Windows Phone 7 Series imitates Apple's iPhone in the worst ways

Betanews ^ | 25, 2010, | Joe Wilcox

[SmokingJoe]

For years, people have accused Microsoft of being an imitator, rather than innovator. Finally there is evidence: The ways Windows Phone 7 Series imitates the very worst of Apple's iPhone. Unless there is the strangest of coincidences -- like two students having the same wrong answers on a high school history test -- Microsoft is imitating Apple, using the same strategy to make the same mistakes. It's either imitation or incompetence, and out of fairness I assume the former.

The first imitation is the most baffling: Limited multitasking. Like iPhone, Windows Phone 7 Series will allow multitasking for some of its own applications, but not others. When open but not in use, third-party apps go into a pseudo-off ("dehydrated") state. By comparison, Google's Android, Nokia's Maemo or Symbian OS and Palm's WebOS all multitask (e.g., run background applications) just fine.

CNET's March 8 "Ways Android beats iPhone" expresses my sentiments: "Unlike the iPhone, Android devices like the Nexus One by HTC (pictured here) can multitask and run background processes. And how much do we love that notifications bar? A lot." As smartphones extend -- and someday replace -- the PC, multitasking will become a must-have feature.

Does Microsoft not understand this? People take multitasking for granted on the PC, which will make its absence more noticeable on the smartphone.

The Wicked Taskmaster

Case study: Joe Wilcox. Whenever out and about, I frequently use multiple background applications: Any combination of email, camera, instant messaging, music player or radio, news reader, RSS reader, Twitter or Web browser, among others. Then there are the widgets pulling down live content to the home screen(s). Given the phone's form factor, there generally can only be one visibly active application. But others run in the background.

[SmokingJoe]

I often wonder what Robbie Bach (The guy that runs Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division) is smoking. How on earth can you launch a new smartphone OS, a full 3 years after the iPhone, and still not have cut and paste, full multitasking or Flash? Apple may be able to get away with it, because they have the buzz right now, but then if you want to come from behind and overtake the guys that are ahead of you in market share, you gotta give consumers something extra to make them switch or at least try your product, especially the features that are lacking in the iPhone like cut and paste and Flash.

[Goldsborough]

For years, people have accused Microsoft of being an imitator, rather than innovator. Finally there is evidence:

Finally? LOL. M$ has been shamelessly ripping off Apple since the beginning of Windows.

[Scutter]

Alert Level: Severe

[coaltrain]

“M$ has been shamelessly ripping off Apple since the beginning of Windows.”

Kinda like how Jobs ripped off PARC for Mac OS GUI and the mouse.

[Goldsborough]

Apple paid for unfettered access to PARC. Microsoft stole the Apple implementation for its own use while developing the first versions of Word for their competitor's platform. The early versions of Windows media players contained whole sections of code lifted directly from Quicktime.

Catcall "fanboy" all you want. I was making fun of the author's use of "finally." It only took this long to see the M$ copying if one wasn't looking for it.

[Hootch]

And Apple has been ripping off everyone else for equally as long. Apple has got to be the greatest imitator of all time. I am not knocking them... It is what they all do.

Cases in point...
MP3 players have been around for a lot longer than Apple has been selling iPods. Apple repackaged (and did a great job of doing it) portable music players and buily a robust music distribution system as part of their offering but even that is a double edged sword.

I have been ablet to record TV shows on my computer for 12 years and for about 6 years been able to watch those recorded shows on my phone(Windows Mobile). Apple repackages this functionality and now you’d think Apple came up with the concept to begin with.

Apple is the best marketing company on the planet. They have a good product but I don’t think they are necessarily the great innovator that they present themselves to be.

And need I remind you that Apple and Microsoft saw the GUI interface about the same time at Xerox’s PARC research center.

I really am agnostic about OS’s. I use both Mac and PC and there are things I like and dislike about both but Microsoft is no more of an imitator than Apple although Apple may be a little better and certainly Apple is better at marketing.

[Hootch]

Apple PAID for access to PARC? Not according to what i have read. The whole issue was that Xerox saw no value in the GUI interface and let it go... I don’t think anyone paid them for it.

[SmokingJoe]

It doesn't really matter that much of Apple paid PARC or not. The fact remains, Apple did NOT invent the GUI. PARC did. In fact, I am hard put to find anything that was actually invented by Apple. They sure as heck didn't invent the MP3 player, or touch screen smart phones either.

[ctdonath2]

Re: limited multitasking

“Multitasking” is a very broad term. Problem is there isn’t a good solution to giving applications the power to run in the background without them, individually or cumulatively, chewing up so much CPU time as to adversely affect the dominant app the user is focused on. With palmtop computers, there isn’t enough horsepower to cope with the competing demands.

