On February 18^th, I wrote a column about different version numbers of Windows Mobile devices in comparison with the underlying Windows CE Operating System. Even worse, on March 21^st I presented a Webcast on the State & Notification Broker, running on Windows Mobile 6 devices. Consistently I have been talking about Windows Mobile 6.0, until Jim Wilson dropped me an email. It turns out that I was using the wrong product name. The latest version of Windows Mobile is not called Windows Mobile 6.0 but simply Windows Mobile 6. If you are like me, you probably are thinking something like “what’s in a version number?”, but since marketing departments take so much effort in new product names, I guess it is important to use the proper name. I was totally unaware of the fact that we are right now skipping sub version numbers, but in future presentations I will make sure that I will just speak about Windows Mobile 6 when talking about Windows Mobile devices running that particular version of the product. Writing about this in a column is one thing. My own lack of knowledge about proper product names got me writing about WM 6.0 instead of WM 6. However, the slide deck for my latest webcast was reviewed before it was aired, so my mistake should have been caught. Ah well, maybe I am not the only one struggling with product names. During my upcoming Webcast that will discuss the Device Emulator 2.0, I’ll make sure to use the proper product name for Windows Mobile 6 whenever is relevant. By the way, this webcast will be aired on May 9^th at 11.00 AM PST, and most likely I will be presenting it live from Redmond.

Of course I could have covered a much more serious topic today. For instance, the reason why I am downgrading my development machine back from Windows Vista to Windows XP. It turns out that it is a little too early for me right now to use Windows Vista on my development machine. The main reason is the fact that Platform Builder 6.0 (the development tool that nicely integrates in Visual Studio 2005 to create Windows Embedded CE 6.0 operating systems) has issues under Windows Vista. As a matter of facts, I just found out about this knowledge base article while preparing for a Windows Embedded CE 6.0 training earlier this week. So, unfortunately there is only one thing to do. Move back to Windows XP, even though I don't like doing so. Over the last few months I really got used to the fresh look and feel of Windows Vista. I do realize that it is extremely complex to bring a new operating system to market. However, I would have liked it much better if Windows Vista was released a little later with less compatibility issues. After all, everybody just expects their software to run on a new version of Windows. With Windows Vista that is not the case yet. Until the Platform Builder 6.0 compatibility issues are solved I only have one alternative. Moving back to Windows XP but I can't wait for the day that I can reinstall Windows Vista again.