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View Full Version : Half Baked Better Than Stagnant?


Jon Westfall
05-21-2009, 01:00 PM
<p>Remember my <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/news/show/93672/this-is-why-people-say-android-is-half-baked.html" target="_blank">little rant</a> a few weeks ago? Well, if you know anyone on the Google side (Android), you can tell them that the lamentations they've been emitting can now be silenced. Google fixed the <a href="http://googlereader.blogspot.com/2009/05/latest-round-of-reader-improvements.html" target="_blank">Marking Items Read issue</a>. They write:</p><p><em>For those of you with Android phones, we've also fixed a particularly annoying bug that led to items not being marked as read correctly.</em></p><p>So that's nice, they fixed a problem and even blogged about it to let us know. This little blog post, though, did more than inform me about a bug fix - it further annoyed me at the current state of Windows Mobile. My gripe today boils down to one thing: speed. Not speed of the operating system, but speed of the platform development. Using release dates from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>, I did a little calculation. It's about 484 days on average between Windows Mobile releases. While this was plenty fast in the Pocket PC days, it seems painfully slow when you consider Apple keeps a roughly 365 day interval between releases of iPhone major OS versions. 4 months longer adds up over time!</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/ppct/auto/1242870611.usr7.jpg" style="border: 0px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>There are many reasons MS can't release these things faster (feel free to discuss them below) but the point of this post isn't to ask why - it's simply to point out that people WANT their gadgets updated faster. They like new features, new looks, and new uses. I've been saying for awhile now that Microsoft needed the next version of Windows Mobile available yesterday - and now more than ever that seems true. For what it's worth, I wouldn't be so annoyed over this if I didn't feel that the glory days of Windows Mobile are <em>ahead,</em> not behind. I just think they need to get here a lot quicker than they seem to be arriving. <em>Come on guys, if 100 reasons are keeping this a slow process, find 100 solutions to them, step up, and COMPETE!</em></p>

bryant
05-21-2009, 03:01 PM
It would be nice if when Microsoft finished an update to thier OS that we actually got it. I think you forgot to include the lag time that happens AFTER Microsoft is done for all the manufacturers and carriers to actually release their version of the OS.

I think that is one of the big holes in the current MS offerring. You don't even know if your phone will be able to get the update because it is mostly (you could use a non-approved ROM) in the carriers hands. With Apple or Google this isn't the case so for them them done = done while for us done means it is time to start hoping that your carrier will release it for your phone in the next few months.

whydidnt
05-21-2009, 03:22 PM
If you want to nit picks -- I wouldn't even consider 6.1 a major upgrade, so the numbers are even worse. Apple typically releases 2-3 interim upgrades each year, beside the major annual update. Even Google has been releasing updates quicker than Microsoft. It goes back to my old rant - It has been very obvious that Windows Mobile has not been a priority to Microsoft. They are the largest software company in the world, if they wanted to release updates quicker they could, it's just a matter of throwing more resources at it. However, for whatever reason it has never been a priority.

Instead we continue to get incremental upgrades that don't always address existing shortcomings, and even these incremental upgrades take FOREVER. I still imagine that the WM dev team is comprised of about 2 people - a product Manager, and 1 programmer. With both crammed in some basement corner on the Microsoft campus, trying desperately to meet the demands of it's customers, yet knowing it's just too much for any one person to handle.

Jon Westfall
05-22-2009, 02:41 AM
It would be nice if when Microsoft finished an update to thier OS that we actually got it. I think you forgot to include the lag time that happens AFTER Microsoft is done for all the manufacturers and carriers to actually release their version of the OS.

True - it does take usually around 6 months to have it show up on devices or in ROM updates. But since it's consistently around that long, the time between stays accurate. Release dates were just easier to calculate than "show up" dates.

griph
05-22-2009, 07:21 AM
True - it does take usually around 6 months to have it show up on devices or in ROM updates. But since it's consistently around that long, the time between stays accurate. Release dates were just easier to calculate than "show up" dates.

I am trying to remember when I last got any SIGNIFICANT version official ROM upgrade for any PocketPC/WM device I have owned - what is the point of having an upgradeabloe device if due to the set up with WM - you have to buy a new device just to get it!

One of the reasons why I have moved my main device over to Apple iPhone - OK not as feature rich as a WM device - but they understand the importance of releasing upgrades - and I am looking forward to getting v3.0 ROM update in just a few months. WM has as far as I am concerned already become stagnant - with too little innovation too late for this market!

Islanti
05-22-2009, 10:30 PM
I am trying to remember when I last got any SIGNIFICANT version official ROM upgrade for any PocketPC/WM device I have owned - what is the point of having an upgradeabloe device if due to the set up with WM - you have to buy a new device just to get it!The last one I remember was for the HP iPaq hx4700. The new WM5 ROM crippled the device's performance. The community ended up having to fix it with homebrew WM6 ROMs. Miserable.

One of the reasons why I have moved my main device over to Apple iPhone - OK not as feature rich as a WM device - but they understand the importance of releasing upgrades - and I am looking forward to getting v3.0 ROM update in just a few months. WM has as far as I am concerned already become stagnant - with too little innovation too late for this market!Agreed. I'll be paying $10 for the Touch upgrade to 3.0 even and I'm happy to do it. I sat around waiting for MS to get things sorted out for a long time (from WinCE 1.0 up to WM 6.1). I would have happily paid for upgrades of the significance that iPhone OS 3.0 represents. Too bad they were never available.

bubuschoeny
05-22-2009, 10:39 PM
How is this any different then RIM, Nokia, or Palm? Let's face everyone got caught with there pants down. Win Mo 7 is not just a new os it a new way of doing business for Microsoft they are going to handle the os on the phone rather then passing a kit to hardware vendors/carriers ( Zune marketplace offering, Apps Store, live space, wm device center, hotmail etc) and somehow do this with out alienating all their partners.

One could also argue that the Iphone os wasn't as feature rich as windows mobile. They haven't been rewriting any os but rather adding additional feature to it. So by the time Win Mo 7 does hit the streets it should be pretty close in touch/media features as the Iphone OS. What MS really needs to do is streamline all there live services ( Zune marketplace offering, Apps Store, live space, wm device center, hotmail, xbox live etc) you have to make the ecosystem as coherent and simple as possible. That's where Apple really has made the difference it's ecosystem (itunes) is simple.