Microsoft is known for one operating system and it is Windows which comes in a number of flavors. Current products we know about include Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Windows Vista, and Windows Server. But there is another OS, a secret OS, inside of Microsoft which is starting to catch some interest. Developed by a Microsoft skunkworks http://isp.webopedia.com team and uniquely built to customer sourced specifications this OS, or more accurately, the thinking that surrounds its creation may have a lot to do with how we touch Microsoft in the future. These future products, potentially, may be even able to meet or exceed Apple’s near legendary ease of use.

The OS has been named “.Net Micro Framework” http://msdn2.microsoft.com (don’t get me started on naming) and it is the first truly embedded OS from Microsoft. I’m fascinated by skunkworks projects, particularly those that challenge conventional thinking, so let’s talk a bit about this nearly unknown platform.

Why a New OS?

Microsoft has several platforms they call embedded. Windows CE and Embedded XP (soon to be Embedded Vista) are examples of how Microsoft initially approached this market. Both were taken from the Windows code base and altered to work on more limited hardware.

I used to meet with embedded engineers after the embedded conference every year and they had one thing they consistently said about both Linux and Microsoft. Neither had a clue one about truly working in the embedded space. The Linux guys were like a religious cult that stood off in the corner and chanted dogma and the Microsoft folks didn’t seem to understand what being embedded really was.

In short, this idea of creating a “Windows Light” for embedded, from the perspective of the embedded engineer, just wasn’t ever going to work. So, Microsoft needed something new and funded a skunk works project that created the .net Micro Framework.

What Makes This Different

The problem with existing embedded platforms is they have a long development time associated with them and this is largely because the hardware platforms they reside on are each so different. While most are on ARM, each series of ARM processor, unlike x86, is uniquely different and it can take several man years to port an existing application to a different ARM processor let alone create it from scratch or port it to anything else.

Like most Microsoft platforms this one focuses on reducing the development time significantly but, unlike CE or Embedded Windows, it doesn’t even try to be highly compatible with Windows except with regard to interoperability. In short, it was designed from the ground up to be tied closely to hardware and can run on 128k of SRAM as opposed to 1MB+. A project that typically would take two years using a traditional embedded approach should take closer to two months on this platform (assuming a good Microsoft Visual Studio skill set).

Cools Stuff to Come

Now realize you are never going to buy a box with “.net Micro Framework” in it like you would Windows. In fact, in most cases, I doubt you’ll even know you are using it as the market this thing targets seldom lists the ingredients, and you generally buy things in this class not because of the software of processor but because they do things you want done.

Products in this class include set top boxes, smart watches, smart GPS systems, advanced universal remote controls, toys, smart digital picture frames, advanced MP3 and video players, and other ever smarter and increasingly connected gadgets.

I’ve had a chance to look at a number of the products based on this platform that will be showing up in different parts of the world and it almost looks like the iPhone had cute babies. Most of the designs are gloss black, silver and glass and run are all over the map in terms of what they do.

Wrapping Up

There have been few cool gadgets in the market I haven’t lusted after. So this secret platform both has me excited and concerned, excited because there will be a huge number of things hitting the market shortly that I want to buy, concerned because I only have so much money and my wife tends to take away my credit cards.

In the end though, I think this idea of stepping back and creating a clean slate product for this market is a good one and actually hope Microsoft eventually does something similar with Windows. I’ve seen a lot of amazing things out of skunkworks projects; my hope is I’ll see a lot more.