Okay, not really – I’ve just always wanted to make that reference.
Still, the words of Todd Brix, Senior Director for Mobile Platform Services Product Management at Microsoft, aren’t all that far off. As reported by multiple sources (including Cnet and Engadget), Mr. Brix (who I am sure is a lovely person), tries to wave off concerns about the lack of Copy/Paste, saying – essentially – that people don’t actually want that function. What we really want is smart integration within our handheld, so the OS recognizes addresses, URLs, and phone numbers and handles them accordingly.
I’m sorry Mr. Brix, but no. For starters, your “smartlink” solution is nothing new. Every current major phone OS has it. iPhoneOS revision 1 had it, my first Treo 180 had it, and I believe my VisorPhone add on to my Handspring Visor even did that – we’re talking Palm OS 3.5 here. That’s just not a solution or a replacement for copy & paste. It’s not even the same type of thing!
WindowsMobile users are, in large percents, Power Users. Contextual links are well and good for people who are using their smartphones as phones first, but it’s not enough. To use myself as an example, if I cannot fire open Mobile Office, write a blog entry, and then cut and paste it to multiple blog clients or web sites, then I cannot get what I need done in a real fashion. Or what if the address I want to map isn’t in an address book –what if it’s embedded in a website I’m viewing? Will contextual links from the OS over-ride the site design? I know I don’t represent a huge percentage of Smartphone users, but if the sites I frequent, are any indication then I do represent a large percentage of WindowsMobile. These are people who always need to be connected, and need their phones to be mobile desktops, ones that can do everything they can do on the desktop, especially the most basic functions.
I’m not saying that no C&P is an utter deal-breaker and I’d never use the OS, but as a main phone, no. C&P is a “killer app”, one so basic that it’s just an assumed function. We all gave Apple heck for not having it, and it’s laughable to assume we’ll all leave Microsoft alone – especially with the arrogant, condescending line about us not needing it. You know what? Apple “told” us we didn’t need a two button mouse for decades. Then they relented. Apple also “told” us we didn’t need cut and paste. Amazing how we now have multifunction mice and cut and paste from one of the most closed box, our way or the highway companies there are, eh? I mean, they told us!
With Exchange functionality available or coming soon on just about every platform, Window 7 needs to stand out of the pack. Yes, there are tons of cool features (I particularly love how your apps are tied to your LiveID, not your device – are you listening, Palm and Android?), and the whole Xbox360 integration is just the bees knees, but they’re risking all that getting lost behind the lack of basic functions like C&P and Multitasking.
