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Microsoft to Attack RIM with Magneto
An anonymous reader writes "At this week's Mobile and Embedded DevCon (MEDC) in Las Vegas, it's anticipated that Microsoft will finally unveil 'Magneto', widely expected to be dubbed Windows Mobile 2005. Magneto is rumored to merge the Pocket PC and Smartphone versions of Windows Mobile into a single platform that combines smartphone and PDA capabilities. Consistent with that strategy, Pocket Office will reportedly be renamed Office Mobile, with other key apps similarly redesignated Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, PowerPoint Mobile, and Outlook Mobile."
So they renamed their products...wow. What, is this supposed to make them "cooler"?
They're using an old X-Men villain to fight RIM?
I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
Professor X unavailable for comment.
And tomorrow the stock exchange will be the human race
Microsoft to Attack RIM with Magneto
looks like RIM will have to call upon the assistance of the Xmen!
X-Men jokes go here.
is whether or not with the new portable device, you'll be able to manipulate magnetic fields
Maybe I should have known that but I didn't..
can they trust him?
So will Linux release mobile "Professor X", only to have the two OS's mutant API's do battle to save or destory mankind?
Office mobile... because paper clips should be able to piss you off no matter where you are.
Blackberry is a great product. Not quite mainstream enough to be interesting to the 'big boys'. RIM isn't big enough to fight off Microsoft. If Microsoft decides to take a loss on this for a while then RIM is toast just like WordPerfect and Lotus.
Too bad. RIM just got through fighting, losing and paying for a patent law suit. Yet, I don't think all the patents in the world will protect them from Microsoft.
...the submitter could come up with about this new version was that they changed the name of Pocket Office to Office Mobile?
:)
Well, at least it continues the travesty that is PocketPC in good fashion
...Stan Lee sues Microsoft.
Circumcision is child abuse.
This is a good thing, since it will bring more devices to the market Familiar runs on. At least I hope so.
Life is just nature's way of keeping meat fresh.
Marvel sued WWF/E for using "Hulk" in Hulk Hogan and won.
I can not help but wonder if they have TMed "Magneto" too.
I've been waiting for MS to merge the Pocket PC and Smartphone versions of Windows Mobile for a while. Having used Dell's Axim x50v, I have to say that it is a great (and relatively inexpensive) PDA. It is very fast, has a large screen and offers many expansion choices. Also, it runs a ton of WinCE apps. One major drawback - it lasts only a fraction of time compared to an average cell phone. However, if "Magneto" (ok, the name is cheesy) were to add a "hibernate" funtion which wakes PDA up on incoming phone call, that would really make battery last *much* longer (so you don't need to keep it on to receive calls). I think that MS is in a good strategic position to take on RIM because it recently became the #1 PDA OS shipped. http://www.physorg.com/news4003.html
"You mortals are so obtuse." -Q
... Trying to resist making a smutty joke about Microsoft attacking Rims...
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
Shut the fuck up already. Every cellphone-related story has a few idiots like you bitching about modern technology, while ignoring the fact that every major phone manufacturer has an extensive lineup of budget phones with black&white or greyscale screens and almost no extra (useless) features. They aren't going to turn into Windows Mobile smartphones overnight. Go buy a $60 new phone and quit complaining.
is Blue Screen Mobile(tm) also included?
My job is at a Blackberry/Domino/SUSE site but we have to run a Win2003/Domino server for Blackberry Enterprise Server.
We run Domino because Exchange vulnerabilities are plenty scary and we don't want Active Directory either.
Time for Blackberry to help us retire that box!
My i600 currently is running Smartphone 2003. Being that it packs some beefy hardware for a phone (I ran the orginal Quake on it), I'm curious to know if MS will provide Verizon with an upgrade for users.
For the record, Smartphone 2003 was always sluggish and would crash. However, when I turned off the sound effects on the phone, all these issues went away and found it to be much more responsive. I suspect the media player components and/or codec is bugged. I hope the 2005 version provide major improvements in the GUI and sound effect response.
Life is not for the lazy.
I wonder ... some things have managed to make a very strong market share out of something or invention that was not understood, or had shaky legal basis in the past. Like was said here, what is the market (in units) for PDA's? What is the market for hand-size mobile computing?
There are several companies out there that keep hammering away at this market (even though it is not very big or profitable) and eventually, we will all become unimpressed with phones that don't have calendars, address books, do text messaging etc.
I guess that my point is this: does anyone see where this is going? Can anyone accurately predict what protocols, air interfaces, and file format standards will end up winning in this (now) mobile free for all?
