Metrowerks, Inc. – Metrowerks to Support Windows CE 2.0 (Press Release)

This Metrowerks, Inc. press release was distributed at the Embedded Systems Conference West in San Jose on September 29, 1997.¹ It announced that Metrowerks would become an authorized Microsoft Tools Provider for Windows CE 2.0 and that CodeWarrior for Windows CE would offer complete support for the new operating system when Microsoft shipped it, expected in the first quarter of 1998, initially targeting PowerPC, x86, and MIPS microprocessors with ARM and Hitachi SuperH support to follow in a second release scheduled for summer 1998.²

The Windows CE 2.0 commitment built on a five-month sequence of earlier Metrowerks moves. On April 28, 1997, Metrowerks announced its first development agreement with Microsoft to support Windows CE within the CodeWarrior line, initially targeting NEC's VR-Series of embedded microprocessors.³ A simultaneous agreement with NEC Electronics added Windows CE support to CodeWarrior for NEC Embedded Systems, with Metrowerks modifying its MIPS compiler to support Microsoft's Windows CE ABI.⁴ On May 12, 1997, Metrowerks signed a parallel agreement with Motorola to add Windows CE support to CodeWarrior for PowerPC Embedded Systems, targeting Motorola's MPC821 processor.⁵

The September agreement positioned the announcement as part of Metrowerks' broader strategy to offer CodeWarrior embedded development tools across three markets — RTOS/Windows CE, proprietary OS, and embedded Java — with the tools hosted on Windows 95 and Windows NT and supporting both C/C++ and Java.⁶ CodeWarrior for Windows CE 2.0 would provide seamless source-level two-machine debugging, allowing developers to view source on the host while code executed on the Windows CE device, and would deliver the Microsoft Windows CE 2.0 SDK and DDK libraries as part of the package.⁷

By January 1998, Microsoft cited Metrowerks among the ISVs creating applications for the Palm PC, the new Windows CE 2.0-powered handheld category Microsoft was promoting at the Consumer Electronics Show.⁸ Greg Galanos, Metrowerks' president and chief technology officer, said CodeWarrior for Windows CE would include support for MIPS, PowerPC, x86, ARM, and SH processors, spanning the range of architectures Windows CE was being deployed on.⁹

AI generated using primary sources referenced in the footnotes