Interesting info posted at this link ( http://dotnetref.blogspot.com/2010/06/windows-phone-7-haves-and-have-no…;) concerning what features are omitted from WP7 on initial release based on information from MS TechEd. Relevant points are detailed below - assuming these are correct, it looks like MS has a lot of work to do in order to get anywhere close to the feature set required for Enterprise use.
No native code support. Silverlight 3.0 and XNA are the only ways to develop applications for WP7. If you are not developing games, then Silverlight is probably the path you will be forced to take.
No Database support. SQL Server Compact is not part of WP7. Nor will SQLite or any other 3rd party database engine run either. One TechEd session had the gall to suggest that we should all use collections of objects and Linq as a replacement for SQL Server Compact. Access to data is only available through Web Services and what the application can store in Silverlight’s Isolated Storage. No one would confirm or deny that database support would ever be added to WP7.
No Side Loading Applications. Except for development mode, applications can only be loaded to WP7 devices through the Microsoft Marketplace. It doesn’t matter if the app if for internal use in your organization or not. Also, it is not free to use the Microsoft Marketplace.
Application approval is required. Microsoft claims that it will not be a blackbox like Apple where you stick an app in and hope it comes out; however, they also said they there is a list of applications types that will not be allowed. VOIP was they only example provided.
No access to data on SD cards. Since Silverlight applications can only use isolated storage, there is no way for an application to access information on an SD card. While some devices may support an SD card, the additional memory will apparently be made available for isolated storage, but you can’t preload the content.
No File System support. Again only Isolated Storage is available to a Silverlight app.
No RAPI support. There will no interacting with a WP7 device via the desktop. Obviously there will be some synchronization with Outlook, but nothing the developer will have control of.
Applications must be Silverlight 3. Silverlight 4 will not be available for WP7.
Out of Browser Silverlight support only. Silverlight is not going to be supported in browser on the phone.
Default Browser must be Internet Explorer. While Microsoft claimed that other browsers will be allowed on the phone, they can’t be the default. This is probably okay as long as the new Internet Explorer is better than the Windows Mobile version; however, is it possible to write a viable browser in Silverlight or XNA?
No Bluetooth API. While there is going to be Bluetooth support on the phone, there is no Bluetooth API.
No inter-process communications (IPC) and no Socket support.
No Video Capture Support. Phones will have a camera but not video capture support, and also no video brush.
No Outside TrueType Fonts - Microsoft experts claimed that you will not be able to use TrueType fonts other than the ones delivered with the device. This limitation makes since, how would you get them on the device. While there is supposed to be support for embedding TrueType fonts in your xap file in Silverlight 4, this will not be the version used on the device.
The TechEd demos of WP7 applications had a common theme; they crashed, hung up, or gave peculiar error messages. For a platform that is going to be delivered in the October timeframe (3 months away), it is hard to have much short-term faith in the new platform.
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OK. So lets list what is supported now (or in the next release of the OSs). Windows Phone 7 - Silverlight / C# Windows Compact 7 (the next version of CE) - Silverlight (though with a native backend - see below) Windows Mobile 7 (the next version of WM) - Silverlight (C#?) Silverlight is a XAML presentation layer over a C# backend (mostly). Compact Framework is a C# presentation layer over a C# backend. There is almost a one-to-one relationship between Silverlight controls and Compact Framework controls (see MSDN). Their operation is almost identical (but much prettier :-) ). The backend C# business code can remain virtually unchanged (assuming appropriate classes including SQL). Visual Studio 2010 does not support either native or Compact Framework development for mobile devices, only Silverlight. Since the inception of the C#/VB Framework (now ten years ago!) there are been a reducing need for native applications (though they still exist). Andy Wigley has just demonstrated the use of a third party database on Windows Phone 7 ( http://mobileworld.appamundi.com/blogs/andywigley/archive/2010/06/07/pe…). Full Silverlight support for SQL from Microsoft will not be far behind. (Andy also has some good presentations on how to get C# working on the next CE now with a shim layer). Basically we are in the middle of a UI change. (Remember, C windows, then MFC, then C#, now Silverlight). There are those who will decide to adopt the pretty (and new) approach of Silverlight and those who will not. Those who do change will be able to run on more platforms that those who don't (and they will look prettier). They will also have to suffer some early adopter pain. C# faced the same critisims and look at it now!