do you mean "formally"?

Microsoft is about ready to formerly launch

Joe , again , you try to be sarcastic on "That may be tomorrow.." It was happen while you are busy hammering Microsoft

In fact ,Microsoft has a product called Microsoft Office Communication server which full of features . It works on my Siemen PBX system faultlessly.

I get email , voice mail and IM through Outlook 2007.

What about you ?

Joe , your topic on phone is nothing to do with Microsoft.

Are you running out of news on Microsoft?

The topic of "What makes a good phone" fails to mentioned the theme that eWeek paid you. You merely mentioned your new Nokia phone and the iphone that you sold.

"What do you expect from your cell phone? Please tell us what device that you use, what you like or don't like about it" --This contents should be put in Mobile Phone Review , definitely not in Microsoft Watch

What makes a good phone?

Reliability.

That's the main reason I won't consider Windows Mobile powered phones. Too unreliable. It was a poor OS when it was running PDAs, and it's just not up to the job of telecomms.

For example, it's memory/task management is pathetic, and contrary to the interests of a phone. You don't unload programs when you close them (unless you have a third-party tool) - they remain loaded in memory on a first-in-first-out basis.
The upshot is that I've seen busy devices (running large programs or many programs) actually unload the services that handle telephony. Which means that they couldn't make or receive calls.
Now think about that. A smartphone which, when used smartly, stops becoming a phone.

Unacceptable.

Nokia's S60 OS is better. Not perfect - for instance, in the past I've managed to crash the data services modules, requiring a device restart to get data services. But SMS and voice still worked, as did any programs that didn't use data. And as the device is a phone, that's what's most important.
(I should also note that this is once or twice in two and a half years of use. Not bad...)

I'm not being anti-Microsoft here, either. I'd want to see a Linux-based phone have a few months in the field proving its stability, and think the same about the iPhone - in a few months' time, we'll know how reliable it is. (But things look pretty good so far.)

Phones have become fashion accessories, so people have (with phones like the Motorola Razr, and the Apple iPhone) focussed on the exterior. More focus needs to be put on making sure that the software running on the phone is rock solid, IMO.

Reliability aside, what I want from a phone is voice, sms, gprs/edge/3g/wifi, web browsing, email, a decent calendar, perhaps to-dos, and a small memopad. Some method of encrypting/hiding certain items in the calendar/to-dos/memopad would be nice, but not ideal.[1]
Physically, battery life is important, as is a decent data entry method. But most importantly, I want it to work, and keep working.

What's totally unimportant to me is multimedia - if I wanted to watch an animated postage stamp and hear tinny, distant sounds then I'd consider hallucinogenic drugs... Fortunately, I don't want to do that!
Multimedia also includes music - mp3 wrongtones are something I may use occasionally, but I like my phone to sound like a phone when it rings (I'm weird like that), and I have an MP3 player already and wouldn't want to sacrifice the battery life of my phone in case I needed it.

Basically, make the phone a tool for organising my life and communicating with people, and I'm happy.

(Personally, the new Nokia E90 looks about right for me. A decent keyboard, not too large, nice battery life, and an OS I feel I can trust to run solidly. If only it were cheaper!)

---
[1] Can you tell I'm a Palm user? I'm slowly weaning myself off my Palm, and towards a phone instead. But it's painful... Very, very painful... Palm got so much right. Just not their telephony/reliability side of things...

A phone has to do its primary purpose well: it has to work as a phone. That means voice, first of all, and then SMS. The rest are extras.

A good phone should also let you choose your carrier. Locked phones are restricting and those companies that lock their phones ought to wake up. People have good reasons for choosing their carriers and no carrier can please everyone.

Finally, a phone that can be bricked by its manufacturer belongs in the trash. Once you buy it, It's YOUR phone.

Microsoft is sucking dirt in SaaS.

This is what Microsoft announced the day after they were sued by VCSY for infringement of the 744 patent which has helped propel VCSY/NOW Solutions to provide SaaS long before Microsoft can provide SaaS:

http://arstechnica.com/journals/microsoft.ars/2007/04/19/microsoft-builds-giant-datacenter-in-quincy-washington
They're building a giant SaaS data center and they can't even provide decent SaaS software! What is it with these people?

Just like their demos, Microsoft SaaS is vaporware and bluff. The same marketing tactics they used to drive smaller companies out of the XML middleware business years ago when Microsoft had everybody convinced Microsoft owned XML.

