Last week, Microsoft developers from all over Europe gathered at Disneyland Paris for Microsoft's European Mobility Developer Conference, the MDC.
Such conferences mix sessions of code samples with market analysis and demonstrations of what's around the corner. But Microsoft also began to reveal details of the next Pocket PC and Smartphone operating systems.
Ozone, the next release of the Pocket PC operating system, will be based on version 4.2 of Windows CE, but presentations included details of the next generation personal digital assistant. It's less a personal electronic diary, more a component of a business IT infrastructure.
With wireless technologies, PDAs have become a platform in their own right, and Ozone is designed for this marketplace. Along with a compact version of the .NET platform (able to handle XML and web services), features include support for ADO.NET database connections, and the MSMQ reliable message queue. There's even support for common VPN technologies, remote device management, and a web browser.
The biggest change is the arrival of the compact version of the .NET framework. Installed in ROM, this offers similar features to the desktop and server version. Developers can write applications using the same techniques, and the same languages, without leaving the Visual Studio development environment.
The next generation of Windows CE smartphones is further in the future, but they will share many features of Ozone-based PDAs. Memory will still be limited, though.
Orange's SPV was the first Microsoft smartphone to hit the streets, and it hasn't been easy for third parties to develop new applications. Orange has been using Microsoft's strictest smartphone security model, requiring all applications to have a digital certificate (signed by Orange) before they can run on the SPV.
Orange used the conference to launch its developer programme, and a simple way to unlock the SPV. Developers can fill in a couple of forms on the Orange developer web site, and Orange will send an unlock message to their phone.
Microsoft also showed off its Smartphone Developer Kit, boxing up all the tools a developer needs to create Smartphone applications. Members of Microsoft's mobile solution partner programme get software tools for building applications, plus a contract-free Compal smartphone and a development SIM - which runs phones in developer mode.
