back to article Microsoft starts to roll out Windows 8 in embedded flavors

Microsoft has announced the general availability of two flavors of Windows 8 for embedded systems; the Standard and Pro editions. "Edge devices connected and working in unison with an enterprise's broader IT infrastructure unleash the potential of the Internet of Things by yielding the actionable data and operational …

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  2. ecofeco Silver badge
    Facepalm

    How about some bread...

    ... with that crap sandwich.

    Yeah, THAT will make people want it more.

    1. Ross K Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: How about some bread...

      Thank you for that eloquent take on the subject.

      Makes no sense though... By definition, a sandwich is comprised of bread and a filling (crap in your juvenile example).

      Why would you have some bread with your (already) bread-based snack?

      Dur. Please try harder next time.

      1. PhilBuk
        Thumb Up

        Re: How about some bread...

        Exactly, Ross. Just like the old sayiing. "Life is like a shit sandwich - the more bread you have, the less you taste the shit."

        Phil.

  3. stephajn
    Facepalm

    Microsoftese at its finest

    "Edge devices connected and working in unison with an enterprise's broader IT infrastructure unleash the potential of the Internet of Things by yielding the actionable data and operational intelligence that drive businesses forward," said Kevin Dallas.

    Seriously....who in the REAL WORLD actually talks like this???

    1. Martin Gregorie

      Re: Microsoftese at its finest

      > Seriously....who in the REAL WORLD actually talks like this???

      MBAs.

    2. Dan 55 Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: Microsoftese at its finest

      amanfrommars.

    3. Lamb0
      Devil

      Re: Microsoftese at its finest

      Oh joy! More vendor lock-in and proprietary extensions for "standards". Don't forget to pay extra to enable support for the common protocols you already use - "legacy" (non-Microsoft and previous Microsoft) protocols will cost more if you don't drink the new kool-aid flavors!

  4. JDX Gold badge
    Trollface

    there's a limit on how smart you need a coffee machine to be

    Even if that were true (doubtful for many nerds) most are not smart at all. How can you not want the ability to select your coffee type from your phone/PC as you leave your desk and find it ready waiting for you by the time you arrive?! Just think how much time talking with colleagues about their stupid pets and boring families, or pretending to care about sport, could be saved¬

    1. Ross K Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: there's a limit on how smart you need a coffee machine to be

      How can you not want the ability to select your coffee type from your phone/PC as you leave your desk

      Interesting idea. How easy would it be to cause a buffer overrun by ordering 70 cups of coffee over the network?

      In other news, did you know you can buy horribly overpriced (or just plain horrible) Costa coffee from a Windows-powered vending machine?

      http://www.costa-business.co.uk/costa-express/

      1. JDX Gold badge

        Re: there's a limit on how smart you need a coffee machine to be

        Thanks for feeling the need to tell us which brands you're snobby about Ross.

        1. Ross K Silver badge
          Joke

          Re: there's a limit on how smart you need a coffee machine to be

          Me snobby about coffee?

          My usual brand of coffee comes from the petrol station across the road from work.

          The only coffee I wouldn't drink is the stuff you get in those little cartridges in Kwit-Fit coffee machines.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: there's a limit on how smart you need a coffee machine to be

      I don't like coffee anyway...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: there's a limit on how smart you need a coffee machine to be

      You can do that with a device that uses a Raspberry Pi running Linux, or for that matter an Arduino with appropriate device libraries. No licence required.

    4. mmeier

      Re: there's a limit on how smart you need a coffee machine to be

      Embedded systems and their extension the "smart home" are actually quite interesting. Telling your heating system "will be home x min late/early" safes quite a bit and beats the alternatives "ice chest" (cheap) and "sauna" (warm but costly). A webcam in the kitchen is also handy to find out when the pizza is ready, garden lights coupled to the door(s) beat the stupid IR based "motion detectors" and so on. Won't want to live without it and using Windows is prefered (CE currently)

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why bother?

    As unlike desktop XP, XP Embedded is still supported by Microsoft until 2017 and Windows Embedded 7 until 2025....

    http://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/evaluate/windows-embedded-roadmap.aspx

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why bother?

      THAT'S interesting! Good find!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why bother?

      Indeed, especially as it is only in the last 18 months or so that Win 7 Embedded devices started shipping.

      There are compelling reasons for 7 Embedded - such as multitouch and SSD support.

      What's the USP of Win 8 Embedded?

      Why would I start a project now using a brand-new and unknown OS, when I could use the 3-years extant Win 7 Em?

      Given the fun we had with early XP Embedded, why would we let our customers take the risk?

      - And for an "Internet of Things" class of device, the Compact Edition is the only plausible one, although I'm far more likely to use Linux because that's what everybody else puts in small, low-power devices.

    3. HipposRule

      Re: Why bother?

      @AC - and POSReady 2009 (which is based on XP Embedded) till 2019.

    4. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Why bother?

      Why bother?

      Probably because W8 embedded/etc versions are more often going to be used in tough-based scenarios, and because they have kinect-functionality so you can interface without having to even touch the screen. I can see real uses for that.

  6. Cipher
    FAIL

    My guess is...

    ...that industry/enterprise will NOT be tripping over themselves to buy this.

    Smells like desperation. Sounds like defeat...

    1. Spearchucker Jones

      Re: My guess is...

      I'm more inclined to see what happens. It's a lot easier to build an app for a kiosk using WinRT than it is using Windows Forms.

    2. largefile

      Re: My guess is...

      Desparation? Has Microsoft not made embedded versions of their operating systems for quite some time now?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    multiscreen coffeemaker?

    Great, a coffee machine with several screens advertising forthcoming Msoft products, one with celebrity news and what sports stars think of Msoft, one with an error message saying the coffee beans have not been provisioned, do you want to continue with your 90 day trial of Win 8 embedded coffee service?

  8. daveeff
    IT Angle

    thin clients anyone?

    Who's going to want this?

    Maybe people want their thin clients to have the same (metro!?!) desktop as there fat clients?

    embedded isn't just coffee m/c's, I'd use arm and linux for those anyway - raspberry pi with your coffee anyone?

    1. Ross K Silver badge
      WTF?

      Re: thin clients anyone?

      Given that thin clients usually run on low-spec hardware compared to your desktop PC, it's highly unlikely that Windows 8 Embedded is going to be running Metro. Isn't it?

      And to answer your question "Who's going to want this?" - umm, I dunno... Manufacturers who want to support technology that didn't exist when XP was created?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        Re: thin clients anyone?

        Sounds like a replacement for Windows FLP (Fundamentals for Legacy PCs) - the cut down version of XP that shipped to corporates to wean them off Windows 98/2000, but still ran on a Pentium 2.

      2. mmeier

        Re: thin clients anyone?

        Since Modern-UI runs on Win/RT that runs on low grade stuff like ARM I do not see a problem. If that is not enough - use an Atom CPU. Embedded != Mobile, the MC680x0 series CPU can still be found in many embedded controllers (IIRC including Siemens Washing maschines)

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "...there's a limit on how smart you need a coffee machine to be."

    With Windows 8 embedded, there's a limit to how dumb you need a coffee machine to be.

  10. Mr Spock

    I rather like the idea of a botnet of washing machines...

  11. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Happy

    I know where I'd like to 'embed' Windows {any version}

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