

Windows on Devices - maguay
http://www.windowsondevices.com

======
curiousAl
April Fools? "Build a smart coffee mug, build a talking bear, build a robot,
or build something else entirely"

and no validation (client nor server) on the form...?

And a different domain name (rather than using a page on microsoft.com)?

My spidey sense is tingling.

EDIT: It's down. In case people were curious:
[http://i.imgur.com/9zUIPSf.png](http://i.imgur.com/9zUIPSf.png)

~~~
rplnt
Links from the "More on:" section:

[http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/quark/inte...](http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/quark/intel-
quark-technologies.html)

[http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-
exp...](http://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-express-
vs.aspx)

[http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/windows-
embed...](http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/windows-
embedded.aspx)

[http://makerfaire.com/](http://makerfaire.com/)

------
wluu
Might be part of this?

[http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-staffs-up-its-evolving-
intern...](http://www.zdnet.com/microsoft-staffs-up-its-evolving-internet-of-
things-team-7000026199/)

I think more will be known tomorrow as tomorrow is Microsofts' "//Build/"
conference.

This is one of the presentations titled "Windows and the Internet of Things"
\-
[http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/2-511](http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/2-511)

And possibly this session?
[http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/2-536](http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2014/2-536)

Anyway, it looks like the site has been pulled (for now), as it's showing that
the site is no longer available.

~~~
wluu
Down the bottom left of the page it mentions: "[...]fun projects such as the
life-size piano we demonstrated at Build 2014."

Yup, looks like this is a real thing and will show up soon as part of a
//Build/ conference.

------
teekert
I know many older people that did electronics back in the day. They have solar
cells on their roofs now, they want to do something with them, ie. measure
output, plot graphs etc. I'm an RPi enthusiast and always point them to my
blog and talk about the RPi. It's always the Linux that puts them off. They
feel it's complicated, messes up easily. I'm pretty sure there is quite a
market out there for these boards.

~~~
wyager
Why? Honestly, I can't think of any good reason to use Windows in an embedded
device of any kind.

Have them use an Arduino or something with a nice older-person-friendly IDE
and run a serial line to their windows box or something.

~~~
stusmall
Backed. Event loop driven uC programming is a lot easier than working with an
OS for very simple things. They even make pretty decent wifi modules that let
you can interface with over UART. It would make measuring and dialing home
with results easy for a one off.

~~~
bergie
You can even program microcontrollers visually:
[http://microflo.org/](http://microflo.org/)

[http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/full-stack-fbp/](http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/full-
stack-fbp/)

------
geetee
The form doesn't actually submit, it just redirects:

$(document).ready(function () {$('.signup-button').click(function
(e){location.href = '/Home/Thanks/';});});

~~~
yaeger
Site is gone now, too. Redirects to
[http://www.azurewebsites.net/SiteUnavailable.htm](http://www.azurewebsites.net/SiteUnavailable.htm)

------
sn0v
Not to be a downer here, but how is Windows supposed to compete with Linux in
terms of cost when platforms like the Raspberry Pi cost merely 25 bucks?

Even if they slash license prices by a huge amount, I can't see MS giving them
away for single digit prices.

~~~
frozenport
A decade ago, Windows CE had better widget kits and programming environment
when compared to Linux. This was especially true for touchscreen interaction.

For example, Zeiss Microscopes control panels from 2006 use Windows CE. I am
not sure what the advantage is today. GCC competes well with VS and more
people know Qt.

MS can give this away for free as it isn't a market that they own.

~~~
ekianjo
> A decade ago, Windows CE had better widget kits and programming environment
> when compared to Linux. This was especially true for touchscreen
> interaction.

And PocketPC could do almost everything an iPhone could do about... 5-6 years
before the iPhone came out. Windows CE was clearly ahead of its time, but the
support from Microsoft was terrible: they kept it low-key, too long.

~~~
wyager
>And PocketPC could do almost everything an iPhone could do about... 5-6 years
before the iPhone came out.

I had a top-of-the-line PocketPC phone for three years. Saying a PocketPC
could do almost everything an iPhone could do is like saying that a nail file
could do almost everything a Haas CNC machine could do.

~~~
Roritharr
Without wanting to start a longer off topic debate: I think you have your
analogy upside down. Compared to the iPhone 1 a top-of-the-line PocketPC phone
was clearly a CNC Machine. In 2005 I used my PocketPC Phone to SSH into Unix
Boxes, write long emails with its slide out keyboard, edited pictures and let
people sign documents with its pen and used GPS for turn by turn navigation.

In 2007 Apple released a phone that could only run web-apps without hardware
support. At the time this got a big meh from me since it looked like a toy
compared to my phone.

------
mrmondo
'This site is currently not available...'

I think this says it all, joke or otherwise.

~~~
jfoster
Not the most convincing publicity for Azure, is it? This has potential to be a
harmless joke turned PR problem.

~~~
OWaz
Seems more like a page that went live before it should have.

------
supercoder
What's wrong with Windows CE

~~~
tdicola
I wanted to do some Windows CE development as a hobbyist a few years ago (my
car stereo runs Windows CE, was hoping to make some apps to monitor OBD
parameters) and it was a complete nightmare to try developing against. Maybe
things have changed, but it was almost impossible to find tools, resources, or
any clear documentation on how to get a development environment setup--this
was with a full MSDN subscription too. I think there's a very good reason
Windows CE was chucked out in favor of a new OS for their big phone push.

~~~
lhaussknecht
I'm still doing Windows CE 6.0 development on Motorola Business Handhelds.
Sadly MS abandoned Windows CE (.net CF) from their IDEs since VS 2008.

------
nemasu
First thing I thought of was Dreamcast when I thought embedded Windows ...

~~~
72deluxe
Weirdly didn't the Dreamcast not have any OS on it? It relied on the OS being
on the game disk, the cleverly designed normal CD-ROM run at half speed for
double density (or something of that nature).

~~~
nemasu
Hmm, there had to be something, cause it ran without a disc. More menus then
the PS2. Plus it says powered by windows CE right on the front.

~~~
72deluxe
Maybe it was the Dreamcast equivalent of the BIOS before the OS was loaded
from the disc? I know that I have machines that say powered by Windows XP that
really aren't! :-)

------
chad_oliver
April fools?

~~~
OWaz
Based on what the page says nothing seems like a joke to me.

------
robbiet480
Anddddddd site is down

~~~
danabenson
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.windowsondevices.com)

------
higherpurpose
This is an April's Fools joke right? The last thing we need is a repeat of the
XP on ATMs catastrophe 10 years from now.

------
AdrianRossouw
because what the world needs is a coffee mug that can blue screen?

Most of the places where embedded linux is used X isn't even really
appropriate. Why would you use windows for things that don't even have
screens?

~~~
alrs
Microsoft would have to be asleep at the wheel if they hadn't at some point
had a few engineers get a BSD libc and userland running on the NT kernel.

Just because Microsoft won't sell you the NT kernel without a GUI on top
doesn't mean that NT kernel is forever welded to a GUI.

~~~
runjake
It's already here. Server Core is the NT OS without a GUI.

Also, there's been a few implementations of a full UNIX subsystem on Windows.
Intermix and Services For UNIX come to mind. Also check out Colinux if it's
still alive.

