Soon we'll be receiving some WindowsCE6 enabled devices and I'm wondering what the developer experience is and what the costs are.
I gathered the .NET Compact Framework is supported, but can you use VS2010 and do we need to buy any additional licenses?
We want to build long running applications with no UI.
If you need to develop applications for Windows CE 6.0 you can use VS2008 professional for both native (C/C++) and managed (.NET Compact Framework) application development. No support is available for VS2010. The manufacturer of your device can give you an SDK (mandatory for native apps dev) that will allow you to use only the OS features that are included in the OS image on the device (Windows CE is componentized and usually only a set of components is available on a specific device). If you need to build your own version of the OS you need to buy Platform Builder that is a VS2005 add-on (its license includes a VS license, IIRC) and a BSP from the device manufacturer. In this case you'll be able to add or remove components to the OS design, adapting it to your own application needs.