[RogueSpear]

Originally Posted by Jason Dunn

1) If Walt had one wish, it would probably be that Microsoft as a company be destroyed by nuclear attack.

Actually that would be too kind. I find it entertaining watching this slow motion train wreck that started a few years ago.

2) People understand single-device models. It's easy to talk about the iPhone vs. Pre vs. vs. G1 vs. Blackberry (people use it as a catch-all term for all Blackberry phones). It's much harder to talk about a single phone vs. an ecosystem of phones. Once there are more Android phones on the market Google will have a similar problem.

I don't think you can have it both ways here - it's fine for Blackberry but not for Android? Android and WM share one thing however and that's HTC, who makes some of the most uninspired, inconsistent handsets out of anybody.

With HTC releasing their new phones in Europe/Asia first, most North American press don't register the fact that there are legitimate competitors out there running Windows Mobile.

The same could be said of Android.

I thought it was hilarious that an app nuked Walt's Pre, took out all his data, and he just sort of shrugged it off as being not a big deal.

He's probably used to it from WM. I know I am.

Despite less-than-stellar sales, notice how the Zune has tremendous mindshare against the iPod?

It does?

Other competitors rarely get mentioned, even though I'm sure Sandisk sells more MP3 players than Microsoft does.

I'll take the higher sales over higher "mindshare." At least the former can be documented with empirical data, while the latter reminds me of someone wanting to be seen with an iPhone because it's "cool".

Windows Mobile has the same problem it's always had: selling an operating system or a platform is hard; selling a shiny piece of hardware is easy in comparison.

And Microsoft has indirectly introduced dozens of new shiny things over 15 years compared to two iPhones over two years. WM's problem is that it is inextricably tied to Windows. "Works with" and "only works with" are two different things. Over the last few years I've saved well into the six figures by going from MS Office to OOo, from Exchange to Zimbra, and cutting my Windows Server presence to a mere two domain controllers (everything else is CentOS now). Well WM doesn't work with anything really other than MS Office and Exchange. They have completely disqualified themselves from even being considered.

In the enterprise everybody is looking to cut costs wherever possible. In the consumer market more and more people are unemployed and worried about things like mortgage payments and buying groceries. Microsoft has painted themselves into a little bit of a corner. If money is of no concern they can offer some decent solutions. If money is a priority then you will be let down and frustrated. Money grabs are fine during the boom times, but don't carry over so well times are tough.

I was a Microsoft supporter for a long long time, followed by a brief period of a sort of Microsoft apologist. These days I'm not an anti-Microsoft person who's life mission is to take down the man, but rather I just don't really care. When I do care it's when they get in my way. That right there is the "mindshare" that I've been seeing in all corners.