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Windows SideShow Managed API and SDK shipped!

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Well, sorry for not posting last months, and happy to continue posting here :) Wonder this post should be about what? Aha, right, about context-awareness, and, specifically, about one of the important channels to achieve it on Windows platform, aha, right, through SideShow for Windows :)

16 month left since release of beta version of Managed API and SDK for Windows SideShow. SideShow team is excited to present final release - they can't wait for first gadgets you'll make for this new runtime!

Why in Earth should SideShow be needed for context-awareness? That's easy if you'll remember that SideShow will be released soon for Windows Mobile devices. Add the fact that HTC Diamond has G-sensor + GPS. Combine things together - you'll get that SideShow can not only help remotely manage computer say from your Windows Mobile phone, but also deliver context-awareness information from the sensors on a such Windows Mobile device :) And thus, make changes happen on the remotely managed computer with Windows SideShow.

One interesting scenario - consider you are coming into the room with your Windows Mobile device that is paired through Bluetooth with your PC, and SideShow is enabled on both, - then when you are near PC (within 10 m or less), your PC will log on automatically and say Hello to you! :)

haha, for sure, saying hello is not the core scenario, but I can imagine an old story that was in old 1994 when using Active Badge technology folks who written one of the first articles on Context-Awareness achieved a scenario like this:

An editor comes into his room and comes closer to his computer, and computer runs Emacs with last document editor worked on!

That's wonderful that now you do not need that big Active Badge system to achieve same goal :))) Of course, we should replace Emacs with Word :)))))

So this release of Windows SideShow Managed API is about two things, actually, - release of dev components with project templates (C#/VB) for both VS2008 and VS2005, and release of managed runtime that enables launching gadgets developed for it.

Wanna stop reading this post and start writing code right now? Then go grab dev components to stay playing with bits:

Download Locations:

Windows SideShow Managed API 1.0 SDK (dev components, project templates for VS 2008 & 2005, runtime)

Windows SideShow Managed Runtime 1.0 (runtime - install it and run new gadgets!)

thanks to Windows SideShow team for releasing bits!

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