back to article Microsoft re-org hints at Windows and Mobile merge

Windows Mobile could be destined for life inside Microsoft's main Windows operation following a re-organization of the division it currently calls home. The Microsoft Entertainment and Devices division responsible for Windows Mobile and the Xbox will see work on its Zune software and services, Mediaroom IPTV, and Media Center …

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  1. Mage Silver badge

    Merge

    Then later if it dies they can quietly bury it.

    The idea of WinCE/WinMo having Windows Look & Feel was stupid. Internally the kernel is different too.

    It should never have had the "Windows" Moniker. Because it never was.

  2. Tom Kelsall
    FAIL

    It's not about...

    ..."roadmap" and "direction" and other Management Speak/Bullshit Bingo nonsense. It's about an interface that wasn't designed for a phone and a bloody awful OS. It's about companies having to overlay an interface on Windows Mobile to make it palatable to phone lovers. (Thanks HtC) and it's about the fact that Microsoft should stick to what they're good at.

    Microsoft should make kernals for mobiles and let others design the front end around it.

  3. IT specialist
    FAIL

    Too late. Microsoft is already dead in mobile

    Microsoft made fundamental mistakes that kicked it out of the mobile game three years ago.

    Windows Mobile is already a dead platform. It makes no money for Microsoft. Handset OEMs are phasing it out. Developers deserted long ago.

    The only reason it is still in the stores is because Microsoft keeps throwing money at it, in a vein attempt to revive it, refusing to believe that the patient is already dead.

    Microsoft is holding all hopes in Windows Mobile 7. However, when it is released it will have the opposite effect, and kill all hope. Windows Mobile 7 will have a very short life in the market, before Microsoft admits defeat and officially gets out of the consumer mobile phone market.

  4. Greg J Preece

    How long until....

    ...Windows 7 Mobile Edition? Hell, WM is on v7, and so's the desktop version - it could happen.

    Might work better, too. Trying to sell my old WM phone today, and will it talk to my Win7 desktop so I can back it up? Not a chance.

    Thank God my next device comes with Linux.

  5. Volker Hett

    Makes sense

    with all those ARM based devices looming in the backyard, Microsoft wouldn't want the manufacturers to release those with Ubuntu.

  6. mumm-ra

    giggle

    What a lovely tale of ratbags stabbing each other in the back for advancement.

    "It's his fault Zune/WinMo sucks"

    "No it's his!"

    "No, it's branding!"

    Meanwhile Uncle Fester gets ever more creepy, the "Microsoft Stores" open and are used for a venue for "spontaneous" viral videos- Bing goes your marketing.

    MS seems to have lost its way a little- the focus doesn't seem to be there. Preventing total meltdown by releasing Win 7 to replace the much-loved Vista was a smart and decisive move, but it's one of the few in recent memory.

  7. dogged
    Go

    This is a good thing.

    If MS can produce a decent, workable mobile phone OS, I for one will be delighted.

    WinMob is USER CONTROLLED. Redmond don't pretend to own it, you can put whatever software you like on it to utilize any feature of it and they even give away software tools to help you do so.

    Mind you, an easier ROM upgrade system would be nice.

  8. lotech

    haha

    "Bach painted the subject as a problem of branding rather than business model or technology, but there are real questions over Windows Mobile's roadmap and its direction."

    Haha. I think what he just said was - "If only we could shine this turd we've created so that people won't realise its pretty much the same turd we were selling 4 years ago."

    Another day, another excuse for bad management. Why wasn't Mobile in the Windows family to years ago - the market for WinMo is suits over consumers - it should be in Office if it was anywhere other than the Windows team.

  9. lotech
    FAIL

    haha

    "Bach painted the subject as a problem of branding rather than business model or technology, but there are real questions over Windows Mobile's roadmap and its direction."

    Haha. I think what he just said was - "If only we could shine this turd we've created so that people won't realise its pretty much the same turd we were selling 4 years ago."

    Another day, another excuse for bad management. Why wasn't Mobile in the Windows family to years ago - the market for WinMo is suits over consumers - it should be in Office if it was anywhere other than the Windows team.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    I used to work in the Mobile division

    and I can confirm this. It is part of a new "Unified Platform" That everything will be moved to. The long-term plan is to move all hardware to the same Kernel and APIs, with varying HALs for each platform. All code created for Windows will be able to used on everything from a 'Smartphone' all the way up to Supers and 'clouds'.

    This move is intended to a couple thing such as:

    -Reduce the number of IDEs, SDKs, and DDKs needed for MS products down to just Visual Studio

    -Reduce the time each Version of Windows is in Development (and more time to buff out problems)

    -Decrease time needed to create patches after a bug is discovered, since the patch will run on everything

    -Increase compatibility with other platforms, as they would be using a standard interface between all devices (i.e. allowing a Zune to be synced with 3rd party Media players)

    -Increase in code quality

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Linux

      Deja vu

      "The long-term plan is to move all hardware to the same Kernel and APIs, with varying HALs for each platform. All code created for Windows will be able to used on everything from a 'Smartphone' all the way up to Supers and 'clouds'."

