Q. Which version of Visual Studio 2005 should I use?

A. In order to develop for Windows Mobile devices, you must use Visual Studio 2005 Standard edition or better. The Express editions do not support device devlopment.

With Visual Studio 2005, you can write applications using:

*C++ (native)
*C# (managed)
*VB.Net (managed)

('managed' means using the CompactFramework, CLR etc. See IntroductionToManagedCode)

You can still develop applications using (the free) Microsoft Visual eMbedded C++ development tool, however you cannot make use of any new Windows Mobile 5.0 features.

For more information, check out the Visual Studio 2005 Product Matrix