This week is the Embedded Systems Conference – Silicon Valley in San Jose, CA.  This is a periodic conference that has been going on for 20 years.  At this week’s conference, Microsoft made several announcements, including the full details for its SPARK Your Imagination initiative.

The initiative includes a deal with several hardware vendors, including AdvanTech Co. Ltd., ICOP Digital Inc., Keith & Koep GmbH, VIA Technologies Inc. and Special Computing, to provide, at a reasonable price, the software development tools and hardware boards necessary to allow hobbyists to develop for the respective hardware.  (The development must be for personal, non-commercial use, however.) The development tools include Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R2 and Visual Studio 2005 Professional.

This is an excellent way for hobbyists to try out their ideas, and to learn about developing for the hardware without having to invest the same large sums of money required of commercial developers. (In the past, only full-time students enjoyed such benefits.)

As an added benefit, Microsoft also announced that Board Support Package (BSP) certification is now free for up to two tests per BSP, a savings of $1500.

For more information, visit http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/products/spark/default.mspx.