> I had kept the phone service for when I was traveling. The normal cost was reasonable. I'd just need to charge up the phone the day before, and be on my way. It just happened that during that period I hadn't traveled at all (working from home and all), so since no one could call it, I figured it was silly to even charge it.
I used to work for a carrier. Listening to your story, I have to wonder if your phone got "cloned" and someone else was using it out of your calling area.
What's even worse, with a similar issue at AT&T the guy at the store *pretended* he could help, and kept me standing around for almost an hour while he did a lot of stuff that made no difference whatsoever. I can almost believe that his intention was to wear me down to the point where I'd eat the cost just to get out of there.
Have you noticed that most of the cheaper non-smart phones have a prominent button for "marketplace" or some such WAP service? Just hitting it accidentally can double your bill if you don't have a data plan. (And if you have a cheap flipper, you probably don't have or need a data plan.) This button is usually the only one that can not be remapped or disabled. It is essentially a "PROFIT" button for the carrier.
We bought the unlimited data plan and unlimited texting plan for our daughter's first cell phone on the theory that just one mistake could be many times more expensive than the cost of the plan. We went a long time without surprises, and then one day I got a bill that was an appreciable fraction of a grand. Turns out the carrier had some kind of "ask a question via text" feature, daughter had discovered it, and was using it to help with homework. Had I known, I would have researched it, found how much it cost per question, and shut it down. But the billing cycle is such that you don't know you're in trouble until you're in LOTS of trouble, and I'm certain this is intentional also.
I argued with the carrier for a very long time, going up the chain of command (or just sideways -- you never can tell) and eventually found someone who cared that I was going to take four phones to a competing carrier unless they addressed this. They offered a 50% reduction in the bill and I gritted my teeth and took it. And also made very sure that I was aware of all such "services" and had them all locked out.
The great rank and file -- whom I like to call "Fred and Ethyl", would not know about this stuff until they're nailed by it. Even people who are being careful -- my case -- can still get nailed by "services" of which they are unaware. This goes way beyond disallowing Google Maps on a smartphone so you can charge someone ten bucks a month for the carrier's app. This is like buying a car with Onstar built in and then finding out that it's free to call a red and white ambulance but there's a $10,000 charge if the ambulance is blue and white. It's an arbitrary "gotcha" designed to generate windfalls for the carrier.
To a certain extent, they all do it, but some are worse than others.
In all seriousness, I'm a (reasonably) satisfied Windows XP and Windows 7 (desktop) user. ME was carp and so was Vista, but XP was a win and Windows 7 so far seems like a win. I use XP daily at work and 7 daily at home.
Regarding past Windows Mobile releases, my contention all along has been that the Windows paradigm doesn't work on a phone. It just doesn't. I tried one, for months, and it sucked. There is a completely different set of expectations for a phone. For instance, the expectation for reliability is a lot higher for a phone. This is where the term "dial tone reliability" came from. Having the phone not ring because the audio driver had a problem and had to close, is not acceptable. Ever. For another instance, a smartphone interface isn't a desktop interface only smaller. Putting the "start" button on a PHONE was probably the worst decision Microsoft ever made. Even worse than Bob.
And so, up to now, Windows Mobile has been total pants. I haven't seen Mobile 7 yet. But let's assume it's huge departure from previous versions of Mobile/CE and is a good solid easy-to-use smartphone platform.
It's too LATE, man. It should have come out five years ago. iPhone, Android, and Blackberry have had too much of a head start. You know the first version of Mobile 7 will have some issues, which will eventually be corrected, and won't have a lot of apps, which will eventually be somewhat mitigated. But in the mean time, the other guys are not exactly sitting on their hands. (With the possible exception of Blackberry...) Microsoft dinked around for way too long with a product based on their crufty old WinCE platform which was obsolete even for the time, thinking they could avoid ramp-up time and expense by reusing code, and that was a dreadful mistake from which I do not see them recovering.
