My fiddling with factories investigations into the Windows Mobile Client Software Factory area have been delayed a little so far. Recently this has been whilst I plan and implement the migration of my main machine to the new Windows Vista OS.

One of the things holding me back  was the wait for the final release of the Microsoft Windows Mobile Device Center. This is effectively Microsoft's replacement for ActiveSync under Vista and promises a whole new user interface and increased stability!

In the end the release crept out onto the Microsoft downloads site on 31 Jan 2007, the day after the official Vista launch, without me really noticing. I don't believe it is included in the RTM Vista release by default and therefore requires a separate download for owners of existing devices. You can get it at:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=83d513ea-9df9-4920-af33-3a0e2e4e7beb&DisplayLang=en 

I haven't got to the point where I can try it yet, so I can't give any exact feedback at the moment. It is unclear (at least to me anyway) exactly which versions of Windows Mobile are supported and with what features. I have few devices of various ages I can try it with, so I will soon let you know.