Free Windows CE Developing Tools

I know whatyou're thinking: it sounds to too good to be true. Microsoft has just released its new eMbedded Visual Tools kit that is "priced" to sell. Except for shipping charges, it's free!

eMbedded Visual Tools 3.0 is the set of tools for developers and is used to write software applications for devices based on the Microsoft Windows CE operating system. Included in the kit are full versions of Microsoft eMbedded Visual C++ 3.0 development system, Microsoft eMbedded Visual Basic 3.0 development system, SDKs, remote tools, and documentation.

For the most part, these new tools look and feel exactly like the previous Visual Studio 6.0 counterparts with the CE Toolkits installed. However, there are a few notable differences.

One major improvement is that the program debugger is finally integrated into Visual Basic. In previous versions the debugger was an external application. This made certain tasks difficult, including the setting of breakpoints before the application was already running. In addition, the previous version's debugger was unpredictable and would not let you single step through comments! The new version fixes these problems. Installation of the Visual C++ module is much easier than with previous versions.

Perhaps the most notable difference between the eMbedded Visual Tools and Visual Studio 6.0 is that the eMbedded versions of both Visual C++ and Visual Basic will only build Windows CE applications. While this shouldn't affect most projects, it will create some issues for those of you who want to build a cross-platform application.

And, of course, the biggest difference between the new eMbedded Visual Tools and Visual Studio 6.0 is that this one's free. That's right. All you have to do is tell Microsoft where to send the CDs and pay the $7.50 for shipping. That's really not a bad deal when you consider that getting started with the previous version would almost certainly run you about $2000 just in dev tools alone! Ouch.

Years ago, I was participating in a Compuserve chat (that'll give you an idea of how long ago this was) with then-CEO of Borland, Philippe Kahn. Someone in the chat asked for Kahn's thoughts on IBM's trouble in gaining user acceptance for their OS/2 Warp operating system. Kahn offered his opinion that IBM ought to take half of their advertising budget and spend that money on getting some really good applications developed for their operating system. After all, he reasoned, users don't buy an operating system; they buy what an operating system does for them.

IBM didn't follow Kahn's advice and we all know where OS/2 is today. Hopefully, these free development tools from Microsoft will help make Windows CE popular with developers and keep it from being another "looks nice, but what can it do?" operating system.

Follow-up on flat rate cellular calling plans

In my previous column, I addressed the question of whether flat rate cellular calling plans would some day be available, particularly since many of us are starting to use our Windows CE devices and cell phones for data access.

That column generated quite a bit of mail, much of it from "devoted" Palm users who took the opportunity to tout the benefits of Palm devices. They also pointed out that the OmniSky (www.omnisky.com) service already allowed Palm users to get flat rate data access.

In addition, Dan Urness of Airtimer (www.airtimer.com), manufacturers of a line of PDA pouch/daytimer holders) was good enough to point out that VoiceStream (www.voicestream.com) is currently offering flat rate calling plans for data access. (And, yes, they do offer phones that will work with the Windows CE via the Socket Communications' Digital Phone Cards.)

What's the catch? Well, to be fair to both Palm and CE users, both OmniSky and VoiceStream have very poor coverage. In fact, they each leave about 80-90% of the United States without coverage. So, while it is true that they do offer flat rate cellular data access, neither one is really quite the solution envisioned in my previous column.

www.microsoft.com/mobile/developer/default.asp