Microsoft predicts Linux will fail mobile 'quality' test
Linux is shaping up as Microsoft's target in a potential war of attrition to gain lost market share for Windows Mobile in handsets. Microsoft's executive in charge of leading Microsoft's Windows Mobile group has predicted the number of operating systems for mobile handsets will be whittled down in the next three to five years …
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Oh dear MS
It's just one thing after another. Not only are they not content with delaying Windows mobile 7 until 2011, they are trying to bring about bad PR upon Linux Mobils OS's in the process.
These guys need to concntrate on thier own mobile systems and start innnovating there, instead of bad mouthing all the other option in the marketplace.
As far as most past fans of WM (me included) ar concerned, it's almost game over for WM. They are now so far behind that the chances of catching back up with Android and the Iphone are slim to none, even in the business market. Reason being that Android and iPhone have another year in which to uprgade and support business users with all the features needed for a business phone.
I've been using Windows mobile 6.5 for a while now, and the only thing that makes it better than 6.1 is the fact i'm runing HTC's Sense ui on it!
Android is already ahead of WM 6.5.3 which has just been released as an interim upgrade and trust me thats all it is, they are trying to sell it as a new WM OS, what a joke.
Wake up and smell the coffee MS, ditch Bach and bring in someone with some forsieght and innovational vision into the mobile industry.
That's the key though...
"...better than 6.1 is the fact I'm running HTC's Sense ui on it!"
This is finally what will make WM7 even slightly attractive to mobile manufacturers, a good example being Samsungs phone that has WM but has a samsung interface, just like HTC have developed Sense UI (which makes the phone so much more usable). Earlier editions of WM just didn't support this type customisation to the extent it's been done now.]
Which if that is the case is slightly ironic as that is what the suit has just berated Linux for.
Where am I?
Oh, it's The Register, I thought I was at Slashdot in 1997 for a minute then...
Headline readers....
...please reread what he actually says....
Linux will be pruned.
That is NOT the same as Linux will not be used. And to be honest, it makes total sense.
At the moment you may find HTC et al are each using a couple of flavours of Linux on their handsets. What he is saying is that each may just settle for one.
The MS arguement is that they provide a single platform and they want to push out the Linux market (hey it's called business, don't like it, fuck of to North Korea).
Personally I don't think MS is that a good product on the Mobile market and Linux is ideal for it, but I can see his point about single platforms.
And and to the guy who says he changes his distros all the time and it's no problem, feel free to get your system recertified for telecom network use everytime + all the QA testing associated with it. People like you are the sort of prat that spouts of shit without knowing a single thing about the business your commeting on; feel free to sort out the huge deficits and third world poverty while your at it, sure your an expert at that as well.
Glasshouses and Stones?
Microsoft may or may not be correct but if I were them I'd be keeping my mouth shut about the quality of mobile phone platforms at the moment.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
He he he he ho ho ho ho!
Haw haw har haw he ha ha ho he haw!
*deep intake of breath*
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
He he he he ho ho ho ho!
Haw haw har haw he ha ha ho he haw!
Oh god, my sides!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
Seriously, MS produced the abomination that is Windows mobile and they claim to know anything about quality?
Linux has problems (and they are legion*) but it is a DAMNED sight better than anything spawned by MS, certainly in the past few years.
*This is true of any complex computer system, I'm not having a dig at Linux; so chill out fanbois.
no no no
"it's something that feels, looks, acts and performs completely different."
People don't want "different", the want "intuitive".
Since when was anyone's requirement for a phone (or anything else) "I want it to be completely different to the last one I had"? Well ironically that was my requirement for an operating system, I used to run Windows.
wishful thinking
sed 's/Linux/Windows Mobile/g' <article>
Why on earth would anyone want to...
"You can download the full transcript of Bach's CES presentation ... "
???
Lest We Forget
They also predicted/expected Vista to save their sorry a$$es too.
Brand awareness
Brand awareness isn't Microsoft's problem ...
Microsoft's problem is that we are all too painfully aware of their brand and the values it represents especialy in the mobile market .. lets face it, Windows Mobile is crap ... their OSs struggle to run even on state-of-the-art desktop platforms, on a cut down resource limited OS, where locking up inthe middle of a call is a seen as a problem, its a major fail.
.. thats why people are jumping ship as fast as they can.
I dont code for linux mobile
Despite being a linux user through and through, i am sticking to coding for the iPhone, wait and see how the market calms down and in the meantime cut my mobile development teeth on a device that is consistent (even if you have to buy into Apple to do that).
ANdroid is not a Linux??
This article is pure BS.
Most of the hottest phones now ship with Android in HUGE quantities by several vendors.
More precisely: Android LINUX.
Just for some balance......
Im on my second windws phone (1st XDA orbit, second, HTC Touch HD). They have both been absolutely superb. I cant stand windows on the desktop, even less so since vista. Windows mobile is fine though for what most people want. I dont have any of the problems described above, and only every reboot my phone when I get off a plane (and no, I dont fly 7 times a week, more like 2-3 a year).
