Windows Phone 7 can run WM6 software?

February 16, 2010 | By l3v5y

Thanks to Chainfire for pointing me to this.

Applications that were made for Windows Mobile 6 are compatible with Windows Phone 7 Series. The interface of the new mobile operating system has been changed though, so the user interface for these applications will have to be changed as well.
"So there is no reason why programs written for Windows Mobile 6 cannot run on the new version of the OS", said Maarten Sonneveld of Microsoft Netherlands to Tweakers.net. "The interface is complete different though, so the applications will have to be changed somewhat before being ready for Windows Phone 7 Series".
It is still unclear how developers can port their user interfaces to the new version of Windows Mobile. Microsoft will only disclose how applications can be developed and distributed at their developer event Mix2010.
Microsoft announced it’s new OS on Monday afternoon at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The OS is primarily aimed at synchronisation and integration with Microsft-services like Windows Live, Bing, Zune and Xbox Live. Aside from those Windows Phone 7 Series can also synchronise with Google-accounts and facebook.

This could potentially be very good news for developers on the WM platform, though we will only really know when MIX2010 comes around.

Would you prefer a complete breakaway from WM6.5, or would you like to see your old software working on WP7?

Tweakers.net via Chainfire.

About Olly Levett

Tagged windows phone 7, wm7

http://intensedebate.com/people/mohsen7x8 mighty

certainly the latter
derliebewolf

Of course the old software! Thats one of the reasons WM has been such a great and usefull platform up to now!
GP007

I keep saying that people have been jumping the gun when it comes to apps and multitasking. Just because MS hasn't said anything about those two things doesn't mean there's so big changes coming. They keep telling everyone who asks about specific code related things to wait for MiX, and that they'll answer and show way more then. MWC is just about the general UI and the ideas behind it, that's the focus.
Argh

That sill sounds like none of the current WM6 application will run on it. Just the underlying non-UI APIs will be compatible, so applications will still need to be modified and recompiled.

People with favourite applications will just have to hope that the developers choose to put in the effort to port them.
stoolzo

I really hate this Flash sh!t on your website, it freezes my window each time I scroll, engadget is just as bad. An no it isnt my pc or or my windows version or my drivers etc….to many poor coded flash adverts…

Anyway, the above comment is good news, looks like XDA will be able to do some tweaking afterall.

Jake

Yeah, the Flash on this website is particularly bad. My laptop starts to seriously overheat after a few minutes with this site left open in Firefox.

JTJT

I still believe WP7 will provide some way to port/run old application. It will unfortunate for MS to break away from older applications and they would never be able to catch Apple and Android. One example Tomtom and Garmin, the two mainstream navigation heavy weights have WM application since 2005. Apple got Tomtom in 2009, 2 years after their launch of iPhone. Now Garmin-Asus will have thier own phone and we might never see Tomtom application on WP7. We will have to put up data service dependent Bing and carrier provided data service dependent software. And it will be a while before we will see all those apps. This only one example, there are lot of companies like SPB and Rasco which will modify their old apps and put on marketplace even before WP7 release.

Older WM application will provide access to thousands of legacy apps immediately and MS should find a way to make them look better on the new interface. I have about 40 apps since 2003 which I still use time to time and I haven't find reliable alternative for them in Apple and Android. That is the only reason I'm still WM fan boy.
Adam

It would seem to me to be obvious that Microsoft should at least get .NET CF 3.5 running on Windows Phone 7 if nothing else. This would get a significant amount of WM6-level software working even if unmanaged applications that use the Windows Mobile API directly don't work. .NET CF is a wrapper around the operating system functionality, so this would just need to be updated to take the new o/s features into account.

If Microsoft don't provide compatibility with earlier versions of Windows Mobile then they are taking a huge step backwards in terms of community and software. Android and WebOS both had to start with no userbase and no software, but WP7 could potentially start with a massive existing software base. This would be a real reason to stick with (or move to) WP7 rather than jump to another platform. After all, I want more continuity from my device than it simply running an o/s from the same company as the last phone I had…
http://www.sestren.org Hunter

Yeah. this really sounds like no compatibility to me. Basically, they are saying, they will work if ported, which means they aren't compatible.

Derp

But they will be quite simple to port. You won't be able to use WM5/6x forms, but this is a GOOD thing.

http://twitter.com/adamUCF @adamUCF

Sounds more like they won't allow old-style apps in the Marketplace. As long as you're using standard controls, I wouldn't be shocked if they "just work" in WP7.

This is still based on CE and will have the .net framework (that's what silverlight uses and there's no doubt it will use silverlight).
Who?

But can you run WM6.5.3 on WP7 phones? That's what I want to know.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Lennard Lennard

I've never asked for a complete breakaway. I wish they don't do that. at least let some sort of emulator to run the old apps
Alex T.

There is no way Microsoft will break compatibility with old applications – just think of all the applications they will lose: TomTom, Google Maps, Opera, Adobe Reader, upcoming Firefox Mobile, etc.
And I highly doubt Google or Opera will start rewriting their products completely on Microsoft's command.

Even more, I'm pretty sure traditional (non-.NET) programs will remain a major part of WM7.
mamaich

Incorrect translation.
Original: "De interface van Windows Phone 7 Series is totaal anders, waardoor er in elk geval iets aan de applicaties moet gebeuren voordat ze geschikt zijn voor Windows Phone 7 Series"
Even google translates it correctly:
"The interface of Windows 7 Phone Series is different, which in any case something should happen to the applications before they are suitable for Windows 7 Phone Series".

http://www.chainfire.eu/ Chainfire

F that mamaich, they changed the text after the translation. The article even states they changed the text. "Even Google translates it correctly", if you'd have bothered to read the entire Google translation you would have seen that.

The translation was 100% correct, don't you dare make it sound like I wrongly translated it.

http://www.avianwaves.com Parrotlover77

I never understood the "complete breakaway" desire. Certainly breaking away from an old crappy UI (as they did and have been doing in incremental steps) is a good idea from a UI consistency standpoint and that's fine. But starting from scratch is silly. All the time developers invested in learning the old platform will be useless for the new platform. Plus, reinventing the wheel is never a good idea from a time management standpoint. If you have good old code (which under the UI WM certainly was), why start from scratch? it won't be any better. In fact, it will be worse because it will be bug-ridden.

I'm hoping for maximum compatibility: full binary EXE compatibility. But short of that, recompile compatibility with UI tweaks is okay, as long as the work involved is not too much (ie, a 1:1 swap of standard to WM7 controls would be ideal).

But then again, you never know when some clever hacker at XDA will develop a GDI wrapper or something and suddenly all the old apps works just like they did before. lol.