Building Solutions with the Microsoft .NET Compact Framework: Architecture and Best Practices for Mobile Development

The Need for Mobility

The word “mobility,” meaning the “capacity for motion,” has been in English usage since at least 1425 (derived from the Middle French and ultimately from the Latin mobilitatem). However, the word has taken on new meaning in recent years as the interest in equipping both consumers and business users with “information anywhere, anytime, and on any device” has gained momentum. In fact, this mantra is in part lifted from Microsoft's vision statement that changed from Bill Gates and Paul Allen's original 1975 vision of “a computer on every desk and in every home.” The new statement, “empower people through great software anytime, any place and on any device,” was created in mid-1999 as Microsoft caught hold of this trend in mobility, ...