Windows Mobile Platform Migration FAQ for Developers
One of the most important features of the Windows Mobile Platform is implied by its name: it is a platform. For our partners and customers, this means that they can have a high degree of confidence that software that runs on one Windows Mobile device will run on other Windows Mobile devices. This is a huge challenge for us on several fronts because it can appear to be in direct conflict with other objectives such as enabling partners to build differentiated devices, keeping within ROM size budgets, and investing limited dev/test resources in building innovative new features.
Despite some notable issues, we've worked hard to get this right and are working even harder to nail it in future releases through several new/improved initiatives. Most of these are long term efforts focused on preventing/reducing platform fragmentation as much as reasonably possible. A few others are around improved communication with developers - we're going to give more advanced warning when we know a breaking change is coming in a future release and we're going to be more open about known issues that impact developers targeting multiple devices on our platform. Our first public deliverable for this went live a few days ago: The Windows Mobile Platform Migration FAQ for Developers. We'll be updating this every few months with new information. Major kudos to Reed, James, and our doc team for pulling this off!
I'd love to get your feedback on how we can improve this document and/or questions you'd like to see added in the next revision. Please post comments here or via email to wmdevmig@microsoft.com. Thanks!
[Author: Robert Levy]