Windows Embedded Operating Systems and Thin Client Requirements

Windows Embedded thin clients can be built to incorporate any features and components from the underlying Windows Embedded operating system on which they are based. The following chart illustrates how core thin client feature requirements are addressed by Windows CE 5.0 and Windows XP Embedded.

Table: Thin Client Features Supported by Windows CE 5.0 and Windows XP Embedded

Feature Name	Feature Description	Windows CE 5.0	Windows XP Embedded
Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol 5.5	A service that allows a thin client to communicate with a terminal server across a LAN, WAN, or by means of a dial-up, ISDN, DSL, or virtual private network (VPN) connection.
Telnet Server	A sample server that allows remote administration through a standard Telnet client.
HTTP	Hypertext Transfer Protocol
SNMPv2	A standard Internet protocol for monitoring and managing networks.
Full .NET Framework Support	Hardware-independent program execution environment for secure downloadable applications.
.NET Compact Framework Support	Hardware independent program execution environment for secure downloadable applications targeting and optimized for resource-constrained computing devices.
Full Win32 API application support	A comprehensive class library and complete object-oriented application framework designed to build applications, components, and controls.
Windows CE Win32 variant APIs as supported in Standard Windows CE SDK	A subset and variant of the full Win32 API class libraries and object-oriented application framework designed to build applications, components, and controls.
Remote Boot	Allows the booting of an image on a client device without requiring the device to have persistent storage, such as a hard drive or Flash RAM memory.
System Management Server client	A client that provides a transparent manageability solution for embedded devices.
WMI	Windows Management Instrumentation, the Microsoft implementation of Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM), an industry initiative to develop a standard technology for accessing management information in an enterprise environment.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Support	A rapidly emerging technology for voice communications that uses the ubiquity of IP-based networks.
Internet Explorer 6.0	Web browser software.	Internet Explorer 6 for Windows CE	Internet Explorer 6
Windows Explorer shell and Windows XP shell	A shell that is functionally equivalent to the shell on the Windows-based desktop platforms.
Flash Plug-ins	Plug-ins for the rendering of Macromedia Flash files.	Available through third parties
Acrobat Plug-ins	Plug-ins for the rendering of Adobe PDF files.
Broad Windows XP plug-in compatibility	Ability to convert any Windows XP-compatible plug-in to a Windows XP Embedded component.
Java support using third-party technology	Support for the Java run-time environment.
ARM, MIPS, SH Processor Support	Ability to run the operating system on hardware from a variety of vendors and architectures.
X86 Processor Support	Ability to run the operating system on x86 architecture-compatible hardware.
Windows CE-compatible device drivers	Support for device drivers compatible with Windows CE 5.0.
Full Windows XP device-driver compatibility	Support for device drivers compatible with Windows XP Embedded.
Power Management	Fully implemented Power Manager framework, including all APIs and features. Applications and drivers can suspend the system, control device power levels, and register for notifications of power related activities, such as suspend, absence of user/system activity, and change in battery level. Drivers can intelligently self-manage power.
MP3	A codec for MP3 file playback within DirectShow.
Windows Media 8	A rich set of components, along with state-of-the-art Windows Media audio/video codecs to enable audio and video streaming.
Windows Media 9		Windows Media 9 codecs only

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