It’s one thing for Twitter to run a quick efficient check for updates, it’s another for a poorly-implemented self-important app to (say) constantly process video even when not in “on top” or “have focus”.

If M$ is cutting multitasking on the palmtop, it’s not just a “me-too” downgrade (?!), it’s because it’s the only way to keep apps well-behaved regarding minimal resources.

[Goldsborough]

Yep, Apple didn't invent the first MP3 player or touch screen phone. Just the first usable ones. LOL.

It's only been coincidence that Apple comes out with something, be it consumer electronics devices, or a GUI feature, and along comes Redmond a few years later aping it.

Sure there is marketing involved, but marketing wasn't helping them in the 90s when the company was stagnant and moribund while Jobs was in exile making digital cartoons. Apple actually has products that people want now. Microsoft has recently learned that without that, the marketing budget, Seinfeld, etc., are next to useless.

[Hootch]

Agreed. I have clients with both Mac and PC and across the board the Mac people are the ones most in the dark about the origin of the technology they love so much. That is because Apple is such a phenominal marketing company... Why else would someone pay $1000 for a Mac laptop when they could buy the same functionality in a Dell or HP for $500.

[Hootch]

Steve Jobs is one of the few CEO’s in this country that deserver the salary he makes. Apple is half the company without Jobs.

[Hootch]

Those digital cartoons made Jobs a fortune too.

[edh]

“In fact, I am hard put to find anything that was actually invented by Apple.”

Rabid fanboys that pray for your soul to rest in the depths of hell should you criticize even a pixel of MacOS?

I kind of like Apple, but I simply do not buy their products mainly due to the arrogance that quite a few of their users emit. I also didn’t like how Steve Jobs screwed Steve Wozniak out of a bonus when Woz designed Breakout for Atari. Not like Woz is complaining now :-)! That there tells me a lot about Steve Jobs’ character.

That is not to say I have any love for Microsoft or Bill Gates ... I just think the criticism of Vista was a bit hyped and I don’t think Windows 7 gets the credit it deserves.

In the end, all of these companies ripped off Atari. Atari is the greatest computer hardware company of all time. Sure the 5200, 7800, Lynx, Jaguar, and most of their post 400/800/ST computers failed miserably, but man did they ever look cool :-)! The first GUI ever was a game called Computer Space :-P. The first ultra-popular GUI was Pong. Everything is a ripoff from those two games :-P. Forget Xerox ... yes, I am being stupid on purpose.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Why else would someone pay $1000 for a Mac laptop when they could buy the same functionality in a Dell or HP for $500.

Probably because they will burn up way more than the additional $500 in phone calls to tech support people in India trying to understand why they have to reinstall HP's proprietary hardware drivers after every Windows Update to avoid getting blue screens.

[edh]

“Probably because they will burn up way more than the additional $500 in phone calls to tech support people in India trying to understand why they have to reinstall HP’s proprietary hardware drivers after every Windows Update to avoid getting blue screens.”

I have 3 HP laptops in my home and have yet to experience this. Can you elaborate? Also, I had an HP Laptop die at work. I contacted HP, was sent a new laptop overnight with explicit instructions to swap the hard drive out, and sent the broken one back.

Also, ever since I started to rely on auto-updates back in, what, Win 2000, I have never, ever encountered this problem you describe.

I mean, I know Apple computers never malfunction nor do they have bugs, so you are probably exaggerating a bit there :-)! In fact, those broken Macs I see on Ebay for sale for parts and the like are probably propaganda put out by Microsoft to kill Apple sales.

[Solson]

As much as Mac-heads would LOVE to think windows user spend 8 hours a day on Tech support, I've been a Windows user for years and have never had to call Tech support.

The Mac Operating system is intuitive, easy to use and sexy. But, for the heavy lifting, I'll take a Windows or Linux box anyday. In terms of modifying a system to do what you want, there is not Apple Choice.

But the typical - "burning up hours with Tech Support" doesn't happen with the large majority of Windows users...which, by the numbers, exponentially dwarfs Mac Users...so in all, not bad.

As far as the iPad, I see, CURRENTLY, no need when I can go get a Lenovo S10-3T or Asus T91 or the upcoming Asus 101T touchscreen netbooks which are equal or less money, can run more than one program at a time and can be used as a regular netbook as well.

I like Apple products but I think they missed the mark....so far...with the iPad. I'm confident Jobs & Co. will make it better quick but the competition will be tough in the iPad marketplace.

[edh]

Shoot ... I realized I was off topic.

