While talking about Windows Embedded with a customer last week, a question came up about the next major release of the Windows Embedded operating system. From past experience we know that usually the Embedded version is released a few months after the release of the full version of the operating system. Looking at the current release of the Embedded operating system, Windows 7 was formally released on 22.10.2009, and Windows Embedded Standard 7 was released on 29.07.2010 so nearly 9 months later.
On the Microsoft Windows Embedded product site I found the following information:
- Windows Embedded Enterprise v.Next will be available a quarter after Windows 8 is generally available for PCs
- Windows Embedded Standard v.Next will undergo a community technology preview for developers during the first quarter of 2012, with general availability three quarters after Windows 8. It will support the ARM architecture and all of the management and security functionality provided by Windows 8.
- Windows Embedded Compact v.Next will follow in the second half of 2012, introducing support for Visual Studio 2010.
What’s also interesting is that the next Embedded version will also support the ARM architecture.