After the years of non-performance and no delivery on XML from Microsoft, the market has caught on and has kept the cap on top of the MSFT shareprice until they can show the industry they have something effective to work with XML.

http://ragingbull.quote.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=VCSY&read=200023

Vertical Computer Systems Inc (BB: VCSY)

By: yo-eleven
15 Oct 2007, 12:05 PM EDT
Msg. 200023 of 200024
(This msg. is a reply to 200020 by phil_a_buster12.)

phil - Silverlight 1.0 is Microsoft's imitation of Adobe Flash.

I had been posting for months that Silverlight relied on Eolas video automation and MSFT proved me right by issuing Silverlight 1.0 the next business day after Microsoft settled with Eolas.

But, Flash is not a web application (it's a user interface application... not a robust programmatic platform) and Adobe has advanced in web-application creation by providing "Apollo" AIR/Flex.

Silverlight can not compare to AIR/Flex until Silverlight reaches version 1.1... expected some time in 2008.

Why can't Silverlight 1.1 come out right now when it's so desperately needed by Microsoft to compete with Adobe (especially since Salesforce and BEA have both announced they are going to be standardizing on AIR/Flex)? I say it's because Silverlight 1.1 needs patent 521 to perform like AIR/Flex.

Without settling on patent 744, Microsoft is not going to be getting a license to use 521 so Silverlight 1.1 is stuck in the barn while others walk away with web-application development leaving Microsoft partners, developers and users wondering why they can't do the same.

Adobe Flash exists on BILLIONS of computers while Silverlight is only now getting started and being put forth with nothing more than market speak and hype... just like Microsoft offered cheezy a SaaS demo at SaaScon 2007 and have SaaS that industry opinion says "sucks".

So, it's the same old same old for Microsoft. Offer mock-ups and claim to "own the space" for next generation applications while the competitors who are really doing the work get ignored by journalists.

But, this time, it's not working because the web-platform has nothing from Microsoft to lend credibility to their claims.

Vertical Computer Systems Inc (BB: VCSY)

By: yo-eleven
15 Oct 2007, 12:11 PM EDT
Msg. 200025 of 200025

Remember what I said would be the result of using technology that delivers performance like 521/744? Both patents speak of cutting the need for developers and managers and reducing the manual effort to build, manage and govern web systems.

So here we go:

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071015/aol_layoffs.html?.v=2
AOL to Cut Global Work Force by 20 Pct
Monday October 15, 12:02 pm ET
By Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer
AOL to Cut 2,000 Jobs, Including 1,200 in U.S., As Part of Transition to Online Ad Company

NEW YORK (AP) -- AOL is reducing its global work force by 2,000 employees, or 20 percent, as it continues a transition from Internet access provider to online advertising company.
The latest round of job cuts comes on top of 5,000 positions eliminated last fall, after AOL said it would begin giving away AOL.com e-mail accounts, software and other features once reserved for paying subscribers to boost traffic to ad-supported Web sites.

"This realignment will allow us to increase investment in high-growth areas of the company -- as an example, we added hundreds of people this year through acquisitions -- while scaling back in areas with less growth potential or those that aren't core to our business," AOL Chief Executive Randy Falco told employees Monday.

The cuts affect about 1,200 positions in the United States, including 750 in northern Virginia, which has long been AOL's headquarters. AOL, a unit of Time Warner Inc., recently announced it was moving its headquarters to New York to be closer to the media advertising industry.

Most of the U.S. employees affected were to be informed and terminated Tuesday, while reductions abroad were expected by year's end. Severance packages are to include at least four months' pay.

Last year's reductions were mostly in customer-service and marketing personnel as AOL opted to stop producing and distributing its famous trial discs aimed to luring new customers to its Internet access subscriptions. The latest cuts were expected to affect employees across the board.

----

"...AOL opted to stop producing and distributing its famous trial discs..."

...meaning they now have a way of providing their installations and advertising interconnect with potential users over the web instead of physical file delivery by mail.

"...The latest cuts were expected to affect employees across the board."

...meaning their work is getting easier to do across the cross section of web efforts.

The same kind of language IBM used to justify their own large workforce cuts earlier this year.

...and Microsoft talks of using more developers and spending MORE money because they say working the web their way is so much harder.

VCSy patented the kinds of technologies and produces products to do precisely what all the companies who want to "evolve" to webtops, that Microsoft has had to hold back Silverlight and put it and all the rest of their web efforts out in test bits and piecemeal.

