Andy Sjostrom
11-04-2003, 09:02 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.appforge.com/corp/press/2003/102803-crossfire.html' target='_blank'>http://www.appforge.com/corp/press/...-crossfire.html</a><br /><br /></div>AppForge continues to enhance and broaden their suite of mobile application development tools. This time they even have me, a die-hard cross platform non believer, interested. Check out Crossfire, a new add-on environment for Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the .NET Platform! According to AppForge, developers can use Visual Studio .NET and write .NET applications and target Palm OS, Pocket PC, Symbian UIQ and Nokia Series 60 devices.<br /><br />I am not sure what AppForge has done, yet. Have they built custom <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpguide/html/cpconcommonlanguageruntimeoverview.asp">"Common Language Runtimes"</a>? Are they utilizing .NET Compact Framework in any way or have they built their own? For example, if I need to use SQL Server CE, can I use classes in the System.Data.SqlServerCe namespace? I'll try to dig up the answers for you! Regardless, I find it interesting that I can stay "faithful" to .NET and C# and at the same time target "the other side" while waiting for more converts!<br /><br />"With Crossfire, .NET Framework-based applications can be distributed on the leading mobile and wireless devices,” said John Montgomery, director of the Developer and Platform Evangelism Division at Microsoft Corp. “By supporting Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the .NET Framework, AppForge will enhance the developer experience for the mobile and wireless industry." ... "We have been working very closely with System Integrators and Enterprise Developers who have asked us to support .NET in our mobile application development software," said Gary Warren, CEO of AppForge. "It is critical for them to target all of the leading mobile devices efficiently, and AppForge is the only company that enables cross-platform development with Visual Studio .NET."