Article ID: 26

Added: March 21, 2008

Category: Miscellaneous

Question

While browsing the Internet, I came across an item called Windows CE and Windows Mobile. When I asked about these things, some says that it is essentially the same, while others said that they are different. Can you elaborate on this? Also, what is the relationship between Windows CE and KeySoft?

Answer

Short answer: both terms are different. Long explanation:

Windows CE is an operating system (from Microsoft) that powers many PDA's on the market today, such as pocket PC's and smartphones. This is a miniature operating system that runs underneath Windows Mobile. Windows Mobile, in this context, is the interface of the PDA. In simple terms, Windows CE is the actual operating system, while Windows Mobile is running on top of Windows CE that provides graphics and other services that allows a PDA to display information. In regular computer terms, Windows CE can be thought of as a kernel (a kernel is a central part of an operating system that manages communication between software and hardware), with Windows Mobile as desktop interface (via Windows Explorer) on Windows.

The current version of Windows CE is Windows CE 6.0, released on November 2006. The latest version of Windows Mobile is Windows Mobile 6 (running on top of CE 5.2) on February 2007.

How about KeySoft? KeySoft runs on top of Windows CE, essentially serving same functions as Windows Mobile - the interface on the BrailleNote. On the BrailleNote, Windows CE provides essential components, such as managing storage devices, allowing Bluetooth connections, etc. while keySoft "presents" these components to users using its own way of presenting information (called an interface). So, in essence, KeySoft receives information from CE, which then translates into the format that BrailleNote users can understand via speech and/or braille display.

P.S. I (the author), personally think that this article is somewhat hard for some people to understand. There's another version of this article, located at Mission Backstage that is even more technical than this one - in other words, this is the simplest answer that I can come up with in respect to the question. I hope that my message was clear enough for readers to understand.

Updated: March 21, 2008