Confusion about the future of .NET Compact Framework

Question

Hi,

I'm very confused about the future of .NET Compact Framework. It seems that Windows Phone 7 does not allow installing software manually and a small portion of the .NET Compact Framework exists on such phone. Can anyone tell me the future of .NET Compact Framework?

Answer 1

I think these might answer your question:

Comparing Windows Phone with .NET Compact Framework 3.5

.NET Compact Framework for Windows Phone 7 series

Answer 2

I'd say it's future is as unclear as the future of Windows Mobile itself. Though Microsoft has moved to Windows Phone 7, Windows Mobile 6.5 remains on the market and chances are that it will revive in some form in future (and maybe .NET CF will revive as well). However at the moment you need to look at the lowest denominator which is .NET CF as CLR (runtime on which Windows Phone 7 runs) and some limited subset of libraries (Windows Phone 7 libraries are more limited than Silverlight 4).