So, even though Microsoft may have a good product this time, (I don't know -- I'm assuming for the sake of argument) they will have to rely on the old "more compatible with Windows" arm-twisting to get sales. Guess what -- that isn't a very good argument anymore. Those other companies aren't helmed by idiots -- they know that Outlook synchronization and Office compatibility are key issues. And I think people have been trained by early experiences with WinCE that just because it says "Windows" doesn't mean it's compatible.
That's why I think Microsoft is in big trouble in the mobile field. An early false start based on an inherently crappy platform, staying too long with that platform while better competing products came out, and then realizing their mistake way too late to catch up. And I suspect they will compound that error with the arrogance that we should just shut up and buy it because it's Microsoft, dammit.
Mind you, I disagree with the assertion that failing in the mobile industry will "spell the end to Microsoft". It will do no such thing. They still have a huge amount of market share in the desktop and server arena. If anything, finally acknowledging defeat and dumping the mobile market would free up funds to invest in their core business.
...but, having read TFA, the main issue seems to be that the gas engine will keep the car moving when the batteries go flat, as opposed (I guess...) to waiting on the side of the road until the engine charges the batteries back up.
In any sane world, this would be considered a FEATURE.
The issue seems to be a matter of terminology -- people expect an "electric vehicle" to only be powered by electricity, dammit, and if I'm out of volts my Volt should be out of miles, period. Personally, I don't think I'd ever want to be stuck on the side of the road for the sake of terminology. I must not be the right market for electric cars.
Now, getting 30 MPG when the manufacturer claims 230, that's a different issue. That's like buying a Mustang GT rated at 18 MPG and getting, like, 2. My first thought is "Your honor, we would like to provide a new Chevy Volt equipped with one gallon of gas to the defendant Mr. Akerson and have him demonstrate a travel distance of 230 miles." "Court will recess for one month while the defendant pushes his car to the next state."
>> what do they have to draw people away from Apple, Android, or Blackberry?
> XBox Live integration
Don't have one.
> Windows Live integration
Don't care.
> Office integration
Android and Blackberry have been able to work with word and excel documents for awhile. Can't speak for iphone.
> Free "sync to cloud" and "find my phone"
Android has this.
> ZunePass
Oh my god, are they still even selling that thing?
> Zune software is much better on Windows than iTunes
Debatable, but unimportant. I'd consider zune support to be legacy at best.
> Works better with Windows (which is what most people use... iPhone works better with OS X, so I don't think those people are the target)
Ok, here's where I don't think you know quite what you're talking about.
> I use iPhone on Windows, and I'm very much looking forward to being able to uninstall iTunes and never have to fire up that piece of crap again. And the ZunePass rocks (it's a great deal), and that too is enticing for me.
I won't debate you on itunes -- I consider it a necessary evil. But what it comes down to is, besides syncing with any Apple appliance, itunes will also sync seamlessly with blackberry and android. I don't think zune software can make the same claim.
> For business types (not me), the Office integration might be a draw. I can see that.
I can't. You need to understand -- Blackberry is tightly integrated with Outlook and Office, and doesn't have the usability and reliability issues that Windows Mobile classically has. For serious business types, and not just managers attracted to shiny objects, Blackberry is the platform. Windows 6 didn't have nearly the reliability, simplicity, or usability of BB, and I'd be shocked if they made all that much progress with 7. In the business arena, Blackberry is the true competition for Windows 7. Not Android or eyephoooone.
That said, I currently have an Android phone because of the things (not necessarily work related) that the BB can not do. I pay a small penalty in Outlook integration (no push email, fewer features) but what it does have is good enough for now. I had a Windows Mobile 6 phone for 3 months and couldn't take the daily reboots, periodic hangs, and clunky interface. It would be quite a leap to try Windows Mobile 7.
In contrast, as RIM OS has been practical and useful for many OS iterations, BB users have no reason to try Mobile 7.
iPhone fanbois would sooner pound a roofing nail into their skulls.
