05-15-2005, 12:00 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 5,074
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Mobile Development No Longer Free? Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK Requires Visual Studio .NET 2005
Windows Mobile developers have enjoyed the benefit of having free development tools like the Microsoft eMbedded Visual Tools and that in turn has helped popularize Windows Mobile devices. Developers could adopt the Windows Mobile platform without upfront costs. This has lead to a number of free applications and has also plugged the growth of Palm. But now with Windows Mobile 5.0, it seems the developers will no longer have that luxury. I tried installing Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK for Smartphone and ran into the following error message. 8O  I followed the link provided in the error message and found that the missing component is the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2005. I was stunned to find that I cannot install the SDK and view the developer reference documents. :-( :evil: What is Microsoft thinking? The developments tool required by the SDK is not free and the freebie version of the Visual Studio family, the Microsoft Visual Studio Express edition does not support mobile application development. Developers currently have to share a significant percentage of the sales with the online software stores, hosting their applications. They also have to in some cases bear the cost of getting the applications signed/certified. I know that you cannot make money without spending some. But Visual Studio development tool is not an inexpensive piece of software. I wonder if it will affect the free software market? What are your thoughts? Will this new "requirement" affect your development plans and most importantly the profit margin? Please share your thoughts.
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