Different Means Better with the new Windows Phone Developer Experience
In just over a week we (finally!) get to pull the cover off of the Windows Phone application & game developer experience at MIX10. There, through keynotes and more than 12 technical sessions over 3 days, we will …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft is using MIX10 to turn Windows Phone 7 Series from a product announcement into a developer-platform proposition. Reporting ahead of the event established that the platform would use Silverlight and XNA development tools and would not preserve backward compatibility with earlier Windows Phone software, making technical guidance central to developer adoption.
First-order effects
- Microsoft gives prospective application and game developers a defined venue to evaluate the Windows Phone toolchain, APIs, and publishing approach.
- Developers with software built for the earlier Windows Phone environment must assess a new Silverlight/XNA-based target rather than rely on backward compatibility.
Second-order effects
- Microsoft’s ability to attract applications depends on whether MIX10’s tools and technical sessions reduce the cost of learning and supporting a separate mobile target.
- Game and application teams choosing cross-platform development priorities gain a clearer basis for deciding whether Windows Phone merits dedicated engineering work.
Third-order effects
- The lack of backward compatibility points to a clean-break mobile-platform strategy: ecosystem growth will depend less on inherited software and more on persuading developers to rebuild for the new stack.
The trend: Mobile platforms are increasingly competing through developer tooling and application ecosystems, with new operating-system generations willing to trade legacy compatibility for a more unified software stack.