Bill Gates doesn’t think his company has been slow to crack the cell phone market. He just thinks the little devices have yet to catch up to the power of his company’s software. Windows Mobile 5 was announced today, image gallery, webcast and Bluetooth tools PR. Dell and HP announced upgrades for their PDA models to the latest version of the Windows Mobile OS.
Gates sees big dollars in little devices: Targets Phones
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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He just thinks the little devices have yet to catch up to the power of his company’s software.
🙂 Like always.
Should’ve said: to the power his company’s software require.
Q. How many Excel Tech Support technicians does it take to change a light bulb?
A. One – But only if “light bulbs” can be found in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.
Could the focus on mobile phones be a tactic used to divert attention from Longhorn? Is Gates saying “sure it’s crap but OSes are no longer important, at least on PCs.”
Listen…
M$ would like to have devices everywhere, especially the home… think XBox. Phones and media devices will be enabled to use the XBox because the XBox will be the media hub of the home. Software and the OS will be rented as a service (like the cable and phone companies). M$ will be the world’s service provider… and we will pay and pay and pay…
While politicians and businessmen think quarterly thoughts, some magnates plan for the next 50 or so years.
As humans we are so short sighted…
all IMHO, of course – but, mark my words.
Jb
Microsoft’s competitors just don’t get it do they, even after twenty plus years of history in the PC industry?
You never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever license Microsoft’s technology or software from them. It’s IBM and DOS over again. What happens when Nokia and operators become totally dependant on Windows Media or Nokia, Blackberry and their customers become totally dependant on Exchange? Microsoft squeezes them until they go out of business and only Windows Mobile and Mobile Outlook and Exchange are left. What do you have to do to get through to these people? Key comment:
Take our media formats–we’ve been licensing those to everyone in sight. Having some of the key technologies be available elsewhere drives those scenarios to critical mass. What the Windows Mobile team does then is make sure they’ve got the best implementation.
He got everything right here apart from the best implementation bit – it makes it sound as though they’re competing. When these formats have reached critical mass they will make sure they only work well, or at all, with Windows Mobile.
Gates’ interviews are always a bit rich to take, but you do pick up some interesting titbits:
There’s quite a bit of things we’ve done, both in terms of letting operators set up authentication the way they want to and also making sure that the code that gets run on the phone is authorized code. That involves code signing and having the control there, so only the things they decide are going to be on that phone are on the phone.
Well, at least we know what .Net and the concept of the CLR is for now. You put that together with any rights management chicanery that Microsoft comes up with in the future and it could put them in a pretty dominant, and pretty much unchallengable, position.
Hey. I do not see any great new features in this os.
And the opensource community are still WORKING, and they have done great Gnu/Linux distrubutions for handhelds.
So why, aren’t these good enough? I think oss systems is quite good – probarly much better, than this os from Microsoft.
For example familiar project, they have much functionality like this Microsoft os for handhelds – and probarly more..so
I don’t really don’t get the point of what great thing Microsoft have done here?
The familiar project:
http://familiar.handhelds.org/
Some screenies of various Gnu/Linux distros for handhelds:
http://gpe.handhelds.org/albums/album01/html_cgi_fn_port_13643.png
http://gpe.handhelds.org/albums/album01/port_8470.png
http://gpe.handhelds.org/albums/album01/port_7022.png
But will my oven one day run solitare so I don’t have to leave the kitchen…ever!
“Nokia and operators become totally dependant on Windows Media or Nokia, Blackberry and their customers become totally dependant on Exchange?”
Hrmm…We had for not long time in our school a speech from an programmer at a company named UIQ…(ronneby in sweden).
UIQ Creates gui’s and new widgets and functions to these held devices.
And they are a daughter company to SymbianOS…
and Nokia are partners with SymbianOS and their daughter companies…so I do not think nokia will become dependent.
