REPOST (Which Versions of Compact Framework will VS "Orcas" Support

In the previous ship cycle, one feedback we got from our developer community was that we didn’t share early on what runtimes and platforms the development tool will support. So for VS “Orcas” release, I would like to share where we are heading in terms on enabling support for various runtime versions and platforms. This post is managed specific only for now, I put up a similar one for Native Development out soon.

Managed Development Changes and Enhancements.

- Add Support for V.Next of Compact Framework (V 3.0 or V 2.x as it finally gets versioned)

- Continue to support .NET CF Version 2.0

- Remove the templates for 1.0

      o Your existing 1.0 Projects will be migrated to 2.0 (if you wish to use them in VS Orcas)

   o Or you can continue to use VS 2005 side by side on the same machine to work with 1.0 applications

   o Since Smartphone 2003 only supports NETCF 1.0, you will not see any project templates for that.

- Include the Windows Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC and Smartphone SDKs in the Box so you have a first class out of the box experience

- Enable future SDKs from Windows Mobile team to install seamlessly on VS “Orcas” much like you install Windows Mobile 5.0 SDK today

- Add Managed Templates for next version of Windows CE (just the way CE 5.0 is supported today)

As we continue to hash these internally, I’ll provide updates as applicable. In the meantime, I would love to hear your feedback on these changes.

Thanks

Amit Chopra

You can email me at ACHOPRA AT MICROSOFT.COM