Microsoft repositioned Windows CE,
calling its new devices "Pocket PCs." This is a conscious
attempt to emphasize that these new devices are more powerful than
simple PDA organizers like devices powered by the popular PalmOS. While
Palm devices are enjoying strong retail sales, the new Pocket PC with
its improved user interface, additional built-in applications, and
greater enterprise support poses a serious challenge. This is especially
true in the all-important business enterprise sector.
You might think that this is a predictable opinion from a magazine
that focuses entirely on the Windows CE operating system. Please note
that I write, but don't work, for Pocket PC magazine. Further, my
consulting company has recommended to clients a variety of handheld
devices, including Palm Organizers and two-way pagers. I believe that my
favoring Windows CE for most business applications is based on an
objective assessment of the requirements for enterprise support and
capabilities of the available platforms.
Asset control -- When a handheld device moves from the status of
personal organizer to corporate asset, the enterprise needs to be able
to exercise some control over it. If you support a sales force and give
tens, or possibly tens-of-thousands of handheld computers to your
employees, it is critical that you know who has which machine and what
software has been loaded on them. Pocket PCs from Casio and
Hewlett-Packard provide asset inventory management support, and third
party systems management tools are available from Computer Associates
for all Windows CE machines.
Security -- Data security is also an important issue. Power-on
passwords are taken for granted on laptop/notebook computers. It is a
simple, first line of defense for corporate data. Palm devices lack this
basic security feature, perhaps because they are seen as replacing a
paper organizer instead of a computer. Instead, the Palm requires you to
go to a setup screen and enable password protection before you power off
each time. Once the password is entered, this "private"
information is available to anyone using the device, until the
protection setting is changed again. On the other hand, the Windows CE
Pocket PC provides a power-up password, and a third-party network
management system can be used to prevent someone from connecting to the
corporate network unless the power on password is enabled on the device.
One enhancement I would like to see on future versions of the Pocket
PC is a timer that lets you set how long the machine has to be off
before the password is required. Currently, you are prompted each time
the unit is turned on, even if it was off for only a few seconds. I
prefer an option to allow the machine to come back to where it left off,
without the password, if it has been off for only a few minutes. This
would certainly increase the use of the password, since many users
disable it to avoid the annoyance of having to enter it too many times
throughout the day.
Data transfer and storage -- The storage, backup and distribution of
software applications and data are constant issues for enterprise
deployments. The use of a relatively slow serial connection to perform
these tasks can quickly prove to be impractical when large numbers of
handheld devices are involved. Fortunately, most Pocket PCs come with a
standard CompactFlash (CF) slot built in, allowing them to save and
access data to a CF Card using the standard (FAT) PC file structure.
Many notebook and laptop PCs come with a PC Card or CF Card slot. In
addition, a PC/CF Card reader can be installed on a desktop PC. This
makes it easy and fast to backup important data, and swap data between a
Pocket PC and a laptop, notebook or desktop PC.
Palm Computing "Connected Organizers" have built-in
application/data storage, but don't support CF Cards or any type of
external storage device. The PalmOS-based Handspring has a slot that
accepts proprietary storage cards, and a dev
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