I read in a article for a while ago, I think it was an announcement about this at osnews. It was talking about Microsoft to become more open…and that could maybe lead to at future showoff of the WM* codecs. So…Why whould operators become independent on Microsoft? I think it’s not a big chance
M$ would like to have devices everywhere, especially the home… think XBox. Phones and media devices will be enabled to use the XBox because the XBox will be the media hub of the home. Software and the OS will be rented as a service (like the cable and phone companies). M$ will be the world’s service provider… and we will pay and pay and pay…
—————————————————
Yea, shame on them for trying to expand to new areas. What kindof stupid business would want to make money? Its madness!
Seriously, this is a smart move for Microsoft. They are branching out now to make sure they are there for the future rather than waiting until Windows doesnt bring in the cash anymore to make the change. Even the most anti MS zealot has to understand this is being smart businesswise.
and Nokia are partners with SymbianOS and their daughter companies…so I do not think nokia will become dependent.
If they’re licensing stuff like Windows Media then they certainly will be.
Microsoft doesn’t give a toss about companies such as UIQ. They can be turned into Microsoft Certified Partners quite easily. These companies literally mean nothing, and can run tail overnight.
It was talking about Microsoft to become more open…and that could maybe lead to at future showoff of the WM* codecs.
They like to look as if they’re being more open – it’s a current strategy. They’re not.
So…Why whould operators become independent on Microsoft? I think it’s not a big chance
Hence, my one born every minute subject. They become dependant on Microsoft by licensing their technology, and then becoming dependant on that technology. If they’re relying on Exchange for mail, and they’re relying on Microsoft’s goodwill to work with Exchange, and if they and their customers are relying on Windows Media continuing to be licensed then they’re screwed.
It gives Microsoft an excellent foothold into Nokia’s market, and a certain amount of control, that they wouldn’t otherwise have had.
I don’t think you get the hang of this either.
Blunder.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/_assets/images/press/customi…
Matt
Microsoft Certified Partners?
I do not think UIQ want to share their blood with Microsoft..
they do have a nice relationship already – they live in symbios with SymbianOS
There is just no reason for a cell phone to run Windows. I hope it’s just a Windows labelled product, and not actual Windows code.
I can’t even imagine that fifty years from now I would need windowing technology in my phone. Let’s keep it simple! And small. Phones are downsizing, not getting 20″ displays.
Now I can imagine that future phones might use voice recognition technology, but that ain’t Windows.
AMIGA partnered with Microsoft quite awhile back, in a deal related to smart phones and tiny devices–shades reminiscent of when Microsoft first partnered with IBM (i.e., the successor/heir going first to the beast).
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2002/dec02/12-18pocketp…
(remember: Microsoft’s first version of Windows was a disaster. The company stumbled, took awhile, then took off.)
–EyeAm
“History is going to repeat”
Imagine having to build in an extra processor just to run all the bunk in the ‘lite’ os Microsoft is going to incorporate.
I can never buy a phone driven by Microsoft software. Totally and Absolutely unreliable.
Imagine entering your business partner’s phone numbers in there and then have some schmuck just jack your data through a virus.
The only thing I want to do with my phone is to make phone calls. Everything else it does is too much and makes the device a liability.
How many phones are lost/forgotten/stolen every year?
Can the Microsoft Bluetooth stack replace the Widcomm one?
“Gates sees big dollars in little devices”
Microsoft always is late
But they are rather good in catching up…
You have no idea what you are talking about do you?
You Linux Zealots just don’t get the big picture and the fact that Symbian OS+ UIQ has become FAR MORE UNSTABLE than Windows Mobile currently is, but unlike my Windows Mobile device that has dedicated reset button, the Symbian phone has no such a option, YOU’LL HAVE TO REPLACE THE BATTERY to reset the phone.
The only thing they are catching on with now is the market share, the first “smartphone” was made with a Microsoft OS and it was technologically far superior to most phones even today. Symbian has been playing catch-up with Microsoft’s features.
And btw Linux for PDAs is HORRIBE and does not fit mobile usage. But ofcourse linux users want to have terminal on the go so they appear to be leet geeks
🙂
I don’t wanna see blue screen on my cell phone….nooooooo….