VCSY inventors knew that a long long time ago and the industry is just now walking into the bear trap and Microsoft didn't Cease and Desist in February 2007 (the way others did like Google) so VCSY sued Microsoft and we're now in the discovery process for the trial.

So... when is Microsoft going to ship Silverlight 1.1 and how will they do that without patent 521 capabilities?

Guess where it's all going and guess what patents cover what's being done? And guess how long ago VCSY inventors did it... and guess how late all the rest of the industry is:

http://bryanstarbuck.spaces.live.com/blog/cns/
B35BDF47679FCA8D!723.entry

And, if the industry had been doing all this before the patent applications, the patent office would not have had reason to grant these patents 6826744 and 7076521.

Joe;
Gee, your top reasons for what you expect from a phone are no where mine.

Besides actually making phone calls, I rely on my phone as a PDA and other forms of communication tool (texting, etc). Web browsing is so much easier on a desktop especially since I am already paying for my DSL, I can't see paying my network carrier the same money to have it on my phone. That's like paying twice. Worrying about camera and video apps are nowhere near the top of my list. It's nice that a phone can do that, but they would not be at the top of my list.

And what's with the WinMo hate?

You guys villify Joe for at times seeming to be anti Microsoft (and I have wondered about that myself from time to time) but then feel free to villify Windows Mobile? I happen to think Microsoft (and notice - no $ in the spelling) did a good job improving Windows Mobile from the Pocket PC days and Photon promises to be even better.

Get over yourselves that it doesn't close applications and do it yourself. Obviously the developers thinks that you want to have these apps running in the background which is why it was done that way. Even though there may be a vocal group that thinks it should be otherwise, not liking Windows Mobile because it isn't "stable" or "reliable" (subjective and based on a variety of factors) or doesn't close apps automatically when you switch (insert baby whiny voice "Oh my god, I have to close the application myself!?!") is like throwing out the baby with the bath water.

I'll be the first one to admit I've questioned Joe's viewpoints (on at least one occasion publicaly) but I think those in the comments are far more anti-Microsoft than Joe.

If you hate Microsoft so much, why are you here?

This is a great thread from the Yahoo/Microsoft board.
http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_M/threadview?m=tm&bn=12004&tid=1303501&mid=1303501&tof=2&frt=2

Poor Click got skunked by his own info.

He thought he had the old diamo with that "where's AJAX come from" trick. heh heh heh.

He should have studied up since "where did AJAX come from" is exactly what leads the 7076521 patent investigation right to Microsoft's door.

See? THAT's why I know VCSY isn't a patent troll. They could easily have slapped Microsoft with the 521 suit first becasue it's easier to understand and Microsoft has a number of areas ripe for 521 discovery.

But, the pursued 744, I think, because it relates to Microsoft's Titan CRM SaaS attempt and THAT goes back to Chinadotcom's SaaS attempt and THAT goes back to an attempt to take VCSY down and bankrupt the company.

Soooo... VCSY won the CDC/Ross case April 18,2007 and filed the 744 lawsuit the very next day against Microsoft. We've speculated many times that VCSY wasn't after money in the CDC/Ross case but were after information and, low and cornholed, it sure looks like that would be what Wade would have armtwisted out of CDC... and the judge holding off on signing the final orders and all... interesting, isn't it? Very very interesting.

I wonder just what the MSFT lawyers think they have waiting for them at the end of this discovery meet and confer session?

Thanks to the Yahoo/Microsoft posters

you the reader now have a historical view of who tried to accomplish what patent 7076521 is designed and patented o do.

Microsoft tried beginning in 2000. The patent was applied for in 1999. Microsoft failed even though they threw large resources at the problem. Google tried as well. AJAX is the result of all those efforts and they still haven't accomplished a full evolution over a year after the 521 patent was granted.
(more at url)

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_M/threadview?m=tm&bn=12004&tid=1303552&mid=1303552&tof=1&frt=2

I-Man:

Your information stopped being interesting a long time ago. Please stop pushing this unwelcome information into discussions that have nothing to do with you and your Windmill quest.

Joe:

I want my phone to be a phone first. It must handle phone calls, voicemail and text messaging. Emails are nice but not necessary. I agree with Aaron's assessment of Internet. Why do I want to pay twice for internet access?

Lastly to Maddog:

You hit the nail on the head. Once I BUY the phone, I feel it's mine to do with as I see fit. Not how Steve Jobs sees fit. Now, if 'ol Stevie wants to GIVE me one of his phones, then the story is different............