Yet windows will still fail, because most people dont care what OS is on their phone, but those that do wouldn't buy a winmob if it was the only phone on earth.
Microsofts only chance of ever getting any market share is to release exactly the same software, with all windows branding removed and replaced by a penguin, and not charge anything for it.
And theyre not going to do that, are they ?
Typical MS Comments
I particularly like the posted list of current linux handsets - literally every decent phone on the marked bar the iphone...and even that's sitting on a unix derivitave.
Surely it's Microsoft that is the odd one out here? The one that has fallen out of the market? The one who will REALLY have to impress with WinMo 7. Really Really Really.
HTC saved them
They'd be completely dead in the water without them.
My Linux systems
...had no problem setting their date to 1 January, 2010.
//embedded Windows thought it was 2016, IIRC
Linux is many systems
that's the point. It is meant to be adapted to different situations. It's a software meccano-set which you can use to build a system appropriate for the situation. It isn't one great big fat thing that sprawls all over your hardware. We knew this.
fucking LOL.
i am overwhelmed by the ignorance displayed by this guy - all the other comments pretty much sum it up - i just wanted to say:
what a cockring.
does this guy have a pull string on his back? i wonder what else he says when you pull it..
It's the hardware, not the WInMo that's been the problem
WinMo works fine. Sure inthe early days it was a bit crap but since 6.1 it's done the job. People love to blame the OS for the experience when it's the like of the telecom operators who put crap software and UIs on top of WinMo to spoil the experience. HTC has proven how good a WinMo phone can really be with the HTC HD2 where for the first time the hardware does some justice to the OS.
I'd rather have my choice of hardware and OS than be locked to the hardware and OS of one company. I use Windows on the desktop and in the data center daily for work and home and enjoy having a phone that easily syncs with my computers (for media, contacts, etc) without having to install some half finished and poorly designed third party utility.
I agree
Since I hacked my omnia to run 6.5 on it ive not looked back. It is user friendly and quick. Plenty of apps work and it sync's nicely with exchange. When I first got it from TMobile it was a car crash, too much crap on there that you cant change and an out of date firmware that sucked battery life.
It's not JUST about the o/s .
Usually there's a slight lag between hardware and software support in Linux . With M$, on desktops, hardware support came first, then the o/s improved. With Linux , you get the hardware and software and eventually full support comes along.... by then, the hardware is a lot cheaper.
M$ are hoping to cash in on a lucrative market (iphone fashion victims with spare cash) and shake them down by their usual methods. (Pressure the manufacturers, not the consumers)
However , most people won't believe they're serious, until you can run windows 7 on arm chips.
Anyone who wants to keep up with the latest sh*t , will go for winmobile , cos they don't know any better.... bless 'em
"M$ are hoping to cach in on a lucrative market (iphone fashion victims with spare cash)
I'm sorry, you are suggesting that a significant proportion of iPhone users are going to switch to a Windows Mobile 7 based phone?
Ahem. First, Microsoft have to produce an OS which provides as good an experience as OS X on the iPhone. This, frankly, is Apple's area of expertise and seems to be something that Mr Softy just doesn't get. Apple designs appear to be form over function, but oftern produce all the function you need as well. Microsoft designs still have a clumsy aura about them. With Apple you get the impression they've strived really hard to produce the ultimate user experience, whereas with Microsoft I often feel they've said "oh that'll do - ship it".
If I was Microsft, frankly, I'd be crapping myself because WM7 is going to make or break their mobile business model. Get it right and they've joined Apple and Google on a high-speed running machine. Run, run as fast as you can, because if you're anywhere close to the competition you need to keep innovating to stay there. Get it wrong and the bottom will drop so far out of your business model that you'll never see it again.
FWIW I think WM7 will just about get there (after a couple of patch releases) but I don't think Microsoft are sufficiently agile to keep innovating at the speed they need to, to keep up with the competition. I don't really expect to see a WM8, and certainly not one with a double-digit market share.
Looking forward to my iPhone 4G upgrade later this year!
It's NOT just about the o/s.
"Anyone who wants to keep up with the latest sh*t , will go for winmobile , cos they don't know any better.... bless 'em"
Nope, they're buying the latest iPhones. Even my Microsoft fanboi acquaintances who put Vista Ultimate on every PC they owned have bought iPhones, not WinMo. For that group, the iPhone "cool" factor has completely trumped any Microsoft allegiance.
What?
"(iphone fashion victims with spare cash)"
You display amazing ignorance. The whole mobile phone industry, just like the car industry, runs on selling people the latest fashionable product, whether they actually need it or not. To single out the iPhone is just dumb.
OMG! Linux not stable enough!
LOL! this is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard.
BTW: I own a perfectly working N900 running on Debian Linux, of course.
Directionaly Challenged
"Bach, talking to Wall Street analysts, also painted the forthcoming Windows Mobile 7.0 as somthing thet will "move the bar forward" "
Bars move up and down.
