Windows Embedded Compact 7 Released For Content-Consumption Tablets & More

By Chris Davies

Microsoft's ARM-compatible version of Windows has been released, Windows Embedded Compact 7, intended for tablets, phones, medical devices, industrial systems and retail appliances. The new OS – which went up for download on February 28 – uses a new version of Internet Explorer 7 which borrows "performance updates" from IE8, Flash 10.1 support, Silverlight for Embedded support and the flexibility for OEMs to develop their own unique UIs on top of the underlying platform.

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Those UI changes are expected to be coded in Silverlight, using XAML and C++, and allowing OEMs to ditch the traditional "Windows chrome". That might be useful on tablets and phones – which Microsoft expects to be used more for content-consumption than full Windows 7 based slates – but is more likely to be applicable in industrial appliances where the full Windows interface might be counter-productive.

  • Support for ARM v7
  • New developer and designer tools
  • New technology for creating user interfaces
  • New SMP (symmetric multiprocessing) support for x86 & ARM, MIPS
  • New multimedia player, with customizable UI
  • New version of Internet Explorer (which is based on IE 7 with some "performance updates" from IE 8)
  • Flash 10.1 support (which requires an Adobe license by OEMs who want to include that feature)
  • Silverlight for Embedded support
  • Improved Connectivity to PCs, servers (NDIS 6.1 support)

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