Anyone remember those “leaked” Windows Mobile 7 screenshots that were floating around the internet over a year ago?

After the big WP7 announcement at Mobile World Congress, I think it was pretty clear that they were, indeed, fake. However, something didn’t quite add up… If they’ve been working on WP7 for so long, why was it so unfinished at the event?

The answer, according to former Microsoft MVP Brandon Miniman, as well as some knowledgeable users at xda-developers, is that WP7’s user interface, known as codename “Metro” is only about 18 months old.

That’s right, there was originally a successor to Windows Mobile 5 and 6 (codenames Magneto and Crossbow, respectively) that was scrapped at some point in 2008-09, and they started over with codename “Metro“, which just so happens to be the same internal name for the Zune HD UI.

After reading the fascinating article from Brandon on Pocket Now, it all starts to make a disturbing amount of sense. As I said before, Microsoft HAD to start over because they recognized that even if they finally perfected Windows Mobile in its current shell, no one would take notice because the OS is so tainted in the popular view. The only way to break free of the stigma of “buggy Windows on clunky phones” is to start over with something fresh and trendy.

According to this article and another by Miniman back in 2008 that apparently lost him his MVP status from MS, Photon development could date back as early as 2004.

That explains the screenshots, the conflicting rumors, and even the leaked YouTube promo video about WM7 (see below) which all look nothing like what we’ve seen at MWC.

Honestly, Photon looks like it could have been pretty amazing. Windows Mobile has its share of missed marks and shortcomings, and Photon really looks like it would have addressed them all. All the legacy applications, plugins, multitasking and all could have been retained while bringing the look of the OS into the current generation. WM fans could have had their cake and ate it too!
But, with all of their efforts being pumped into the Zune-Phone that is WP7, it doesn’t look like it will ever see the light of day. Microsoft did what it had to, but this is awfully depressing. They were so close…

There is hope, however- MS has made mention of a WM “Classic” or “starter edition” based on 6.5 for legacy application support and business-class users. Perhaps Photon could be taken out, dusted off, and make an appearance for loyal fans of the Pocket PC platform? Only time will tell.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010 at 2:51 pm and is filed under Microsoft, Windows Mobile. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.