Tapes and boundaries are moved backwards and forwards.
Envelopes are pushed.
If the man can't be trusted with a simple metaphor I'm certainly not trusting him with my mobile phone...
Predictions of doom from Microsoft?
I think what Bach was trying to say, is that should Linux smartphones begin to enjoy widespread adoption in the enterprise; MS' strategy will be to obfuscate, impede, and otherwise prevent any and all attempts at integration with its own products (outlook + whatever else). Otherwise they'll just throw rocks (independent market research what says Linux phones will make your cat pregnant, give your babies a hare lip, etc.). That shouldn't be news to anyone.
windows mo
It's not that bad. Anyone who is throwing stones at it hasn't used it since 1999 probably. I have a Touch Pro, and it never crashes, seldom needs rebooting, etc. The UI is from HTC..because the standard winmo interface IS crap. I can sync to the rest of the corporate world with no problems and I can play MP3s, watch movies, youtube, and the rest of the multimedia stuff. In fact, windows PDAs and phones were able to do all that for years before iPhones, maybe Symbian, etc. They have always suffered from crappy UI on the phone and from software bloat..and originally, yes stability problems.
However, today I would say they still have software bloat, ugly UI (but that's changing), but the have very little stability issues anymore. I like that fact that I can hack it and do whatever like tethering, override exchange security policy hassles, unlock it, add video codecs (via 3rd party programs) that you just can't do on an iPhone unless you Jailbreak it and risk excommunication from the cult of Jobs.
I'm not a win fanboi (I run Ubuntu on my server at home, ubuntu on netbook and Vista on some desktops) and certainly do not subscribe to MS' FUD about linux, but Jeez WinMo is an industry veteran that still has plenty of life and business use in it and hate to see it bashed by all the Johnny-come-latelys who have most certainly benefited from WinMo's successes and failures. They definitely need to improve things drastically, but I think everyone does if they wanna keep up with Apple.
Rubbish
Microsoft is behind. Blackberry and the iPhone destroyed it's hopes of mounting a Mobile challenge. Even the Palm PRE is a more compelling smart phone. There are more smart phones running Android than there are running Windows Mobile. No one is waiting around for Windows Mobile 7 to see any of it's features or care what it can do because the world has moved on.
Microsoft's real problem?
Is that they are Microsoft, with all the baggage and bad karma that implies.
They already dominated the PC industry by the time enough people realized they were untrustworthy sharks and dangerous to do business with. If you want to operate in the PC market, you have little choice but to do business with them, even though you know very well what that means.
OTOH, the big players in mobile tech have the advantage of getting to see Microsoft for what they are before they got trapped into involvement with them. Microsoft aren't the big fish in that class of OS and thus don't have the leverage to make handset manufacturers do their bidding like they can in the PC market.
Which means they have to compete on (gasp!) quality and innovation, two things which their dominant position on the desktop has made them sloppy about.
Advertising Linux
Microsoft seems to be the only company advertising Linux.
Funny really. And out of fear always.
The fact is that Linux is bigger in embedded devices (and super computers) than Microsoft.
That hurts, and now there is not only Apple but Google too, and that is really disgusting. Poor Microsoft.
No body wants them to run the show the way they have been able to run the PC business.
Microsoft will say anything...
To stir the pot, and also try and promote sales. Microsoft is notorious for making public statements that often do not materialize. They are in rough times right now fighting open source which is slowly eating away at its market share in several areas. They are getting desperate, and therefore will say anything to get attention and try and put a false image through.
April Fools a bit early
Best laugh I've had all day.
MS is nowhere on mobile and will go nowhere.
yes
ActiveSync blows away everything else out there. What's your beef with it? You like manually syncing contacts?
No....
"ActiveSync blows away everything else out there. What's your beef with it? You like manually syncing contacts?"
Active Sync is a steaming turd. I gave my works Pocket PC back rather than endure it's inability to keep contacts and appointments synchronised. In fact, Active Sync is so bad Microsoft dropped backwards compatibility with Vista.
Well, Microsoft should know
They have loads of experience with software that fails "quality" testing....
Hilarious, oh MS how you make me smile.
Another incredible statement from the company laughed at the iPhone and said they are happy with their smartphone strategy.
Enjoy - Microsoft CEO Ballmer laughs at Apple iPhone http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siuKQw6L6Rk
Put it this way
Today my Windows Mobile 6.2 phone refused to let me answer a phone call because ActiveSync had decided that it was more important for me to update the password for my push email.
This same phone rings three times before it makes any sound, and four times before it is possible to press the 'answer' key.
Thus I miss quite a lot of calls.
Maybe the problem is that the hardware can't cope with the demands of the OS. However, if that's true then the hardware I had before couldn't cope either, as it had identical issues.
Oh look
132 comments, nearly all the same. I DO hope you will be sending Messrs Bach and Ballmer a transcript!
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