Discussion on:

Windows Phone 7: The OS/2 of this generation?

I've had GMail for 8 years and have never had a bad experience with my data being sold to a third party. Until I do, I have no reason to drop them. I'm also not terribly convinced that MS would do any different.

You didn't have to plug your Lumia into a PC for updates. What other smart phone requires that you have to connect to a PC for updates, music, ringtones, etc??? Major failure on the part of Microsoft and Nokia. I love my Lumia 900 but know other people who won't buy them because they don't want to have to plug in every time they need something done. One would think before launching something like this they'd take care of those things. That's what will keep Android and Apple ahead of the game.

Another artfully crafted column to bash a great product.
Now, for the record I remember OS/2 and worked with it. OS/2 really retained it's IBM look and feel. But WIN 7 phone is good. I have an HTC phone running Win 7 phone. Fast, with a well designed interface. I paid 32 bucks for the phone. For my business that is a big plus it ran and auto configured a major Microsoft Cloud application as soon as I accessed the URL. Perfect. With mobile sales force resources consuming much of the IT budget these days, this phone will be a great help to users. Much can be done with one thumb.
I think your article quotes prove that many folks in their positions base their thoughts on hear say, and propaganda. What a way to make business decisions, right.

You should have explained in your article why those responses were bad choices, but that would not have been in line with your purpose.

Those of us in the Business area of the IT industry already know that many people are in the position of "decision maker" because they won a popularity contest.

It's time to get the 17 second thought process folks a good jolt of caffine and show them that Microsoft has the OS on all the devices but also has the apps that generate $$$ to run on all devices. Oh and I have to mention the truly 101, bush league response to a request for a Windows 7 phone I received at a Verizon store.
Verizon, please lose these folks. They make you look lame.

The Lumia 800 was released in december 2011, the Lumia 900 is about to be released in the next 3 weeks in Europe as far as I know.

AT&T sucks. Verizion isn't much better but I'm certainly not going to switch provders in order to get the Lumia 900 a year earlier. Until then, I guess my HTC Trophy will have to do. BTW, I made the switch from Android to WP7 just after the Mango update was released and I haven't looked back! I love my WP7(.5).

I can't say that it's hands-down better than the iPhone but the WP7 OS is more appealing to me in some areas and I can't wait to see the integration advancements with the release of Windows 8.

As for my HTC Trophy, I ended up buying it online because the Best Buy Mobile store didn't cary the phone and they kept trying to talk me out of my decision to go Windows. Wrote about it here: http://vinneyk.me/open-book/want-mango-with-that-windows-phone-7-marketing-musts.

This just might be the biggest problem if it is, in fact, happening. Salespeople make a large impression on the "clueless"* customer. Customer sees a fun advertisement, whether video or article, about the 900 and thinks, "Gee, I want that. I'm going to go buy one," but then the salesperson steers him or her to another phone, talks up the "other" phone then said customer will most likely go with the salesperson's opinion. An informed customer won't do that, of course, but the clueless* customer will be swayed by the salesperson.

* By clueless I mean a person who hasn't made a firm decision on purchasing the product based on tech reviews, familiarity with hardware and software, and familiarity with the company. A clueless customer purchases things based on the commercial, what his or her friends have, and little else; this customer is easily swayed by the salesperson.

True, but when Tech reviews start behaving like salespersons, so what?

To this day, I still miss O/S2 and it's config.sys file. Who needs a registry full of cryptic numbers that are so weird when you have a config.sys file you can move to a new machine, save to another location and actually make sense of (plain text anyone?). And I won't even start on comm manager and O/S2 stability, like Novell, we had machines we even forgot existed - they just went about their business, forever, with no reboots required. Pity it needed soo much memory back in the day when memory was so expensive. Win7 is nice, I played with an Enterprise edition for a while and, although no O/S2, it was nice. To be honest I haven't looked at it on a handset yet, but I probably will at least seriously look at it. Because having an orphaned HTC EVO 4G is quite upsetting. Yeah, I know rooting and a custom ROM would get me ICS but, I could also drop a 427 hemi in a Dodge Dart - somethings just shouldn't be.

For 12 years i was a Nokia devoted user, my first smartphone was the n86 and then the n97, altough symbian had limitations its was stable, the hardware Nokia produce its of the best quality possible... when they announced that they were switching to WP7 i knew it was their doom, not because i dont like MS is because they lost the lead and the image of being a unique coportation. They were struggling, but with their own weapons and resources, the news about their financial state is just the first of many to come, maybe they will sell their dying corporation to Microsoft, Samsung or Google. It think RIM and Nokia are examples of the mistakes a technology company must avoid:
Uncontrolled change (Nokia)
Not changes at all (RIM)
Thats a pity and the biggest losers are us the users because this will cripple the choices that we have to less flavos and colors (brand speaking).

