Perst Database for Microsoft Windows Phone 7

Not too long ago, McObject announced that it planned on providing support for Microsoft's upcoming Windows Phone operating system with its Perst object-oriented, open source embedded database. According to the company, the announcement follows the recent achievement of Windows mobile software experts in the UK, who managed to port the solution to WP7 (McObject’s related Silverlight demo included).

Perst for Windows Phone 7 emerged for the first time on the website of APPA Mundi, a Birmingham, England-based consulting firm experience in Windows-based mobile solutions. Andy Wigley, an APPA Mundi principal and Microsoft device application Most Valuable Professional (MVP), announced at that time that WP7 Silverlight developers can already take advantage of the available database.

According to Wigley, Perst can be successfully used in the WP7 emulator, and should work great on Windows Phone 7 device too, as soon as they are made available for developers. He also notes that developers using Silverlight would be able to include true database management system features in their applications via Perst for .NET.

McObject CEO Steve Graves said: “Three cheers for APPA Mundi and their initiative in driving Perst for .NET in this direction. The exciting thing about open source software such as Perst is the amount of innovation that comes from the community, resulting in the fastest possible response to marketplace demands.”

McObject announced that it already added the code ported by APPA Mundi to the Perst for .NET distribution, which is available for download from here. At the same time, the company says that it offers support for the Windows Phone 7 operating system, effective immediately. This should prove great for the upcoming mobile operating system, especially since Microsoft said a while ago that the platform is aimed at business customers too.

Microsoft's Brandon Watson, director of WP7 developer experience, also saluted the initiative. “Building a database for Windows Phone 7 qualifies as epic,” he said in a recent blog post. “The guys over at APPA Mundi have done something that certainly caught our eye, and we are going to be following up with them.”