Tag Archives: rebel-alliance

Windows CE Makers Quietly Moving to Linux

Todd Spangler of ZDnet has written an article reporting that many large manufacturers of Windows CE based handheld computers are quietly investing resources into developing products based on Linux. He expects Linux-based handheld products to arrive within the next 12-24 months from large manufacturers such as Compaq, HP and IBM. Spangler reports that these companies are moving to Linux because of the large number of developers for open source Linux and the $10-15 charge Microsoft requires for each Windows CE unit, as well as the $20 charge Palm gets for each PalmOS(tm) license. Currently Palm Computing dominates the market for handheld computers and is widely used in medicine due to its compact size and available software. However, the article states that Windows CE devices are more suitable for running Linux.