Until the phone companies are forced to accept any phone and OS (it's just a SIM card folks!), technology that doesn't fit their marketing plans will languish. It's going to take legislation, but there's too much lobbying money to make that a reality any time soon. Consumers have to demand it, but they're pretty much sleeping sheep, and don't yet realize their rights are at stake. (Occupy Verizon???) Verizon has only 1 Windows phone, so the platform won't take off. Even that one is placed in the back of all the stores in my area, and the salespeople ask "Why do you want WIndows?". Why should I have to worry about it? The Telcos have too much power and an obsolete business model. We forced Ma Bell to use any land line telephone like 50 years ago. No reason the mobile carriers should be allowed to have that old monopoly.

I was at the OS/2 launch and I was *forced* to use OS/2 for a few weeks after its initial release. It was a disaster. OS/2 was written in '286 assembler code - the 80286 was widely regarded as the kludgiest CPU ever released by Intel (who completely changed things with the 80386 or '386). When released, OS/2 only ran on IBM's PS/2 dsktops. The PS/2 model 50 was a 4MB RAM, 20MB disk desktop with VGA. Problem was that OS/2 had a 20MB install footprint rendering the PC a diskless workstation (because the OS filled the hard disk leaving no room for anything). OS/2 was unstable, expensive (retailed for $1,000/copy), and only ran on PCs (PS/2) that cost 2x the price of a comparable white box machine.
It took IBM 5+ years to produce generic versions of OS/2 that were worth using on white box PCs. By that time Windows 3.x owned the market (at $99/copy) and OS/2 was relegated to niche use by banks and other institutions that only bought from 'big blue'.
So, if WP7 is the new OS/2 - microsoft and nokia don't have a very bright future.
I wish them luck.

Several folks here picked up this phone. Two iPhoners and an Androidist. All three are back with their original phones. This thing was slow, hard to navigate, and childish like. This phone is hardly a comparison to OS/2. OS/2 actually worked great, once it got in IBM's hands. I still have an OS/2 server running that is now on nearly 4 years without a reboot, and a great OS/2 workstation that has more capability and configurability than Windows ever had. These users couldn't get more than a few hours without a reboot on this phone. No thanks, I'll stay with my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and the Galaxy S with Android.

The user reviews of the 900 are stellar, it's fast and stable.

Just how fast did Android catch on in 2008 against a nascent iPhone and the dominant Blackberry? Not fast at all. In fact it was a geek phone that had good word of mouth and a backer with a huge war chest. WP7 is a nice middle ground between Apple's "walled garden" and Androids "wild garden". It's a minimalist, yet beautiful OS that's snappy and runs on a variety of form factors. People just love holding Microsoft up to unreasonable standards. I don't remember anyone else proclaiming Android's doom due to lack of apps or one particular phone manufacturer (as if WP7's fate is tied to Nokia's fate) even though Samsung, HTC and others make Windows Phones.

Mobile is a huge part of Microsoft's strategy and like Internet Explorer and Xbox, they will keep working at it until it succeeds. With Xbox they jumped into a market where they had NO experience, fumbled on their first try and succeeded on their second try outselling 20+ year industry veteran Nintendo and almost 20 year veteran Sony in North America. With mobile, they have a good strategy going forward. They just need to keep wooing the hard core techies with the hardware features and then word of mouth will trickle down to the consumers. They also need buy-in from the largest carrier, Verizon by coming out with phones that are easy to market. Minimalist is good on the OS aesthetic, but the hardware just needs more pizazz. Nokia is a step in the right direction.

I am one of those (many) individuals still carrying a feature phone. I have been sitting on the fence for a while deciding which smartphone ecosystem I want to land on. Since I use Microsoft products at work and home the advantage has been with MS for me so that has caused me to wait for MS to catch up. I used Nokia's phones in the 90's and really loved them and would love to see them succeed in the U.S. So, why have I not jumped down off the feature phone fence into the WP smartphone ecosystem pasture now? Well...I am now waiting for:

1. WP8 launch (MS has not made any commitment of backwards compatibility to existing hardware). Its just too close to take the chance of investing in a 2 year contract with hardware that may or may not fully support WP8. WP8 seems like a good entry point for more robust hardware and software.
2. WP8 on LTE (Nokia, HTC...) needs to land on either Verizon or Sprint (my carriers of choice for my area)
3. Nokia's WP platform needs to get past some teething pains - for one, the quality of the camera/pictures from the user reports (Lumia 900) I have read (WPCentral) seems to indicate that it could use some tweaking. Carl Zeiss is a great name but the implimentation (app software?) seems to need refinement. Other issues have been promptly fixed but could there be more?
4. Since Nokia from an investors standpoint seems to be questionable, there needs to be other WP8 hardware choices on Verizon / Sprint to choose from so there are WP alternatives if Nokia were to take a sudden stumble.

