This is a sign that emphasize the fact that Windows Mobile 6.X on the way out: Microsoft has announced that the recently released (yesterday) Visual Studio 2010 does not support development for versions of Windows Phone prior to Windows Phone OS 7.0:
For Visual Studio 2008 mobile developers, Microsoft released the Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit, which works with the Windows Mobile 6 SDK.
Because Visual Studio 2010 does not support mobile application development for Windows Phone prior to Windows Phone OS 7.0, you cannot use the following features: .NET Compact Framework projects, Visual C++ device projects, smart device CAB projects, Device Emulator and Device Emulator Manager, testing tools for device projects, and Device Security Manager.
Mobile application development is still supported in earlier versions of Visual Studio, such as Visual Studio 2008.
Speaking of Windows Phone 7 support: Microsoft is also warning developers that the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP (WPDT CTP) released last month is not compatible with the retail (RTM) release of Visual Studio 2010 because the WPDT CTP was based on the RC of VS2010:
If you install the retail (RTM) release of Visual Studio 2010 on the same machine on which you already have the Windows Phone Developer Tools CTP, you will be unable to build your Windows Phone projects. Further, while the Windows Phone project type will continue to appear in the File/New dialog, you will not be able to build Windows Phone 7 applications.
So what can you do in the meantime? To use the retail version of Visual Studio 2010 while retaining the ability to use the WPDT CTP, you can
•Install Visual Studio 2010 to a VPC image
•Install Visual Studio 2010 on another machine
Specific Notes:•Installing the WPDT CTP to a VPC image is not supported.
•The installer for WPDT CTP will prevent you from installing on a machine on which you have already installed the RTM version Visual Studio 2010.
•Installing retail Visual Studio 2010 on a machine with the WPDT CTP already installed will result in a successful install of Visual Studio 2010, however, creating or opening Windows Phone Developer Tools Projects will not work.
Final support is expected in the coming weeks (hopefully with an updated version of the WPDT too).
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