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What's New for Mobility
Microsoft is serious about enhancing mobility tools in the next version of Visual Studio .NET.
by Dan Fergus

PDC, October 28, 2003

The next version of Visual Studio .NET (VS.NET) is bringing a broad new set of mobility tools to the VS.NET workbench. The advent of version 1.0 of the .NET Compact Framework left embedded Visual Basic behind, and the next version will leave embedded Visual C++ behind. In the Whidbey release, the C++ compiler for embedded applications will be brought into the main Visual Studio environment.

One of the minor irritations with the initial Compact Framework release was the lack of access to much of the low-level operating system functionality without resorting to calling the unmanaged code through interop. The team at Microsoft will expand the functional access to the OS by increasing the number of managed classes available to the device developer. The details of what exactly will be provided are still in a state of flux.

One point Microsoft is clear on: The next version of VS.NET will give you the ability to develop applications targeted to the Smartphone devices using Visual Studio .NET. The current SDK for Smartphones is based on embedded Visual C++, and that technology is being merged in the next version of VS.NET. Additionally, the Compact Framework will be able to target Smartphone devices.

If the performance of your application on a device has been one of your concerns, then you will have less to be worried about in the next release. It's hard to give definite numbers on a product still in alpha, but the Microsoft team has made performance an important part of the next release.

Security is another concern that might exist among those still looking to get into the mobile platform space. Again, this is an important milestone for the next version. The mobile platform team is falling in line with the current Microsoft push on security. Some of the work is done already, and more is on the way that will allow VPN support of IPSEC and PPTP, digital certificates for IE and Mobile Information Server, and installable personal certificates. The future also looks bright for system-level improvements that will support security on the device, allowing for more-enhanced security of the data on the device.

It's still early in the development cycle (the Compact Framework and mobile bits are often a little behind the full desktop bits), so there's much that has not been announced yet or definitely been rolled into the product. The wish list is long, but it's obvious that Microsoft is serious about enhancing the tools, the performance, and the security of devices and the software that you run in them.

About the Author
Dan Fergus in the chief architect at Forest Software Group, developing .NET applications, including Pocket PC applications for sports teams. He is a frequent speaker at major technical conferences and works as a consultant and trainer, teaching the Compact Framework along with Visual Basic .NET and ASP.NET courses. Dan has been working with .NET and the CF since the beginning. He is the coauthor of The Definitive Guide to the .NET Compact Framework (Apress).