What exactly is a CE??

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Can't we upgrade it????

I have X1 and from what I read, it has an old CE..whereas the Win7Phone has CE 7 o something, if its software, can't we upgrade or update it????

Originally Posted by circleofomega

Can't we upgrade it????

I have X1 and from what I read, it has an old CE..whereas the Win7Phone has CE 7 o something, if its software, can't we upgrade or update it????

Can't be upgrade as it's completely different kernal.

<<Basic Definition Here>>

CE stands for "Compact Edition" I have a HP Jornada 420 that came out in 1999 and has the first version on it,They change it to Windows Mobile when you could use the phone on it..

Originally Posted by spannernick

CE stands for "Compact Edition" I have a HP Jornada 420 that came out in 1999 and has the first version on it,They change it to Windows Mobile when you could use the phone on it..

actually CE is the main operating system. Windows Mobile is a layer on top of it that includes telephony support and such.

Originally Posted by spannernick

CE stands for "Compact Edition" I have a HP Jornada 420 that came out in 1999 and has the first version on it,They change it to Windows Mobile when you could use the phone on it..

Officially, I don't think CE ever stood for anything until relatively recently when MS decided to rebrand the CE 6.0 kernel "Windows Embedded Compact". MS used to claim it stood for various things like "Compact", "Connected", etc. but they pretty much admit it never meant anything in the beginning.

Also, the Jornada 420 is hardly one of the first CE devices. It is a Palm Size PC that runs CE 2.11 with a color screen for crying out loud! It's at least the 3rd or 4th iteration of hardware designed for the OS. Heck, It isn't even the first release of Pocket PC's predecessor platform, Palm Size PC. Windows CE truly started with the original Handheld PC 1.0 platform back in 1996. Pocket PC and then Windows Mobile is really just another evolution of the original, intentionally crippled Handheld PC spinoff platform known as Palm (Size) PC. It was essentially the Smartphone of its day. Like Smartphone, it began as the intentionally crippled platform for weaker hardware while Handheld PC eventually evolved into a higher end, mini notebook replacement OS with support for USB, high resolutions color screens and faster processors. It is Palm Size PC we have to thank for lacking exit buttons, crippled file/save dialogs and the inability to open a second instance of applications on Windows Mobile. In some ways, my CE 1.0 MobilePro 400 is still feels less crippled and more productive than even the current Windows Mobile 6.5.3 devices. Perfect example: you can open multiple copies of Internet Explorer/Word/Excel/whatever, switch between them and open/save files from any location right out of the box. On the CE 2.0 rom, I can save/open anything to a UNC path over my network. Clearly, MS removing more "advanced" features and intentionally crippling the OS is nothing new when it comes to mainstream, consumer targeted CE platforms. :/ Though, Pocket PC at least retained backwards compatability, multitasking and added Office and IE. I guess Windows Phone 7 Series will just finish up their dream of making the most retardified CE OS possible that Pocket PC/PsPC began all those years ago. At least Vista/7 on the desktop lets you turn retard mode off.

Originally Posted by RAMMANN

actually CE is the main operating system. Windows Mobile is a layer on top of it that includes telephony support and such.

What's with people and their nebulous definitions of things.

"CE" is the name of the kernel that Pocket PC/Windows Mobile/Windows Phone Series/Zune devices use.

A "kernel" is the heart and soul of an operating system. Around it and its APIs everything else is built.

Windows 7, for example, is built ontop of the Windows NT 6.1 kernel.

Originally Posted by TFGBD

At least Vista/7 on the desktop lets you turn retard mode off.

What exactly do you mean by "retard mode" in Vista and 7?

P.S.: If you're referring to User Account Control, it's you who's the retard.

; )

Originally Posted by Spike15

What's with people and their nebulous definitions of things.

"CE" is the name of the kernel that Pocket PC/Windows Mobile/Windows Phone Series/Zune devices use.

A "kernel" is the heart and soul of an operating system. Around it and its APIs everything else is built.

Windows 7, for example, is built ontop of the Windows NT 6.1 kernel.



What exactly do you mean by "retard mode" in Vista and 7?

P.S.: If you're referring to User Account Control, it's you who's the retard.

; )

Heh. Nah, I wasn't talking about UAC though I guess you can count that. I was mainly thinking of stuff like the ability to show hidden files, hidden menu bars in Vista, admin settings and various other more advanced features that are hidden by default all throughout every version of desktop Windows but still easily disabled/found if power users need them. The CE platforms never got so lucky. Things just get removed for the hell of it to make room for crap in ROM or when they "confuse the user". It sure would be nice if Pocket IE still let you configure half the things it let you back in 1997... I really don't like this trend of removing and simplifying things just because it is a "Mobile" version.

Originally Posted by TFGBD

Heh. Nah, I wasn't talking about UAC though I guess you can count that.

Well UAC has nothing to do with "retard mode", it's actually a very powerful security feature, and turning it off goes against every best practice out-line in the security handbook -- which are written and designed for IT pros.

So unless IT pros are retards...

Originally Posted by TFGBD

I was mainly thinking of stuff like the ability to show hidden files, hidden menu bars in Vista, admin settings and various other more advanced features that are hidden by default all throughout every version of desktop Windows but still easily disabled/found if power users need them. The CE platforms never got so lucky. Things just get removed for the hell of it to make room for crap in ROM or when they "confuse the user". Though, I still think it would be nice if Pocket IE still let you configure half of the things it let you back in 1997... I really don't like this trend of removing and simplifying things just because it is a "Mobile" version.

Yeah I agree with that design.

I appreciate the need to make things "user-friendly", even if that means jack **** to me.

What I don't appreciate is when companies assume that "user-friendly" and "enthusiast-friendly" are mutually exclusive. You just have to hide the enthusiast/power user/pro features in such a way that they're immediately accessible to their target audiences, without confusing or getting in the way of the average user.

I don't understand why Microsoft -- a company that's become the master of this -- has decided to just totally divorce themselves from it in their up-and-coming mobile platform.

The only thing I can think of is that the WP7S team is a bunch of modern tech populist assholes who can't get their heads close enough to being out of their ass to see anything beyond "iPhone" and "cloud computing".