      For some reason, I hear the penguins chuckling..

  11. Mikel
    Black Helicopters

    Anonymous post on a blog...

    That's not a strong reference to hang your hopes on.

    And what of Roz Ho? Has she led the Premium Mobile eXperience into Danger long enough?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Makes sense

    Windows Mobile was a version modified for performance and limited, specific functionality for low-power embedded devices. Now that most such devices use modern processors of vastly increased power, they only really need a version of normal windows that is restricted to the desired functionality. A single code-base to maintain is a major saving all on it's own.

  13. John Sanders
    Alert

    You can not expect a single person to do everything

    If MS depends on Sinofsky to be able to consistently release every single MS product, I bet Sinofsky is now a single point of failure.

    And besides, unless MS makes something out of Win-mobile and gives it away for free, they won't have the slightness of the opportunities to make a dent against Apple, Google or RIM.

    They have had systems that work and do it well from the get go.

  14. Henry Wertz 1 Gold badge
    Jobs Horns

    WinMo not up to snuff technologically

    "Bach painted the subject as a problem of branding rather than business model or technology, but there are real questions over Windows Mobile's roadmap and its direction."

    It's technology. WinCE was NEVER my cup of tea, but in the 1990s it was very competitive with the competition both on PDAs and on phones, both technologically and in sales terms. Now? IPhone is crippled by Jobs and co., but runs OSX which handily beats WinMo technologically (and is quite capable when jailbroken.) Other phones run Linux (Android, Palm Pre, etc.) which kills Winmo technologically. Even Blackberry has advanced with each release. WinMo supports larger memory limits in recent versions, but is almost static in features in the last 10 years. I don't think any amount of marketing could start up Windows 95 sales much in this day and age, and I don't think any amount of marketing will give WinMo a big boost either, without bringing it into the 21st century first.

    Pulling it into the main Windows division? Giving WinMo an overhaul to significantly modernize it would help a lot. On the other hand, it absolutely can't have anywhere near the appetite of Windows 7 or it will not be competitive, I doubt they can just port the Windows 7 kernel to ARM.

    1. Bilgepipe
      Jobs Halo

      Crippled?

      I love how the iPhone is "crippled" even after it handed Windows Mobile its arse on a plate. Are RIM and Android "crippled" too?

      Yet more defence of Redmond's failure.

  15. Charles Manning

    Makes sense from a business POV

    From a business unit perspective it is important to group products according to the customers, not the internal technology etc. That way your sales/product dev staff etc are able to push a consistent message to customers and internally.

    How many Xbox customers also buy Windows Mobile? Grouping them together is stupid.

    Windows Mobile is only important in to corporate customers and it thus makes sense to put it in a business unit oriented to corporate customers. That of course does not mean that WM will be re-kerneled with Vista. While smartphones have increased in performance and memory they do no't make quadcore phones yet!

    Of course WM !-= WinCE. WinCE might be better placed elsewhere,

  16. Matthew 4
    Thumb Up

    well god know's it needs it

    Access to more resources is probably what windows mobile needs.

    Its a great product, just lacking in the great apple GUI really

  17. G_C
    FAIL

    Polished Turd

    No, you can't polish a turd... but you can roll it in glitter... HTC glitter... but it's still a turd...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Coffee/keyboard

      Eeeee Gadd!

      You owe me a big bottle of Gaviscon. The word 'glitter' just gave my oesophagus and parts of my keyboard an involuntary peptic wash, and my mind is now stained with the image of the convicted begoateed one.

      How fitting 'glitter' should appear in the same sentence as turd though.

      (Only the sentence wasn't long enough).

      1. G_C
        Grenade

        :o)

        I thank you! Bottle of Gaviscon+ when ever and where ever you want it! A good remedy for the persistantly occuring bile that is Windows Mobile!

  18. Jax 1

    Interesting post

    Interesting post from anonymous coward. If it is true then it bodes well for WinMob. The platform at present isn't in the best of shape.

    If it was able to call upon the code and killer apps that exist in the "non-mobile" world then it would gain a huge boost.

    As it developer it really irks me that there are a number of items that I can't port to WinMo such as those that rely on emitting MSIL at run-time. If MS just FINISH their conversion of .NET onto mobile then the platform would be full of win.

    1. G_C
      Flame

      :o)

      Don't encourage the buggers or you'll end up on a crappy TV ad in the back of a taxi...

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Halo

    This is bad...

    If the current crop of MS execs think that BS power games and position claim jumping are going to fix this, there is a whole heap of trouble ahead. I never thought I would say this but "Come back, Bill, all is forgiven".

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