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Pony99CA
Posts: 3
Location: Hollister, CA
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| 17 Sep 2007 6:50 AM |
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I couldn't find the Open Letter discussed anywhere, so I thought I'd try here.
First, let me say that I agree with the general principle -- I wish the
Windows Mobile team was more receptive to user feedback. While I may
not agree about the X button, here are a few of my wishes:
A real task manager -- Don't make us go into the Memory setting applet to kill a task (on Pocket PCs). Smartphones don't even seem to have that. Improved Calendar support for time zones -- While I don't mind
having to enter appointments in the time zone they're in, make it easy
for us; having to go to the Clock settings applet, change the
time zone, enter the meeting, then change the time zone back is
ridiculous. For example, the start and end times in the appointment
creation dialog should have a time zone drop-down list to allow
selecting the time zone the appointment is located in (you need both
for things like flights that cross time zones). The default would be
the currently selected time zone, and changing the starting time zone
would change the ending time zone to match. Also, the Calendar should
have a viewing option that allows viewing the Calendar in a different
time zone. Task alarm times -- Don't assume that task alarms should be at
the start of the day. Allow the user to specify the alarm date and
time.
A non-emasculated Tasks on the Smartphone -- the Tasks
application on the Smartphone platform is a shadow of the Pocket PC
version. A better Notes application on the Smartphone -- Voice notes are
fine, but allow written notes, like on the Pocket PC. With so many
QWERTY Smartphones out there, there's no reason not to have a Notes
application.
However, the letter has a lot of problems -- poor writing and apparent factual errors -- which I'll discuss.
I won't dwell on the writing too much. It reads like it was written to
impress an English teacher (not that it would with run-on sentences and
such). For example, consider the following:
Why
is it 2007 and only now with the consumer rollout of Windows Mobile 6
this year (the later part for most of it) are we only now - after all
these years - finally seeing support for VGA resolutions in Windows
Mobile?
That basically says "only now ... only now ...". Come on! Saying the following would be better:
Why
is it 2007 and we're only now seeing support for VGA resolutions in Windows
Mobile?
That's much more concise and powerful.
That leads me to the first factual error. What do you mean, we're only
now seeing VGA support? Windows Mobile has officially supported VGA
since WM 2003 SE (and the iPAQ hx4700 and Dell xv50 proved that). I've
never owned a VGA Pocket PC, so I can't say if the implementation was
ideal, but the resolution itself was supported years ago.
Second, the letter asks:
Why, despite
the obvious adoption of WiFi technology and its virtual inclusion in
all WM devices can we still not Sync over WiFi?
Are you serious? ActiveSync 3.x allowed syncing over WiFi. With ActiveSync 4.x and WM 5, Microsoft removed that capability due to "corporate security worries" or some such nonsense.
I say "nonsense" because I basically agree with the letter, though.
LAN syncing originally required the first sync to be done while
connected to the PC, so what security concern is there? If an employee
can't be trusted to sync wirelessly, can he really be trusted to sync
at all? Or is there some hacker way to allow syncing without the first
physical connection?
Also, ActiveSync should have the features added back that were removed
in ActiveSync 4.x -- backup/restore, category synchronization, the
ability to only sync completed tasks, etc. It should also be improved
as I wrote about in my ActiveSync wish list editorial.
Again, I agree with the general thrust of the letter, but its impact is hurt by poor writing and factual errors. And who signs a letter with their user name? (At least do something like "John Doe (osiris)".)
Steve |
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Silicon Valley Pocket PC
http://www.svpocketpc.com |
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Osiris
Posts: 385
Location: City of politicians and public servants: the City of Angels or Demons?
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| 17 Sep 2007 11:03 AM |
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Well its nice to see someone wanted to discuss it even if it was only brought about by my poor writing style. Likewise, I agree with your points on the areas you mentioned for improvement, most of which seem to center around the time management aspects of WM.
To the factual errors you point out:
1. In VGA I was referring to native VGA Support for the entire OS, not just the IE which is now supported by a HiRes option. I was under the impression, perhaps only from the time, that as well as bringing support for 800x480 there would be its capacity to have a native VGA environment without us having to hack away to get it.
I took it for granted that anyone whose owned a VGA device would automatically know the VGA issue I was referring to but looking at it now combined with the overuse of 'now' it seems to elude my point altogether.
2. I knew the Wifi had syncing capabilties in the past but did not know it was removed for security issues, but its still not back, so thats not a factual error, its just a genuine question that requires as answer. If not to that question than why after all the years which have passed since activesync 3.x have you been unable to give us a secure wifi sync option?
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From an XDA Mini II to an Athena...and everything in between... |
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Pony99CA
Posts: 3
Location: Hollister, CA
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| 17 Sep 2007 12:06 PM |
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Posted By Osiris on 17 Sep 2007 11:03 AM
Well its nice to see someone wanted to discuss it even if it was only brought about by my poor writing style. Likewise, I agree with your points on the areas you mentioned for improvement, most of which seem to center around the time management aspects of WM.
I didn't post just because of the writing style (but I am a stickler for that) -- I thought the issue was interesting and I wanted to add my wish list.
Posted By Osiris on 17 Sep 2007 11:03 AM
To the factual errors you point out:
1. In VGA I was referring to native VGA Support for the entire OS, not just the IE which is now supported by a HiRes option. I was under the impression, perhaps only from the time, that as well as bringing support for 800x480 there would be its capacity to have a native VGA environment without us having to hack away to get it.
I took it for granted that anyone whose owned a VGA device would automatically know the VGA issue I was referring to but looking at it now combined with the overuse of 'now' it seems to elude my point altogether.
As I said, I've never owned a VGA Pocket PC, but I thought the whole OS supported it. For example, I thought you got better fonts and icons in the whole OS, not just IE. I know there was some issue with pixel doubling, although I recall reading about utilities to use actual VGA in those cases.
However, I could well be wrong about the details, but Windows Mobile has supported VGA, albeit perhaps not fully.
Posted By Osiris on 17 Sep 2007 11:03 AM
2. I knew the Wifi had syncing capabilties in the past but did not know it was removed for security issues, but its still not back, so thats not a factual error, its just a genuine question that requires as answer. If not to that question than why after all the years which have passed since activesync 3.x have you been unable to give us a secure wifi sync option?
Regarding WiFi, what I thought was a factual error was the implication that ActiveSync never supported WiFi. However, if you knew that it did do it once, I'm willing to concede that asking why "can we still not Sync over WiFi" without any qualification was just another writing style issue, not really a factual error  .
Also, remember that it wasn't just WiFi syncing that was removed, but any LAN syncing capability.
However, given Microsoft's reasons for removing it, I wouldn't expect it back. I would like to know exactly what security concerns caused its removal, though.
Steve
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Silicon Valley Pocket PC
http://www.svpocketpc.com |
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nick_d
Posts: 346
Location:
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| 19 Sep 2007 7:58 AM |
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My main gripes:
1. why my PPC has LESS sync options that my 2002 imate Smartphone 2 (for example it can't notify you of conflicts when syncing so you can choose which change to accept, you can't sync categories)
2. why simple things like "properties" is now missing in file explorer
3. how they managed to make Pocket MSN take infinitely longer to load on a ppc than a smartphone
Cynical me says it's a woeful attempt at keeping third party vendors happier by giving them something to sell.
Rant over, time for work  .
Nick |
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