Smartphone & Pocket PC magazine - Comments for "Top Ten Reasons Microsoft Should Drop Windows Mobile"

Â Steve Green's supposedly

Steve Green's supposedly objective critique is an example of how a slick distortion of facts about something takes place on the internet. People like him do not realize that the culture of "Reality Distortion Field" is meant only to give a certain group of people the misinformation that they expect to hear.

Also, he does not seem to realize that objectivity is as obvious as bias. There is nothing that we can do to convince people such as him that they don't have "Actual Facts" and that while they are entitled to their biased opinions that they are not entitled to their own facts.The sad facts about all of this is how a group of anti Microsoft bloggers have completly distroyed the reputation of the Windows Mobile platform and how this clueless guy,Ballmer, has allowed that to happen.

Windows Mobile is a micro operating system; the other cell phone os'es available now are mere phone interfaces aimed at those who worship the shifting of "visual gunk" around. So, let's start by no comparint apples to oranges.

Well taken, Â Â Â Â Â Â My

Well taken,

My teenage daughter thought i-phones were revolutionary until I showed her my 4 year old i-mate that did everything she could do and much more. The only thing the i-phone had going for it was the 'cool factor' looks.

Steve, IÂ think when people

Steve, I think when people point to the iPhone or G1, they often forget that it's harder to blaze a new trail in a particular market, than to come along and improve on an idea using the latest available technology. Essentially Apple and Google both had a great use-case (being WinMo mainly) to start with when they began creating their own handheld development. Everything WM got right and wrong, they were able to learn from and improve (especially the GUI). Actually what Google did was to me more astounding in some ways. I never expected a purely java-based phone (even if it's Google's java) to be a serious contender. I suspected Apple would do essentially what Windows did. Port a compact version of their Darwin OS to a mobile, and the difference would be fast and stable (and since it's Apple, look nice). Then they had to go and greatly hobble the control the user has with it, being Apple. You ever try to remove the back of an iPhone or Touch? Sheesh! You'de think it was some kind of top secret blackbox or something. I changed the hard drive in an old iPod to a bigger one. Took me half the night to get the back off without scratching it. If I want to change the screen background on my touch, I have to break into the operating system like a criminal. Of course, the consumer doesn't much care that he has to jailbreak it to make it work like he wants, because the geeks out there will figure out a way for him to do that. Apple and MS built both computing products from the backs of other tech, so neither is 100% original anyway, so not sure what I'm rambling about... One thing is for sure, there will be a new paradigm coming. Probably some kind of flexible 3-D surface that hovers, defies gravity or something. It will be interesting to see who gets there first, whatever it is...

Nate, I may be guilty of

Nate, I may be guilty of using a broad brush here for my lament with Microsoft's mobile OS. I do realize its flexibility for use in consumer level and specialized devices and that it works well and it is very cost effective for IT departments to deploy and maintain for larger organizations. It certainly does have a number of successes in its corner.

My primary focus and really source for complaint in the post was strictly with consumer level Smartphone’s for daily use. When I see the current crop coming out and they still have the same stale underlying OS, I have to wonder what's going on at Microsoft. Especially when I read that version 7 (expected in late 2010 possibly) will have an accelerometer and multi-touch, I can't help but think to myself, "why bother". By late 2010, just about every phone over $99 on the planet will have those features and some will have had a 2 to 3 year head start.

My expectation is that an enormous powerhouse such as Microsoft really should have a significant offering for consumers that rivals the best Smartphone’s on the planet. I am surprised at their complacency at being beaten out by rivals at Apple, RIM and increasingly by Google. I'd go far is to say that when Windows Mobile 7 does come out, it will be far enough behind in technology that it would be the equivalent of asking folks to upgrade from their current luxury car to a refurbished 1975 Ford Mustang.

Personally I think this was

Personally I think this was simply posted on the wrong side of our blogs. Steve probably meant to post over on the iPhone side of the house... ;) Where to start...hmm.

Well, according to a recent Gartner report I read on worldwide phone sales in first Q 2009, RIM and Nokia frankly trounce Apple and MS both.. I guess the world at large is not hip enough yet, either... but I digress.

1. Consider: HTC, the designer of the Google G1 that runs the Android OS you mention above...The CEO of HTC in France has recently announced (as reported on Smartphonethoughts.com) that WinMo devices will firmly remain their flagship product. That's a strange move considering the G1's relative success? Does he know something that we don't?

2. Windows Mobile is a lightweight version of Windows that evolved from older versions like Windows CE (back when Steve Jobs was still working on just creating a good portable audio player). It's not some shiny new product that just popped up in the last year or 2, and may just as quick become the last new thing. It's a product that was devloped and designed to be run on multiple portable devices, not un-like a lightweight Linux distro, for example. It's used across a pretty large spectrum of hardware actually that happens to include phones. I for one can tell you from experience, that switching the underlying OS drastically in many industries would likely cause some issues. The sales guys at the Apple store for one might have an issue scanning in your next purchase, for example...

3. Think tools....when you need a hammer, you get a hammer, and when you need a screwdriver, you get one, right? The unknowing consumer thinks he needs that next cool thing to show all his friends, and he probably does (the hammer). The WinMo smartphone consumer might need more than that, which is where Active Stynk, Mobile Office and MS's framework comes in, not to mention ready integration with domain tools like Office Comunicator, and better security. You unfairly didn't mention that A/S has morphed to Device Center with Vista or Win 7, nor that the functionality is improved. I have many times groused about A/S myself, but you can do a hoard of stuff (even connect via Bluetooth) with it. In most cases these tasks are faster than waiting for iTunes just to start:

PIM information with Microsoft Outlook 2003 and later

Photos with Windows Photo Gallery

Videos with Windows Media Player

Music with Windows Media Player

Favorites with Internet Explorer

Folders/General files with Windows Explorer

Windows Mobile programs and version updates

"While Windows Vista has a base driver built-in to interface with Windows Mobile devices in Windows Explorer, Windows Mobile Device Center offers afront-end for users to integrate their data in multiple Windows applications.The base driver in Windows Vista allows browsing the device, copying files and syncing with Windows Media Player. For complete functionality including synchronization of tasks, calendar data, contacts, email etc. with Microsoft Office Outlook, Windows Mobile Device Center needs to be downloaded which includes the additional drivers as well."

So, to be fair it has been updated... Active Sync is for older desktop OS's like XP, and in fact WM will allow you to do a lot more with your WM device than iTunes does with iPhone. With Vista or newer OS, you can access the file system without it completely. Ok, so next time you get a new Apple device, try pluggin it into your computer without iTunes and see what you can do with it? And with a few developer toys I can even drive my WinMo unit from my desktop using my mouse and keyboard. Geekified, I know but there it is.

Lastly, there are a ton of great WinMo games (go check our awards site from last year) or simply read Werner's blog. On the topic of video playback, the Core Player, kinoma player and SPB TV play live streaming video as well as my ipod touch.