Comments | wintrmute: A ramble about mobile phones

wintrmute

A ramble about mobile phones

Oct 25, 2007 01:03

I saw this article on Microsoft claims Windows Mobile(WinCE) will rule the mobile world and oh, I wish I could laugh. I HAVE one of these unfortunate and devices, and every day I rue it's very being. I've had two, in fact ( Read more... )

mobile, phones, telephony, technology

Comments 6

jackrivet October 24 2007, 17:00:25 UTC

I doubt I'm the first to spot this, but I find it a little weird that Microsoft would willingly brand their mobile operating system something that can be contracted to an expression of pain.

(I know that WinCE is only colloquial, but I'm pretty sure that if Lexicon Branding was paid millions to rename a mobile device previously called The StrawBerry, then somebody should have been paid enough to spot the WinCE coming).

wintrmute October 24 2007, 23:30:00 UTC

Windows Compact Edition.. Yeah, you do have to wonder.
Then again, they DID re-brand it as Windows Mobile(TM) after a few years.. It's just I'm still referring to it by the original name, since it's the best description of how one responds to using it.

feanelwa October 26 2007, 17:11:43 UTC

I was about to point that out too...

At the risk of being an arse... h_u_m_p_y October 25 2007, 15:09:12 UTC

... if you hate them that much, why did you get a second one?

(Stephen Fry had a thoroughly engaging blog about phones/PDAs recently, which I'm sure you could google faster than I could type the URL)

Re: At the risk of being an arse... wintrmute October 25 2007, 15:14:59 UTC

I wonder that myself quite a lot too.

The first one was terrible, but I'd heard they'd fixed a bunch of things up in the newer one, and I was due for a phone upgrade anyway..

It turned out they had fixed a couple of the particularly stupid things WinCE did, like the way it would effectively reformat the entire device if you ever let the battery go flat.. but there were still loads of stupid things remaining.. like the way it always loses the cursor focus at the most inopportune times.. or the way it insists on waking from sleep every minute to tell you that the battery is almost flat (hence you wanting it to stay in sleep mode, damnit)

The Appliances hairyears October 28 2007, 18:52:14 UTC

Wait 'til you see the WinCE SDK and try developing apps for it. There is a reason there are no usable apps for it: talented developers up sticks and go whenever they are ordered to do stuff that's utter crap and kludges from it's very inception.

Also, it's impossible to do small applications for WinCE, and unworkable to adapt larger ones - have you seen the godawful mess that is Mobile Office? WHich kinda kills the 'killer app' on a mobile platform.

Waiting for Linux is the way to go.