Secret, hush-hush meetings with Microsoft have revealed a few interesting tidbits. We’ll report on more trends tomorrow, but here’s a few things we know right now from CES.
On the Windows Mobile platform, the company is planning a major release of IE Mobile, the first dedicated app for Internet surfing on the platform. The browser, which we tested hands on, supports gesture controls like click to zoom, has a vastly improved rendering engine, supports Flash (even for starting up YouTube.com vids like the one for turkey bowling), and fast browsing. Miscrosoft claims IE Mobile, which will only ship embedded on new devices in the next few months and not as a download, allowed people to do 48% more on mobile browsing than previous versions, in their own private tests.
On the Windows Home Server front, the news is not abouit software this time but more widespread vendor support for the upstart home server product. Microsoft had trouble early on when a minor bug would cause files to delete at random under very rare circumstances. Now, with that snafu behind then, companies like Shuttle, Tranquil PC and VIA have gotten in on the action. They all have new products in the p[ipeline, some that even ship with a hard disk instead of empty bays.