I predict that the sheer size and market control that M$ has will play more than a significant role in this. To the point that I think anti-trust laws should be used to address anything M$ becomes involved in.... more or less. Not that I have any real fear that Excel will become a useful mobile application anytime before Cray starts making PDAs'
There are currently so many competing wireless interfaces and protocols, I don't see how anyone getting into the game can imagine they will make money unless they believe that they will be able to manhandle the market place and simply be able to metaphorically bludgeon the competition to death.
RIM started small, and with what I think was a sound business model. As they make their move into the more consumer oriented marketplace, it is a shame that they will have to fight M$ just to get in the game...
My real fear is that in the future you won't be able to get a phone without windozeXX on it, or be able to use any air interface not supported by M$ pocket-mobile-crap software.
I know that sounds a little defeatist, but I don't see any strong competition to M$... sigh
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Go University of Waterloo. Nuff said.
"Old man yells at systemd"
Well I was talking last night .
.
.
. .
Magneto and titanium man . .
We were talking about you, babe,
Oo --- they said ---
You were involved in a robbery
That was due to happen
At a quarter to three
In the main street.
I didn?t believe them
Magneto and titanium man . .
But when the crimson dynamo
Finally assured me, well, I knew
You were involved in a robbery
That was due to happen
At a quarter to three
In the main street.
So we went out
Magneto and titanium man . .
And the crimson dynamo
Came along for the ride
We went to town with the library
And we swung all over that
Long tall bank in the main street
Well there she were and to my despair
She?s a five-star criminal
Breaking the code
Magneto said now the time come
To gather our forces and run!!!
Oh no . . . . .
This can?t be so . . . . .
And then it occurred to me!
You couldn?t be bad
Magneto was mad!
Titanium too!
And the crimson dynamo
Just couldn?t cut it no more
You were the law . . . . . .
...more names, just like they snagged "windows" as a trademarked name, even though there were windows before they used it? Now they own "mobile"? Just great....
You shut the fuck up. I'm also of the camp that beleaves that a phone is, and should remain, a phone.
Listen, the simple fact is that unless a new interface is brought out that changes how we can use our phones, then 'features' such as 3g will remain expensive white elephants.
We've had video phones in the uk for years now, and no one uses them. Yet we are still pitched the service by dogged companies who's managment cannot accept or admit that they spent billions on dead in the water lisences.
Uhh... the vast--vast--majority of phones on the market are not smartphones. The majority of smartphones sold are not MS-powered. MS actually have a fairly small segment of the cell phone market. Most people use Palm or RIM devices. So you can chill out, dude. It's all okay.
If magnets can kill your hard drives and monitors, just think about what he could do to them...
Goo goo g'joob.
So what's the difference between Windows CE.. Windows Mobile and Windows Pocket Edition?
They attack their rims with magnets? Do MS have magnetic shit or something? I'll use toilet paper thanks.
For those of you wondering if MS should be sued over the name "Magneto". 1. there's no confusion between a character named Magneto and software named Magneto 2. it's a freak'n code name, not the release product name
Is there any remote chance that you will be able to upgrade from Windows Mobile 2003? If not, then it'll be a long time before large numbers of people actually start using this.
Every time you post an article on Slashdot, I kill a server. Think of the servers!
Maybe I'm tired or something, but I still don't get why Microsoft would be attacking research in motion, what that means, or why we should care either way. Is RIM a company that makes some competing tech.? Is it another name for the conference? The possibilities probably go on for a while...
If you haven't gotten rid of your floppies by now, better do it before you boot up Magneto. Erase-day is coming.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
but it'll be a cold day in hell before I rely on Windows to deliver those things.
Are we now going to see Sobig.Mobile?
To be ever so slightly serious, Windows Mobile as a smartphone platform isn't really too bad, wspecially when you're already in a Windows shop. I just deployed some of the Verizon/Audiovox 6600 phones for a client of mine that runs MS SBS 2003 as their server platform (a small accounting firm), and they absolutely love them. The phones are a little bulky, but phone performance is good, data performance and mobile sync work very well, and it only took me a little while to set them up with the server. And they work pretty simply, with decent battery life as phones.
I wouldn't replace my Sony Ericsson T637 with anything in the current generation (particularly because I use iSync), but when you want your PDA and your cellphone to be in the same device Microsoft is doing a decent job of it.
Even though it pains me to say that about them - but once in a while Microsoft pretty much Gets It Right with a product. The PocketPC OS is pretty good, Mac Office is very nice (except for the monolithic database file Entourage uses), and SBS 2003 is pretty good for the smaller company with limited Internet exposure.
