Microsoft opens full Windows CE kernel source

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Nov. 01, 2006

In its most tacit acknowledgment yet of the power of open source, Microsoft is distributing complete kernel sources to all recipients of its Windows CE 6.0 SDK, released today. Developers need only acknowledge Microsoft's "shared source" license, using Microsoft's IDE (integrated development tool), after which requested sourcecode components are installed, according to an article at WindowsForDevices.

Microsoft began experimenting with shared source licensing for parts of CE as early as July of 2001. However, today's release represents the first time that all Windows CE developers will get 100 percent of the kernel source code. This includes those who simply download the 180-day evaluation version of the SDK, as well as those who pay $1,000 for the kit.

Microsoft's Windows CE "shared source" timeline
(Click to enlarge)
Microsoft says source availability will help CE users by:

Providing documentation
Assisting with execution tracing during debugging
Letting users add kernel space features
Allowing developers to share their modifications with others, provided the recipients agree to abide by the shared source license

Additionally, Microsoft will offer other portions of the overall Windows CE 6.0 operating system under several more restrictive "Premium" licenses, which are available in 34 countries to licensees of 5,000 or more CE runtimes, and to certain of the company's partners and "MVPs" (most valuable professionals).

Microsoft touts the terms of its BSD-like shared source license as being preferred by many device and equipment manufacturers that don't want to be compelled to make their OS customizations public and available to their competitors, in stark contrast to the GPL. The company has thus far declined to submit the license for approval by the Open Source Initiative as an open-source license.

In addition to full availability of kernel source under the shared source license, CE 6.0 benefits from significant performance enhancements, Microsoft claims, especially with regard to the number of processes and amount of memory supported.

Lots more details about Windows CE 6.0 and Microsoft's shared source licensing program for it can be found in WindowsForDevices's coverage of today's launch of Windows Embedded CE 6.0:

Windows CE 6 arrives with 100% kernel source

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