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When it comes to mobile development on .NET platform I've only developed for Win CE and Win Mobile, but a provider offered me Win XP Embedded on some industrial computer we're going to use.

The question is, how do you programm for this OS, is this just a minimized version of Desktop's Win XP?, should I use the same kind of projects and framework targeting on Visual Studio?

John Saunders
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Juan Jimenez
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  • Another question: how old is Windows XP Embedded? – John Saunders Oct 24 '11 at 22:34
  • @JohnSaunders it is quite old but still in heavy use in industrial and small form factor computers. We've got it running on some machines that have had no issues for 5+ years. – Jeremy Oct 24 '11 at 22:43

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You program like you do for a regular Windows version. But it is up to the system builder to decide what parts of Windows will make it onto the machine. If it is a headless version of Windows (no video support) then of course writing a GUI program is a waste of time. You'll need to talk to the system builder and tell him what you need. Or ask what's available, it isn't usually clear who makes the choices. Running the builder yourself is a good way to get a feel for what the options are.

Hans Passant
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Windows CE and XP Embedded are just two tiers of the same product. They both have very similar tool-chains. They both use the same compartmentalized technology, if you are similar with Win CE, it wont be too big of a change going to XP Embedded.

The Windows Embedded website. Windows CE is the "Compact" line, and XP Embedded is the "Standard" line.

To answer your question in your post. XP Embedded is more like a feature rich Win CE than a striped down XP.

Scott Chamberlain
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  • While I agree about the tool chains, the two OSes are very different beasts. XP Embedded is basically a customized/trimmed version of the desktop XP. WinCE on the other hand is more of a 'real time' OS. – kenny Oct 25 '11 at 00:45
  • CE can be both real time and non real time depending on which module you choose to build the image with. – Scott Chamberlain Oct 25 '11 at 02:31