If the WP ecosystem can resolve these issues prior to the 2012 Holidays I'm in for 3 WP devices for myself and family. I do think there will be a sudden surge in WP8 sales if this all falls into place by then. If not, I'll probably just buy iPhone 5.

I am still of win 6.5 as the functionality I use is not in 7 !

Noteably sync with Outlook.

I am about to upgrade the companies 5 phones and they will all now be non-windows.

I'm ready and waiting for a Windows phone with a (real) keyboard. Why doesn't Fujitsu bring out a phone like the 7 F-07C Mobile Phone. If it could run Win 7 then running Windows Mobile should be a no problem, after all it was released 8 months ago! I???ve had car phones and cell phones for almost 34 years and I use them for work. BC

"The launch was set for Sunday, April 8. "
Really? Where? I don't remember seeing much of anything about this phone except for some web advertising...Microsoft made a big mistake in developing a "social" phone...a concept that appeals mainly to tweens and narcissists. 99% of business users couldn't be bothered with the OS. and it seems that the os couldn't be bothered with business...Yet *ANOTHER* page Microsoft has taken from the Apple playbook, and screwed it up!

God, I loved OS/2!

Most people who have been supporting Microsoft products for years know that the "first version" is to be avoided, or considered a prototype. I reckon when "Windows 8" (actually NT6.1) is finally released and service pack 1 is available, we will be looking at a decent product for the smartphone market.

Latest news is that iPhone 5 is looking like it wont get an increased screen size.. sigh....
I will happily get a Windows Phone for this reason as well as better MS Office and Exchange integration for work.

I've used just about all portable versions of Windows - CEs to Windows 6. Sorry, I am staying way clear of anything Windows. Good luck Nokia.

No wonder Nokia have to give out free phones to retail store employees. When I went in to Carphone Warehouse in the UK a while back and said I wanted an HTC Radar with WP7 the employee screwed up her face and asked why I wanted that instead of an Android phone.
That's a big reason why WP7 phones are struggling.
It's similar to the experience I got when I went into PC World and the assistant gave me a load of sales talk on laptops. I've worked in IT for over 20 years, and I can spot IT duffers and bluffers a mile away.
Oh, and I waited for the Nokia Lumia 710 to come out rather than buy the HTC Radar. Glad I did because it's great for a cheaper phone.

Do you remember the leap between Windows Mobile 6 and Windows Mobile 6.5 in features and also the looks? There was nothing I couldn't do with my HD2.
Then they announced Windows Phone 7, developed from scratch, not compatible with old apps etc. It forgot how to sync with Outlook, when connected to PC it acts like Zune player, this all reminded me of the first iPhones, and there was not much you could with them. C'mon, there is no option to remove e-mail account, you can just add them?
For now I'll wait for Windows Mobile Phone Tablet or what they call it version 8 but with SP3.

I love lumia 900 the best in the world.

How about this - you say it's doing good so far, but the jury's still out, before creating some provocative headline to get people to read your article. Maybe we would like to hear that it's worth looking into and let us decide for ourselves?
(Sorry - just getting tired of all the negative slants these days.)

But for those who were in the industry in the early 90s, OS/2 was cast adrift when Microsoft chose not to renew their agreement with IBM and.... East is East and West is West....it was how Microsoft did business; e.g., MSN was the result of Microsoft working with Compu$erve, learning how the online world worked, then returned home and...

You really should get a revamp on your sources. With it's great UI and off the shelf integration with social networks and almost a 100 new apps everyweek, I surely doubt your medium predictions.

Wanna bet?

In 6 months MicroSoft is launching the Windows 8 family of OSs, including WP8, which is a big leap in terms of capability and development tools. Basically, a software developed for the Metro user interface will run in a PC, a tablet and a phone. If MS doesn't allow the Lumia 900 to upgrade to WP8, it will become obsolete in just six months, and those who bought it will be dissapointed big time.
OS/2 lost the battle for a single reason: compatiblity. It was unable to run DOS apps. When IBM reacted, Windows was already stablished.

I got my HTC Radar a few weeks before Easter, going by all the Nokia Lumia phones. (Seems the only Windows phones that O2 wanted to support.) I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the last several Nokia phones my household have had.

As to this OS/2 herring, MS are coming out with the same operating system on the desktop and phone (Metro and all that). As people get confortable with the Metro desktop, I espect they'll like it on their phones as well. It's doing what Jason has actually been promoting in a lot of his blogs until recently. Integration of phone/tablet/desktop.

I have bought Nokia Lumia 800 recently and can only say it is a great phone. But the best thing in it is a WP7.5! This article seems more like a cry because of the new REAL player is comming in. In Western Europe Lumia 800 with WP7 is the best selling phone at the moment.

I have seen more articles like this one on this page...

A: "Do you know Nokia and Microsoft collaborate now?"
B: "Oh, really?"
A: "Yep, they met at the train station, they both missed the train..."

It may be good system, but people are driven by different forces.