If Microsoft would fulfil ONE wish (WM2004)

[WillyG]

By now, we can hear the faint rumble of Windows Mobile 2004 in the horizon. If Microsoft would fulfill ONE of your wishes for the next OS release, what would it be?

[Stephen Beesley]

By now, we can hear the faint rumble of Windows Mobile 2004 in the horizon. If Microsoft would fulfill ONE of your wishes for the next OS release, what would it be?

I voted for the landscape/portrait switch mainly because many of the other things I can achieve with little hassle through third party apps. That said it would be good to have them as options native to the OS.

I was also tempted to vote for the improved Pocket Office. Although I am a long time user of Textmaker, which has pretty much everything you could wish for in a PPC word processing tool - I would definatley like to see the native apps being more powerful.

[Jeff Rutledge]

I voted to see Alarms work. That's not really a wish though, more of an expectation. I can't imagine 2004 won't have working alarms. It's ridiculous that reminders don't work on a device whose primary purpose (arguably) is as an organizer.

Other than that, I'd like to see (in order):
- a better way to do Connections
- better Office integration
- better IE explorer

I thought about Voice Commander, but until it can do dictation-like understanding, I see it as an opt-in application.

[jneely]

How about fixing ActiveSync?

I've only had my new PPC for like 3 weeks now, and already I've witnessed the instability of ActiveSync.

Outside that, I'd like to see overall improved graphics handling:
- Dynamic portrait/lanscape switching
- Support for arbitrary resolution (and native scaling)
- DirectX and Direct3D Mobile, baby ! ! !

[JohnnyFlash]

How about fixing ActiveSync?

- DirectX and Direct3D Mobile, baby ! ! !

I voted for better overall stability, because I'm sick and tired of constant resets, but I'm totally with Jeff on Activesync.

Plus, can you Imagine!!!??? True 3D acceleration in your hand!!! :mrgreen:

[Sven Johannsen]

Great poll, and good options. I bet you will see a ton of different wishes though. Everyone has their own wish, or pet peeve.

I picked the rotatable screen,...on the fly... is the key. I don't use a rotater now because it seems a pain to reset to make it work. I might actually use it if it worked like Media Player or any of the picture programs, where it can rotate at will.

My actual wish though is more control, or at least exposed control. Specifically in the communications and networking area. A wizard is nice to get things set up, but then don't bury or hide the settings so that it is virtually impossible to get to them. The wizard isn't always right.

[Zack Mahdavi]

I originally picked an improved pIE. However, now that I think about it, I'd prefer the landscape screen. I'm willing to wait for Opera's new amazing browser for "medium sized screens." Have you all seen previews for it?

[senfeng]

I voted for "Better stability in general". However, I really wish that they had OS support for printing. Most of the others on the list I can at least buy.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Yup, "Better stability in general" here too. Still too much flakiness around for my liking...... :?

[Mitch D]

Yup, "Better stability in general" here too. Still too much flakiness around for my liking...... :?


Maybe I'm just lucky (knocking on wood like substance) but I have never noticed any stability issues with my Axim X3i or with ActiveSync...

[WillyG]

It surprises me only two voted for the close button. So what does this mean? Are we finally happy with the way smart minimize works, or is it simply that other things matters more?

Strange also that no one yet voted for the weekview. In my opinion there isnt much that is completely useless on the Pocket Pc. The weekview in calendar is one such thing. After all. The calendar is one of the main functions on a pda.
If there was a decent weekview + a view that would let me see both upcoming appointments and tasks, i would seriously consider not installing Pocket Informant, Agenda Fusion or Ulti-Planner (pick your preffered one). But that leads to another dilemma for Microsoft doesnt it?

[Jonathon Watkins]

Strange also that no one yet voted for the weekview.

Well, a lot of people run PI or someother super PIM - so it's not an issue I personally want MS to fix. Other things are more important to me.

[Ryan Joseph]

I voted for the battery bar. I would have picked the landscape view, but, like the poll said, this may already be granted.

Although I'm one of only three who voted for this, I think the battery bar is very important. I have a PPC Phone so my battery tends to run down faster than standard PPCs. A battery meter would really help. I tried some standalone battery meters, but they always seemed to cover up the connection icon (unacceptable with a PPC Phone). And one of them screwed up my GPRS access. I have no idea why, but when the battery meter was installed, GPRS failed to connect. As soon as I uninstalled it, it worked fine. Go figure.

So, for me at least, a standalone battery meter won't work. I need one built into the OS that won't conflict with icons or connection settings. :roll:

[disconnected]

Dynamic portrait/landscape switching would be nice, but I think higher resolution is even more important -- not sure if this has really been confirmed yet. I put lower priority on anything that can easily be added by a third-party app.

