NEW ORLEANS, April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of the Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT - news) embedded and appliance platform strategy unveiled at the Windows® Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) 2000, Microsoft Corp. today announced the forthcoming availability of the Microsoft® Windows CE 3.0 operating system in June, as well as its development tools Platform Builder 3.0 and eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0. In addition, Microsoft will make evaluation copies of these development tools widely available via the Web. This will enable millions of developers to utilize their knowledge of the Windows-based programming model and easily develop on the Windows CE platform, including targeting applications for the recently released Pocket PC.

``Windows CE 3.0 and Windows CE Platform Builder 3.0 represent significant steps forward in empowering developers to create customizable, reliable and flexible embedded solutions,'' said Bill Veghte, vice president of the Windows Embedded and Appliance Platforms Group at Microsoft. ``We are excited about the widespread availability of our embedded tools and the impact they will have on accelerating the development of innovative applications and components for Windows CE-based devices.''

Built from the ground up for the embedded and appliance market, Windows CE 3.0 is a highly modular platform designed for the new generation of 32-bit devices, combining the flexibility and reliability of an embedded platform with the power of Windows and the Web.

With improved real-time support, rich multimedia functionality such as the DirectX® API and Windows Media(TM), enhanced Internet capabilities, and DCOM for Windows CE, Windows CE 3.0 allows developers to create highly customizable devices while reducing their time to market.

Windows CE Platform Builder 3.0 is a complete development environment for configuring, building and debugging embedded systems based on the Windows CE platform. New features, such as tighter integration and connectivity with the development environment and target device, improved support for third-party debugging and profiling tools via a new plug-in model, and advanced debugging support including hardware-assisted debugging and source-level debugging, allow developers to quickly and easily create customizable, reliable solutions. In addition, eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0, which combines embedded versions of the familiar desktop tools Visual Basic® and Visual C++®, allow developers to easily create applications and new system components for Windows CE embedded designs. eMbedded Visual Tools also includes information developers need to target applications for the Pocket PC, the next-generation PDA from Microsoft and industry partners.

``Windows CE 3.0 is uniquely suited for the rapidly growing market of highly flexible intelligent devices with small memory requirements because of its significantly improved reliability, familiar Windows-based programming environment and integral Web functionality,'' said William Baxter, president and CEO of BSQUARE Corp. ``With improved configuration and debugging tools, it will be faster and easier than ever before to create embedded systems designs with Windows CE. We are pleased to support Windows CE 3.0 with a complete line of software products and services to provide development solutions for OEMs throughout each stage of their device development cycle.''

Product Availability

The full packaged product of Windows CE 3.0 and Windows CE Platform Builder 3.0 is scheduled to be available in June through the normal distribution channel. In addition, an evaluation copy and full packaged product of Windows CE Platform Builder 3.0 will be available on the Web in June at http://www.microsoft.com/embedded/ . eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 will be included with the Windows CE Platform Builder 3.0 and will also be available via the Web.