The Moth

OK Mark, I'll take the bait! I don't make it a habit to talk about technologies that are so far out, but I guess this very early prototype is worth highlighting to my readers in case you guys have been under a rock for the last 10 days ;-).

Scott has the video he made with Derek on his blog and if you want to see the exact Silverlight demo shown at MIX, then download the WMV (15', 55MB) and fast forward to the 14th minute for the Window Mobile version of the demo shown in the first 14 minutes on the desktop platform. If you want to read more from the dev lead of the Windows Mobile Silverlight prototype (including screenshots) then go to Rob's blog entry (some great stuff there!).

Personally, I want to see how Compact Silverlight will compare to .NET Compact Framework. Sure, one is for cross-platform, cross-browser and the other only for Windows CE but there is an overlap. If all I am targeting is the Window Mobile platform, then I can write smart clients with the NETCF today that do the job nicely. All I am missing is a Windows Forms layer replacement so I can create rich user experiences (rather than dull LOB apps). That is, I want to use my existing NETCF apps and simply remove the UI and replace it with a XAML-based UI – I don't want my app running in the mobile browser and I certainly don't need another CLR. But hang on, isn't that essentially how WPF differs to Silverlight on the desktop? Yes it is, so if you ask me, I'd rather we got Compact WPF instead of Compact Silverlight. Just my 2 drachmas worth :-)