Software development communities are what make an open platform OS great.
In the Windows Mobile world, XDA-developers member A_C, is famous for developing iPhone-UI inspired applications known as the S2 series (S2Play, S2U2, S2View). A_C distributes these completely free of charge for the benefit of the community and WM users everywhere, and are in a constant state of “under development”, despite being more stable than some commercial products out there.
The problem is, some unscrupulous people have decided to take advantage of A_C’s free software policy, and sell them as packages of “iPhone theme” bundles.
These bundles are being sold on a number of websites, from www.iphonethemeforppc.com to ebay. A_C has been trying in vain to put a stop to it, but its too large a task for one man.
So, in retaliation, A_C has decided to stop all development of the S2 series unless people learn their lesson.
Since A_C’s applications have a large cult following in the WM community, this whole fiasco has created the internet-version of an angry mob. Users on various message boards have started banding together to harass anyone on net who has the audacity to steal A_C’s software to profit from it.
As far as I know, this may be the first time a strength-in-numbers approach such as this has applied to software development. Meanwhile, S2 development has indeed stopped, leaving some users who were looking forward to compatibility updates (Treo 800w users, I feel your pain) devastated.
The moral of the story?
You ultimately hurt yourself in the end by preventing any future updates.
For the sake of continuing development, don’t steal software! Its bad, m’kay?
In a nutshell, Windows Mobile is a powerful and often misunderstood operating system. It is extremely versatile, and since it comes with a history of OSes dating back to the 90’s, there’s a tremendous library of software titles already available to suit any need.
Problem is, people often pick one up and find it difficult to understand.
In fact, even if you’ve used a Windows Mobile device for years, there’s still a chance that you’ll get lost trying to figure out how to use another one. Why is it that Windows Mobile can prove to be so maddening?
As I blogged about in far more detail here (warning, a very long post), the problem comes from what I like to call “Too Many Cooks Syndrome”. That is, there are so many companies involved in producing a product before it comes to market that it becomes difficult for any one company to do any sort of quality control. Take any popular HTC phone, for example: Microsoft writes the initial OS, but caters towards a vague platform instead of individual devices. HTC builds hardware that can run Windows Mobile, then licenses and tweaks the OS from Microsoft to make it work. Then, a carrier gets a hold of it and decides to install its own customizations and pre-installed software. By the time the user gets it, too many people with different goals in mind have had their hands involved. The result is often messy out of the box and can be a bit confusing for first time Windows Mobile users.
It reminds me of the saying “Too many cooks spoil the broth“.
Luckily, Windows Mobile has been around long enough that many third party UI tweaking and customization programs already exist. So, with a little research and tinkering, you can customize the interface and make your Windows Mobile device far more powerful and efficient than any other off-the-shelf device. The problem is that you shouldn’t be required to learn so much to use your device properly.
Companies like RIM or Apple, on the other hand, have the end users in mind from the beginning. For example, not only do they design their hardware AND software, they are involved in the user experience even after the consumer has bought their product by offering useful services (email servers, app store, etc). The bottom line is that Microsoft needs to be more concerned with the user experience, because despite the fact that they have a wonderfully powerful product, most people pick one up and try it for a few days before giving up and returning it for an easier to understand product.
My advice to anyone who is trying Windows Mobile, by the way, is to not give up if you find it maddening at first. Until Android takes off or Symbian picks up more steam in the US, Windows Mobile is really one of the best by default if you’re looking for a powerful mobile computing platform.
HTC is known for making the world’s most popular Windows Mobile handsets. While their handset designs are often well thought out, practical and efficient, they are hardly ever accused of being hip and stylish.
The European HTC Touch Diamond is trying to break that mold by giving it a minimalist sleek glossy front, and oddly angled back with jutting out triangles (that’s supposed to remind you of diamonds, I think).
Here in the states, however, they decided to keep with a more traditional (normal?) looking back for the CDMA version. But, to try and keep things stylish, Sprint is releasing it with a Burgundy/Red color.