And odds are that the new PocketPC/Windows Mobile 2005 won't suck.
-- Josh Turiel
"2. Do not eat iPod Shuffle."
It is the worst operating system I have ever encountered. For example, when you click on the close button, programs do not actually close. They just minimize. To close a program, you need to reset the handheld or go to the memory management tool in settings and force them to quit. This is ridiculous. Also, if things don't have the right extension, they won't open period.
Even though Microsoft has tons of money to spend, I think they will have a tough time beating the Blackberry.
... Sorry :)
I always thought PocketPC was kind of bloated, and suffered poor battery life mostly because Microsoft doesn't manufacture or develop the hardware as well.
However, RIM develops both the hardware and software ( with some minor exceptions ) and this makes it easier to make things efficient and more reliable. It's also the clean interface, you've got icons, a thumbpad and a trackwheel, I don't deed a bloody fingerprint scanner, or 3D acceleration to keep up with my daily schedule. This simplicity is what helped the low-end palm devices and the iPods sell very well.
The only weakness I see for RIM is MS Exchange. The Blackberry Enterprise Server(BES) works with the MS Exchange server to keep things in sync. I don't know if it would be legal for Microsoft to do this, but if Exchange suddenly refused to stop working with the BES, it might spell trouble for RIM.
Being a University of Waterloo student, I myself am rooting for RIM as they're a Canadian company and they're set up right next to campus.
I just hope the developers there get to keep their RIM-jobs.
This is exactly why I'm not interested in the Motorola MPX. (which incidentally is a similar thing, out for half a year, plus it is a very innovative CLAMSHELL design which I much prefer in a device with a sensitive touchscreen.
Sounds familiar, MS allows their lunch to be eaten for years then steps in claiming innovation.
"...and yet, I blame society" Duke - Repo Man
every major phone manufacturer has an extensive lineup of budget phones with black&white or greyscale screens and almost no extra (useless) features
Have you tried to find one lately? For your carrier in your area? If you have, then you're probably outside the market Microsoft's primarily targeting, because as far as I know only Amerika has such a messed up telecom industry.
Microsoft may prevent Symbian OS from becoming a monoculture or at least put some competitive pressure. Left by itself Symbian can become closed and developer unfriendly.
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
Blackberries only work with Microsoft Email products. RIM has explicitly refused to work with Linux servers. Please DO correct me if this has changed recently, as this has been a major impediment towards moving to a Linux-only shop. The Marketing and Sales guys always insist on having their Blackberries, and that in turn requires a Windows server.
Perhaps now that Microsoft is jumping into RIM's turf, RIM will realize their screwup here, and start adding support for Linux servers.
This would be great, in that a number of companies I know of could ditch the last reason they have for using any Microsoft servers (and paying through the nose for them, I might add).
The best way to predict the future is to create it. - Peter Drucker.
Cool. I can refuse to help set-up e-mail on yet another unsupported handheld and console the Blackberry people with the line, "well, it's not just you, we don't support the Microsoft mobile devices either..."
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
I would like to get a RIM: small keyboard, easy to type notes, addresses, to do lists on, etc.
The problem is the cost. The devices cost the companies that buy them from RIM hundreds must be expensive to buy. A company I work for buys them close to the selling cost, in the hopes of recuperating the cost on service plans. So the units are still around $500 to $600 CAN. And you have to sign up for a 3-year plan.
I think RIM needs to do higher volume on residential, non-business sales to survive.
If MS enters the market I can see a few things:
1) Either RIM lowers the price drastically, or, if they're lucky MS will price itself out of the market. Otherwise, its sink or swim with the 800 lb Gorilla. (Yes, comparison to Ballmer being made!).
2) MS continues vendor lock-in. Good luck getting this to work on OS X or Linux.
I hope RIM innovates and doesn't die. Its a really cool, profitable Canadian high-tech company.
Now if they could only make the bundled apps (Pocket Whatever) actually useful. Thus far, I have had to purchase replacements for the crap versions. Of course, I'm still waiting on Minimo.
I'm trying to get it, but am failling miserably.
Pretty Pictures!
...quote Lee as saying "Fuck you, true believer!" to the billionaire CEO.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
So now MS is moving into the bicycle lighting business sector.
I can't say that I understand their self motivation, but then again, this is just the start of the product cycle and they have to gear up to be competitive.
This is the Motorola MPX: http://reviews.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/handhelds/0,39 023880,39164765,00.htm
I'm surprised nobody's put this link here yet but... http://www.mobile-review.com/pda/articles/wm2005-m agneto-en.shtml
This is a link to a preview of a Magneto beta build.
