In a bold move, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates unveiled a revised product structure and highly aggressive runtime pricing — as low as $3 — for the Windows CE .NET embedded operating system today, at the WinHEC (Windows Hardware Engineering Conference) in New Orleans. The revised pricing model is likely to make Windows CE much more competitive with alternatives such as Wind River's VxWorks, open source… embedded Linux, and other embedded operating systems, say analysts.

Under the new scheme, Windows CE .NET will be licensed according to three runtime alternatives — “Windows CE .NET 4.2 Core,” which includes a basic subset of CE .NET components and will be available at an estimated retail price (ERP) of $3; a “Windows CE. NET 4.2 Professional” version priced at $15 (ERP), which includes the balance of CE .NET other than image, PDF, and Office file viewers; and a “Windows CE. NET 4.2 Professional Plus” version, which adds the viewers.

Microsoft also announced a new free “noncommercial distribution license” for Windows CE .NET 4.2 which is said to permit embedded developers, device manufacturers, and Microsoft's partners to share Windows CE system images for free or noncommercial use. The purpose of the new free license is to foster innovation and collaboration within the community, the company said. (Note: Microsoft defines noncommercial use as “when no compensation is received for a device image or a product using that image.”)

Last month, Microsoft announced a new “premium” shared source license that permits “full access” to Windows CE source code, including rights to redistribute modified code within commercial products.

Further details are available from a WindowsForDevices.com “special report” on the revised CE .NET product structure and runtime pricing, which includes an overview of the new CE .NET product structure, a roundup of pertinent news items and articles from around the web, and links for further background . . .

 
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