The right tool for the job ?

From the "risk digest - is Windows up to running our world" - the author of the article shows images of a display board at an Atlanta airport with a "Message Box" covering some of the underlying data - the images are here - in this case the display system is using a regular version of Windows - I've also seen very similar error messages on a video phone in Asia, and I'm sure many of you have seem similar "embedded" systems showing regular operating system error messages.

Perhaps the device manufacturers should consider moving to Windows XP Embedded - Windows XP Embedded supports the same hardware and driver model as the desktop version of Windows, and of course is capable of running standard Windows applications, but also has the advantage of only running the applications and driver technologies you need for your system (and also has technologies to dismiss any message boxes that creep onto the screen!) - Getting the Embedded Operating System up and running can be pretty quick, there's no re-coding of your applications or drivers - see the tutorial here.

The lesson here ? - if you're building an "embedded" device, consider using the Embedded versions of Windows operating systems - you can boot directly into your 'shell' application, you don't need the standard Windows shell, more information about Windows CE and Windows XP Embedded can be found here. You can also download and try the tools FREE for 120 days from the Windows Embedded Kit site.

Let me know if you have any example "Embedded" device error photos.

- Mike