What Is Happening to Me?

Few days ago I wrote instructions for setting-up Android development environment. Since I am mostly known as Windows developer this caused lot of questions in my neighborhood. Here are answers to most common ones and some observations of mine.

1. Yes, I am still C# developer at heart.

2. I still love Windows Mobile. This goes for 6.5. As far as Windows Mobile 7 is concerned, I have my reservations (this is drastic change after all) but it is really hard to comment anything at this time. Most of known limitations and features of that platform are subject to change by the time of launch. Anyhow most of things that bother me are just political decision (e.g. multitasking) and not a real limitation.

3. I do not consider my work in Android as betrayal of my love. While I love Visual Studio and what it does offer, I think that trying other environments can only lead to good things.

4. My phone ratio is 2:1 in favor of Windows Mobile (HP iPAQ 514, HTC S740 and HTC Desire).

5. Exchange ActiveSync is best protocol there is. I am not sure how good it was for Microsoft to allow Google and others to use it in their products but from customer side I must confess it is great decision. It allows all my phones to share same data regardless of their underlying platform and everything gets synchronized by “it-self”.

6. Both Windows Mobile and Android share same hate for letters Đ and đ (latin capital/small letter D with stroke). While I can synchronize existing contacts with this letter, neither of these platforms will allow me to enter this letter via keyboard. When letter is part of your alphabet it gets annoying fast.

7. Yes, I will probably make some comparison of development experience between these platforms in future.