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View the MVP Profile Wolfgang Unger received the Microsoft MVP Award 2014 Microsoft is pleased to recognize and award its Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). The MVP Award is given to thank individuals for their exceptional contributions to technical communities worldwide. When a community participant sees an MVP in a technical community, whether in a newsgroup, as a user group host, a conference speaker, or a respondent in forums, that community participant can be confident that the information shared by the MVP will be of the highest caliber and will help every user make the most of the technology. Worldwide [...]

If you have devices based on Windows Embedded 8 / 8.1 that are not allowed to have internet connection, and devices where phone activation would take too long to process, then we might have a solution for you. I have developed PowerShell scripts that can be adapted to retrieve the activation keys from all known devices in the network. These keys can then be copied to a machine that has internet access. Another script will automatically get the activation confirmation keys for all the devices from the Microsoft servers. Script number three will use these confirmation keys on the devices [...]

Microsoft just announced that most products of their ForeFront product line will be retired mid of next year. If you have developed devices that are built up-on these products then you will not be able to ship them with the regular license anymore. However these products are still available with embedded licensing – some even until 2023! The complete End-Of-Life table can be obtained from MyOEM: https://myoem.microsoft.com/oem/myoem/en/topics/Licensing/pgl/Pages/DPDistOEMDirProdAvalnDistiEOLProd.aspx For more information please contact us.

We have published the third issue of our Elbacom Embedded Magazine. It contains information about all new Windows Embedded products from Microsoft, as well as our new Unique Tools! It covers the following topics: Windows Embedded 8 Windows Embedded 8.1 Windows Embedded Server 2012 (R2) Windows Embedded Compact 2013 Unique Tools for Windows Embedded Windows XP – End of Support Field Upgrades Tutorial: How to use DISM It also includes an Editorial written by Sylvain Ekel (Senior Account Technology Strategy Manager - Microsoft Windows Embedded EMEA). Click here to read it online or order a free print copy.

Windows Embedded 8.1 has now reached general availability. New versions of Windows Embedded 8.1 Pro and Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro (and Retail) are now available to order. Microsoft has detailled all new technical features in Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro (Retail) in the following blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windows-embedded/archive/2013/09/05/what-s-new-for-windows-embedded-8-1.aspx

Microsoft has published a new blog post that details the new “Assigned Access” feature in Windows Embedded 8.1 (Pro and Industry). Assigned Access allows you to setup an Windows 8 App as the default shell for a specific user. Once an assigned access user logs in he is immediately in the configured application (without Start Screen or classic desktop). This enables and easy additional lockdown for specific users! More details are available in the original post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/windows-embedded/archive/2013/10/16/windows-embedded-8-1-assigned-access-and-windows-embedded-lockdown.aspx

If you have followed my previous guide to install flash player on Windows Embedded 8 Standard you will notice that it will work for most sites but unfortunately not for all of them. However I have found a new workaround that is working for all websites. Please contact us to retrieve the whitepaper with the guide how to fix Flash Player.

Microsoft has published the RTM version of Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry for all MSDN and Technet subscribers. You can already download and test the new final version to ensure that your applications will work on the new OS when it becomes generally available in October. Windows Embedded 8.1 Industry is based on Windows 8.1 but comes with the Embedded Lockdown features to secure your device and allow additional branding.

All Windows Embedded 8 products are compatible with Windows 8 Pro – however they differ in flexibility, tools, features and licensing. We have created a summary page including a comparison matrix that allows you to see the main differences between all Windows Embedded 8 products. This helps you to find the correct operating system more easily. Have a look at the page at www.elbacom.com/we8

Microsoft announced today that Windows Embedded 8.1 has been finalized. The new version will be available to OEMs on October 16th 2013. To read the full statement please have a look at the Microsoft Windows Embedded Blog article “Leverage the power of Windows Embedded 8.1 “