Internet of things third time-a feast for Crows an overt one of Microsoft

Wen/Wang Jiayu

the king of the rivers and lakes

Microsoft's first 30 years, is a continuous progress, and constantly conquer the history. Since the Windows operating system defeated amid's Macintosh at the commercial level, Microsoft has begun its empire expansion. In the meantime, Microsoft has expanded its empire with Office as a moat and as an ally of Intel. Anti-Netscape such as chopping melon cutting vegetables, fight Google like the tiger fighting Dragon, Wang Pa qi is awe-inspiring. Words 30 stand, but Microsoft spent their had been, but the solid planted a big somersault. If the search engine in the Internet field of the struggle for Microsoft is not reconciled, then the last 10 years in the mobile operating system in this battlefield lost is convinced. Not only that, but if the moat of office is wide enough, it's hard to say whether it's possible for Microsoft to wear the Iron Crown in the desktop operating system.

Time is a very interesting thing, this is not, Microsoft ushered in a ten-year cycle of the key node. Microsoft's Windows Mobile was caught off guard by Apple and Android a decade ago, and 10 years later, Microsoft is clearly reluctant to let history repeat itself in the internet of things. This is where Windows IoT was born. What is Windows IoT

Windows IoT is interesting, and its current version is a streamlined kernel based on WINDOWS10, which is optimized for tiny devices. Windows IoT also supports the UWP (Universal Windows Platform) programming interface for developers to gain more power. Hardware Requirements

The hardware requirements for Windows IoT are high, the highest in the IoT operating systems I see, and even more demanding than some streamlined Android devices. The requirements for hardware in the case of a display device are as follows: No display device: 256MB memory, 2GB storage, display device: 512MB memory, 2GB storage.

Such hardware requirements are confusing, and this is for IoT devices. What kinds of IoT devices are available? The same hardware requirements, I believe that developers must choose Brillo or even just optimized Android rather than Microsoft's products. Development Board

The developer website for Windows IoT lists the hardware development boards that can now be used: Raspberry Pi 2 Raspberry Pi 3 Dragonboard 410C minnowboard Max

The Raspberry Pi is already well-needless in the hardware Fever community, and Microsoft strongly recommends that developers use the board. We don't understand why, but from the tradition of the Microsoft Pit Partner, one of the Raspberry Pi's feet is already on Microsoft's pirate, and there are many other hardware development boards on the pirate. It's just, I'm afraid the Raspberry Pi is looking forward to a feast that dream. Developer Site

A link to the Windows IoT developer site is here. Obviously, the developer site of Windows IoT and the Brillo developer site are two styles. The Brillo developer site is the most popular minimalist style of the internet, and the Windows IoT developer site is full of porcelain-style. Development Guide

On the Development Guide page, we can see the following: Getting Started content

There are two main categories: the development environment used by developers to build, no surprise is the WINDOWS10 version. It mainly includes the download and configuration of the development environment. Build the environment for the developer target device. Here, Windows IoT is primarily about Raspberry Pi. It focuses on how to install the system on the target device, physically connect the development Board, and connect the device through the tool. Here we introduce and link to a series of developer tools, not difficult to get started. Compatible Hardware

Similar to Brillo, this page also provides compatible hardware types. The difference is that this page provides a more detailed list of hardware, including a lot of peripheral devices. However, there is no purchase link for the device. But it's harmless. Compatible peripheral devices mainly include the following types: Camera equipment temperature and humidity sensor equipment barometric pressure sensor triaxial accelerometer sensor
...

At this point Microsoft does have enough to accumulate and experience, providing enough peripherals for hardware development enthusiasts. What can be assured is that these peripherals are becoming more and more plentiful. Documentation and examples

At this point, Microsoft once again shows the experience advantage of being a traditional operating system vendor. This page provides a wealth of features and tools. There are also a number of application examples. Specific content readers can go to this page to learn more. Here are just some of the more important features: AllJoyn connectivity security embedding mode Device Portal Connection Tool summary advantages The rich development tools of the Windows platform and developers ' development habits are a great advantage of Microsoft. The Windows IoT developer site and the development Guide are friendly, although I haven't had the chance to actually do the development experience with the Raspberry Pi, but after reading the detailed guide I would be happy to try it out, especially if Microsoft has a Raspberry Pi purchase link on the developer's website. The Developer's Guide page provides a detailed list of hardware-compatible peripherals that can entice developers to experience the development of a richer device. This is a very important point. disadvantage development equipment requirements of high performance, the experience of the equipment is mainly Raspberry Pi and other performance relatively high development boards. There is no explicit support for some devices with lower performance. The mandatory requirements for the Windows IoT development platform are WINDOWS10 versions. The responsibility for interconnection has all been put on the AllJoyn development framework. The operating system itself does not provide device self-discovery, self-networking functions. Raspberry Pi Development Boards, for developers to develop tests or say ensemble enough, but specific to industrial production, such a disadvantage is not 1:30 o '. learn from the following aspects of the rich peripheral devices to Microsoft, more conducive to developer experience to develop richer features. The developer site is clear, the developer support is very friendly, all content-oriented clear, space control effective. Detailed driver development guidelines enable developers in the development community to provide their own contribution to device drivers. In addition, the Windows IoT developer site also provides a Chinese page, and the content is almost synchronized, I believe the pages of other languages must have, this is also worth learning. Our own  Liteos Developer Web site also needs to be synchronized in English and Chinese versions. Conclusion

In general, Microsoft still has a very large advantage, including in the development of tools, in terms of device-driven compatibility has a lot of inheritance and ability to inherit. These capabilities are a powerful weapon that Microsoft can rely on in the area of IoT operating systems. But Microsoft's weakness lies in its inherent traditional operating system philosophy that hinders its development on the IoT operating system. The core competency of IoT devices is connectivity, and Microsoft is not concentrating on it on its own operating system. At least at the developer level, the ability to interconnect Windows IoT relies heavily on the development framework of AllJoyn. By contrast, Google's own launch of weave is clearly high. Of course, the need for hardware for Windows IoT is the first ingredient in determining the success of the Microsoft IoT operating system ecosystem. If Microsoft cannot effectively reduce the hardware requirements of its own IoT operating system in the near future, then it is inevitable that it will be a replay of history.

The last thing we have to notice is that Microsoft's history of a series of pit partners ' an overt one will make many people cool back. Nokia collapsed but learning from. Next Preview

The next time you're ready to analyze Zephyr, the Internet of Things RTOs, just released by the Linux Foundation this year.

(For more information about Huawei, please follow Huawei Developer community, Huawei's own open door: http://developer.huawei.com/cn/ict/, don't ask me what my name is, others call me Lei Feng)