For the first time, Microsoft has made 100 percent of the kernel of the new Windows Embedded CE 6.0 tool kit available to developers through its Shared Source Initiative. That gives device makers an easier way to debug designs, without being required to share their plans with Microsoft, said Mukund Ghangurde, group product manager for Windows Embedded CE.

Also for the first time, Visual Studio 2005 Professional will ship with the new tool kit, while the older software for integrated development, Platform Builder, will ship as a plug-in for Visual Studio, Ghangurde said. He estimated that the new release has nearly 800 different operating system components and that previous versions of Windows Embedded CE are used by 4,000 device manufacturers.

For the same price as Version 5.0, Microsoft is drastically increasing the amount of virtual memory available in 6.0, from 32MB to 2GB, Ghangurde added. The new design can run 32,000 simultaneous processes, 1,000 times the 32 simultaneous processes that could run in Version 5.0, he said.

An evaluation kit is available from Microsoft's Web site for free, while the tool kit and a single license to use Visual Studio and components costs US$995, he said. Each runtime license for shipping products will start at $3 but will drop in price based on volume. Included with the price is 10 years of support, including legal protection for a device maker's intellectual property.

The new tool kit allows for "much more powerful and scalable sets of applications, and devices can be more intelligent," Ghangurde said. In addition, new cell core data and voice components will enable devices to establish data connections and voice calls over cellular networks so that machine-to-machine communication applications can be expanded.