Michael Gartenberg, analyst extraordinaire at Jupiter Research, just wrote an article for ComputerWorld  about the necessity for Windows to introduce and market a slimmed down version of Windows XP for the so called Ultra-Light Mobile PC space.

Gartenberg had been using the Asus Eee PC, an incredibly small, light laptop based on Linux when he realized the potential of an Eee meets Windows XP, and he installed XP-on-a-diet on the Eee using a tool called nLite. According to Michael, however, Windows Vista simply isn’t designed to run on the specs of most current ultraportables. Although there are exceptions, like HTC’s new Shift, OEM’s don’t pre-install the bulky, hardware draining beast that Vista is on their ultraportables.

Palm Foleo

And with the continued proliferation of the ultraportable space, this means that there is a burgeoning opportunity for Windows based, small laptop like devices. Palm’s oft ridiculed Foleo device, would have, in my opinion, crashed and burned due to it’s non-Windows based architecture. It was based in a Linux core, and was meant to serve a device companion, although unlike the REDFLY below, it could run on its own…or walk. Evidently, Palm shared my, and many others view, since they nixed it  last September…in pace requiescat. More on what it would have been here by Alan Grassia.

Celio REDFLY Mobile Companion

Celio has just recently entered this space, albeit with a completely different approach to the platform question; the Celio REDFLY is essentially a big Windows Mobile phone with a screen and keyboard in the form factor of a laptop- video review here. Except that it isn’t a phone. REDFLY uses a Bluetooth or wired connection from your current Windows Mobile cell, and blows up your phone’s screen to 8.9". For your data entry needs, there is a 92%? size keyboard included. The idea is that such a platform (Windows Mobile), software wise, is really not all that much more than what your average user requires. Problems arise from the physical dimensions of current Smartphones…they just aren’t large enough to accommodate serious data entry keyboards or screens suitable for viewing web pages without scrolling strain.

HTC Shift

Another innovator in this space is the HTC Shift mentioned earlier. To understand Shift, think really small laptop meets AT&T Tilt- see ample pictures in this review. Shift’s entry card to this post of platforms, however, is not it’s unique form factor. HTC actually includes a dumbed down version of Windows Mobile on the UMPC. Ostensibly designed for MS DirectPush use and quick access to basic PIM data, enthusiasts have hacked the Shift WM UI (called SnapVUE, by the way) to run the full version of WM.

Solution- New Windows Mobile should be Beefed Up.

Which brings me full circle to the title of this post. Since XP is not something MS wants to support going forward, and the Windows Mobile group is something MS wants to develop, why not simply offer a another, more powerful version of WM. So we’d have four versions; Standard, Classic, Pro, and Pro Plus (or whatever else they’d want to call it- I would never underestimate the MS marketing folks at coming up with yet one more dreary and dull name). The biggest issue that this solution presents is the application compatibility problem. Currently, programs written for the x86 platform won’t run on the WM platform (which in it’s current iteration is based on a Windows CE 4.2 core).

Enthusiast Tangent:                                                                                               There are a number of ways around this, with all sorts of creative folks going to extreme lengths to be able to successfully run desktop class applications on their PDA…for instance, check out the software mod that allowed Windows ‘95/98SE to run on an old Asus Pocket PC…

(Screenshot credit to PocketGamer.org)

Project Xanadux has ported a Linux environment that on handhelds…

(Screenshot credit to XDA-Dev Wiki).

And then there’re always the RDP/VNC folks, who use free or paid tools to remotely login to their desktop on their smartphone…

(Screenshot credit to InspectMyGadget.com).

OK- Enthusiast Tangent over.

The easiest solution I can see for Windows Mobile is to take the Windows Mobile core and work it up so that it can run low level x86 applications. Clearly, as demonstrated above, the hardware is there. So why can’t the Windows Mobile group develop a fourth version that can run x86 apps? We know that standardization is always a priority for MS- in fact, I’ve heard that Windows Mobile 7, the upcoming Touch/Gesture based mobile OS should be mobile OS agnostic with regards to application compatibility. That is, applications written for any version of Windows Mobile (Standard, Classic or Professional) should work on any of the others. Or perhaps there will only be on version. Whatever the scenario, surely it’d behoove MS to look into the feasibility of a Windows Mobile core that could run desktop class applications.

So there you have it. My solution for world hunger, peace in the Middle East, and the rest of it.