• Pocket Outlook, Pocket Office and Internet Explorer were all upgraded to version 2.0.

Windows CE Services only works with version 2.0 devices or greater. If you have a version 1.x device, you're unfortunately limited to Handheld PC Explorer. Most of the manufacturers provided upgrades for systems that they either sold directly or through retailers. Consumers purchased the upgrade and installed it into their devices by removing the old ROM chip and inserting the new chip.

You can find more information about Windows CE 2.0, including the manufacturers that provided upgrades at http://www.cewindows.net/wce/wce20.htm.

Windows CE Service Pack 1 and moving to Windows CE 2.1
About three months after version 2.0 was introduced, Microsoft released Service Pack 1 for Windows CE. The Service Pack fixed a number of bugs, including a problem that some devices had with draining batteries. As was the case with all other upgrades, the hardware manufacturers distributed Service Pack 1. You can find links to sites for downloading Service Pack 1 at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsce/Products/download/updates.asp.

At about the same time the Service Pack was released Microsoft also provided an upgrade to Windows CE Services, making the new version for it 2.1. That upgrade may be found at the same manufacturer sites that provided the service pack.

Fun new devices
When Microsoft introduced version 2.0 of Windows CE, they also stated that devices in two new form factors would soon be introduced. Onewas to be the Palm-sized PC. Microsoft originally wanted to call the device the Palm PC, but it turned out that infringed on Palm Computing's trademark.

The other new device became known as the Auto PC. The Auto PC is a car radio on steroids that integrates a navigational system with a cellular phone. The cool thing about the Auto PC is that it's voice activated. So far Clarion is the only manufacturer of the Auto PC. You can find more information about it at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsce/Products/apc/clubapc.asp.

The Palm-sized PC, known as Gryphon, began selling in the spring of 1998. It had a newer build of the operating system (version 2.01) that incorporated the fixes provided in the service pack. The user interface was modified for the smaller size of the screen and most notable is the fact that you don't need to exit or close applications. The intention was to make it quicker to move from one application to another by keeping them all continually running. If the operating system needs more program memory, it'll automatically close applications to make more available. Most users found that the operating system didn't do the best job of managing the memory, or were just plain annoyed with the inability to close applications, so third party solutions such as bTask from bSquare (at http://www.bsquare.com) quickly became available.

Windows CE Services 2.2 and the Handheld PC Professional
In the fall of 1998 Microsoft released an upgrade to Windows CE services. The upgrade brought the version number of Windows CE Services to 2.2. This upgrade included the ability to support the forthcoming release of the Handheld PC Professional. The most notable addition is the support for the synchronization of Microsoft Access databases with Pocket Access. The upgrade also fixed a number of bugs in Windows CE Services and improved communication between Windows CE devices and desktop computers running Windows NT.