Adapt Your App - Application Compatibility

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted. Most of my time offline was due to the work we were doing leading up to and at MEDC. It was definitely worth it. We had a great time with great turnout. I do have to admit that I was a little tired after it was over - I'm back now, energized and ready to go.

 

One of the key issues that is coming up for Windows Mobile developers is the issue of application compatibility across the range of Windows Mobile devices. As new devices are released, they introduce many new features and sometimes even a new form factor. Similarly, because so many Windows Mobile devices provide phone functionality (SmartPhone & Pocket PC), when deploying an application into the real world, there are a number of compatibility and security issues that come up with the different carriers.

 

Successfully developing and deploying Windows Mobile applications requires that compatibility across devices and across the various carriers be planned for up front. Over the next several months, compatibility is something you're going to hear a lot about; a couple of compatibility information resources are coming online this month (well end of May beginning of June J )

 

First, there's a new blog on MSDN by Mel Sampat. Mel is a program manager with Microsoft and his focus is on helping developers maximize Windows Mobile application compatibility. As you might expect, compatibility is also the focus of his blog. His blog should be a good resource for ongoing information regarding compatibility. Mel already has his blog online, so check it out.

 

As another resource, I'll be starting a new 3-part MSDN webcast series on June 14th. The title of the series is "Adapt Your App" and its focus is (you guessed it) building adaptive applications to insure compatibility across the world of Windows Mobile. The goal of this series, is to give you the necessary foundation to understand what the issues are and some techniques for dealing with them. You can get more information on the series at the Adapt Your App home page.

 

Between the ongoing information on compatibility provided by Mel's blog and the foundation provided by the Adapt Your App webcast series, you should find most of the information and tools you'll need to insure that your application works successfully across the widest possible range of devices.

 

We'll be talking about this a lot more over the Summer. If there are specific compatibility issues you'd like to see covered, please post them onto this blog or Mel's. We'll do our best to get you the info you need.