02-18-2010, 07:30 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Windows Phone 7 To Only Accept Managed Apps?
Electronista has posted information on the application environment for Windows Phone 7, and initially, it doesn't look good. Native code will mostly be inaccessible and they say that the restrictions will be even tighter than what the iPhone platform has. It was enough for Pocket Informant developer Alex Kac to say that it probably spells doom for Pocket Informant.  We'll have to see how this turns out when official information from Microsoft is released. It is expected that much more developer info will be made known at the March MIX event.
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02-18-2010, 07:45 PM
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Contributing Editor-in-Training
Join Date: Mar 2008
Posts: 63
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Doomed!
Well, that will mean the platform is doomed to failure. Brilliant move Microsoft, start packing your bags now. Guess it is time to move to another platform.
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02-18-2010, 09:09 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 676
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Reading the leaked document, I think Electronista has misinterpreted what it says. I think this is much ado about nothing.
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64 GB iPad 2 WiFi, Apple TV 2, 32 GB iPhone 4
Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" (dual boot with Windows 7), Early 2009 Mac Mini
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02-18-2010, 10:23 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dyvim
Reading the leaked document, I think Electronista has misinterpreted what it says. I think this is much ado about nothing.
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I hope so. I am no developer, but the document looks pretty restrictive.
As I said, I hope there is a lot of clarity at MIX.
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02-18-2010, 10:32 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 274
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Can any kind developer explain what this really means? If you believe the hysterical rantings it means the end of applications on WP7, is this the case and MS intends for there to be no applicaitions available to users or is it a case of some devs not wanting to use MS's dev platform?
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Back to being The Last Windows Mobile Fanboy - now with a Dell Venue Pro!
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02-18-2010, 10:39 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,043
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With less than 2,000 applications currently being available on the Microsoft Marketplace store, and several hundred thousand (if not over a million?) out there being supplied as shareware or freeware by vendors and developers, the math is pretty simple. Unless Microsoft opens things up, and by a whole lot, they're going to lose droves of hardcore users. Locking things down not just in terms of vending rights (and getting the Microsoft seal of approval is historically difficult to say the least) but actually making it harder for developers to fit their applications into the new paradigm, well, agreed, they're spelling their own demise in the phone marketplace. I'm somewhat relieved to read that support for WM6.5.3 is going to continue for a time, and even that this support may go beyond trivial levels. But as Microsoft's direction dictates what the OEMs do, and if this new restrictiveness proves durable, it's the end of the road for many, many developers of Windows Mobile titles.
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Gerard Ivan Samija
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02-18-2010, 10:40 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 21
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Am I the only one who thinks that requiring managed code is going to increase the capabilies and options for developers? It's also going to make it a whole heck of a lot easier to create good looking and functioning applications. I've already got a couple of application ideas sketched out in silverlight because they just wouldn't work otherwise, or would be prohibitively difficult.
I know that there is going to be a learning curve, but this is going to be a good thing.
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02-18-2010, 10:52 PM
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Sage
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 676
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I think you need to be a lawyer not a developer to understand the document (I'm the former, not the latter). 
At first, I just read through the screenshots posted by Electronista, but just now I went back to the 3 screenshots originally posted in XDA-developers forum. I've changed my mind- it does indeed look like a new developer environment without access to native API's.
Anyway, there's no point jumping to conclusions until more info is released.
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64 GB iPad 2 WiFi, Apple TV 2, 32 GB iPhone 4
Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13" (dual boot with Windows 7), Early 2009 Mac Mini
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02-18-2010, 10:54 PM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 1,043
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And Silverlight has worked out so well, for, say, the 2010 Winter Olympics? I've seen a lot of Flash used on a lot of media sites. Mostly it works. I am not a fan of Flash, not for video presentation and certainly not for use as an application interface on a mobile phone, as it is inherently slower than .NET CF (which is unbelievably slow still) and tends to present obstacles to full use by many who go beyond 'click it and see what happens' usage patterns. In trying to watch the Olmpics here, in Vancouver, where they're broadcasting and trying to use Silverlight to show off the most usable online experience in Olympic history, we have been able to view about one quarter or the content presented as links. The stuff we do get to view may launch on first click, sometimes, but mostly it takes anything from 15 to 30 rapid clicks to get any response from the links. Bad coding? Gee, they only spent a few hundred million dollars developing the interface and related tools... I wonder, if they threw a billion dollars at Silverlight, would it work?
Silverlight has some nifty aspects. I'm not suggesting it shouldn't be used or that it shouldn't be supported on a phone. What I am saying is that it has a LONG way to go before it's ready for prime time, and to base important applications' functionality upon it would be risky at best. But I'm not a developer, just a device user. What do I know? Only what I see, which from Silverlight, isn't a whole lot.
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Gerard Ivan Samija
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02-18-2010, 11:43 PM
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Executive Editor, Android Thoughts
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,233
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Quote:
Originally Posted by g35a
Well, that will mean the platform is doomed to failure. Brilliant move Microsoft, start packing your bags now. Guess it is time to move to another platform.
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How so? Specifically what makes you think (If the above turns out to be true, who knows how accurate it is) developers can't build rich and awesome experiences without native code? Restriction is probably a bad thing, however the most restrictive platform out there has quite a few apps that people would describe as "killer" or any number of other positive adjectives.
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Dr. Jon Westfall, MCSE, MS-MVP
Executive Editor - Android Thoughts
News Editor - Windows Phone Thoughts
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