Microsoft Releases Visual Basic CTP For Windows Phone 7 Dev Tools, Allows VB Programming Of Apps!

Written by John Thompson on September 23, 2010 · Filed under Software, Tech 

Great news coming out of Redmond for Visual Basic developers today, as Microsoft has released the Visual Basic CTP (Community Technology Preview) for Windows Phone developer tools, which allows VB developers to code applications for Windows Phone 7. This news comes only a week after Microsoft’s final developer tools for the platform were released.

This doesn’t mean that Visual Basic is fully supported yet as this is only a Community Technology Preview (CTP). In the words of an MSDN blogger, “many people outside Microsoft think of a CTP as a “beta” release, we think of a CTP as a “Release Candidate” quality release with the ability to change the design and improve the test suite”.

However, this is still a great chance for VB developers to think about what apps they can release for the platform when we start to see lots of devices hitting the market.

There are a couple of more important points from the source link that you will want to take in to consideration if you’re wanting to develop with VB for Windows Phone 7 too…

1. This is a CTP, which means we want to give you early access, and are hoping to solicit feedback, but this is not a final implementation, and you should not expect anything you built to be commercial ready.

2. There is no Go-Live license, which means you shouldn’t try to release apps built with this version of the technology.

3. You need to be a Visual Studio 2010 Professional (or higher) customer. So if you only have the Express edition of the Windows Phone Developer Tools, you cannot use this version of the CTP. I hear Visual Studio 2010 have a trial download if you are really itchy.

4. You cannot build XNA games. Silverlight apps only.

All in all, it’s great for the VB community to be able to code applications for the new mobile platform, giving us a diverse set of apps on launch of the Windows Phone 7 handsets across all UK networks.

If you’re a VB developer wanting to get in on some of the Windows Phone 7 action, you can download the CTP from Microsoft.

Source: Windows Team Blog