Android users enjoy a degree of integration with Office/Outlook that's good enough right now, and getting better as the tools improve -- no need to wait until the next major OS release.
And so, what is the market for Windows 7 Mobile? I see it as: (a) Windows Mobile 6 users who are desperate for anything better than the junk they're using now. (b) Corporate users who's CIO read in a magazine somewhere that Windows Mobile is what you want to support. (c) new wireless users who don't know any better.
No, it takes a very small vector to cause an orbit to decay. The largest expenditure of energy is to get objects up into orbit in the first place. It's like a bucket of water on the top of a door. Hauling the bucket up there is a lot of work. Getting it to fall isn't.
According to the last paragraph of TFA, the "fix" is to put additional umbrellas and plants in the area to provide shade. So the effect should still be demonstrable, but executive's toupes will be less likely to burst into flames.
But besides all that, I've noticed that just about everything you download these days also tries to install (besides Yahoo Toolbar) a free copy of -some-name-brand- Security Scan, which appears to be nothing more than an advertisement for the company's non-free antivirus package. It really seems like the antivirus people are more and more adopting the same business model as the scareware vendors from which they purport to protect us.
I read this at 8:30 AM this morning and my work was nailed around 10:30. They're still cleaning up. The number of people who will click on any link without checking where it's coming from... yeesh.
Slashdot Mirror
> I had kept the phone service for when I was traveling. The normal cost was reasonable. I'd just need to charge up the phone the day before, and be on my way. It just happened that during that period I hadn't traveled at all (working from home and all), so since no one could call it, I figured it was silly to even charge it.
I used to work for a carrier. Listening to your story, I have to wonder if your phone got "cloned" and someone else was using it out of your calling area.
What's even worse, with a similar issue at AT&T the guy at the store *pretended* he could help, and kept me standing around for almost an hour while he did a lot of stuff that made no difference whatsoever. I can almost believe that his intention was to wear me down to the point where I'd eat the cost just to get out of there.
The problem with this, of course, is that the carrier couldn't charge you $1000 if you accidentally hit the WAP button when you set your phone down.
I understand that's a circular argument, but it makes sense to the phone companies.
Sounds like a fanboi. In the case of text messages it's called "Google Chat". There, I fixed it for you.
Have you noticed that most of the cheaper non-smart phones have a prominent button for "marketplace" or some such WAP service? Just hitting it accidentally can double your bill if you don't have a data plan. (And if you have a cheap flipper, you probably don't have or need a data plan.) This button is usually the only one that can not be remapped or disabled. It is essentially a "PROFIT" button for the carrier.
We bought the unlimited data plan and unlimited texting plan for our daughter's first cell phone on the theory that just one mistake could be many times more expensive than the cost of the plan. We went a long time without surprises, and then one day I got a bill that was an appreciable fraction of a grand. Turns out the carrier had some kind of "ask a question via text" feature, daughter had discovered it, and was using it to help with homework. Had I known, I would have researched it, found how much it cost per question, and shut it down. But the billing cycle is such that you don't know you're in trouble until you're in LOTS of trouble, and I'm certain this is intentional also.
I argued with the carrier for a very long time, going up the chain of command (or just sideways -- you never can tell) and eventually found someone who cared that I was going to take four phones to a competing carrier unless they addressed this. They offered a 50% reduction in the bill and I gritted my teeth and took it. And also made very sure that I was aware of all such "services" and had them all locked out.
The great rank and file -- whom I like to call "Fred and Ethyl", would not know about this stuff until they're nailed by it. Even people who are being careful -- my case -- can still get nailed by "services" of which they are unaware. This goes way beyond disallowing Google Maps on a smartphone so you can charge someone ten bucks a month for the carrier's app. This is like buying a car with Onstar built in and then finding out that it's free to call a red and white ambulance but there's a $10,000 charge if the ambulance is blue and white. It's an arbitrary "gotcha" designed to generate windfalls for the carrier.
