LONDON, April 17, 2002 — Today at the Microsoft Mobility Developer Conference, Microsoft Corp. announced the beta release of the Microsoft® .NET Compact Framework, extending the .NET strategy to smart handheld devices and delivering on its mission to enable rich computing on any device. The .NET Compact Framework is Microsofts mobile application platform technology that harnesses the power of XML Web services on mobile devices. The Microsoft .NET Compact Framework brings this vision to the most capable devices, including the Pocket PC 2000, Pocket PC 2002 and other devices based on Windows® CE .NET. As a subset of the .NET Framework, the .NET Compact Framework shares the same programming model and application development tools, enabling .NET developers to transfer their existing skills to build mobile applications, which is expected to accelerate adoption of mobile solutions.
“As the power of Microsoft .NET extends to wireless Pocket PCs and smart phone devices, the next generation of rich revenue-generating wireless applications and services will surge,”
said Juha Christensen, corporate vice president of the Mobile Devices Group at Microsoft.
“Developers are key to creating applications and services that will deliver value and revenue to mobile operators, service providers and device manufacturers. The .NET Compact Framework will now enable millions of Visual Studio® developers to automatically transfer their skills to mobile device development.”
Microsoft also announced beta availability of the Smart Device Extensions (SDE) for Visual Studio .NET, an extension to the Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment (IDE) that targets the .NET Compact Framework. The SDE brings features that simplify mobile application development such as new project types, device emulator support, remote debugging support and automatic deployment. The SDE transparently extends Visual Studio .NET to mobile development, providing developers with a single IDE from which to work.
The .NET Compact Framework is a critical piece of Microsofts complete mobile application technology. It provides key features for smart devices such as a programming model unified with the .NET Framework on desktop and server, integral XML Web services support, enterprise-class data access using ADO.NET and XML, and rich class libraries that enable developers to build powerful applications in minimal time. Runtime features such as managed code and just-in-time compilation help ensure reliable, high-performance applications for a better user experience.
The .NET Compact Framework is complemented by other technologies such as Microsoft SQL Server™
2000 Windows CE Edition version 2.0 and the Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit (MMIT). SQL Server CE is the compact, relational database for rapidly developing applications that extend enterprise data management capabilities to new smart devices. The new beta release of SQL Server CE 2.0 is the only mobile database that integrates with the .NET Compact Framework, allowing data to be locally and securely stored and extracted to interact with back-end applications or Web services. The Microsoft Mobile Internet Toolkit offers a wide reach to project applications to any kind of mobile device with a browser. The development experience for these technologies is unified through Microsoft Visual Studio .NET, which provides a consistent set of tools and interfaces for building applications using Microsofts mobile technologies.
The consistent programming model and IDE across server, desktop and now mobile device ensures that .NET developers can apply their existing skills to mobile solutions. Mobile users will be afforded a new level of capability from their devices with smart applications that harness the power of the devices they have to aggregate data and services from inside and outside the corporation.
About the Microsoft Mobility Developer Conference
The Microsoft Mobility Developer Conference is Microsofts first global conference for the development of wireless applications and services. Technical professionals from a range of companies including mobile operators, independent software vendors (ISVs), enterprise customers, OEMs and system integrators will gather in London on April 17-18, 2002, for a series of executive keynote speeches, technical sessions and industry forums. More information can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/europe/mobdevcon/info/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software — any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, Windows and Visual Studio are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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