Windows Mobile is the absolute worst phone operating system I have ever used. It is absolute garbage. 150% garbage. Win7 Phone looks a tad bit prettier, but it’s probably the same garbage underneath.

The ONLY thing I saw that was appealing was the ability to link your Xbox Live account to your phone and play some Live games on the road. That’s still not enough for me to ever consider switching from Android.

[Goldsborough]

Apple gave Xerox stock for engineers and himself to get "inspired" at PARC. You cannot be accused of theft if you buy something. If Apple "stole" anything from Xerox, it was hiring away employees from PARC, which is the time honored way to steal intellectual capital.

Steve Jobs, Apple and Xerox

[SmokingJoe]

Probably because they will burn up way more than the additional $500 in phone calls to tech support people in India trying to understand why they have to reinstall HP’s proprietary hardware drivers after every Windows Update to avoid getting blue screens

Currently have 2 laptops and a desktop with Vista and Win 7. Never called tech support for anything to do with Windows ever. It just works. In fact Win 7 is the best desktop OS I ever used, and have used quite a few of them.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Tell it to my client, who has had to reinstall Windows 7 three times (at the request of tech support) on his Lenovo notebook due to Windows Updates continually hammering his driver configuration. I have a hundred similar stories - Microsoft is right on the verge of losing the small business client, who in this economy really doesn't have time or IT staff to devote to reconfiguring things that that may seem like simple fixes to experienced Windows IT veterans, but were supposed to just work out of the box.

Apple (and Linux) has a big opportunity to take small business away from Microsoft, though they have been less than deft about exploiting it so far.

[SmokingJoe]

Yep, Apple didn't invent the first MP3 player or touch screen phone. Just the first usable ones. LOL

I know some of your Apple fanatics don't even know there were MP3 players before the iPod, but for your information, Creative’s Nomad MP3 player, and before that the Diamond Rio Rio PMP300 were very usable MP3 players, long before Apple even knew there was something called MP3 players.

“It's only been coincidence that Apple comes out with something, be it consumer electronics devices, or a GUI feature, and along comes Redmond a few years later aping it.”

You mean like how Apple themselves “aped” Creative and Diamond, a few years after those companies had introduced their MP3 players?
You can't claim someone “aped” you, when you never invented anything yourself, and only aped what someone else was doing can you?

“Apple actually has products that people want now”

Yeah,like the Apple TV product. Chortle!

[SmokingJoe]

Tell it to my client, who has had to reinstall Windows 7 three times (at the request of tech support)

I don't have to tell anything to your client, given that I have been using Win 7 since beta for 2 years now, and even in beta, found it one of the best operating systems I have used (and I have used all kinds of operating systems for years, going back to the DEC VAX, and the AS400.
Given that a massive 8 million users downloaded and used Windows 7 in beta, gave great word of mouth from those 8 million beta users, and after that Wiondows 7 proceeded to totally shatter all operating system sales records in history when it was released, I would be calling BS on yet another FUD attempt, by yet another Apple fanboy on yet another internet board. Further, I'll take my own experiences with the product, over those of some anonymous guy that I know nothing about, any day.

[SmokingJoe]

Apple (and Linux) has a big opportunity to take small business away from Microsoft, though they have been less than deft about exploiting it so far.

Linux was launched even BEFORE Windows NT was launched, and has still not even managed to grab just 2% of the world's desktop market yet.
Apple has been around like forever, and still can't even get 4% of the world's desktop/laptop market. Companies like Lenovo and Acer were founded long after Apple and have managed to sweep past Apple in worldwide market share with ease.
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS22161710

[Erasmus]

“Multitasking” is a very broad term. Problem is there isn’t a good solution to giving applications the power to run in the background without them, individually or cumulatively, chewing up so much CPU time as to adversely affect the dominant app the user is focused on.

And also chewing up so much battery charge that it goes dead in two hours.

[RightOnline]

Probably showing my ignorance here, but wouldn’t MS use Silverlight vs. Flash?

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"Kinda like how Jobs ripped off PARC for Mac OS GUI and the mouse."

[facepalm]

Xerox was paid for that. It's no one's fault but Xerox's that it cannot figure out how to make market successes out of its own inventions. That's a chronic problem with that company.

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"Steve Jobs is one of the few CEO’s in this country that deserver the salary he makes."

I'm trying to figure out if that's a compliment or not. His salary is $1 a year!

[scott7278]

How on earth can you launch a new smartphone OS, a full 3 years after the iPhone, and still not have cut and paste, full multitasking or Flash?

