my ipaq can run both wince and familiar

That's lovely - I've never noticed before that WinCE, can be rendered as 'wince'. So much suffering in a single name... :)

With regards your question, I don't have any answers, but I'm in the same position: lots of mod_perl experience, no desktop GUI experience, and I'd like to try my hand at a desktop app, so I'll follow this thread with interest.<

Clint