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Many of you know by now that I have left Microsoft a month ago after 9+ years. I’ll write more about that later, as well as discuss my new place of employment and focus.
For now, however, I would like to tell a quick story. My new employer gave me the choice of a Windows XP laptop or an Apple MacBook Pro, and for my mobile phone it was either Blackberry or iPhone (thank goodness I do not have to have a Windows Mobile phone again – for the last 9 years I have had to suffer with WM). Well, after being on Windows 7 at MS, there was no way I was going to XP. So I went Apple all the way! I wanted to take a first hand take at Mac, as well as break my tie to Microsoft for a number of reasons (more on this later).
After about 2 days, I quickly fell in LOVE with Apple products. The MacBook and OS 10 simply blow away Windows (any Windows)! And the iPhone (mind you, I had to settle for 3G) was light years better than any Windows phone (Windows Phone 7 is certainly a huge improvement from WinMo, and I had the opportunity to use it, but I would still take iPhone any day)! It has now been about 3+ weeks on Mac/iPhone and I have decided that I will be getting the iPad v2 when it comes out, and the next laptop I buy my children and/or wife will be Macs. No more Windows machines in my house!
Now, please note that I also LOVE Mac Office 2011. But Windows…OMG…I can’t believe I was using Windows PCs (and still have some at home that I have to support) for most of career. There is only one thing, one application, that I miss having for my work pc – OneNote. I am considering Evernote or Pear Note. But otherwise, I am all in on the Mac.
My MacBook and iPhone ROCK!
FINALLY! Is what I have to say. Its about time..well, actually, we have to wait before we can get our hands on this beauty (look for it in the fall 2010). We finally announced Windows Phone 7 Series at the Mobile World Conference last week. And some good impressions were made – here are a few quotes/links:
Gizmodo, Feb. 15, 2010: Windows Phone 7 Interface: Microsoft Has Out-Appled Apple
“I’m sorry, Cupertino, but Microsoft has nailed it. Windows Phone 7 feels like an iPhone from the future.”
Wired, Feb. 15, 2010: Hands-On With Windows Phone 7 Series
“What surprised me most was that I was expecting yet another iPhone clone. And while the Windows 7 Phone isn’t the huge game changer that the iPhone was upon its debut, it is different enough to embarrass pretty much everyone else except Apple.”
PCWorld, Feb. 15, 2010: Windows Phone 7 Series: First Impressions
“Microsoft has finally caught up with the competition by delivering a clean, socially-connected interface and implementing features like multitouch and the beautiful Zune media player. Paired with excellent hardware partners like HTC and Samsung, I think Windows 7 phones have some great potential-if the software behaves.”
Some of the new features you will experience with Windows Phone 7 Series include:
Live Tiles
Windows Phone 7 Series home screen comes to life with “Live Tiles”. The simple yet interactive, multi-touch user interface provides users easy access to the latest information from the device, be it phone calls, contacts and friends, calendar appointments, photos, songs and videos, or XBOX Live feeds.
Hubs
Windows Phone 7 Series introduce six “hubs,” — people, pictures, games, music and video, an application marketplace, and one that integrates with Microsoft Office mobile applications and email.
Microsoft Office
Windows Phone 7 Series support Microsoft Office mobile applications including email.
Application Development
Microsoft will unveil more detail on development capabilities of Windows Phone 7 Series at MIX10 in March.Windows Phone 7 Series will provide developers with a new mobile platform to support innovative and interactive Software plus Service based solutions. For more information visit the MIX10 web site.
With regard to applications for this new mobile platform, Mix10 can’t come fast enough. Windows Mobile, and now Windows Phone has some catching up to do. Here is a slide from Distimo’s presentation here on Mobile Application Stores:
Find out more here:
Here is a video highlighting some of the exciting features:
Tomorrow, Microsoft is launching Windows Phone and announcing the availability of Windows phones at retail stores worldwide. The new phones will be the first to feature Windows Mobile 6.5, the latest version of our mobile phone software, and will deliver new customer experiences through an improved, easy-to-use user interface, better browsing capabilities and access to valuable services, including Windows Marketplace for Mobile and Microsoft My Phone.
Windows Mobile 6.5 includes some great enhancements in the UI, consumer oriented features, a new browser, and much more.
For a great overview of the new features in Windows Mobile 6.5, as well as information about Windows Marketplace for Mobile and Microsoft My Phone, my colleague, Anand Iyer has a great post regarding the announcement at his blog artificial ignorance.
My favorite, and the most popular music streaming service on the web, Pandora, has finally arrived on Windows Mobile!
I say finally because Pandora started working on a Windows Mobile application a couple of years ago. However, after distribution deals with AT&T and Sprint was entered, and their requirement was that it needed to work on their standard phones. Pandora decided to then shift their efforts… At that point, I will let Tom Conrad, CTO of Pandora, tell the rest of the story. (Thank You Tom!!!)
If you are not familiar with Pandora Radio, it is your own FREE personalized radio and available to stream music on your Windows Mobile handset (or browser on your PC). You start using Pandora by simply searching for the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and Pandora will create a “station” that plays their music and more music like it.
If you’re already a Pandora user, all you have to do is sign in to access all of your existing stations from the app. The only Windows Mobile devices that Pandora’s application currently supports (when installed from their website) is the Motorola Q9c, and HTC XV6900 / Touch. However, see my buddy Anand Iyer’s post at Startup Zone, to learn about installing it on other Windows Mobile phones!
See other write-ups:
PCMag.com – Pandora Hits Windows Mobile
On10.net – Pandora Comes to Windows Mobile
Windows Live Client for your Windows Mobile phone is now available for download! I downloaded and installed this today and it looks great.
With Windows Live client you will be able to:
- Synchronize Live contacts with your contacts on the device
- Synchronize your Live email (msn, hotmail, live)
- View graphics, web links and contact photos in emails
- Respond to emails with voice recordings
- Upload photos to your Windows Live Spaces
To download and install Windows Live for Windows Mobile now, point your mobile browser to http://wl.windowsmobile.com
I have written about Silverlight in previous posts. Recently, Silverlight for Mobile (beta) was released, enabling some great, rich experiences for mobile applications, and extending the reach of rich internet applications built on Silverlight.
My colleague, Sam Chenaur, has a great post about Silverlight for Windows Mobile and an interesting application at John L Scott Real Estate.
Sam includes a video from Ch10 that highlights the project and includes a cool demo.
