Micros evaluated Linux open-source software for its operating systems about four years ago. It went with Windows Embedded CE, which was "at least as cost effective as Linux," given the ongoing support needs, he said. By using a Windows Embedded CE operating system in its machines instead of Windows XP Professional Edition, Micros has found its costs have dropped about 30 percent. In fact, Kurdle said, the Windows Embedded CE OS alone was just $15 per machine for all costs, down from $150 for XP Professional.

Still, Micros uses PCs for some of its products, when more functionality is required. "Sometimes that line is crossed where you need a PC," Kurdle said.

Rob Helm, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, an independent firm in Kirkland, Wash., said the completely rewritten Windows Embedded CE 6.0 will make it possible to build an operating system that more efficiently runs applications not developed at the same time by the same developer. With previous versions, some applications didn't work well together, he said. The logic of how memory is used also changed, so that one application can't write to another application's memory, which has happened in previous versions. "With a bunch of applications running at once, there was the potential of stopping each other," Helm said.

He said there are many advantages to the new tool kit, but he predicted that "there won't be quick adoption" by the developer community, partly because backward compatibility is "not perfect." As a result, "there will be a slower uptick with 6.0 than with prior versions," Helm said.

Another analyst, Daya Nadamuni of Gartner Inc., said providing the kernel through Shared Source "is a big plus for Microsoft and a departure from their previous behavior." Windows Embedded CE had a reputation of not being very developer-friendly, Nadamuni said. But the new version reverses that trend, allowing a developer to pick and choose the pieces needed with flexibility because memory is not constrained, she said.