Especially since my HTC device running version 6.5 has all three of those capabilities. I won't go backwards - I'll simply switch to Android when it's time to upgrade. They might not have Flash capability, but some new standards are arising that will make that point moot.

I use mine as a computer, and can't lose the cut-and-paste or multitasking especially.

[SmokingJoe]

Yes Sliverlight 4 is one of the development tools for Windows Phone 7, in addition to XNA 4.
But the Microsoft themselves have said they will have Flash on Windows Phone 7, but it appears Flash won’t be on Windows Phone 7 at launch.

[Fresh Wind]

As much as Mac-heads would LOVE to think windows user spend 8 hours a day on Tech support, I've been a Windows user for years and have never had to call Tech support.

I've only once had to call Microsoft support, and I got through to a support person immediately, he was an English speaker, and he took care of my problem quickly and efficiently (I needed a patch that was scheduled to be included in the next service pack). Compare that with the truly awful support I have gotten from other software and hardware vendors (Symantec and Pinnacle come to mind immediately).

[Hootch]

That hasn’t been my experience. Apple support is a premium. If you pay the same premium you can get the same support for an HP or Dell. The Applecare Warranty for most Mac Laptops is about $300. For less than $300 I can add a complete care warranty to a Dell and get coverage for everything except theft for three years.

There is freedom to buy whatever hardware you want to run your OS for Windows and due to BS from Apple, you can only run the Mac OS on their hardware. You don’t think Microsoft could have the same degree of stability if they provided the OS AND Harddware?? Just think of how quickly they would be sued.

I update my OS with Windows on a regular basis and I haven’t gotten a blue screen in years... Yes, they happen but not like they used to.

You commments illustrate a slant in your perspective.

[Hootch]

Please pass my contact info to your client. It sounds like maybe a problem with the service provider... ;)

I have worked with Dell, HP, IBM, etc... When you are providing support to people you are providing support. I get issues on Macs, PCs, etc...

The bigger problem is when the business community can buy a PC for $500 or a Mac for $1000, and both can deliver the same results why would you ever pay the additional cost just to buy a Mac?? Until Apple makes inroads with the business world, they aren’t going to get much more traction or market share than they have now.

[Hootch]

LOL... I thought he was making a lot more than that... I guess Stock options or however he gets compensated is a lot more than that. My point was simply that he deserves what he gets as he really IS the company... Everytime there are rumors about his health, the stock drops.

Full disclosure here... I bought 100 shares of apple stock just before the iPod came out. It was $17/share and it has split 3 times since then and is now around $200/share... Great company but they really could be better.

I think if Jobs came out and presented the Apple iCliff and told all the Mac-y’s to run off it they would... Because it had an apple logo on it and Steve Job’s said so... If Jobs had chosen a dark life path he could have been like Manson or Jim Jones...

[gitmo]

I think Windows Mobile is trying to be both a Phone OS and a corporate mobile device. Microsoft should branch the OS into a phone OS and a separate OS one for handling other mobile devices for generic purposes.

I find myself having to circumvent the phone part of the OS to optimize applications for my company. And my buddies who code for the phone side complain about the features that benefit my apps.

The way they handle a program when you exit causes problems for me. I want the thing to GO AWAY and free up memory because the program I am linking to is gonna need those resources.

But for a phone, they want the thing to be “instant on” and pick up where it left off.

[coaltrain]

“It’s no one’s fault but Xerox’s that it cannot figure out how to make market successes out of its own inventions.”

And that’s Job’s brilliance and failure...he knows how to market (i.e. design & interface) but can not invent an original product on his own. More power to him. It paid off with a jet ride from Cali to a Tennessee liver.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Aren’t they required to pay minimum wage, especially in CA?

[RightOnTheLeftCoast]

"And that’s Job’s brilliance and failure...he knows how to market (i.e. design & interface) but can not invent an original product on his own."

Well... let's stipulate to your point for the moment.

A larger issue regards what we call "innovation." Looking through history, the vast, vast majority of society-changing innovations were not of the "inventor with light-bulb going off over his head" variety. Instead, the Thomas Edisons and Henry Fords of the world had an ability to borrow ideas, often from seemingly unrelated fields, and make them happen by assembling the necessary networks of people. It's a leadership thing. Recombinant innovation of that sort is what Jobs excels in (and, for that matter, what Xerox has never figured out).

You might want to read Dr. Andrew Hargadon's book, How Breakthroughs Happen. Hargadon is one of a new breed of academics who have studied the innovation process (in his case, from the inside as an engineer as well as as a researcher) and have interesting things to say to managers who want to drive a culture of innovation in their companies.

You might emerge with more respect for the kind of manager Jobs is, and the kind of company today's Apple is.