Scott,
Sorry if you can't see how important my existance is here. I'm not bound by a NDA and I love to share my good fortune of knowing the future! Best to not fight it and learn from my posts, although most are copy and pasted, what's important is learning from them.

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_M/threadview?m=tm&bn=12004&tid=1303224&mid=1303596&tof=11&rt=1&frt=2&off=1

Thanks CDC/Ross!!!$!$!$!$

It's funny how so many posters (who are supposed to be smart enough to come up with something to say) can't explain why VCSY would wait for after they've won the CDC/Ross trial to sue Microsoft for patent 744 infringement.

Now, at face value, the thing looks like a silly coincidence... who knows, maybe the VCSY CEO couldn't handle doing more than one thing at a time. LOL

But, when you go over the history between Microsoft and CDC/Ross, and you look back at Microsoft's attempt to help CDC/Ross with CRM SaaS... and then you look at Titan CRM that Microsoft was crowing about publicly until they shut up right after MSFT received the Cease & Desist on patent 744 February 7, 2007.

Well, it certainly does look funny and could show us why the judge in the CDC/Ross trial still hasn't signed off on the final orders... while VCSY enters the discovery phase in the Microsoft trial.

I wonder who told who what, best? I do wonder that.

I-Man
Please do not dismiss out of hand the request by Scott, please try not only to push your own ideas, but to also contribute to the appropriate matter under discussion.
I also am tired of hearing about VCSY and the very long comments that you make, which I quite frankly do not read because they are so long !!

Neil,
Sorry it bothers you, just don't read them.

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/Stocks_%28A_to_Z%29/Stocks_M/threadview?m=tm&bn=12004&tid=1303617&mid=1303617&tof=2&rt=1&frt=2&off=1

I have all the answers. You can't face the questions.

Now that we've walked through where Microsoft got their technology to do what AJAX does but let it slip through their fingers. Now that we know Microsoft had SilkRoute but it didn't succeed in stopping the grant of patent 521. Now that we know Microsoft had FrontPage but that didn't stop 744 from being granted. Now that we know Titan looks like 744 and Silverlight looks like 521...

Now you know why Microsoft is facing a future unable to close their technology gap because Microsoft management can't come to terms with the dichotomy they face.

They either settle and admit they didn't own the technology they said they were working on all this time. Or they fight and let Adobe take the desktop away from them and give it to whoever wants to use the 521 basis in a 744 ecology.

Which will it be?

Management and the engineeers spent the past four years trying to build around those patents. Management and the lawyers spent the past four years dodging a bullet.

Did they succeed? If they had, you would see Microsoft selling Titan and Silverlight 1.1.

But they can't. They can only promise and delay... promise and delay...promise and delay...

Once in a while you find out something that ruins your day. You know... like finding out your favorite girl jumped through hoops in the back seat with the guy you love to hate.

I know you're all hurt and upset. I know you believe it all can't be true. But, ask yourself... when has Microsoft been honest the first time around? Isn't that what you've said proudly is their business method?

And when have they slid into the other side of the story out in the open? It's always a slink around the public view in a blog or a skanky PR on a Friday or a Weekend. It's always the "silence" posture and they go on like nothing ever happened.

Watch and see. Watch and see. They won't be able to dodge this bullet... and it's traveling faster today than it was when they could have made a deal long ago.

That's a shame.

I-Man , you love cut-and-paste and based on the result of our profiling , you are not an intelligence species. Those words are definitely not from you

You must be using Microsoft Office and IE for cut-and-paste

Too bad , you don't like Microsoft.

Keep posting your VCSY stuff as we really don't have a clue on it.. hah . hah

I know you're hurt and upset. I know you believe it and ask yourself... when has you , I-Man ,been honest to yourself. You just cannot write a single sentence yourself

Please take our advice again to seek medical help before you go amok ..

Aaron J. Walker:

>>
or doesn't close apps automatically when you switch (insert baby whiny voice "Oh my god, I have to close the application myself!?!")
>>

It's not about the fact that I have to close them myself. It's about the fact that I closed them, and they're not actually closed. Because it automatically keeps recently used programs in memory and discards recently unused ones.

This seems to be for performance reasons, but is either badly designed or badly implemented.

And it is this behaviour that seems to be linked to the automatic unloading of files that are crucial to it being a phone, thus turning it into an expensive brick - because there's no way to reload these files manually except restarting.

