Filed under: OS Updates, Windows Mobile, Microsoft
Microsoft: Windows Mobile 6.5 isn't really complete
A group of Microsoft folks got together at the TechEd conference yesterday to discuss the upcoming launch of Windows Mobile 6.5. They talked about widgets, the new Windows Marketplace app store, and about how Silverlight won't be offered. But the most surprising admission was the fact that Microsoft doesn't really consider the Windows Mobile 6.5 user interface to be "complete."Responding to a question about the UI, Windows Mobile Senior Product Manager Loke Uei Tan said the team "couldn't complete the interface on Windows Mobile 6.5" due to time constraints. Microsoft spent about 8 or 9 months developing Windows Mobile 6.5, and the emphasis wasn't really on the UI.
This isn't to say that Windows Mobile 6.5 will be completely unusable. It is a complete operating system. It's just that some of the new UI elements haven't been updated. So while there's a new program launcher and home page, large portions of the Windows Mobile 6.5 user interface will look a lot like Windows Mobile 6.1.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Victor Agreda Jr said 1:34PM on 5-14-2009
iPhone OS was terribly unfinished when Apple launched (a couple of years ago, ahem) but that didn't stop them. Microsoft is in a bad spot having to finish up better than they did with Vista (if you look how far it fell from Longhorn's initial promises) but with a MobileOS yet again tied to legacy stuff.
Apple had an advantage starting from nothing and working forward -- but I still think much of their UI is unfinished as well. Anyone who has juggled more than 20 apps on their machine will attest to this.
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What the Frack?! said 1:34PM on 5-14-2009
What Microsoft product has been complete lately?
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Dan said 1:34PM on 5-14-2009
LOL - Good point.
burnblue said 1:34PM on 5-14-2009
Seriously? That's not a serious question, right?
Todd said 1:34PM on 5-14-2009
"...the emphasis wasn't really on the UI."
When has any Microsoft product's emphasis *ever* been on the UI? Or the user experience for that matter. Enforcement of outmoded seat licenses and developer fees is their only emphasis.
"Just ship it, who cares if it works!"
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typoink said 3:48PM on 5-14-2009
Microsoft has done some excellent UI work lately. Win7's UI is largely excellent. Office 2007's UI is excellent (some quibbles notwithstanding). The Zune has a great UI, both on the software and the device. The XBox has a good UI. Their entire Live services suite has a pretty solid UI (although hotmail's web interface needs a few tweaks to compete with gmail).
Heck, the only "big deal" MS products I can name that have bad UIs are IE and WinMo.
hazard said 11:21AM on 5-15-2009
Don't worry Todd's an incorrigible Troll and I think popularity of Windows 7 is upsetting the poor little dear.
sitruc said 1:34PM on 5-14-2009
We are talking about 6.5, right? Not 7?
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Notoriousfcp said 11:06AM on 5-15-2009
The thing that really gets me is that - when it comes right down to it - Windows Mobile blows. It sucks. It's just very, very poor.
Now, I make the best of the situation by taking advantage of the insanely amazing work that various people do in creating significantly enhanced ROMs available at PPCGeeks and other sites. But that great work notwithstanding, their enhancements only go so far - optimized registry settings, better menus, updated drivers and themes. The bottom line is that their work, as great as it is, doesn't go deep enough into the Windows Mobile experience to really offset fundamental design and usability problems. What did Beavis say? I think it was "You can't polish a turd," which is spot-on in this situation.
The ultimate condemnation here is that it wouldn't be hard to radically improve Windows Mobile. If you look at what the ROM chefs are able to do, or the folks at Pointui or SPB software, it is totally within the realm of reason to envision and execute a comprehensive redesign of the user experience (ui, interaction models, etc.) so that from start to finish, it wouldn't blow. Granted, this doesn't touch on the back-end problems with Windows Mobile, but those are honestly less apparent to most end users and can wait a little longer.
Now, I don't have any faith that Microsoft has the vision or the talent in-house to fix Windows Mobile themselves. So spend some of that money you have in the bank, Ballmer, and acquire a company who can polish that turd effectively. I dare you.
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sitruc said 10:06PM on 5-15-2009
Have you used any of the 6.5 roms or even 6.1? I eagerly await final 6.5 builds. I thought 6.1 was a great update to 6 and 6.5 is continuing the trend. As I alluded to before... there is a difference between an update and an entirely new version. 6.5 is an update of 6.0 following the 6.1 changes. Windows Mobile 7 will see greater changes to the UI and even more beneath the UI. You may want to look into 7 and what 6.5 is addressing(other than giving the market an update) before putting it down too much. It's a powerful little OS and you fail to say what it is poor at or fails at. Plus, as you said, it can be skinned and customized down to the registry unlike any other mobile OS.
jason.paul111 said 5:21AM on 10-08-2009
Can anyone suggest windows mobile backup solution for this new version?
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angella.smith123 said 6:56AM on 7-17-2009
I have just switched to www.backupandshare.com for windows mobile backup. Happy with it so far. I can take backup for version 5.0 also
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