The text in our MS WinCE 6.0 Eval. version, which I loaded around 1/4/12 is the following:
“This Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3 Evaluation Kit includes full product functionality and is designed to run for 180 days." There was nothing about "up to", "about", or "around". Apparently "designed to run" is different from "will run". We're assuming that the 180-day time block starts at installation.
My being able to build the OSDesign expired yesterday, 5/9/12, at about 125 days, almost 2 months early. I got the error message: Warning Localization FAILED: Could not find C:\WINCE600\...path\RelDir\tsvc_dst.DLL|EXE|CPL”. Also, at the bottom of the makeimg file, it says “Error: failed PB timebomb check”. Whether or not the file error is related, the "failed PB timebomb check" means you're expired according to MS. I tried building an OSDesign that built a couple of days earlier, but it wouldn't build now. The following is a link for what may or may not be a "bug" in the latest BSP_WINCE_ARM9_01_10_00: http://www.windows-mobile-answers.com/microsoft/WindowsCE-Platform-Builder/30256141/localisation-of-timesrv-tsrvdst-warning-ce-50.aspx
I was told by someone else who searched the Web that others indicated an average of 120 days for the same Eval. kit. So, you don't always get what you pay for, Eval. kits included. My suggestion is that if you're using a CE Eval. kit and thinking seriously about doing a permanent buy, do it before 120 days, and don't believe the wrapper. BTW, you also have to completely un-install the S/W before you install the permanent version (it says this on the package). You can't pay the $995 and enter a key in the software.
Hopefully, this will help some of you out there not get stuck like we and apparently many others did.
D.M.