DCOM Remoting on Windows CE 6.0

As I wrote here, in Windows CE 6.0 we removed DCOM remoting - that is the ability to create and host COM objects across a network.  We did this due to security.  Our DCOM is built on NT4 vintage code and there was no way we could patch up our implementation to meet security requirements.  The desktop faced a similar problem post-NT4 and also came to the conclusion they couldn't do a patch up, so they had to redo lots of their DCOM.

Note this is all embedded CE only - Windows Mobile doesn't even have cross-proc COM objects, much less remoting.

I'm happy to announce that an add on kit to CE6 is available here that will allow OEMs to get DCOM remoting in their image.

As the docs call out but I will emphasize here, this is ONLY for completely closed networks.  I'm thinking of a factory floor as the main example (and they're the main ones who want this).  This is not safe for the Internet of course or anywhere that untrusted machines may get on a network due to security worries.

While we can't make any official statements about future products on the blog, I'll say unofficially that we are most likely not going to be doing another remoting addon pack for Windows CE 7.0.  We wanted to provide some sort of stop gag solution as Web Services for Devices for instance (available in CE 6.0 R2) or other technologies become available.