Everyone’s favourite mobile Linux lot, the recently-acquired Trolltech, is now adding support for Windows CE and Windows Mobile into its Qt development framework. The idea behind this latest move is that developers can code an application once and then deploy it on a range of operating systems.
The addition of Windows Mobile and CE will also mean coders can take any programs made for desktops that have been developed in Qt and port them to mobile devices without hassle, as well as creating programs that will work across Linux, Mac and Windows platforms without having to recode everything for each operating system. Simple. If this sounds like your sort of thing, you’ll have to hang on til May to get your hands on it, when the additional functionality will make its appearance in Qt’s 4.4 release.
It’s a solid move. Windows Mobile doesn’t have the weight of numbers of Symbian, but it does have a significant user base among enterprises and one that’s likely to keep growing – and Windows Mobile support will be just the sort of thing that could tempt an IT department to get into Qt. And, for that matter, it’s a handy way for Nokia to inveigle it’s way on Microsoft’s hardware. Clever Nokia.