Palm-size PC

The Palm-Size PC was Microsoft's first attempt at a computer conforming to an 'in your hand' profile (or, as commonly referred to, a PDA).

These devices demonstrated many firsts for this form factor, including comparatively high-resolution screens with later versions even having color displays and a standardized software environment that ran on licensed OEM hardware platforms.

Palm-size PCs were unique in that they were one of the few standardized modern computing platforms that did not use any standard microprocessor - Palm-size PCs were commercially available with SH3 and MIPS. An x86 build environment - better referred to as x86EM - was available for the purpose of IDE build debugging through the PsPC 1.2 development SDK, but was not available on a commercial level inside devices. Palm-size PCs held similarities with their older cousins the Handheld PC in terms of GUI (closely resembling the Windows 95 desktop) and underlying kernel subsystems. The Palm-size PC was based upon either Windows CE 2.01 or 2.11 core.

The Palm-Size PC was never hugely successful, largely due to the price range and lack of connectivity options when compared to their Handheld PC counterparts. Microsoft later refreshed the release into a more distinctive package as the Pocket PC and would ultimately abandon the MIPS / SH3 CPU in favor of standardisation around the ARM architecture.

Microsoft's original name for the device was Palm PC, however this provoked a lawsuit from Palm Inc. for infringing their trademark. Microsoft was subsequently forced to change the name to Palm-sized PC, then, later, to Pocket PC

See also

*Microsoft
*Handheld PC
*Windows CE
*ActiveSync
*Pocket PC
*Tablet PC
*Windows Mobile

External links

* [http://www.hpcfactor.com/qlink/?linkID=20 HPC:Factor] — History of Windows CE
* [http://palmpc.info PalmPC.info] — PalmPC.info