[WillyG]

I think higher resolution is even more important.

That would be more hardware related than OS related, dont you agree?

[Sven Johannsen]

I think higher resolution is even more important.

That would be more hardware related than OS related, dont you agree?

Yea, but the OS has to support it. You could end up with the OS only writing to a quarter of the screen, or every pixel the OS displays, being displayed on four adjacent real pixels.

[JonnoB]

It surprises me only two voted for the close button. So what does this mean? Are we finally happy with the way smart minimize works, or is it simply that other things matters more?


I actually prefer the smart minimize. It makes sense to me in a multi-tasking PDA. I just don't like the auto-shutdown of some apps. I agree that a different icon could be used. The X on the desktop OS leads to a certain expectation. I think it should look like the minimize button instead.

[KenClunk]

8O I think evreything needs to be kind of redone. They need to seriosly look at these message boards and deliver something worth all the hype. They should change:
The way the startmenu is so we can access programs easier
:idea: The way programs don't really close taking up the precious memory.
:idea: The entire face of the taskbar , yes including battery percentage but how about telling how many minutes will be left right in front of you, also memory usage, and soft reset buttons.
:idea: The Calender and all today screen plugins. It essentially is a Personal Data Asssitant anyways right? The calender, tasks, reminders, phone numbers,notes etc should be the core and should be encorporated in the today screen.
:idea: The constant issues with active sync, it should sync, its not to much to ask.
:idea: The way we input data, how about a better more accurate transcriber, it would really be much quicker.
:idea: The should include MS Money in the package finance is part of the assiting it should do.
:idea: They should redo Word and Excell and maybe include a Powerpoit type program. It is way to hard to view documents without be able to zoom in r out.
:idea: They should include a horizontal view, obviously everyone would like the option.
:idea: They should have different "faces" or "themes" not just thje background image.
:idea: There should be some sort ofn tabs with icons on the today screen, really it should be more like a desktop. Having one button switch between the "destop" for programs and fun and the "agenda" for business etc. With customizable options so well you are at work you can have that professional looking theme hit a button as you walk out of the office and the supermodel shows up as the music begins to play
:idea: They should improve the media player big time, i want to be able to play Mpeg-4 videos on it. Also why not give the Broadcast video for free and include it in activesync. In Plus for XP they have something like this that you get video from such shows as NBC's Today and go through WM player and it syncs. But why not include that as well. How about some sort of visiulation in the Media Player give me anything at all. Please.
:idea: I wanted them to use the basic ideas of WM2003 and through out the rest. Start fresh and make something that can be around for along time with minimal updates. I would rather see a perfect WM2005 than a half hacked together WM2004.

Now that everyone is done reading the Novel :sleeping:.
What do you think about it? 8O

[famousdavis]

I would like to have native support for VGA resolution. Along with that, having the ability to rotate the screen on demand would be nice, too...although all my databases I've created would have to have major forms rework to make that happen right!

[bridgecrosser]

I would like to see ALARMS THAT WORK. :| It's too crazy that we have had to deal with this problem on a personal digital assistant for this long! Then, we need to have an Activesync program that works the way it should. After that, Office docs that are up to the level of Textmaker. Maybe MS should include Textmaker in every device. :)

[ntractv]

Upgrade that pathetic Pocket Office

[Trimac20]

Yes, I agree that the built-in apps should have more features. Paint, for example, could at least include a proper colour swatch, a proper fill/brush thickness tool and the ability to save in JPEG/BMP.etc nothing fancy just basic things. And in Word there should be at least a few more options such as paragraphing, more fonts.etc.

An option to close programs instead of minising them should also be included (maybe if you hold the 'X' bar it actually closes the app, while tapping it minimises it). Better functionality for Windows Media Player and...

of course a more stable OS: ah, but after all its Windows you can't expect much. I was hoping when I first started using Windows Mobile 2003 (which for the most part, does not play up) Microsoft wouldn't have any trouble keeping out the bugs; but, compared to the Palm OS it is a little dissapointing.

And yes, more customisable options should be included. Apart from the ability to view the screen in landscape mode, other options such as choosing the background just by 'right-clicking' on the screen and selecting properties like in Windows, and the inclusion of a screensaver would be nice. And if Microsoft could just fix these 'problems' then I think they would have something close to perfection.

[Kowalski]

most of "wishes" listed here can be accomplished by third parity software. (i.e. alarm issues: check notifications)
but there is no cure for landscape usage. i highly want this option.