Customer Reviews

Inside Microsoft Windows CE (Microsoft Programming)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was very disappointed in this book. I was looking for a real technical book on Windows CE, and I was mistaken to believe that "Inside Windows CE", meant the details of the OS itself. I wanted to know the exact process of porting Windows CE to a new hardware platform as well as a good explanation of porting applications.

This book is NOT that. This book documents the effort involved in creating Windows CE, and why choices were made over others. It does talk about some details of the OS, but brushes over them.

In summary, this is a good book to teach you who wrote what part of Windows CE, and how it was done, and why things were done the way they were. This is NOT the book to order to learn how to program in Windows CE or find out the details of porting Windows CE to a new hardware platform or any of these technical details.

As of the time of this writing I haven't seen a book that details the build process. The only option at this point is to purchase the Microsoft Platform Builder for Windows CE 2.11.

I always buy the books on Amazon.com, because the review's are very helpfull. I only buy the book after reviewing it. But this time the reviews mislead me. If you had bought "Inside" books from Microsoft Press for example, Inside ODBC, Inside COM, Inside OLE don't even compare these books with Inside Microsoft Windows CE. Those books are GEMS, TOP OF THE LINE. This book is like a story book. Lack of indepth technical stuff.These days I am starting to learn PDA stuff. I expected this book to be some thing like Palm OS Companion guide which explains every thing about the OS. Even after paying for the book (Palm OS Companion is free) I am not satisfied. I did not get my money's worth. Bottom line is don't buy this book if you are interested in the Insides of Windows CE OS (as this book suggets).

This book is unlike any other O/S book I've ever encountered; if I'm lucky I'll never meet another one like! Imagine an unholy blending of a typical O/S reference and "Ghost in the Machine" (the story of the development team for a Data General computer) and you'll have a feel for this book; it does justice to neither genre. Members of the design team describe various features of the O/S in their own words along with trivia about MS politics and lots of patting themselves on the back:"this is a cool thing we did". This approach produces a cluttered and not entirely coherent book. If you're expecting something like "Inside WindowsNT" you'll be sorely disappointed.

This book is a good introduction to and overview of Windows CE and its history. The book won't teach you to program on CE or adapt it to new hardware, but it will introduce you to the larger picture. CE will be very important in the next few years and is already being incorporated in an amazing number of devices.

The title is misleading -- the book is more at the level of the Microsoft Press "Understanding" series rather than at that of "Inside COM" or "Inside Windows NT". While it does discuss the architecture of CE, it is not nearly as in depth as "Inside Windows NT" (even the somewhat fuzzy first edition) and suffers by comparison. Perhaps one day Microsoft will give us the CE equivalent; meantime, you will have to be satisfied and move on to "Programming Windows CE" or the corresponding "Dummies" book (which is actually quite good).

"Inside Windows CE" is very readable and won't take you long to finish. It provides an interesting insight into the history of CE and Microsoft's earlier efforts in the area. It may not inspire total confidence in CE for some, on the other hand, given it suggests the kernel was originally hacked up in a few weeks by a couple of developers working in secret because of the lack of support they were getting from the group creating the official embedded OS. The story of how Microsoft really operates internally -- often through several competing efforts and always doggedly persisting until something finally works -- is very enlightening.

Anyone planning to program for CE should read this book, but you will be left wanting to know more details of its architecture and also needing another book about programming Win32 on CE.

This book will teach you a lot about internal Microsoft business processes and how Microsoft makes business decisions, but it will teach you very little about programming Windows CE. There's no code and very little about the OS structure, it's mostly a series of interviews with program managers and developers reminiscing about the good old days.

This book should have been called "The Making of WinCE" or some such. It helps the reader attain a better understanding of the WinCE Gestalt, what winCE is, how it got there, and where it's going. It is not good as a reference or programmers book.

I did not have embedded system experiences and win32 programming experiences (I'm coming from Unix server community), when I got this book and began reading before I knew I would get embedded system development assignment, I rated th book as one star, and stopped half way. After I engaged in embedded system (although not around win CE) I begin to feel the taste the book contains. It let me understand how decision vs market is balanced which no other Internal book can provides.

However, if you are purely interest in win CE for your programming need, you may find the way, the book was written is disorganized and not an efficient way to find answer.

The book is very good. It is exceptionally well, written (I only counted a couple of minor typos), and it gives you the ability to identify with the designers of one of the coolest OSs to come along in a long time.

This book is especially well suited for newcomers to CE. It guides you through everything about the OS with the right level of detail and at a pace that doesn't bore you. This book, contray to some of the other opinions expressed here, is very, very good. It may not be the book that you want in terms of your programming needs, however, I strongly recommend that EVERYONE getting involved with Windows CE first read this book. It lays out a foundation that allows you to become a better developer. There isn't a bunch of code samples, API reference pages and other pure programmer "stuff", so if that is what you're looking for, think of Doug Boling's Programming Windows CE book...but do not miss this one just because it doesn't have a ton of code. It is truly refreshing to read a book that TALKS about the OS and explains the DECISIONS behind its evolution *before* jumping into code. Please take the time to understand the embedded world and just how fantastic Windows CE is before you start stamping out apps. This book isn't for the OEM who wants to know every step needed to build their version of the OS, but it is for everyone who wants to know more about the world of Windows CE. It is perhaps the best book I've read since "Exploring Java" in 1996. CE is exciting in the way that Java was exciting. "Exploring" conveyed that excitement and so does "Inside CE". I have no connection with the publisher or author. I just like to let people know that they are missing an excellent book if they belive that one star does this book justice. There are millions of books, not all are what you want exactly. Do not prejudge this one. Read the author's comments about what this book IS before deciding what it IS NOT. If you like the theorectical world, if analysis and problem solving are your thing, you'll love this one even more. It is a very quick read and fun. Do it because you love the subject content, not because you want to stock your shelf with another HOWTO.

Take Care.

Rob!

I have a hard time agreeing with the negative reviewers of this book. I think that Murray addresses the important issues in CE; namely the key architectural differences between CE and the other Win32 platforms. As for a programming reference for CE, well CE uses Win32. There are plenty of great Win32 programming references on the shelves right now that can be used. Adding yet another targeted to CE would be a waste of Murray's time. Furthermore, at the end of every chapter are references to where the user can find the programming references that they were looking for.