Frameworks

Will MIX Fix Microsoft's Mobile Mess?

By the time you read this column, the MIX10 conference in Las Vegas will be about two weeks away. Taking place March 15-17, MIX offers an exclusive developer focus on Web, rich media, and dev/design issues and technologies. In the past, technologies like Silverlight, XAML, Internet Explorer and Expression Blend have gotten close attention at MIX events.

This year, the star of MIX is almost certain to be Windows Mobile 7, which at press time was slated to be announced at the Microsoft Mobile World Conference in Barcelona, Spain, in mid-February. Microsoft has promised that MIX10 attendees will "learn about developing applications and games for the next generation of Windows Phone," and while the company refused to say much more, it's clear that excitement over Windows Mobile is high.

As it should be. Even as products like Windows 7, Visual Studio 2010 and Silverlight 4 have impressed industry watchers, Microsoft has suffered a series of setbacks in the mobile market. Competitors like Apple, Google and Symbian have earned steady gains while Microsoft has struggled with point revs of Windows Mobile 6.

Could MIX10 be Microsoft's breakthrough mobile moment? Redmond has been tight-lipped about its plans, so it's been hard to gauge, but analysts I've talked to seem confident that Windows Mobile 7 will represent a major step forward for Microsoft. In about two weeks' time, we can likely make that assessment for ourselves.

Are you planning for Windows Mobile 7 development? Write to me at [email protected] and let me know what Microsoft needs to deliver in the next version to make it a viable target platform for your organization.

About the Author

Michael Desmond is an editor and writer for 1105 Media's Enterprise Computing Group.

comments powered by Disqus

Featured

  • Mastering Blazor Authentication and Authorization

    At the Visual Studio Live! @ Microsoft HQ developer conference set for August, Rockford Lhotka will explain the ins and outs of authentication across Blazor Server, WebAssembly, and .NET MAUI Hybrid apps, and show how to use identity and claims to customize application behavior through fine-grained authorization.

  • Linear Support Vector Regression from Scratch Using C# with Evolutionary Training

    Dr. James McCaffrey from Microsoft Research presents a complete end-to-end demonstration of the linear support vector regression (linear SVR) technique, where the goal is to predict a single numeric value. A linear SVR model uses an unusual error/loss function and cannot be trained using standard simple techniques, and so evolutionary optimization training is used.

  • Low-Code Report Says AI Will Enhance, Not Replace DIY Dev Tools

    Along with replacing software developers and possibly killing humanity, advanced AI is seen by many as a death knell for the do-it-yourself, low-code/no-code tooling industry, but a new report belies that notion.

  • Vibe Coding with Latest Visual Studio Preview

    Microsoft's latest Visual Studio preview facilitates "vibe coding," where developers mainly use GitHub Copilot AI to do all the programming in accordance with spoken or typed instructions.

  • Steve Sanderson Previews AI App Dev: Small Models, Agents and a Blazor Voice Assistant

    Blazor creator Steve Sanderson presented a keynote at the recent NDC London 2025 conference where he previewed the future of .NET application development with smaller AI models and autonomous agents, along with showcasing a new Blazor voice assistant project demonstrating cutting-edge functionality.

Subscribe on YouTube