Confused

ceaser

Active Member
Licensed User
Hi Forum

I need some clarification:sign0148:. What is all this hype about "Android"? Is it a new operating system like Windows CE or Windows Mobile? If it is a new operating system will Windows Mobile and Windows CE come to an end? If so how soon?

Any additional info will gladly be appreciated.

Thanks
Michael
 

agraham

Expert
Licensed User
Longtime User
Android is a new phone OS promoted by Google. It is incompatible with any other OS and so needs its own applications specially written for it, just like Windows Mobile and iPhone. It is a relatively open system that anyone can code for. There are a lot of phones and cheap Chinese tablets available running this OS. Erel has committed to a development IDE for this platform

For consumer phones WM is supplanted by Windows Phone 7, the first phones for which have just been launched - at least here in the UK and in the USA - I don't know about the rest of the world. Windows Phone 7 is a walled garden OS in the manner of the iPhone and tightly controlled by Microsoft in total contrast to the open free-for-all that was Windows Mobile. Basic4ppc applications will not run on this platform. A new version of Basic4ppc would be required but there would be problems for users because they cannot load their own applications onto a phone without paying Microsoft ($99 US annually I think) to become registered as a developer. Erel has not committed to this platform

For the time being Windows Mobile 6.5 and Windows CE are still available to OEMs and supported by Microsoft for commercial line of business applications and specially tailored industrial devices, such as you use, because Windows Phone 7 is closed to OEM modification. Basic4ppc applications should continue to run OK on WM6.5 devices although menus and and UI control placements might need tweaking slightly.

There is stated, by Microsoft, to be a roadmap for transferring industrial/commercial OEMs using WM 6.5 or CE to a future more open version of Windows Phone 7 or Windows CE 7 but it is not yet clear what this path will be nor its timing. However it is clear that Microsoft will not be abandoning this market allthough it is highly likely that "transfer" will mean a rewrite of at least the UI (probably to a Silverlight/WPF model instead of Windows Forms). How much other code that relies on present APIs will transfer without rewriting is unknown nor whether native code will be allowed (it is not allowed on Windows Phone 7 which permits only managed C# code). A new version of Basic4ppc would be required for this platform.
 
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