Microsoft Windows CE 3.0 is an operating system

Operating system

An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...

 (OS) designed for embedded system

Embedded system

An embedded system is a computer system designed for specific control functions within a larger system. often with real-time computing constraints. It is embedded as part of a complete device often including hardware and mechanical parts. By contrast, a general-purpose computer, such as a personal...

s including PDAs

Personal digital assistant

A personal digital assistant , also known as a palmtop computer, or personal data assistant, is a mobile device that functions as a personal information manager. Current PDAs often have the ability to connect to the Internet...

 and mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

s, working within the constraints of the slow processors and reduced amount of memory available on these devices. It can run on several different types of processor

Central processing unit

The central processing unit is the portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program, to perform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations of the system. The CPU plays a role somewhat analogous to the brain in the computer. The term has been in...

 and has support for real time

Real-time operating system

A real-time operating system is an operating system intended to serve real-time application requests.A key characteristic of a RTOS is the level of its consistency concerning the amount of time it takes to accept and complete an application's task; the variability is jitter...

 programming.

Windows CE 3.0 was the base OS for the Pocket PC 2000, Handheld PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002 and Smartphone 2002 platforms. The successor to Windows CE 3.0 is Windows CE 4.0.

Development

Release codenames included Stinger, Merlin, Galileo, Rapier, Chainsaw and Cedar.

New and updated features

Windows CE 3.0 offers several new features compared to its predecessors. New enhancements and features include partial PowerPC

PowerPC

PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...

 support, dual-core support, Kerberos

Kerberos

Kerberos may refer to:* Cerberus, the hound of Hades * Kerberos saga, a science fiction series by Mamoru Oshii* Kerberos , a computer network authentication protocol* Kerberos Dante, a character from Saint Seiya...

 authentication and personalized menus, a feature inherited from Windows 2000 and Office 2000. distinctive feature of Windows CE compared to other Microsoft software is that parts of it are offered in source code form. In 3.0, the source for several device drivers is available, including those for USB, the display and PCMCIA. They are offered mainly through the Platform Builder OS image integrator, but also through other initiatives.

Microsoft offered several platforms based on Windows CE 3.0, including Microsoft Windows for Pocket PC 2000

Pocket PC

A Pocket PC is also known by Microsoft as a 'Windows Mobile Classic device'. It is a hardware specification for a handheld-sized computer, personal digital assistant , that runs the Microsoft 'Windows Mobile Classic' operating system...

, designed for handheld PDAs without keyboard.