[Updated: 21Nov07 to clarify that custom headers are supported, but not in NetCFSvcUtil proxy generation]
[Updated: 27Aug07 to correct Gzip sample, and clarify on transports & extensibility]
[Updated: 23Aug07 to add SecurityAlgorithmSuite enumerable]

Many people have been asking about what subset of .NET 3.0's Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) will be supported by the .NET Compact Framework 3.5.  Well, here is a table I put together with the answer to that question:

Feature

Desktop WCF

Compact WCF
Bindings:    
· BasicHttpBinding Yes Yes
· CustomBinding Yes Yes
· WindowsMobileMailBinding N/A Yes
· ExchangeWebServiceMailBinding Yes, via NetCF install Yes
Formatters:    
· SoapFormatter Yes Yes
· BinaryFormatter Yes No
Encoders:    
· TextMessageEncoder Yes Yes
· BinaryMessageEncodingBindingElement Yes No
· MTOMEncoder Yes No
· GzipEncoder Sample available Sample available
Transports:    
· HttpTransportBindingElement Yes Yes
· HttpsTransportBindingElement Yes Yes
· MailTransportBindingElement Yes, via NetCF install Yes
· MsmqTransportBindingElement Yes No
· TcpTransportBindingElement Yes No
· (other transports) Yes No
XmlDictionaryReader/Writer Yes Yes; stub around XmlTextReader/Writer
DataContractSerializer Yes No; but can be wire-compatible with DCS via XmlSerializer
Service proxy generation Yes; via SvcUtil.exe Yes; via NetCFSvcUtil.exe, not integrated into VS2008
· Non-HTTP transports in generated proxies Yes Not built-in
· Custom headers in generated proxies Yes Not built-in
WS-Addressing Yes Yes
WS-Security message level security    
· X.509 Yes Yes
· Username/password Yes No
· SecurityAlgorithmSuite.Basic256Rsa15 Yes Yes
· SecurityAlgorithmSuite.Basic256 Yes No
WS-ReliableMessaging Yes No
Patterns    
· Service model Yes No
· Message layer programming Yes Yes
· Buffered messages Yes Yes
· Streaming messages Yes No
· Endpoint descriptions in .config files Yes No
Channel extensibility Yes Yes
Security channel extensibility Yes No