09-29-2008, 12:00 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Bored With Windows Mobile Device Center, Microsoft Provides Sync Solution For Other Devices
"Microsoft just released the first beta version of its Phone Data Manager application which looks like a serious alternative for some of the Nokia PC Suite features as it support wider range of mobile devices including most of the Nokia S60 2nd and 3rd edition phones."
REALLY Microsoft? This is what you are spending your time on? Would it be too much to ask to fix ActiveSync 4.x and Windows Mobile Device Center first? 
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09-29-2008, 12:16 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 459
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I'm somewhat upset by this... but what really upsets me about it is how the device in the screenshot is shown to be connected: Bluetooth. By dint of replacing the MS BT stack on my laptop with a BlueSoleil stack I have, in the past, managed to get a reasonably reliable ActiveSync connection over BT. Now I have a new laptop with a Toshiba BT stack and despite days of frustration, tech. support, going through online forums with a microscope, I have never managed to get ActiveSync to connect to my Vario3 via BT.
So, way to go Microsoft: Annoy me that you care more about Nokia users than you do about those of us who have purchased your own Windows Mobile devices, and then go and rub my face in it by giving those Nokia users features that flat do not work on your own products.
You know, I don't buy the whole 'company as cause' schtick, but companies that think that their existing customers need no further effort or care rapidly lose their access to the contents of my wallet.
I need a coffee...
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09-29-2008, 12:37 PM
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Pupil
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 24
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Looks like "Plan B" is out of the bag now. Just waiting for the announcement that turns it into "Plan A".
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Little fishy in the brooke
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09-29-2008, 12:43 PM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 123
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Wow -- you're right, how could they be spending time on these devices when I want to throw mine out the window every time WMDC acts schitzo. IMO, WMDC is a sales tool for the iPhone.
I've pre-ordered my T-Mobile Android G1 -- bored and frustrated with WM, am looking forward to something that just works (hopefully).
On another note, just finished moving all my personal stuff over from a Hosted Exchange service to Google Apps and have become rather hooked. The email is tailored to those like me who somehow pile up a couple hundred messages in their inbox. The calendar, once you get the hang of it, is amazing -- especially when you discover public-calendars.
Could be wrong, but I've a feeling over the next couple years, WM will experience a dramatic loss of market share -- to many other toys out there 
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09-29-2008, 02:34 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 274
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Question for all the MVP's that contribute to this site - does MS listen to you guys at all? Do they have anyone actually listening to feedback from fans and critics or are they just winging it out in Redmond? I am a WM fan but Microsoft really, really seems like they need someone to step up and slap them into actually doing some WM related work for a change.
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Back to being The Last Windows Mobile Fanboy - now with a Dell Venue Pro!
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09-29-2008, 03:08 PM
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Neophyte
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 3
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So sucky!!!
My Wife is getting a Blackberry and I so jealous. She gets Windows Live, Live Search, Live Messenger!!! (We don't get that, at least Verizon Customers). I am stuck with my SMT 5800!! Windows Mobile. I am out!!! as soon my contract is over!!! I am getting another phone!! We get no support!!
Sorry I needed to vent,
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09-29-2008, 03:12 PM
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Theorist
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 281
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benjimen
WMDC is a sales tool for the iPhone.
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You are exactly right. WMDC is what finally made me say I've had enough, and I now use an iPhone until MS and WM get there act together. In which case I'm not holding my breathe. 
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09-29-2008, 05:19 PM
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Contributing Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,228
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Quote:
Originally Posted by efjay
Question for all the MVP's that contribute to this site - does MS listen to you guys at all? Do they have anyone actually listening to feedback from fans and critics or are they just winging it out in Redmond? I am a WM fan but Microsoft really, really seems like they need someone to step up and slap them into actually doing some WM related work for a change.
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They listen.
However, I am still confounded as to how "WILL YOU PLEASE FIX WINDOWS MOBILE DEVICE CENTER" was heard as "Yes, WMDC is quite pleasant to use, thank you. Please, do work on another sync tool for other platforms." 
By the way, this looks like MSN/Windows Live is doing this, not the Windows Mobile team. It still boggles my mind though that MS allows resources to be dedicated like this when an existing tool for a key product just isn't up to snuff.
Last edited by Ed Hansberry; 09-29-2008 at 05:41 PM..
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09-29-2008, 06:01 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,432
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I'm going to probably get a lot of heat for this, but I think this is a great idea! The Live team takes existing products and makes them better (at least from the programs I played with) and it just makes sense to have a program that could sync your information, pictures, videos, etc with devices that are not Windows Mobile devices. Sure the application is in Beta now and doesn't appear to work with Windows Mobile devices but hopefully this will change by the time of release.
We all have annoyances with WMDC and the like and now Microsoft has put a skilled team on fixing those problems and making them better as well as expanding the feature set to include the 'Duh!' factor, like letting you sync regular phones with it as well as syncing over Bluetooth.
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09-29-2008, 06:48 PM
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Thinker
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 378
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But I don't see how this can be considered an alternative to Nokia PC Suite. I'm currently using PC Suite for my Nokia N95 and I have to say that the Sync feature is very fast, reliable, and just works. I had boatloads of issues with ActiveSync/WMDC and my iPAQ hx2790 prior, and this is supposedly a business device?
For starters, you can control and restrict in PC Suite which direction to sync (unlike ActiveSync which forces sync both ways). Secondly, with the reputation ActiveSync and WMDC has, I wouldn't trust Microsoft's solution over Nokia's - not until they fix AS/WMDC. If PC Suite flawlessly works, why should anyone change? The only plus I see is that it can sync with Windows Live Contacts, but I use GMail instead  .
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Linear Mode
