Ever wonder what it takes to develop an app, and get it into the Windows Marketplace for Mobile? Developers Alex Feinman and Chris Tacke are the duo behind Project Resistance, which offers an inside look at the processes.

From their blog:

Project Resistance is intended to be a fully transparent view into the process of conceiving, developing and selling an application for Windows Mobile. The idea here is that anyone will be able to look at how sausage gets made.

We're going to start by creating a production-quality application, following best practices for coding, etc. etc. All of the source code will be published here, and we will blog about the process, the thoughts we have, and the hurdles we encounter. Bear in mind that Alex and I are already experienced WinMo/Win CE developers, so it's not going to be a beginner's How-to type of process. We're not here to teach you how to wire up an event.

So, it's not really for beginners. But it looks like it will be a really good look at what devs go through in bringing us the thousands of Windows Mobile apps available today.

And as a side note, Project Resistance has sparked a smiliar project for an iPhone app, and it should bring about some great material. Case in point: "Looking at his posts and how easy a time he's having so far makes me almost jealous. If it weren't for the facts that you have to subject your eyes to the abomination known as Objective-C and you have to work on a Mac I just might be."

Zing!

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It hasn't been a big secret that Microsoft has been trying to woo iPhone developers to its own platforms. We've already seen them doing so with Windows Mobile. Now we're seeing it happen with the Zune HD.

But just how easy is it to port an app? Try 12 hours, as seen with Wordmonger in the video above.

Written in C# with OpenGL for the iPhone and ported with XNA Game Studio 3.1 for the Zune HD, the video above shows Wordmonger running on both devices. Of course, one major drawback to the Zune HD is a that it doesn't have a speaker, which is a big turn-off if you don't want to wear headphones for casual gaming. (Count me in that crowd.) Look for Wordmonger on the iPhone by Thanksgiving. No word on an actual Zune launch.

But either way, this is a sure sign that the Zune HD can and will run third-party apps — just as soon as Microsoft allows.

Redmond Pie [via TiPB - thanks, Taimur!]

OK, OK. Just about everybody — and we, admittedly, were one of the first — screamed "The Windows Mobile 6.5 SDK is out!" And now the Windows Mobile team is gently rapping our knuckles over the improper use of the acronym.

And so, they're educating us on the difference between an SDK (Software Development Kit), DTK (Developer Toolkit) and DRK (Developer Resource Kit). And those are all good things to know.

So, consider us learned. And grateful that none of this involved the word "Pro."

In another sure sign that we're marching steadily toward the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5, Microsoft has released the Software Developer Tool Kit, also known as an SDK. From Microsoft's overview:

The Windows Mobile 6.5 Developer Tool Kit adds documentation, sample code, header and library files, emulator images and tools to Visual Studio that let you build applications for Windows Mobile 6.5. ... The Windows Mobile 6 SDK must also be installed in order to use any of the Windows Mobile 6.5 Gesture API or samples.

From what we understand, coding for Windows Mobile 6.5 isn't vastly different than coding for 6.1, so there shouldn't be anything too earth-shattering here. But it does include APIs for gestures -- think flicking and scrolling -- which is new in Windows Mobile 6.5.

The SDK is available in a half-dozen languages, and there are separate builds for touchscreen and non-touchscreen devices. You can download them here.

Update: The WMDev team learns us on Twitter that this is just the 6.5 developer tool kit and you still have to have the full 6.0 SDK.

The buzz is starting to grow among developers as we continue to wait for the official launch of Windows Marketplace for Mobile, and with it the launch of Windows Mobile 6.5.

The Microsoft Developers Network has opened developers forums, and the chatter is growing. Threads so far include "Do you have to use Microsoft's Development Tools?", "Wishlist for Windows Mobile Marketplace", "When can we expect a WM 6.5 SDK?", and a slew of others.

Most end users probably won't get too much out of it, but it's an interesting look at what goes on behind the scenes.