01-22-2006, 03:30 AM
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Developer & Designer, News Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 12,959
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Windows Mobile 5.0 Developer Resource Kit: Everything You Need, All in One Place
An updated version of the Windows Mobile 5.0 Developer Resource Kit has surfaced, and includes everything you need to start developing for Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 5.0.
The kit, which is available at the cost of shipping and handling, includes Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition (90-day trial), Windows Mobile 5.0 SDKs (for Pocket PC and Smartphone), ActiveSync 4.1, .NET Compact Framework 2.0, SQL Server CE and SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition, localized emulator images and other useful developer tools. Alternatively, you can download a subset of the kit, but do note that it does not include Visual Studio 2005, which is a requirement for the installation and use of the SDKs.
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01-22-2006, 02:59 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 73
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I've used the DVD -- it's definitely worth ordering.
Now if they could just get Visual Studio 2005 to work 
Getting the bugs out of WM5.0 would be a great bonus, too. I'm hoping some form of WM5.0 Second Edition comes to the rescue soon
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01-22-2006, 07:26 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 93
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and when the 90-days trial expires what happens? do the individual developers have to pay 1000 usd to develop small utilities for the platform or what? is this a move by Microsoft to restrict WM5 development to the big guys? All the tools for developing for the earlier versions of WM were free?!
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01-22-2006, 09:58 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 73
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It's definitely a dark day and a pivotal point in the CE platform...Read on if you are a small developer.
We switched from Palm development to Windows CE development a few years ago for precisely this reason: that Palm put up too many barriers for developers. It's one of the reasons we predicted the Palm platform would die -- and this was back in their heyday (about 2001). We new Microsoft would win out because they made things so free and easy for developers. Its the rich and diverse choice of 3rd party apps, as much as the platform itself, that seems to drive the success of CE.
Now, however, Microsoft apparently thinks they have enough momentum and market share to pull back on the free development tools. Maybe they are right.
But the cost of a "legal" copy of VS2005 will now exceed the modest income some small developers make on their apps. It's going to drive a lot of good, solo programmers out of the CE platform for good.
But there is another problem. WM5.0 now has it's most intimate parts "locked" so that some apps require a signing certificate from Verisign in order to run. And to get a Verisign cert you have to buy signing tokens at $400 for a 10-pack. That means if you have a fairly comples app with several DLLs, .exes, etc., it's going to cost you hundreds of dollars for each version you release!
What's worse is that to even test the app on your device, you have to buy these signing tokens. You can try using the SDK cert to test on the emulator, but that only works on the emulator. You can't use it on the actual device. And you know the emulator can be useless for testing network apps. So you have to spend your precious, expensive certs just on test versions. You could easily run up hundreds if not thousands of dollars more at this point.
Oh I almost forgot...after you buy the Verisign tokens, you still can't get a privileged cert unless you go ask Microsoft to approve it. And for this they require you to first "logo certify" the app with a 3rd party test partner like QualityLogic. That's going to cost you another $500 bucks.
As bad as all the expense is, there may be a worse feature: developers now depend on Microsoft in order to survive. Because they can revoke your privileged cert at any time!
Security expert Bruce Schneier wrote about the dangers of forced signing way back in 2001. Just imagine if you desktop PC could only run signed apps. You would not be able to run any of the great freeware that independent developers put out. It would certainly kill much of Microsoft's market share in the PC space, and would drive consumers to Linux. In short, it's unthinkable. So why are they enforcing signing on the Windows Mobile platform, which is still young and less likely to withstand the blow?
As a small developer you are between a rock and a hard place. Windows Mobile development is now trapped between the prohibitive cost of VS2005, and the restrictive forced signing of WM5.0.
Slightly bigger companies will be able to survive. Many small developers won't. And when the smaller developers die out, there will be no pressure on bigger companies to write good software. Why should they? All their good competitors -- the independent developers -- are now out of business.
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01-22-2006, 10:09 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Aug 2004
Posts: 93
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Airscanner
It's definitely a dark day and a pivotal point in the CE platform...Read on if you are a small developer.
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****ing Microsoft!
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01-23-2006, 12:59 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Oct 2004
Posts: 45
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As far as I know, PocketPC (including phone edition) are not app-locked, only Smartpone is app-locked. There are more PocketPC devices sold anywa, so what's they worry?
Operators would not allow to ship a phone that is not app-locked, so this is kind of inevitable.
VS2005 cositng so much for small developers is silly though, i agree.
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01-23-2006, 01:54 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 6
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Disclosure: I work in the Mobile and Embedded Devices division at Microsoft. These comments are my own, and not those of my employer.
Remember firstly, that you can STILL develop for new Windows Mobile devices using the free tools. Embedded C++ can still be used to create applications that run on Windows Mobile 5.0 devices.
That said, the many cool new features in WM5.0 won't be available to you.
Secondly, the $1000 amount mentioned is just wrong. To develop for Windows Mobile 5.0 after the 90 day free version of Visual Studio, you will need to purchase the Standard Edition, which at the time of writing, is $262 on Amazon. It's not free, but it's certainly not $1000 either ;-)
Sure I wish there was a free version: but the extra tools that are present in Visual Studio 2005 are very impressive. There's a lot of new stuff in there that is worth the money (in my biased view of course  ).
If you want to use Visual Studio to learn C# or other languages, I would suggest you look at the Express editions, which are currently available at little or no cost.
By all means feel free to flame me, but sadly I've no control over pricing. But why not try out the free version on the DVD for three months, and decide for yourself if it's worth the money?
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01-23-2006, 02:27 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 12
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There is a shipping fee of about $5.80. The disk is currently on back order.
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01-23-2006, 02:56 AM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,111
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What's the difference between this version and the original that was shipped out two months back? Updated version of VS2005?
__________________
"A planner is a gentle man, with neither sword nor pistol.
He walks along most daintily, because his balls are crystal."
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01-23-2006, 03:57 AM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 73
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Quote:
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As far as I know, PocketPC (including phone edition) are not app-locked, only Smartpone is app-locked. There are more PocketPC devices sold anywa, so what's they worry?
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I should have been more clear. This is a totally separte issue from a "locked" vs "unlocked" phone. Its that many important parts of the registry and APIs are now off limits to developers unless they go to the trouble and expense described above. WM5.0 (including Pocket PC) blocks these apps from working unless they have been digitally signed by Verisign tokens. (This was supposed to be a security improvement, but I think we're going to find it hurts, rather than helps, security. More on this soon.)
All this won't be an issue if you are developing a simple minesweeper game, for example. But it's the complex and communication-based apps that we really need smaller developers working on. These days one smart programmer can often make an app better than some larger companies. Only now, sadly, a lot of them won't be able to.
We have only come across these signing issues in the last couple of weeks. From reading newsgroups, others are also running into trouble. I'm worried that more and more Windows Moble developers are going to find themselves in a bad situation soon.
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