WinMobile/WinPhone vs. VS 2010?

[dilettante]

Does anyone have more recent info on the near-term plans re. support for Mobile development in VS 2010? I know the Betas/RCs won't have it, but come April release will it be there?

My concern is that right now VS 2008 Pro is the baseline for Mobile development, but as we near and pass April VS 2008 may begin to disappear from "shelves" and become unavailable. This may lead some of us to get the VS 2008 licenses we need now instead of waiting and grabbing VS 2010 in a few months instead.

If this has been hashed over recently please supply a link - I did a search here and didn't find any threads that looked relevant.

Mods: Please move this to General Development if you think it fits better there.

Thanks.

[brad jones]

I expect that the mobile development future from Microsoft might be clearer after their MIX conference. Microsoft is being very hush-hush on mobile development. The one thing that is clear is that they need to do some serious catch-up. The other thing that is pretty clear is that they plan to do it with Silverlight.

If it happens, then I'd expect a bit of a change from what is in VS 2008.

Of course, this is all speculation on my part and should not in any way be construed as advice or recommendations....

[dilettante]

But I wonder about the Silverlight story in regard to the many 5.0, 6.0, and 6.1 devices out there? Everyone likes "new stuff" I suppose, but there is such a thing as serving a market when you're developing software too. 7.0 now appears to be fragmenting down two roads: business and media editions.

Not to mention where Project Pink might be taking things.

We can't all be cutting off customers and telling them to buy a new device every year. I realize that iPhone and Android are game changers too though.

[dilettante]

Well the covers are beginning to come off:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/15/w...is-playing-to/

Only time will tell whether Microsoft has cut its head off as they did with the .Net debacle.

From the few details at this point it appears that WinMo/CE developers have been shafted though: whether managed, native, or in between. Way to destroy another software ecosystem guys!

[dilettante]

Perhaps the change isn't as dramatic as some made it sound:

http://www.osnews.com/story/22882/Wi...E_6_0_to_Users

[gep13]

Hey,

Will be interesting to see what the real story is once the dust settles. I am assuming the release of the RTM of VS 2010 will also be quite telling.

Gary

[dilettante]

So far the message on VS 2010 is consistent: no mobile development support at release.

I have also seen statements from Ballmer and his close minions that 7 Series development will be limited to "partners" for quite some time, where this refers to cell phone carriers. WinMo 6.x devices are expected to continue being produced for years.

You're right though, we don't really know anything because some things are far from final and others might disturb the market if revealed. The next "drop" of official comment from MS seems to be scheduled to occur at Mix10. This in itself might be revealing, since Mix is anything but a programmer event (let alone a Mobile/CE programmers' event)... that is unless you consider "web developers" to be programmers.

[gep13]

So far the message on VS 2010 is consistent: no mobile development support at release.

Really, that is really disappointing. My assumption was that it would be included once Windows Phone 7Series was officially announced and released.

that is unless you consider "web developers" to be programmers.

Careful

[dilettante]

Careful

Especially since I left off a silly-smiley to take the edge off such a snarky remark.

[dilettante]

Some quotes about 3rd party development plans, SDKs, etc. for Phone 7:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente..._software.html