"Windows Phone 7 Interoperability" and the "Interoperability Bridges and Labs Center" (Think "Dogs and cats living together..." )

Windows Phone 7 Interoperability

"The Windows Phone Interoperability site focuses on helping developers who have been creating phone applications on various platforms ramp up quickly on the Windows Phone 7 platform. The goal is to help them leverage existing skills, and provide recipes to successfully design and build applications for the Window Phone.The site will also address interoperability scenarios aiming to provide tools and guidance to help developers building applications for multiple platforms.

The early version of the site is targeted to the iPhone application developer, and includes technical documentation and real-world testimonials.  Content and tutorials will continue to be added and expanded over the coming months.

...

A cool site that helps bridge development world between Windows Phone 7 and other phone OS's.

<rant>

Personally I wish Microsoft would learn from Amazon/Kindle and Netflix and spread their services far and wide. What is one thing Android need badly? A good media solution and service. What if Zune, Zune Pass, etc were on Android? How awesome an pairing would that be? Windows "won" because the hardware was separate from the software. Time to repeat that, this time hardware vs "service."

As long as you get people into the given ecosystem, say hooked to the awesome Zune service, do you really care on what device? Where's the money long term?

Same with Office. Same with XBox services. Same with other and future "service" offerings. You can't, well you shouldn't, ignore tens of millions of customers. If WP7 has a long tail and is expected to take a few years to be a contender, then use this time to fine tune your services elsewhere, everywhere... Microsoft has the development and technical capability to be THE "Ecosystem Services Provider"  of the future. They just need to reach out and grab it.

Yeah, I know, probably impossible given the Microsoft of today. But there's always a tomorrow... ;)

</rant>

Anyway...

The above site also led me to the main "Interoperability Bridges and Labs Center" which is pretty awesome too... If you live or work in a mixed tech world, i.e. Microsoft & Java/PHP/Ruby/etc then this site might help.

Interoperability Bridges and Labs Center

"The Center is dedicated to technical collaborative work to improve interoperability between Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies. In this site, you will find a live directory of freely downloadable technical interoperability Bridges& Labs and related content such as demos, technical guidance and articles. The vast majority of the projects are Open Source. The Center is run by the Microsoft Interoperability Strategy Group working with the community at large

...

(via Interoperability @ Microsoft - Windows Phone Interoperability site)

 

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