Windows Mobile 5.0 Software

[Shaun Stuart]

I have read a couple of comments that suggest Windows Mobile 5.0 will allow WM5 Smartphone apps to run on WM5 Pocket PCs Phone Edition devices - is this correct ?

Thanks

[gwinter]

While it should be possible, I think it is extremely unlikely. At this point they are still two different platforms. The Smartphone has a number of controls that simply don't exist on PPC. If a program used these, they will not run on PPC.

[Shaun Stuart]

Thats what I thought - but I am sure I read somewhere that this was not only possible but likley to be the case. The idea being to save Smartphone developers from developing for two different platforms.

I read Smartphone apps would run on a Pocket PC but not the other way around. The reason given for why this would be possible had something to do with Pocket PCs being able to use both button and touchscreen controls. While Smartphones were limited to just button controls.

Must have been wishful thinking.

[Darius Wey]

With Windows Mobile 5.0, they're still two different platforms but with support for a common CAB structure - meaning you can package one CAB for use on both the Pocket PC and Smartphone. The mechanics behind a program for the Pocket PC and a program for the Smartphone are still different.

There's a short blurb on the common CAB structure in this article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnppcgen/html/whatsnew_wm5.asp

I'm sure there's more detailed information hiding somewhere in MSDN.

[ADBrown]

It's true that you can run Smartphone applications on a WM5 PPC. They don't always work perfectly, but it is possible. The programs most likely to malfunction are, of course, games.