Windows Vista: Cutting Off the Connection Between Your PC and Your PPC

A few days ago, David over at Pocketgamer posted a complaint about Windows Vista:

It's not often that something really annoys me. For a variety of reasons, I detest Outlook 2007. I dislike the way it slows the entire computer to a crawl when it downloads email. I dislike its enormous memory footprint. I dislike the fact that it automatically flags all email from my mother as spam. However, this rant is not about Outlook.

When I bought a new laptop and installed Vista, I had hoped that Microsoft might - might - have put the two rocks together and made it possible to sync with the calendar and contacts tool built into their new flagship operating system. Did they? No. Once again, I'm forced to use Outlook to keep my calendar and contacts in sync, and disliking every second of it. I appreciate that this post has absolutely nothing to do with games, but I'm not sure if I'm the only person who feels this way!

At the time I first read his comment, I didn't really know what he was talking about, but having just installed Vista myself, I'm afraid I now understand what he was saying all too well. And what's more, while the crux of his complaint was that he didn't like having to use Outlook to sync his Windows Mobile device, my complaint is even more basic: while this OS is still new to me and it's VERY possible that I've overlooked something, I'm pretty sure that unless you buy Microsoft Outlook 2007, you can't sync your PC's contacts, tasks, emails, etc. with your mobile device!

What Am I Talking About?

As many of you are probably aware, Windows Vista replaces ActiveSync with something called the Windows Mobile Device Center (WMDC). As you may also know, Windows Vista has added and replaced some of the traditional Windows offerings. Vista, for example, now comes with separate programs called Windows Calendar, Windows Mail, and Windows Contacts. Now, as David's comment mentioned, you would hope that there would be some inherent way these programs could be synced with a mobile device ("inherent" here meaning some way that didn't require a separate program). But this is not the case.

Here's what I see when I open the WMDC and try to select what files I want to sync:

Now, whenever my mouse hovers for a second over contacts, calendar, e-mail, tasks, or notes a tiny pop-up window appears saying "Outlook not installed" and, exasperatingly, when I try to select any of these choices I can't! So, at the end of the day, I can sync.....wait for it!...wait for it!...my mobile favorites (does anyone use these?) and my files! HOORAY!

The Problem from a Technical Perspective

The first problem, as David's post makes clear, is that from a technical perspective there are reasons why forcing the user to sync through Outlook doesn't make sense, including the reportedly large amount of resources it requires.

The Problem from an Economic Perspective

Against the backdrop of multiple mobile OSes fighting for market share this seems like an even more idiotic decision: picture a person trying to decide between a Windows Mobile-based device and a mobile device that runs on a competing OS; imagine the effect it might have on that person to learn that they can't sync information between their device and their PC without using a particular resource-hogging program that they may have no other use for? Imagine further that this potential phone buyer has to go out and BUY this other pieces of software!!! Need I say more?

Furthermore, the people most likely to be affected by this problem are precisely the ones who are least in a position to buy Outlook. Why? Because they just bought Vista! Consider this: the lion's share of Vista users will acquire the OS when they buy a new computer. Most of those PCs will probably come equipped with a version of Microsoft Office that will include Outlook 2007. What this means is that the only ones who will find themselves in a position of having to buy Outlook are those that have already bought Vista (The costs associated with installing a new version of Windows are, frankly, staggering, which is why I just made the switch from Microsoft Office to Openoffice. I love Microsoft Office but I just can't shell out that kind of money after I just purchased Vista).

The Problem from a Philosophical Perspective

The truly paradoxical thing about all of this is that the only reason I'm even experiencing this problem is because I am devoted to Microsoft products! A person who wasn't as enthusiastic about them as I am would have simply waited to experience Vista until he or she bought a new computer, which would most likely have come equipped with both Vista and Outlook, thus avoiding the problem altogether (except for the technical aspect that David discussed). From a Philosophical standpoint, this doesn't make any sense at all: Microsoft makes it easiest for those who care the least about its products, while making it difficult for those who really like their products.

The Bottom Line

I know this problem might not affect most of you. I know it isn't the end of the world. But it has substantially reduced the usefulness of my Windows Mobile device and has also reduced the usefulness of my PC. The inability to sync between the two makes it almost pointless to enter information into either one because the certainty of knowing that information entered in one will also be stored in the other has been replaced with a constant, inescapable knowledge that one or the other is not complete.

I like Microsoft's products. I like Vista a lot. I like Windows Mobile a lot. And by being a part of this magazine I feel as though I'm doing a small part to help Microsoft and its mobile OS. And while I'm sure no one cares, this whole inability-to-sync problem has made me that much less enthusiastic about it, made the platform and the company that much less relevant to my daily life, made me that much less able to be an effective advocate for them, and made me that much more cynical and willing to look to alternatives in the future.