Future of Windows Mobile

[LazaruX]

What will be the future of Windows Mobile (WinCE) programming in Lazarus?
As you all know, Microsoft is going to launch Windows Phone 7 which will have an Apple kind of approach and have only a repository of authorized software.

What are the plannings?
Will development for the WinCE platform stop?

[felipemdc]

The problem in the case of Microsoft isn't the repository of software, but the fact that they announced that it won't run native applications.

I am the maintainer of Lazarus-Wince and I have no plans to stop working on it, WinCE is more then only Windows Phone. People also use Lazarus to write apps for barcode scanners, for tablets and so on.

Of course if Microsoft really pulls this off, then it will be a hit for us.

In any case I am planning on starting an Android widgetset for Lazarus, so that should more then make up for our loss of Windows Phone platform, as Android is growing very strong now.

Financial contributions for this project are of course welcome. (just contact me via PM/e-mail)

[zariq]

Glad to hear of the plans for android and that windows mobile support will not be ceasing. For lazarus users, windows mobile is the easiest os to program for and the only one for those who don't like apples's attitude and way of doing things. Haven't heard much about  maemo, and I think not many people have.
Felipe could you please clarify some things regarding  contributions. Do people just donate for lazarus or,  as it seems from your post, to a particular project.

Thanks

[felipemdc]

I am trying to collect 400eur to buy an Android phone for me, to develop on it. I already have promisses of 200eur. Until completing this sum I would prefer donations personally to me. Upon completing this sum then I would prefer donations to the Lazarus Donations. That would finance getting more developers to help me in the Android port. I said that the person should contact me because then I would redirect it to the adequate donation destiny.

Maemo is a great platform too, and people can already develop with Lazarus for Maemo thanks to Den Jean's work: http://wiki.freepascal.org/Qt4_Maemo_Binding

[zariq]

Thanks for that. from the forum and the donations wiki, It appears it's only possible to donate with a paypal acount.

If it's possible to donate without a paypal account i.e. through a bank or some other way, then it would be useful to have that information on the the wiki.

[felipemdc]

When donating to Lazarus Donations only PayPal is possible at the moment.

When donating personally to me, in addition to PayPal I have bank accounts in Brazil and Poland (Euros / European Union), you can contact me via mail or pm for further information.

thanks a lot,