You can also download it for the XDA 2 [HTC Blue Angel] at http://forum.xda-developers.com/
Have fun!
The key reason why RIM has been so successful is because of their network architecture. RIM has the capability to trickle emails down to a device. Since the device is always connected to the network they have the ability to constantly receive these messages. The way the PocketPC devices are built they are not meant to be always connected to a network and if you did you would likely only get about 4-6 hours battery life. When you compare that to > one week for a RIM device there is no comparison.
I do like that Microsoft is making an alternative to the BlackBerry, I do not think that they will be much competition for RIM unless they build a network architecture like RIM's and they look into the battery life issues.
Adventure City Tours
- Some nasty Samsung phone back in the mid-90s
- A Nokia 5190 (for which I had a faceplate that matched my indigo iBook G3, the toilet seat edition)
- A Nokia 8290, still one of my favorite phones ever
- A Nokia 3390, which I never really liked (too big)
- Another 8290...
- An Ericsson T28 Worldphone (hands-down worst UI I've ever seen on a phone, but at least I could make calls from Italy on it)
- A 1st gen Danger Sidekick (actually, I had four of them... They kept dying on me)
- A Motorola Mpx200 running Smartphone 2002
- An Audiovox SMT 5600 (aka Typhoon) running Windows Mobile 2003
And I've never been happier with any phone than I am with the SMT 5600. It's fast, stable, and feature-rich. It's totally changed my perspective on how I interact with my phone, since I am now completely dependent on it for reading new emails and finding out where my next meeting is, instead of having to yank out my laptop and pop into Outlook. I think for a lot of users it's overkill, but in the corporate environment it literally changes the way you interact with business information. I love it, and it will only be replaced by another Windows Mobile phone someday.That said, I am pretty envious of the visual styling on the Moto Razr; those things are incredibly cool. But being able to sync to an Exchange server, and write C#-based managed applications in Visual Studio 2005 for my phone are totally killer features in my book.
I'm really looking forward to the day when I can just keep my music on my phone, or stream it over the network via gprs, instead of having to keep my iPod on me at all times.
And yes, I do work for Microsoft. And I do work on Visual Studio, so take my words with whatever grain (or grains) of salt you feel necessary. That said, I really do feel like the products we have in the marketplace today in this space are really cool, and well-worth looking into, especially since Cingular decided to keep carrying the SMT 5600 after their ATT merger.
No, but I used to work for Microsoft.
Well, any article about RIM recalls the prank called RIM Job :)
In other news marvel comics creates a new xmen by the name of longhorn. but i dont really wanna know was his superpower is thanks.
Can everyone shut the fuck up and compromise? With a single flash card, all the memory a phone would ever need to expand to all the functions you could ever download would be a snap. No card, just simple texting, simple dialing, simple text phone book, that's it. Like the cheap Panasonics that AT&T gave as their free phone not long ago. You power up with the memory card in and you get all the features you can pack into it.
Why is it so hard to give us something that works like a PC whether Windows OR Linux?: a phone that only does what we install and nothing more.
If my grammar and spelling are off, I am [distracted/tired/careless] (take your pick)
Now, we don't have to argue about it anymore--they are telling us themselves that they are after world domination through villainy.
I like Bluetooth. That's a useful feature. That's the only recent feature that I like. If I could have the phone I had 7 years ago + bluetooth, I'd be happy.
Video phones are a joke, as are the 3G data services. Have you seen the price for datacards? £170 for the card + £10/month to get 7mb. Compare it to hotspots, and it's rubbish.
Remember videophones were marketed "watch premiership goals". Like there's millions of people who will pay to watch goals on a tiny screen when they can go home and watch Match of the Day for nothing.
I know one guy with a videophone and he got it because it worked out as a great deal for... voice calls.
perhaps the reason there are so many models of phones on the market is because people want different things!
Well *I* thought it was funny.
Good name for a haX0r: Crash Mobile. Not to be confused with Crash Valdez, an alcoholically skippered wayward ship of Exxon Mobile.
And while I'm on the subject of idiocy, just while exactly do we care how the microbrains have renamed their pathetic excuse for software? I am reminded of the press release from Parmount jacking the fact that the Vulcan woman had a new costume.
Next we're gonna hear that war is peace and freedom is slavery. Oh, right...
"Is this Winkhorst a nova criminal?" "No just a technical sergeant wanted for interrogation."
There are a lot of technolgies that are before there time, and high speed digital cellular networking is one.