(If you think that's good design or implementation, then I'm afraid I'll have to write you off as a fanboy of some sort.)

Whilst this condition is rare, it's happened to at least two people I know, with different Windows Mobile devices. It appears to be a fundamental flaw in the design and/or implementation of Windows Mobile.

Analogies suck, but let's try one to make sure we're completely clear here.

You're driving a car. The car is completely fly-by-wire - controlled by some car management software. You're on Route 66. You've been driving on Route 66 for six hours. You've not indicated once since joining Route 66.

Is it in any way acceptable for the car's management software to unload the modules that control the indicators, just because it's playing DVDs for your kids in the back and wants more memory to do so? If the car requires a restart (from cold, with engine not running) to reload those modules, then is the car management software fit for purpose if it does this?

Whilst that's obviously an order of magnitude more dangerous, it's effectively the same problem. The unloading of software crucial to a device's operation in favour of optimising performance for non-critical programs.

(And whilst it's more dangerous in a car, that's not to say that the phone's behaviour isn't extremely inconvenient if not dangerous in a phone. If your phone suddenly stops being able to make/receive calls without you knowing, and someone needs to contact you urgently - or you need to report a crime in progress - then is the phone fit for purpose?)

This isn't hate for Microsoft. This is me having looked at Windows Mobile, and - for a variety of reasons, this being the most serious - finding it unsuitable for my needs.
I'd be just as harsh on the iPhone if it did this, or a Linux phone, or Symbian. In fact, when Symbian's GRPS data module crashed, I seriously thought about switching phones - which is why I looked again at Windows Mobile, and found it still wanting. Symbian seems the best of a poor crop at the moment in some ways...

I've looked every few months, and nothing as yet has convinced me that a Windows Mobile handset is suitable as a phone. As a PDA, yes. As a phone - not yet.

I hope that they fix this, so that I can consider more phones in the future. :-)

Consumer group demands free copies of XP for Vista victims

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/10/12/consumer-group-demands-free

Dell: Microsoft Warnings Haven't Hurt Linux Uptake

http://www.osnews.com/story.php/18764/Dell-Microsoft-Warnings-Havent-Hurt-Linux-Uptake

All the literary tooling aside, I depend on everyone to read the patents and read the market descriptions of the markered projects and come to a conclusion as to whether I'm correct or full of it and if it doesn't smell right call bull$#!@ and I will recalibrate.

So far it all looks like cherry pie to me.

I know what I'm seeing and it freaks me out sometimes because I can't believe people worth billions and responsible for such large corporations can be so dumb as to stumble into situations like that... and then I remember what it's like to work on mahogany row and I think, "Oh, yeah. Those are the same kinds of people you find wandering naked down their neighborhood streets in alcohol fueled drug enduced stupors." and I realize they put their pants (or panty hose) on one leg at a time just like you and me... well, for me, not the panty hose, of course.

So, can they screw up that bad? Yep. The one thing I really don't get is the same thing Arthur says and that's "how can IBM have projects codenamed with a 'V' and fitting the patent language like they plagiarized a civics term paper and yet the money doesn't circulate?"

And then, I remember all those snake-slick lawyer types in accounting who always know how to turn a phrase (and, believe me, if I can turn a technological phrase enough to make balloon animals out of some geek's upper duodenum, they can make an IRS agent go home and cook the cat) and I says to myself "Self; There's any manner of ways to do any manner of ways in business." and I go back to sleep and wait.

We shall see what we shall see.

It seems that the column becomes free place for discusssion on any event or item on this planet

You can even discuss handphone here ..

May be the next entry of Joe will be :

How may handphone do you carry ? Readers feedback are welcome

One thing Microsoft could do to unify their communications is make their new phones sync their calendars with Vista Calendar, instead of just with Outlook.

Just now I'm suffering the pain of owning a Nokia N80 "Smartphone" where they experiment with their Symbian OS to make possibly the slowest device on the planet. It actually takes longer to boot up (to where I can make a call) than my Windows laptop.

So #1: I need a mobile phone that I can actually make/take phonecalls with very quickly in case of an emergency. The Nokia hangs constantly, and this problem has worsened with every firmware "upgrade". Every other feature pales into insignificance behind this core feature. Since the Symbian OS also likes to put up prompts and reminders and confirmation all the time (and I can't turn them off) - this gets in the way of making/taking calls.

With all of this, I am looking enviously across at friends with new Windows Mobile devices that are much more responsive.