Windows Mobile development in VS2010

Wed, October 7, 2009, 09:55 PM under MobileAndEmbedded
With the release yesterday of Windows Phone (press release , blog post , training , launch site) and with the upcoming release of Visual Studio 2010 Beta2, we are starting to see the question again: "where is the smart device development support in Visual Studio 2010?".

This question was asked a lot during the VS2010 Beta1 timeframe and the answer remains the same: Mobile Development Tools are now aligned to the mobile platform releases and are hence decoupled from Visual Studio releases, so I personally guess we should see tool support in VS2010 when a new mobile platform is released. For now, stick with VS2008 for device development needs (official statement) and keep an eye on the Windows Mobile Development Center.
Monday, 04 January 2010 06:10:57 (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
this is very poor decision, i belive that microsoft is losingthe battle on the mobile development.
i get the filling that the mobile division is in a state of deep sleep,
while google and apple is in a state of innovation.
since WM5 we didn't saw any major improvementin this arena.
Thursday, 04 February 2010 06:34:37 (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
This is a time when you're going to need us - those of us who are developers - to crowd your platform with apps for an app store. Alienating developers by making it harder to develop for mobile... well, all I can say to that is, "weird!"

But don't worry - we'll be making apps. Just not for Windows mobile, or using Visual Studio.
Anonymous
Friday, 05 February 2010 07:18:43 (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
So decoupled they don't work together?
that is just a lame excuse, VS2010 Beta 2 is out and it doesn't support the WM SDK's
Friday, 05 February 2010 13:07:59 (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Bnaya, JuanDG: Thanks for sharing your thoughts here. I doubt anybody that can address them officially is reading, but if it helps you vent, that is fine with me. Remember, I am just sharing news/decision here, not making them.
Friday, 12 February 2010 11:49:58 (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
I like the decision. With 2008, you needed Professional to do anything. With 2005, Standard was sufficient. I'm hoping (CROSSING FINGERS!!!) that this means VS2010 Express will be able to do Windows Phone development. To me, that was the dumbest mistake Microsoft made with WM5/6. Why create a barrier to your hobby programmers in a highly competitive market? Microsoft owns the desktop, they didn't need Express to maintain dominance (but it was very nice). With Windows Phone, they need the hobbiests BAD.

So, this is a good thing. I just hope it's (1) not delayed too much as to raise eyebrows why we have to use old tools on the latest mobile platform and (2) supports Visual Basic / C# / C++ Express editions.

If Microsoft gives us Express mobile development, I will know they are listening...
Tuesday, 02 March 2010 16:34:40 (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)
Well RC1 is out and still no Smart Device Development or CF support. Unless they are going to release a completely different IDE, which sounds very bad, then I can only see this ending badly. Of course that only leaves options that end badly. Microsoft obviously understands the value of beta testing and release candidates, so by their own logic they are making a mistake by not allowing users to try out mobile development in the beta/RC releases. Even if they do a beta release of an SDK, having VS officially released first means they probably won't be willing to change VS itself much to improve CF development. I have a hard time believing that only a post-released SDK is necessary for an optimal CF development experience. Until Microsoft starts prioritizing mobile development for every release, it will never be as well done. I would not mind them adding support for mobile development later if Microsoft actually developed VS the way they should have all along: They need to stop releasing all these different major versions and patches SDKs and service packs and just charge us a yearly fee to get incremental updates that constantly improve the IDE. Of course every great once in a while they will want to start over with a new version, but until that is necessary keep updating the current version.
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