Polishing the turd

It can hardly be said that Microsoft is often early to the game in their developments. Normally they are behind the curve but with the vast resources that allows them not only to play catch-up but often overtake. The incentives for applying these resources usually comes when a competitor achieves a significant success in a market area they had dabbled in but had not concentrated on. Witness the web browser, the web development area, the office suite and even the operating system. Developments in these areas came largely from acquisitions and then concentrated development of the product.

One of these key areas that MS has dabbled with over the years has been with mobile devices and more recently smartphones. However this is starting to become a little embarrassing for them as their flagship Smartphone/PDA OS is pretty much a clunker. Whereas the likes of Apple with their iPhone OS, Google with Android, Nokia with Symbian and now Maemo producing interfaces that are actually usable, the latest incarnation of Windows Mobile 6.5 needs a lot to make inroads. Earlier this year it seemed that the lessons had not been learned at all as the previews of 6.5 showed some efficiency improvements and some added functionality but the same horrific, finger unfriendly interface rolled on. So much so that the leading hardware and software companies compete to produce an interface that disguises the clunker that is the WinMo interface. This is a practice commonly known as polishing the turd.

Possibly in bygone days when not many alternatives existed, this practice would have been understandable even if not forgiveable but to insist on doing it in the face of so much attractive and functional competition borders on insanity! The iPhone is really not a device but an attractive lifestyle toy to browse the App Store. Yes ... the attraction of the iPhone is the apps. Same with Android. The base functionality is all very well but the attraction of customising and adding fun elements with little cost and providing a new level of personal interaction is what pulls people in. So what do MS have to offer? Well so far bugger all. A handful of application stores run by 3rd parties with complete confusion over what can be run on what hardware and what version of the OS. Dependence on the network providers to provide OS updates to the devices sold (most are VERY bad at doing this) and different provider dependencies. A bit of a mess really.

That said, I own a WinMo device. Have done for many years and I have an investment in the software that populates these devices which integrate nicely with my desktop applications on my Windows machines. I have not had much reason to change this because the investment in the applications runs to hundreds of pounds when you add it all up. But now I am looking further afield and contemplating a move because the equivalent applications on the other platforms (Android or Apple) are significantly lower in cost and I don't have to worry about the updating as that will be done for me.

So MS ... here's your challenge. The rivals have all laid out their (app) stores and are now raking it in and the turd you are polishing is losing its lustre. Will you rise to meet this challenge or believe your established user base can wait as long as you can eke out the timescales for the next 'great' version (Windows Mobile 7 I believe)? As a long term user of your product I can tell you that my patience is wearing thin. I am all ready to move away and will not look back. You really don't have long before that particular market is a lock out for you. You have been warned