The missing link is a secure, high performance, easy to use personal network that will link all your devices together. Nobody will ever want to stream a movie to a friggen cell phone, except as a novely. To your laptop, or a home entertainment system, that's a differnt story.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Maybe the new magneto product will work like that handheld device in Quantum Leap (Dean Stockwell's character used it). It never quite worked right, you had to smack it around a lot to get it to do anything and sometimes crashed. Didn't realize it was probably a Microsoft product at the time.
nope, box singular. Only one BES for now, 2 x clustered Domino/Linux boxes dedicated to mail/calendar.
I really, really did on April 1st, but unfortunately for all of us... April Fools! (note the disclaimer at the bottom)
No, but I used to work for Microsoft.
Everyone who buys a new device will have to use the new version right away, sending last years models to an early obsolesence grave. Thus fragmenting the user base into more incompatible segments than there already are. Palm, on the other hand, has very good backwards compatibility in PalmOS (except for multimedia functions), unlike WinCE.
The Phone and PDA will merge; all your points will be addressed.
However it is useful to be able to use a camera once in a while, since it's more likely that I have the phone with me as opposed to a standalone digital photo camera. I treat it as a free add-on that I may use as I please.
I don't use SMS either. I disabled most of it already, it's easy. But if I want to create a small todo item, I can. Or I can create a voice memo, I use that too.
Basically, it's the same as with cheap motherboards (as it was discussed on /. yesterday or so.) You buy mainstream products because they cost less. In case of PM-8200, it may cost a bit more than other phones (depends on what deal you get) but it's a good phone on its own, and it's worth some investment. Or you can go with free, there are many of those still.
With Windows, though, the phone makers will be mostly concerned about performance vs. power consumption. My phone needs charging once a week, assuming that you use it a couple times per day. If a Windows phone needs daily charging, or if it weighs 8 oz. for example, this will be a serious impediment. The market will decide. And if MS manages to make it half-decent, for a change, good for them.
Why is it taking so long for Phones, PDA and Pagers to merge ?
We've seen these devices in sci-fi for decades, we've had the seperate technologies for years.
I reckon the problem is with mobile telcos, they don't like to leap forward with tech until they have wrung the last cent out of users and screwed early adopters.
If they just charged for data instaed of voice/data/sms etc, we would move along much faster.
The future is late as usual.
...I just want a fucking ordinary phone...my cell provider doesn't give that option...
Seeing as a "regular ordinary" phone plugs into a wall and uses pulse dialing, I don't think that the cell company could help much even if they wanted to. Be happy that you can talk without a cord and stop complaining. If you don't like the extra features don't use them.
Are they still working out the kinks to change to command line batch files back to the predecessor of cmd..... so they can have the Bat Mobile.
It's bloody inspirational, and I thank you for it. I'm going to have a customized sales centre up in no time. Weekend, here I come!
I don't think you're being sarcastic, but I can't entirely tell with the *asterisks* around certain words there... Seriously, though, don't thank me, thank the awesome Devices team we have. Those guys kick ass (both in software development, and in Halo :-).
No, but I used to work for Microsoft.
Based on my past experience with running PocketPC software, Mr Freeze might be a better codename.
Of course, that would mean switching to the Batman world. If we're staying with X-Men, then the Iceman could substitute.
(Not really trying to troll. I use my iPAQ every day. It's just the apps I use have a habit of leaking memory and needing a soft reset with the stylus fairly frequently.)
Guys, Guys, look at us. We never used to be like this, fighting, bickering...
Shut up, you! This is Slashdot!
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
Blackberry, at least from the Enterprise perspective has a number of advantages that Magneto is going to have to copy or it's not going to work. I work for a large enterprise company so I know whereof I speak here.
Firstly there's the fact that Blackberry is a push technology. Current PocketPC variants have been pull variety email clients. The only exception to this has been the SMS messaging in Smartphone. I hope this will change to allow push messaging for email as well or else this will all be for nowt.
Secondly, the kill command. One of the best features from an administrative perspective in the Enterprise is the ability to remotely kill a device. For the uninitiated, if a RIM device is stolen, then in order to protect potentially sensitive Corporate data, the administrator can send a Kill command to the device which will basicallly wipe it clean. If this feature doesn't exist in the next version of Exchange / Magneto Integration then the Enterprise will ignore it. I know my company will... and since we're one of the largest Enterprises in the world...
I just hope Microsoft realizes that it's going to take more than a flashy interface and a few "gee whiz" features to make it in the Corporate world. Although we have Microsoft software all over the place, we're not dogmatic about it.