True, there will be a bigger pool of developers. But no matter how many developers you have, you can't write a VPN for Windows Phone 7 in Silverlight or XNA. And it looks like large, existing projects that could run on Windows Mobile (like Firefox) can't be ported to Windows Phone 7. Rather they will need to be rewritten from scratch. Firefox says that won't happen in their case. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I hope Microsoft doesn't bury Windows Mobile just yet.

Yup, certainly more information out there since last month. I realize the UI shell would certainly not be the same. But some system level components (like Layered Service Providers or device drivers) that ran on Windows Mobile 6.5 under Windows CE 5 should work on Windows Phone 7 under Windows CE 6, if you can get them installed... And like you said, there does seem to be the capability to run native applications on Windows Phone 7, if you are Microsoft or Adobe: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20100317/microsofts-applications-windows-phone-7-series-not-silverlight-based/[^] I have no problems with signing--we had to do that for Windows Mobile, but some of these other issues with Windows Phone 7 are a bit concerning. Some ISVs have already thrown in the towel: http://blogs.zdnet.com/microsoft/?p=5654[^]

So, from what I've been able to glean from the Internet, native Windows Mobile 5 and 6.x applications (which is most of them) can't run on Windows Phone 7. Only new applications that use XNA or Silverlight will be allowed. Is this really true? No native code? No way to write VPNs or other complex software that must deal directly with the OS? Windows Phone 7 is based on Windows CE 6, so it really isn't all that different from Windows Mobile 5 and 6.x. It should be possible to do native development as always... but apparently this is not allowed, or is it? I have heard that Adobe is writing a Flash plugin for Windows Phone 7. How are they doing this, if they aren't using native code? I assume they aren't doing it in XNA or Silverlight. Maybe you would need some kind of code signing or logo certification before being allowed to run outside the sandbox????? Any enlightenment would be appreciated! Thanks

Use InvalidateRect() and then wait for the OS to send you a WM_PAINT in response so you can redraw.