Normally HTC picks colors from grey to black for their housings, so this could be an interesting new trend to market towards “fashion” phones. Palm and Blackberry have been releasing various color options for years, so its only common sense that HTC start doing this as well.
I suppose its only a matter of time before Apple offers colors other than Black or White for its iPhone cases.
Palm has had better days.
Once leading the pack in mobile computing, Palm of late seems to be clinging to life by resigning itself to the ranks of hardware manufacturers like HTC.
Palm fanboys lamented the day Palm announced it had embraced Windows Mobile in their lineup of devices, and after the Foleo fiasco, many enthusiasts gave up any hope of Palm re-emerging as the undisputed king it once was. Some speculated this was the beginning of the end for Palm as we know it.
Palm is not going out without a fight, however.
The release of the wildly popular Centro breathed some new life into the Palm OS by breaking free of the average Treo design, and making a device that was more attractive to a younger crowd- choices of colors, a slim and polished body, and it more than made up for any lack of new features with a $99 price tag on release.
But, this didn’t mark the end of the Treo line of handsets. Last week, Palm released the Treo 800w, a Windows Mobile 6.1 handset with all the fixin’s:
GPS, EVDO Rev A, 128Mb of ram, WiFi, a sharp, high resolution (320×320) screen, and despite being almost as thick as the older Treos, the curved new stylings and button layout of the Centro.
It’s interesting to note that the Centro runs Palm OS, and is geared towards the low-end younger crowd consumer, whereas the Treo which runs Windows Mobile is geared towards the advanced user / corporate professional.
What is Palm trying to say about its own OS?
Are they going to make any Palm OS based Treos anymore?
Are they destined to become merely hardware engineers for other platforms?
And if so, will they be able to compete with HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and all the others already creating devices with identical OSs?
Well, I played with a Treo 800w, and I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the build quality, despite the fact that HTC already has devices on Sprint with similiar features.
There is hope…
Everyone is psyched up about Android, but Google is still sitting on their new OS for the next few months.
Its no secret that HTC is behind some of the first handsets to run Android, so that got people thinking- will Android be available on current HTC handsets when it is released?
And if not, how hard would it be to port over, assuming HTC uses similar architecture in their manufacturing?
Well the phone hax0rs extraordinare over at XDA-Developers and PPC Geeks didn’t want to wait to find out. Apparently they have been working on ways to port leaked versions of the OS and all its open source linux-based goodness over to current HTC devices!
Now, its not a full port, and still relies on the Windows Mobile OS underneath for device drivers and what not, however after loading itself into RAM, the Android OS takes over the GUI and presents the user with an early look of things to come.
The problem with this, however, is that you need enough RAM after Windows Mobile boots to load the Android OS into and run. On the new devices with 128+mb of RAM, (such as the HTC Tilt, Vogue, and Diamond) there is plenty of memory to go around, however on many current devices including the Sprint Mogul (Titan), the 64Mb limit is far too tight.
People have managed to get it to boot, but portions of the OS, such as data connections, didn’t work.
That is, until now.
PPCGeeks forum member “l33tlinuxh4×0r” with the help of “dzo” have managed to get it to boot and be functional despite the limited 64mb of RAM.
“Android boots, The touch screen works. You can make phone calls. You can browse the internet.
This will NOT mess up your phone. It runs from ram and there are no permanent changes.”
Software development communities are what make an open platform OS great. 
In a nutshell, Windows Mobile is a powerful and often misunderstood operating system. It is extremely versatile, and since it comes with a history of OSes dating back to the 90’s, there’s a tremendous library of software titles already available to suit any need.
HTC is known for making the world’s most popular Windows Mobile handsets. While their handset designs are often well thought out, practical and efficient, they are hardly ever accused of being hip and stylish.
Palm has had better days.
Everyone is psyched up about Android, but Google is still sitting on their new OS for the next few months.
