Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2 Feature Pack 2007 (September 14, 2006)

Chat Topic: Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2 Feature Pack 2007 Community Technology Preview
Date: Thursday, September 14, 2006

Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity

Introductions

Wendy [MS] (Moderator):
Welcome to today’s chat. Our topic today is Windows XP Embedded SP2 Feature Pack 2007 Community Technology Preview. This is the 3rd chat on the Feature Pack. We hope more Asian customers can join us today.

Wendy [MS] (Moderator):
Let me introduce myself. I am Weijuan (Wendy) Shi, Program Manager of the Embedded Windows team. We are pleased to welcome our Experts for today’s chat. I will have them introduce themselves now.

MattKell_MSFT (Expert):
Hi everyone. I'm Matt Kellner, and I'm a tester with the XP Embedded team. I support the tools and EEFs (including EWF and El Torito), and I am the developer for the new Console App for XPe (XPeCon).

MikeMoin_MSFT (Expert):
This is Mike Moini. I am a developer with the embedded windows team.

Shabnam_MSFT (Expert):
Hello, my name is Shabnam Erfani, I'm a Lead Program Manager in the Windows Embedded team

Steffen [MS] (Expert):
Hi there, I am Steffen Schreier and I am a Program Manager on the Embedded Windows team.

Milong [MS] (Expert):
Hi, My name is Milong Sabandith. I'm a developer on the Windows Embedded Team.

JimMedd_MSFT (Expert):
Hi, I'm Jim Medding. I'm a SW development engineer with the XPe test team.

lyallen_MSFT (Expert):
Hi, I'm Lynda Allen. I'm a tester on Embedded Windows, focused mainly on Componentization

Wonhee Lee [MS] (Expert):
Hi all, my name is Wonhee Lee, a developer in Windows Embedded team.

cuong [MS] (Expert):
My name is Cuong Pham, and I am a Program Manager on the Embedded Windows team.

Andy_MSFT (Moderator):
Hi, I'm Andy Allred, Test Mgr on the Embedded Team

Wanghong [MS] (Expert):
HI, I am Wanghong Yuan, a developer in Windows Embedded

Kalpana Murthy-MSFT (Expert):
Hi, I'm Kalpana Murthy - Group Program Manager on the Embedded Windows Team

Kedar [MS] (Expert):
Hi, I am Kedar SDET with the XP embedded test team

Shweta [MS] (Expert):
I'm Shweta Garg, a developer on the Embedded Windows team.

Thomas Yong (Expert):
I am Thomas Yong, a Program Manager in Windows Embedded team

Shivks_MSFT (Expert):
I'm Shiv, a SDET on the Windows Embedded team

Start of Chat

MattKell_MSFT (Expert):
Q: What are the main features of this?
A: For the complete list of features, you can check out the Microsoft Connect Site https://connect.microsoft.com or our Embedded Team Blog. The latter is at https://blogs.msdn.com/embedded.

MattKell_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Can EWF be used on USB boot devices?
A: Yes, it can, though for performance and overall lifetime considerations, we recommend you use the RAM (Reg) EWF configuration.

MattKell_MSFT (Expert):
Q: I haven't used the RAM configuration before. How's the boot up time compare?
A: Normally, there's no discernable difference in performance while using EWF. Many USB devices operate slower than typical hard drives, however, so in some cases, EWF RAM / RAM (Reg) can improve performance considerably. I should clarify: EWF RAM (Reg) mode can improve performance in operations that write to your device, since writes are now stored in RAM rather than on the physical device. Read operations from the device will still take the same amount of time as before. Also, keep in mind that as more writes occur, more RAM is used for the overlay.

Shabnam_MSFT (Expert):
Q: we have tested the usb boot feature of Feature Pack 2007 with good success. I would like to know how soon this will be production released.
A: This feature is part of FP 2007 and will be available in Q4 2006. I'm sorry but we are not able to give you a more specific date right now.

Shabnam_MSFT (Expert):
Q: Thank you for the reply Shabnam... I hate to be picky but is it possible to narrow down to a month for the release?
A: Unfortunately at this time we are unable to provide a more specific timeline for this release.

OrenW_MSFT (Expert):
Q: We're currently using a CF media w/a CF=>IDE adapter, any advantages (other than cost) that USB would be preferred???
A: If you're using CF w/ IDE adapter and are happy with this solution you should keep using it. USB boot has some limitations comparing to this solution (performance of the bus, some "special" files limitations, some power management issues), however, as you mentioned cost is probably a benefit.

Thomas Yong (Expert):
Q: Can anyone give a quick overview of the "Footprint Reduction" tool. Magnitude of reduction, requirements for reduction etc???
A: The footprint reduction works we have done include re-factoring IE6 feature and removing unused binaries or subcomponents for other features. The IE6 works factored out a small set of subcomponents that used to be owned by IE6 but are now standalone components. This way other features (e.g. HTML Rendering Engine) that used to depend on IE6 but now can be satisfied with just 3 of these standalone subcomponents without pulling the whole IE6; that significantly reduced the footprint. Overall, the users can experience a reduction ranging between 2% to 60% depending upon the features set included into the run-time build.

Wendy [MS] (Moderator):
We are wrapping up early today as there are not many guests today. One guest informed us that the link to the chatroom is broken @ https://www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx. The one on https://msdn.microsoft.com/chats seems working fine. Thank you for coming. If you have further questions, we’d certainly welcome you to post in the Microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded newsgroup.

We hope to see you again for a future chat!

Have a great day (or evening)!

End of Chat

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