I saw this interesting article/blog post this morning on Information Week's website about rumors of Microsoft planning a dual OS strategy for Windows Mobile 6.5 and 7 which came on the heels of this article on News.com regarding what Microsoft needs to do to get back into the mobile game.
Argh, the much maligned OS is still making news and press, but candidly with more questions than answers. Let me offer one very simple suggestion....especially for those of you with great taste in music. Think of Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Ace Frehley and Peter Criss. That's right my Redmondian friends: KISS.
In case you don't have time to read the articles, the summary is that rumors suggest Microsoft is thinking about a dual mobile OS strategy. As I said above...argh. This is a terrible idea in my opinion.
Microsoft is (in)famous for wanting to provide its customers and users CHOICE. The premise being that one size does not fit all. Every type of person out there is going to have different needs and they should have the right to make the experience their own. Right, because that's what Apple has done with the iPhone and well, I guess they haven't had the greatest of success with that device, now have they...
This is one of those times where too much choice is a bad thing in my opinion, because all it does is confuse people - whether they are consumers, developers or equipment manufacturers and operators. I remember when I was using a T-Mobile Dash and upgraded it to Windows Mobile 6.1 Smartphone Edition...then I had the opportunity to play with a HTC Touch Pro that was running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional. Guess what? The menu system wasn't the same on the two devices. Even the kinds of things available in Options weren't the same. This has got to .
Now you hear from DigiTimes that Micrsoft may throw out an update to 6.5 to improve the touch interface friendliness in the February 2010 timeframe before Windows Mobile 7 comes out. I hate to sound like a jerk, but doesn't that sound like a stop gap to a stop gap...or am I missing something? Wasn't 6.5 supposed to be the touch friendly improvement on 6.1? I know that there can and should be upgrades to improve user experiences, but still, this all sounds way to confusing and complicated to me. I think Microsoft needs to remember the old adage Keep It Simple, Stupid. See....now you know why I had a picture of Gene Simmons at the top of this entry!
Simplicity is elegance. Look at the iPhone and Palm's webOS. Those are slick, easy to use and I hear people like them. Unless I am mistaken, there's only version of Android (nevermind how OEMs skin it)...and Symbian has consolidated into one version based around S60. The only other company that has more than one version of its OS is RIM who kinda sorta has two versions out there - touch and non touch. And who has all the buzz right now? Apple, Android, to a lesser extent Palm, then RIM (although they can laugh all the way to the bank) and then Symbian and Windows Mobile. Hmm...
Consolidate Microsoft. Don't do what you did with Windows 7 and create 82 editions (OK, Six) of the platform. Just have the one. Think of Connor MacLeod or his cousin Duncan MacLeod. Please. Anything else will take more time to create and delay the market adoption of Windows Mobile 7. The only people to benefit from having so much complexity would be the mobile device management companies who can talk about the increased complexity you would be bringing to the corporate environment. They actually welcome the complexity...
