Could Windows CE Attract Viruses?

Shrinking the Windows 95 interface to pocket size seems certain to make HPC's a hit with users. But in bringing desktop functionality - and the core of the Win32 API - to a handheld platform, Microsoft may have brought some desktop vulnerabilities as well. For example, how difficult would it be to write a Windows CE virus?

"That's an excellent question," replies Mark Vena, director of options and communications for Compaq's North American PC products group. Unfortunately, like most industry sources we asked, he doesn't know the answer.

"This is the first I have heard of it," says Daryl Scott, Casio's manager of development marketing, who says the issue of viruses never came up during development of the firm's Cassiopeia HPC. "If [Windows CE] has all the benefits of the Windows 95 interface," Scott adds, "I imagine it has all of the weaknesses."

Microsoft consedes that a virus could be written for Windows CE, but says the threat is minimal: "I am sure people will cause trouble, but there is not much we can do about that," says Jon Magill, director of marketing for consumer appliances. Magill maintains that Microsoft has taken the same precautions with Windows CE that it took with its desktop environments.

"The good news is that this is a ROM-based system," which makes it difficult for it to become infected, Magill points out. Of course, viruses could travel via e-mail attachments of PC file transfers such as game downloads, but Magill is unconcerned: "We can't be worried about that. We have to focus on enabling people."

With HPC's just starting to ship at press time, there were no reports of CE-based viruses, but "it is definitely possible to write one," says Louis Casal, a product manager at Symantec Corp.

According to Chris Harget, a spokesperson for McAfee Associates, it's not unusual for a new operating system to be launched without any native antivirus support. "Nobody writes an antivirus solution until they see a live specimen," he says. "There are just too many variables."

The potential threat, says Harget, depends on how Windows CE is perceived by malicious programmers. "When Windows 95 came out, it was a huge white elephant for virus writers," he notes. "It really depends on whether they care about the platform."

Magill says concern about Windows CE viruses is unfounded: "How many Newton-based viruses have you seen?"