Windows CE

I'm like, "What's going on with this oscilloscope?" Like it's, you know, it's a little slow, and I was measuring the network traffic, and it was like more network traffic than you would expect.

Um, and I'm like, "Why is there network traffic?" I didn't even know the thing had a TCP stack, and somebody had like broken in 'cause there was an old version of Windows CE and was running a porn server, you know? And so like-

I had no idea that

[laughs] It used to be-

I've asked OEMs what operating system they're running on their HMIs.

Some of them, not naming names, are still running Windows CE or Windows 7.

And Windows 10 just went out of support from Microsoft and everything standardized on Windows 11.

There's a lot of machinery interfaces that are using outdated operating systems, but they're still being sold out there.

Yeah, look, we've had the same sort of transition chitchat because I was sitting back the other day looking at sort of where we've come in the industry.

And I think we've been on a mobile platform for almost everything in a way for the last, jeez, I want to say 25 years or more in one way or another, like wherever it's been, you know, Windows CE or some other thing we've been doing.

um in other uh supplies and that sort of stuff but because i try to look at the stuff and you think well what's new and i think the the windows trends definitely new the ai trends extremely exciting um and i think you know that's both products for blindness and the and the low vision stuff um and i'm actually very gratified to hear you say that the uh the explore 5 8 and 12 because that's always been my favorite low vision products is due for refresh sometime in the in the future because To me, it's almost like, I don't know if you agree with this, Roger, but it's almost the one that people almost identify.

Or do you think the reveal in the Prodigy software is gaining more traction these days?

Creative Labs MV3 players before the iPod came along.

Was the iPod really for those people or was it for people that had that problem but were nowhere near the people that had been early adopters? Or was it for the iPhone for people that were using Windows CE or was it for people that were using flip phones who were ready for the transition?

Is that the idea here? iPhone for smart home control or iPhone for audio in a home? That's right.

The turn there that I think is really interesting is who are you going to talk to? Where is the computer? What is the computer? And you're kind of describing if you want music, you're going to talk to Sonos.

I'd done the IoT in the early 90s and then did the Microsoft thing, and it started with the Pocket PC platform.

Well, we created something called Windows CE, like right after Windows 95.

And it was for a little clamshell and little embedded devices.

And then they made the Pocket PC to compete with the Palm Pilot in the late 90s.