To a certain extent, they all do it, but some are worse than others.
I think I saw that on The Big Bang Theory. As I recall, it didn't end well.
In all seriousness, I'm a (reasonably) satisfied Windows XP and Windows 7 (desktop) user. ME was carp and so was Vista, but XP was a win and Windows 7 so far seems like a win. I use XP daily at work and 7 daily at home.
Regarding past Windows Mobile releases, my contention all along has been that the Windows paradigm doesn't work on a phone. It just doesn't. I tried one, for months, and it sucked. There is a completely different set of expectations for a phone. For instance, the expectation for reliability is a lot higher for a phone. This is where the term "dial tone reliability" came from. Having the phone not ring because the audio driver had a problem and had to close, is not acceptable. Ever. For another instance, a smartphone interface isn't a desktop interface only smaller. Putting the "start" button on a PHONE was probably the worst decision Microsoft ever made. Even worse than Bob.
And so, up to now, Windows Mobile has been total pants. I haven't seen Mobile 7 yet. But let's assume it's huge departure from previous versions of Mobile/CE and is a good solid easy-to-use smartphone platform.
It's too LATE, man. It should have come out five years ago. iPhone, Android, and Blackberry have had too much of a head start. You know the first version of Mobile 7 will have some issues, which will eventually be corrected, and won't have a lot of apps, which will eventually be somewhat mitigated. But in the mean time, the other guys are not exactly sitting on their hands. (With the possible exception of Blackberry...) Microsoft dinked around for way too long with a product based on their crufty old WinCE platform which was obsolete even for the time, thinking they could avoid ramp-up time and expense by reusing code, and that was a dreadful mistake from which I do not see them recovering.
So, even though Microsoft may have a good product this time, (I don't know -- I'm assuming for the sake of argument) they will have to rely on the old "more compatible with Windows" arm-twisting to get sales. Guess what -- that isn't a very good argument anymore. Those other companies aren't helmed by idiots -- they know that Outlook synchronization and Office compatibility are key issues. And I think people have been trained by early experiences with WinCE that just because it says "Windows" doesn't mean it's compatible.
That's why I think Microsoft is in big trouble in the mobile field. An early false start based on an inherently crappy platform, staying too long with that platform while better competing products came out, and then realizing their mistake way too late to catch up. And I suspect they will compound that error with the arrogance that we should just shut up and buy it because it's Microsoft, dammit.
Mind you, I disagree with the assertion that failing in the mobile industry will "spell the end to Microsoft". It will do no such thing. They still have a huge amount of market share in the desktop and server arena. If anything, finally acknowledging defeat and dumping the mobile market would free up funds to invest in their core business.
In any sane world, this would be considered a FEATURE.
The issue seems to be a matter of terminology -- people expect an "electric vehicle" to only be powered by electricity, dammit, and if I'm out of volts my Volt should be out of miles, period. Personally, I don't think I'd ever want to be stuck on the side of the road for the sake of terminology. I must not be the right market for electric cars.
Now, getting 30 MPG when the manufacturer claims 230, that's a different issue. That's like buying a Mustang GT rated at 18 MPG and getting, like, 2. My first thought is "Your honor, we would like to provide a new Chevy Volt equipped with one gallon of gas to the defendant Mr. Akerson and have him demonstrate a travel distance of 230 miles." "Court will recess for one month while the defendant pushes his car to the next state."
>> what do they have to draw people away from Apple, Android, or Blackberry?
> XBox Live integration
Don't have one.
> Windows Live integration
Don't care.
> Office integration
Android and Blackberry have been able to work with word and excel documents for awhile. Can't speak for iphone.
> Free "sync to cloud" and "find my phone"
Android has this.
> ZunePass
Oh my god, are they still even selling that thing?
