Microsoft Says Your Phone is Your Next PC

eldavojohn writes "While other companies are marrying the obvious functionalities to cell phones (calendar, MP3 player, GPS, etc.), Microsoft is aiming for it to be your next computer. Microsoft Research chief Craig Mundie said that, "Microsoft has a research project called 'Fone+' that would allow the phone to work with a TV as a secondary display, and one that could allow video stored on the device to be played back on the television.""

Comments

More?

[growse]

Given their spectacular foray into the MP3 player market, and the hideous mess that is Windows Mobile, I wonder exactly what more plans they have for markets they "don't really get"....

Gee..

[thestudio_bob]

Gee, how inovative. He announces the next big thing 4 months after Steve Jobs demos one.

Re:Gee..

[Darth Cider]

You said it right. Ballmer sez the iPhone is nuthin, then MS announces this original(TM) idea. How ridiculous! Don't they have any shame? They have NO innovative ideas and could not mortgage all their stock to come up with even ONE original idea. Jobs was right at the Apple board meeting: developing great products is NOT "as easy as writing a check." Poor poor pitiful college grads who take a job at Microsoft. No glory, only shame.

Re:Gee..

[MBraynard]

Actually, MS has been ahead of Apple in this market for at least 11 years starting with Windows CE. I've had several of the devices and my HP Ipaq 6945 eclipses the capabilities of any computer I owned until maybe 2000. WM5 is not perfect and has a long way to go, as does the hardware. But unlike Apple's product that you can't buy anywhere and that doesn't have a QUERTY and that doesn't have a the possibility of getting third party developers, WM has had all of that for several years.

Re:Gee..

[policy]

To be fair, if you ever read Bill Gate's book "The road ahead" (I was a naive young man, I know) he actually predicted and discussed a lot of the technology and ideas that we are seeing sprout up. I'm not a Microsoft troll or anything, so don't flame me! I just wanted to point out that there isn't much room for innovation these days due to corporate hierarchies and management issues. Most of these exciting technologies have been on paper and in the minds of visionaries for years, even decades. Thankfully, the big boys are hard at work trying to compete over the "next big thing." Nothing wrong with that! If you want innovation, take a look at the smaller silicon valley companies or startups that are producing the fun and addictive apps you use on a regular basis! :)

Re:Gee..

[BeanThere]

Apple 'underpromises and overdelivers', Microsoft 'overpromises and underdelivers', this is how it pretty much always has been. Microsoft as a general marketing strategy often announce 'hi-tech' vaporware supposedly in the pipeline that never comes about anyway. And it doesn't matter, they don't really mean it, it's just PR to get people talking and to brainwash people into associating 'Microsoft' with 'visionary hi-tech ideas' (even if they are old ideas or someone else's ideas, they have the money to parade them as their own). And most people just don't make the connection when years later all they really get from Microsoft is the same old watered down repackaged-1990s-technology crapware. It's just to make sure that whenever the masses hear about newish ideas, they hear about them in association with their brand name.

Why not use your eggbeater as a windmill?

[dpbsmith]

Why not use your tweezers as a wrench?

Why not use your oboe as a bassoon?

Why not use your sleeve as a handkerchief?

Why not use your car as a truck?

Why not use your PC as a doorstop?

Re:The Phone that runs Windows Vista

[Archangel Michael]

You're dialing (1), cancel or allow?
You're dialing (8), cancel or allow?
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ten minutes later after you actually are talking to someone ....
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WinPhone has downloaded and installed an important security update, please reboot your phone

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Missing WINPHONE.DLL, Please Restart