Steering away from the M$ bashing campaign and back to the topic at hand...
I don't really see this as much of an issue.
The MS app store is supposed to make it easy for not so knowledgeable users to find and download programs onto their windows mobile device.
Personally speaking, I wouldnt bash if I didnt really want WM to succeed. And though you may be correct why not extend the Marketplace to everyone and increase the ease of use to current users and allow developers to have access to a large install base? Wouldnt it be nice to have one place to go for your apps rather than trawling the web? Just because we are savvy doesnt mean we wouldnt welcome a better experience for purchasing, installing AND backing up our applications.
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Back to being The Last Windows Mobile Fanboy - now with a Dell Venue Pro!
Personally speaking, I wouldnt bash if I didnt really want WM to succeed. And though you may be correct why not extend the Marketplace to everyone and increase the ease of use to current users and allow developers to have access to a large install base? Wouldnt it be nice to have one place to go for your apps rather than trawling the web? Just because we are savvy doesnt mean we wouldnt welcome a better experience for purchasing, installing AND backing up our applications.
I do agree that it would be nice to have market place available on WM6. The more options the better. For me to use it would depend greatly on the content. Many of the programs I run come from individuals over at xda-developers... I don't think we will ever see any those programs in the market place. And not just xda. I get programs from all over tha place from people who will not be able to afford to put even one program into the market place. anyway.. I'm drifting.
I just think that if MS is not going to roll out market place to older devices my reasoning above might be why. Just a guess though.
Unless there is some drastic code change in 6.5 to where it isn't possible to run market place on WM6, it just seems silly to me to not release it.
And from the builds of 6.5 I have played with so far I don't think it is a compatibility with WM6 issue. Every program I have installed on 6.5 has run just fime so far.
Who knows what all is involved in the decision process at MS...
The MS app store is supposed to make it easy for not so knowledgeable users to find and download programs onto their windows mobile device.
The exact users that this market place is targeted at are not going to have any clue (ie. will NEVER install it). If they don't know enough how to find and install a program they sure are not going to know enough to install a market place program.
The only people this will make mad is you guys.
How about developers? Imagine a developer who is faced with a listing cost for a store where 90% of the potential devices won't work with it.
Moreover, what you say above isn't strictly accurate. Apple rolled out OS 2.0 with the App Store to all iPhone users, and that was critical for establishing a fast userbase. They did this partially by making it dead simple to do a firmware upgrade: you dock your iPhone, it asks you if you want to install it, you press a button, it updates it and keeps all of your software and preferences in place, except with a shiny new App Store to boot.
By doing this, Apple made sure the App Store had a large userbase from day one. This helped its rapid adoption, and while the Marketplace may eventually gain traction, this is going to slow it down significantly.
Thanks for the tips... gee, I thought Apple was supposed to be simple. Seems one has to get instructions on how to make the mouse work.
This is completely offtopic, but: the philosophy (whether you agree with it or not) is that regular users shouldn't need to do most right-click tasks, that UI design should be such that you only need one click. That's why Apple's Mighty Mouse, while having right-click support on a single-switch mouse (via a sensor that detects where you clicked it on the surface), has it disabled by default.
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And yet, anyone I know with a Mac seems content with their one-button mouse.
Strangely, I really really like the Mighty Mouse. I don't quite know why. I do reconfigure it to enable right-clicking.
I do agree that it would be nice to have market place available on WM6. The more options the better. For me to use it would depend greatly on the content. Many of the programs I run come from individuals over at xda-developers... I don't think we will ever see any those programs in the market place. And not just xda. I get programs from all over tha place from people who will not be able to afford to put even one program into the market place. anyway.. I'm drifting.
I just think that if MS is not going to roll out market place to older devices my reasoning above might be why. Just a guess though.
I don't think so. I think the real explanation is far simpler: MS developer time.
I'm no longer an MVP (resigned in Jan 2007), and so I have no idea as to the development plan for WM6.5 or 7, but one thing I distinctly remember Microsoft telling us was that they had a limited number of man-hours to do development, and that every feature was a trade-off. It sounds to me that they traded-off backwards compatibility with the Marketplace for something else. Given the heterogenous nature of the platform, backwards support is certainly harder than Apple issuing a OS update to all its devices. That said, it still mystifies me how Apple, Palm, etc. are making such rapid progress while Microsoft is going far slower.