> Zune software is much better on Windows than iTunes
Debatable, but unimportant. I'd consider zune support to be legacy at best.
> Works better with Windows (which is what most people use ... iPhone works better with OS X, so I don't think those people are the target)
Ok, here's where I don't think you know quite what you're talking about.
> I use iPhone on Windows, and I'm very much looking forward to being able to uninstall iTunes and never have to fire up that piece of crap again. And the ZunePass rocks (it's a great deal), and that too is enticing for me.
I won't debate you on itunes -- I consider it a necessary evil. But what it comes down to is, besides syncing with any Apple appliance, itunes will also sync seamlessly with blackberry and android. I don't think zune software can make the same claim.
> For business types (not me), the Office integration might be a draw. I can see that.
I can't. You need to understand -- Blackberry is tightly integrated with Outlook and Office, and doesn't have the usability and reliability issues that Windows Mobile classically has. For serious business types, and not just managers attracted to shiny objects, Blackberry is the platform. Windows 6 didn't have nearly the reliability, simplicity, or usability of BB, and I'd be shocked if they made all that much progress with 7. In the business arena, Blackberry is the true competition for Windows 7. Not Android or eyephoooone.
That said, I currently have an Android phone because of the things (not necessarily work related) that the BB can not do. I pay a small penalty in Outlook integration (no push email, fewer features) but what it does have is good enough for now. I had a Windows Mobile 6 phone for 3 months and couldn't take the daily reboots, periodic hangs, and clunky interface. It would be quite a leap to try Windows Mobile 7.
In contrast, as RIM OS has been practical and useful for many OS iterations, BB users have no reason to try Mobile 7.
iPhone fanbois would sooner pound a roofing nail into their skulls.
Android users enjoy a degree of integration with Office/Outlook that's good enough right now, and getting better as the tools improve -- no need to wait until the next major OS release.
And so, what is the market for Windows 7 Mobile? I see it as: (a) Windows Mobile 6 users who are desperate for anything better than the junk they're using now. (b) Corporate users who's CIO read in a magazine somewhere that Windows Mobile is what you want to support. (c) new wireless users who don't know any better.
And maybe (d) people still using Zune.
No, it takes a very small vector to cause an orbit to decay. The largest expenditure of energy is to get objects up into orbit in the first place. It's like a bucket of water on the top of a door. Hauling the bucket up there is a lot of work. Getting it to fall isn't.
Yeah, so now whenever someone spots a UFO, the government can say it was a skylifter. Easy.
So, how do I turn it off, again?
Sorry I don't have anything intelligent to add. Just that I will sleep better tonight. And maybe find less spam in my inbox tomorrow.
According to the last paragraph of TFA, the "fix" is to put additional umbrellas and plants in the area to provide shade. So the effect should still be demonstrable, but executive's toupes will be less likely to burst into flames.
Yeah, that's what I've been waiting for. Don't know how I've lived without it. Really.
Just think how much faster we might have gotten voice recognition if touchpads had been banned.
"Call my neighbor Jim Pine."
"Calling naughty neighbors sex line"
(Cue laugh track.)
> I won't worry until Gort shows up.
Will that be old Gort or new Gort?
Have reports of the program's demise been exaggerated?
"We have met the enemy, and he is us."
I stopped using zone alarm a long time ago.
But besides all that, I've noticed that just about everything you download these days also tries to install (besides Yahoo Toolbar) a free copy of -some-name-brand- Security Scan, which appears to be nothing more than an advertisement for the company's non-free antivirus package. It really seems like the antivirus people are more and more adopting the same business model as the scareware vendors from which they purport to protect us.
Yeah, that was my thought. After they sell off their Unix assets, whatever the hell that might be, what products would they have?
I read this at 8:30 AM this morning and my work was nailed around 10:30. They're still cleaning up. The number of people who will click on any link without checking where it's coming from... yeesh.
How would you like those to be your last words?
"Still hurts even after the mor"