Microsoft’s .NET Compact Framework (.NET CF) development environment makes it easier to create PDA applications than ever before, thus transforming what was once little more than a glorified address book into an integral part of the enterprise IT landscape.
I see a future where a police officer will point a Pocket PC with an attached radar gun at my fast-moving motorcycle. Sirens will blare; the police officer, should he catch the tweaked-out BMW R1100S, will not have to do much except have me digitally sign my name on his Pocket PC. The form field for the location of the speed trap will be automatically filled in by the officer’s Bluetooth-enabled GPS device. A mere button-click later, my ticket will be spit out, while the data is simultaneously being uploaded to a server using Web services (made available through a county-wide Wireless Wide Area Network). My driver’s license will be immediately suspended if my point limit has been exceeded and I will not pass Go or collect $200. The option to make an immediate payment with the swipe of a credit card will be available, and I’ll arrive home late to find an e-mail from my insurance carrier notifying me of an increase in my insurance rates...
I see a future where doctors and nurses will enter your vital statistics and medical info into a Pocket PC, and your prescriptions will be printed out (legibly—are those pigs flying?), but not before they’ve been cross-referenced to see if any of the side effects might exacerbate your medical condition…
I see a future where restaurant wait staff will take your order on a Pocket PC, instantly “Bluetoothing” the drink order to the bar and the food order to the kitchen. You will not have to wait for the waiter to print the bill, wait again to have your credit card taken, and then wait again for the receipt…
I see a future where fitness enthusiasts will use Pocket PCs to track their workouts. You will be able to see real-time charts displaying plateaus, peaks, and valleys. Your vital statistics such as pulse rate will be captured by a Bluetooth-enabled Rolex watch. The entire workout will then be printed for your records…
Sound far out? It shouldn’t. The technology to do all of this is available today. What’s more, it’s already happening (except for the Bluetooth Rolex—maybe that was pushing it).
Don’t blink.
.NET Compact Framework’s missing piece
The .NET Compact Framework and Web services are two technologies that have opened the floodgates of possibility. The Palm PDA development platform today enjoys good market penetration, but on the Pocket PC side it is my opinion that .NET CF has made application development much easier and more productive. The .NET CF feature set, which includes multithreading, Web services, SQL Server Compact Edition, and Windows Forms, makes it likely that more developers will choose to target the Pocket PC platform for handheld applications. But there’s one piece that’s not in the .NET CF—printing!
Of all the applications just mentioned, not a single one would be of much value without printing. What good is a doctor’s digital prescription that can’t be printed and given to the patient? Our restaurant wait staff would be somewhat empty-handed if they could not print a receipt. And if the police officer couldn’t print that ticket—well, that’s all right with me. In order for Pocket PCs to replace pen and paper and eliminate double entry, they need to be able to print. So much for the paperless office, an end to deforestation, and the reversal of the greenhouse effect!
No print support in the Compact Framework
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