Microsoft Whistler Embedded Beta 1 Ships

According to a press release over at Microsoft, a handful of Microsoft partners have received Beta 1 of the currently developing "Whistler Embedded" operating system. Whistler Embedded is a componentized version of the parent operating system, which allows developers to select only the features and portions of the system they need.

Beta 1 of the system focuses on "delivering embedded client scenarios, including Windows-based terminals, advanced set-top boxes and retail point-of-sale kiosks."

Whistler Embedded is being developed around three key goals, the first being to increase flexibility and design power by offering a highly componentized version of the powerful operating system. The second principle behind Whistler Embedded is to bring the technology of Whistler to the embedded community within a mere 90 days of the release of Windows Whistler. Lastly, Microsoft hopes to bring a new and powerful set of design and authoring tools to the table to reduce development time and release to market.

The new authoring and development pack includes a target designer for developers to select the components they need, and a component designer to allow the creation of new components to be added to the operating system. Also included is a database manager to give developers the ability to import already existing database components as well as offering other key database management features.

The fourth component of the development resources is a target manager, which gives developers "system information such as which are the critical device drivers of the intended target system. Target Analyzer will quickly identify dependencies between critical operating system components and the required device drivers for the custom operating system image, helping developers quickly build an operating system image that will successfully boot on the target device."

For more information visit Microsoft.