 heatpipes
    Keyboard
    Logitech K750 wireless solar powered keyboard
    Mouse
    Microsoft Touch Mouse
    Browser
    Internet Explorer 11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender, but I might go back on KIS 2014
Yeah, like the idea of dashboard cameras taken to another level! Why not put your cam onto a micro helicopter and you could use a Windows Phone interface with an app to control your aerial spycam from your gridlocked vehicle? Not only could you amuse yourself, but you could get scoop footage from the accident at the cause of the snarl-up, and send it direct to your local TV station if newsworthy. Endless possibilities present themselves!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP COMPAQ Presario CQ57
    CPU
    AMD E- 300 APU with Radion HD Graphics 1.30GHz
    Motherboard
    inbuilt
    Memory
    4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI
    Sound Card
    High Definition Audio on-board
    Monitor(s) Displays
    notebook
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Seagate ST9500325AS
    Google drive 15GB
    Skydrive 25GB
    BT Cloud
    PSU
    external 20v
    Case
    Laptop
    Cooling
    pretty good
    Keyboard
    inbuilt
    Mouse
    touchpad
    Internet Speed
    BT Infinity Unlimited - 80 up 20 down =70/16 really
    Browser
    Chrome Canary usually
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Malwarebytes
    Other Info
    no Start menu modifications
    Upgraded with no issues to 8.0 and to 8.1
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