Alan,

How are things going?

>Thanks. I'm not interested in spending $2700 to become a universal member just to get a jump on the compact framework. So I hope they don't wait to long on the release.

If you purchase the Universal Subscription from a third party source, it's actually much cheaper. For example, you can get it from buy.com for $2,196...at that price it makes it more worthwhile! Here's the url:

http://www.buy.com/retail/software/product.asp?sku=20344264

I thought you'd also be interested to know that I worked with a client this week building a new Windows CE application using the .NET Compact Framework. It's actually pretty easy (and very cool). Although it initially takes a little time to figure out what's in the Framework and what's not, I think the VS .NET team has done a great job in creating a single learning curve for building desktop, Web, and smart-device applications.

You may also be interested in the upcoming Microsoft Mobility Developer Conference. It looks like it's got some good sessions as well as a hands-on lab: http://www.MobilityDevCon.com.

Regards,