By now we have all heard about, seen commercials for, or are possibly even using a Window Phone 7 device. You may have also realized that it is a completely NEW OS and therefore applications written for Windows Mobile 5, 6, and 6.5 will not run on the Windows 7 Devices.

What about our Enterprise Applications?

Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer unveiled Windows Embedded Handheld on June of 2010 in a video ( can be see on youtube ) and said it would be released in 6 months (around Dec 2010) with a follow up scheduled for the second half of 2011 based on “Windows 7 technology”.

They are also “working to provide a clear path for enterprises to migrate line-of-business applications to our new application platform based on Microsoft Silverlight and Visual Studio 2010,” Ballmer said. “These releases will provide proven management and security functionality, while giving customers confidence that investments in handheld enterprise devices and line-of-business applications will be protected over time by an extended support lifecycle.”

What will migration look like?

So though current applications written for Windows Mobile devices can not be ported to the Window Phone 7 environment they are building a path to provide continued enterprise support, especially with Motorola, to keep our mobile applications working.

Just what that migration will really look like however is still even 6 months after that announcement, still seem to be a question mark.  We’ll be keeping a close eye on this.

What Are We Doing?

I can assure you that we at Longwell Technologies are making sure that all of our applications such as our Dispatching, HVAC and manufacturing software solutions will continue to work on the newest technologies as they arise and are needed.  This includes support for our existing Windows Mobile 5, 6, and  6.5 applications as well as on Microsoft Windows desktops, servers, netbooks and tablet PC’s.

Keith A. Longwell
President