Will Microsoft Dominate the Handheld Market?

Right now the fledgling handheld computer market belongs to the likes of the Newton and the Zoomer, both of which are at this point more items of curiosity than mainstream business products. But the picture is likely to change next year when Microsoft enters the handheld market with its Windows-compatible Microsoft At Work operating environment, which will appear on a variety of handheld devices from Compaq and others.

Announced last June, Microsoft At Work is essentially an extension of the Windows operating environment, enabling peripherals and office equipment to be operated with a Windows-like interface and also to connect seamlessly to Windows-based desktop machines. While the announcement in June focussed on the use of Microsoft At Work for devices like fax and copy machines, handheld device manufacturers are busy incorporating it into their products.

Compaq Handheld In The Works

Probably the most significant product which will support Microsoft At Work is a handheld device under development at Compaq, in an alliance with Intel, Microsoft, and chipset maker, VLSI Technology. VLSI is supplying an integrated 32-bit Intel-compatible chip for the device called the Polar chip set. The low-power, low cost, Polar chip set will first appear in Compaq’s “mobile companion,” but is expected to be used by other manufacturers.

Motorola has announced a personal communicator based on Microsoft at Work, and Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, as well as a host of telecommunication and software vendors, have also announced plans to support it.

MS at Work Could Be A Hit

Microsoft At Work is still under development so we can’t comment on how well it works. But assuming that it in fact provides “seamless interoperability” with Windows, it’s bound to be a success and it could very well catapult the handheld computer market into the mainstream. After all, there are millions of Windows users who would be potential customers for Microsoft At Work devices.

Skeptics might point out that Windows for Pen Computing has been a disappointment in the marketplace even though there is a huge installed base of Windows users. But Microsoft At Work is something different. While Windows for Pen Computing is a set of pen extensions tacked on to Windows, Microsoft At Work is a stripped down operating system specifically designed for special purpose devices rather than for a complete desktop system. Device manufacturers will be able to use components of Microsoft At Work appropriate for the functions of that device, enabling efficient performance and utilization of resources such as memory and storage. Obviously, a paging device or a fax machine doesn’t need all the features of the multi-megabyte Windows operating system

Microsoft At Work includes the following components:

• Real-time, pre-emptive multitasking operating system supporting Windows application programming interfaces (API).
• Communications system compatible with the Windows Messaging API and the Windows Telephony API of the Windows Open Services Architecture.
• Rendering system for reproduction of digital documents with full font and image support.
• Graphical user interface, which is essentially a subset of the Windows interface, allowing device manufacturers to incorporate buttons, menus, icons, and so forth, for operating the device.
• Desktop software allowing Windows desktop machines to control, access, and exchange information with any Microsoft At Work device.

As mentioned earlier, Microsoft At Work is not a working product, so to speak. Until it is, we’ll have to reserve judgment. We look forward to seeing the first devices sporting Microsoft At Work due out next year.