14 DAY TRIAL // On the heels of the ADO.NET Data Services v1.5 Community Technology Preview 1 launch at the start of March 2009, Microsoft has made available for download codename “Astoria Offline.” The project is available as an early Alpha preview, and is designed to offer what Microsoft referred to as a sync-enabled version of the Astoria framework. Developers will be able to leverage “Astoria Offline” in order to build offline applications, the software giant informed, emphasizing that the Alpha preview is nothing more than and experimental release that has been delivered to engage the developer community.
“I’m happy to announce that we finally posted the “Astoria Offline” bits in the download center,rdquo; revealed Pablo Castro, Microsoft software architect. “The installer includes a document that will guide you step-by-step through a first “Astoria Offline” application.”
Castro advised developers against starting to build applications with the Alpha release of “Astoria Offline,” as they will be most likely unable to port their apps to future versions of the technology. “This preview is better suited for experiments and prototyping. Future releases will most likely heavily differ from this one in many aspects as we learn lessons and as we receive and apply feedback from developers trying it out,” he stated.
Designed to integrate with Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2008; Windows Vista RTM and SP1; Windows XP SP2 and SP3, "Astoria Offline" has ADO.NET Data Services v1.0 release and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 as its foundation. The end-to-end solution allows offline applications to tap data from data services.
“We have no planned dates for an update at this time. We are currently heads down working on other near-term deliverables to address common requests from ADO.NET Data Services framework customers. Where go from here largely depends on your feedback, and may include significant changes in direction based on that feedback,” Castro said.
Project Codename "Astoria Offline," Alpha Preview is available for download here.