Jason - serious question - How does it feel to be an MVP when MS does not actually appear to really value your opinion (or that of the other MVPs) at all? You're much more tied into this relationship than I am, and it would appear from recent posts that you're none too happy. Does the relationship have any future for you?
Yeah, it's been hard - especially lately. It's depressing to see what could have been a world-class operating system languish and not get the attention it deserves. With the iPhone doing so well, and the Palm Pre getting so much attention, it's hard to "keep the faith" sometimes. I see a light at the end of the tunnel, though it seems sometimes like the tunnel keeps moving further away. I think there's been some much-needed changes in leadership on the Windows Mobile team, though you might not think so given this decision about the Marketplace...
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I hate to post a contrarian response to all of this hand wringing about what Microsoft is not doing, but consider this.
In the vacuum created by Microsoft deciding not to cater to WM 6.0 and 6.1 (or older) users, why aren't we complaining to Handango and Pocket Gear? These two entities have been selling Windows Mobile software for a long time. There is no reason they can't develop webbased store front applications that download software directly to devices. It's been a long time since I've bought software from those websites -- for all I know, they already have such a store front. They already have business models and payment schemes with which developers are familiar.
My point is, it is really too easy for everyone to become excited about the "next shiny thing" Microsoft is promising and forget about other options we may have. Microsoft understands this, we know it, but we get sucked in every time. Bottom line: let's appeal to Handango and Pocket Gear with a sense of competition and let Microsoft know that they aren't the only game in town. After all, even the vaunted Apple store front has (or will soon have) competition in the form of other store fronts selling iPhone and iPod software that won't be "officially approved" by Apple.
In the vacuum created by Microsoft deciding not to cater to WM 6.0 and 6.1 (or older) users, why aren't we complaining to Handango and Pocket Gear? These two entities have been selling Windows Mobile software for a long time. There is no reason they can't develop webbased store front applications that download software directly to devices. It's been a long time since I've bought software from those websites -- for all I know, they already have such a store front.
Both Handango and PocketGear have mobile storefronts to one degree or another. We just announced PocketGear's app a while ago - turns out it wasn't so much an application as a Web page that loaded up. The key point here though is that the ONLY way an application marketplace makes sense is if it's on EVERY device. I suspect the number of customers that have either Handango or PocketGear's app stores installed are rather small. Also, neither one has been very impressive from what I've seen - hence the clamour for Microsoft to do something in this space and get it right.
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So, you believe that if an application is placed on every device, people are much more likely to use it. My thought is that (1) if the existing "apps" by Handango and Pocket Gear don't meet expectations the user community needs to provide them that feedback; and (2) an alternative to increasing the number of customers is for Handango and Pocket Gear to do some good old-fashioned advertising.
I remain unconvinced, based on Microsoft's long track record of producing less than stellar applications in the mobile space, that waiting for Microsoft to "get it right" will yield anything that meets our expectations. They have consistently disappointed me with their software. The only recent shining example lately is Live Search.
Ah yes, memory stirs... Anyone else remember losing banking transaction records thanks to Microsoft Money? That dog came installed in EVERY Pocket PC back in the day, then got dropped somewhere around 2002 I think. I tried to make it work, really I did, but what a zoo that thing was.
And then there was the nifty way that AOL email was installed on every PPC back in 2000. Never having had use for AOL (well okay, once, for 3 weeks when Telus was being impossible about setting up my dialup account - and then it was a royal pain getting AOL to stop my service before the trial month was over) it really bothered me having it in ROM. And I was far from alone. Many device user forums were littered with complaints, and outright begging, with folks asking 'how can I delete this garbage?' And the answer, sadly always the same... 'Go to \Windows\Start Menu\Programs, tap and hold on the AOL shortcut, then select Delete from the pop-up menu.' Not very satisfying, but at least it kept AOL from glaring one in the face on every search through the menus.
If the app store were great, and I mean really well designed and with close to flawless follow-up service (registration concerns, well maintained archives of user downloads and account transactions, support by email, etc.), and not too much overhead in terms of bandwidth use above the basic download itself, I think many users would welcome it in their devices. Of course a lot of us tech-head curmudgeons would delete the shortcut immediately... I probably would. Still, if they did a great job, it'd be less offensive than AOL and MS Money. What am I saying? Why would they do a great job this time around?
I do reconfigure it to enable right-clicking.
I think there's been some much-needed changes in leadership on the Windows Mobile team, though you might not think so given this decision about the Marketplace...
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