Windows Phone Thoughts: Windows CE Update Set for Mid-2003 Release

"The next update to Microsoft's Windows CE .Net OS, which has been given the code name McKendric, will ship before the middle of 2003 and include several new features, a company executive said at the Microsoft Embedded DevCon 2003 conference being held here. Expected to be called Windows CE .Net Version 4.2 when it hits the market later this year, McKendric offers several improvements over the current version of the OS, Windows CE .Net 4.1. It will incorporate new features, such as support for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), a firewall, and wireless networking support for residential gateways, said Chip Schnarel, group program manager for Windows CE OS development at Microsoft.

Among the changes being made to the OS is a feature designed to improve the compatibility of APIs for software developed for PDAs (personal digital assistants) running Microsoft's Pocket PC software and other devices running software based on Windows CE .Net, Schnarel said. To make this possible, McKendric will allow software developers to change an application's user interface so that it can be displayed on differently sized screens while maintaining compatibility at the API level, Schnarel said. This would allow developers to more easily port their applications to different Windows CE-based devices, he said."

Due to a Microsoft NDA I'm under, I can't say much about this news, but if you read between the lines you can see this is going to be a very exciting year for the Pocket PC!