Those who favour PCs cited compatibility with other software, easier programming, functionality and easier integration as their top reasons. Those who favour operator terminals cited price, easier programming, reliability and diskless operation to support their preference. Although WinCE has received quite a bit of publicity, its suitability as an operating system was questioned more often than WinCE was specifically requested as a desired operating system. Respondents want the benefits that WinCE can offer, such as software compatibility across product lines, open systems, lower cost and diskless operation, but these are needs regardless of the specific means to achieve them. Applications Application trends under evaluation provide architectural considerations that will shape MMI products of the future.
Internet applications represent the biggest new trend but users are proceeding with caution.
Leading the list of Internet applications being considered is engineering access to retrieve and send operational data. This is followed by maintenance access to retrieve and send, particularly for OEMs and global corporations with world-wide operations, although not all respondents felt comfortable with the form of access. In spite of much discussion in the last decade about a closer coupling of plant floor data to enterprise management systems, automated input to and from the IT system was a distant third. Although Europe leads the world in personal usage of wireless devices, remote applications in industrial control via wireless communications have yet to realise their potential. Global corporations and the OEMs who serve them find that service is unreliable in many parts of the world and in Europe industrial standards are still in flux.