Mikehall Blog Question : .NET Compact Framework ?

[Mike Hall]

Hi,

I presented at a Windows Mobile developers event last week, talking about
mobile application development, and in particular how to debug, performance
monitor, and detect leaks (gdi, handle, memory) in applications - I was
surprised to see that over 90% of the audience were native application
developers - I thought that more developers would be using the .NET Compact
Framework.

So, here's the question - why do you develop native code applications or
..NET Compact Framework applications ?

I've posted this question to my MSDN/Embedded Blog -
http://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2005/02/11/371144.aspx - I'd be
interested in seeing your comments over on the blog...

Thanks,

Mike Hall
Technical Product Manager
Mobile and Embedded Devices Group
Microsoft Corporation

 

[Robbe Morris]

At Gartner, we are seriously looking at writing more and more applications
for mobile devices. The biggest reason we aren't strongly persuing this
with a
much wider audience is the lack of plaform independence of our users.

Microsoft dominates the PC but doesn't dominate the handheld market.

So, we are restricted to writing apps that we know have certain
types of devices for our designated user base.

That said, the .NET Compact Framework has helped us write
some survey applications for use at Symposium that have been
highly affective in increasing our response rate to key marketing
surveys.

 

[r_z_aret]

Hi,

I presented at a Windows Mobile developers event last week, talking about
mobile application development, and in particular how to debug, performance
monitor, and detect leaks (gdi, handle, memory) in applications - I was
surprised to see that over 90% of the audience were native application
developers - I thought that more developers would be using the .NET Compact
Framework.

So, here's the question - why do you develop native code applications or
.NET Compact Framework applications ?

I am unlikely to use .NET CF:

Primary reason:
I've been working on my Windows CE applications for 6 years. So I have
code that's been through 6 years of debugging, including use by real
users. And it supports a wide range of CE-based platforms.

Secondary reason:
Some of our customers require that we "lock down" the handheld, so
users can't use any program but ours. I'm concerned that CF will hide
the details I need for such control.

Tertiary reason:
I _think_ CF is missing some features we need. Like moderately
low-level serial port control. I know we could mix managed and
unmanaged code, with unmanaged code handling such details. But I that
is extra work.

Other reasons (no particular order):
1) I _think_ CF is missing some UI features I would miss; but I
haven't checked CF enough to be sure.
2) I haven't learned C# or VB
3) We are an ISV and are concerned about distributing our programs in
human-readable form. Yes, I know the intermediate code is not easily
read, and I know that obfuscators are available. But I also know
de-obfuscators are available.

I've posted this question to my MSDN/Embedded Blog -
http://blogs.msdn.com/mikehall/archive/2005/02/11/371144.aspx - I'd be
interested in seeing your comments over on the blog...

Thanks,

Mike Hall
Technical Product Manager
Mobile and Embedded Devices Group
Microsoft Corporation

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Robert E. Zaret, eMVP
PenFact, Inc.
500 Harrison Ave., Suite 3R
Boston, MA 02118
www.penfact.com

 

[Vyacheslav Lanovets]

Hello, Mike!
You wrote on Sat, 12 Feb 2005 13:21:03 -0800:

MH> So, here's the question - why do you develop native code applications
MH> or .NET Compact Framework applications ?

You see, there are many reasons.

30 megs of source code of our application using C++/MFC. A lot of debugged
code written in unmanaged C++, we sometime may want to adopt into our
application (hundreds of megs!) Our company has not only our team coding in
C++, but much more worldwide. All of them code in C++. They do not know
about .Net, CF, and they do not WANT to know. They code for desktop, and we
borrow their code for Windows CE. Who will teach them? Even if CF had
support of managed C++ I would not program for it. Version 1.x should be
conidered beta! You see, what about generics in C#? Differencies between
m,anaged C++ and C++/CLI????!

Btw, we need support of Windows CE 3.0. And we have to release next version
in 2 months, and next version in 8 months, and next version in 14 month and
so on, we have no time to code anything else. Users want bugs to be fixed
and features added. We have to do work but not play with new features of
brand-new-half-done technology.

And MS should spend more money on PR for CF and even .Net! Not much people
have feeling that .Net will not die as COM does right now.

Yes, MS has ways to fight this. Just for example, SQLCE 2.0 was not compiled
for SH4 processor in EVC3 (we use SQLCE1.1 instead). ADOCE and ADOXCE which
work PERFECTLY have been deprecated, so MS will not compile them for future
Windows CE platforms. And one day they will not support unmanaged access to
SQLCE! We too lately understood our mistake using MS SQL Server instead of
home-made solution

MS should declare: "VS Studio 2005 and higher will not support native
development for MFC/ATL/WTL applications". It is intended only for drivers.
This will help.

Best regards, Vyacheslav Lanovets