From Electronista:
The next version of Microsoft’s mobile OS beyond Windows Mobile 6.1 will be the first to directly tackle advancements brought about by the iPhone, according to statements the company has made at the recent Mobius conference and echoed by Engadget. The unnamed update will effectively port a desktop version of Internet Explorer to the handset environment to render web pages in a largely accurate manner similar to that of Apple’s mobile Safari browser.
Wow, two updates.
- they’re going to port desktop IE to Windows Mobile
- they’re going to make IE render web pages in a largely accurate manner
Frankly I don’t know which is the bigger surprise.
No schedule, no timing, just a bit of vapourware to keep the FUD machines running.
>No schedule, no timing, just a bit of vapourware to keep the FUD machines running.
Microsoft never announce the release dates of Windows Mobile – the market is extraordinarily complicated – so no surprise there. Until release, *everything* is vapourware. Like iPhone update 1.1.3 for example. Or Leopard 10.5.2.
As for the rest.. The article is vague at best. “Going to port a desktop version..”. Well that’s impossible for a start. The bottom line is that MS knows the Mobile Internet Explorer experience is poor, and they are working on making it better. Mobile Safari was a real wake-up call.
MS has a history of announcing vapour with no release date. Of course every product is vapour until it ships but MS has made an art of it – in fact pre-announcing vapour is their preferred method of combatting an upstart competitor. Apple hasn’t announced 10.5.2 or 1.1.3. Microsoft is talking loudly about how Windows touch interfaces will knock our socks off. How Mobile IE will be just as good as Mobile Safari. And other marketroid speak.
I see no technical reason why the IE rendering engine could not be ported to Mobile but whether it would render “properly” is an entire different debate.
>Microsoft is talking loudly
You mean one person blogging? Or official marketing?
If it’s official marketing, then that’s a first.
Marketing IS blogging. Blogging is marketing. Especially when coming from a large .com domain. You think MS bloggers are not vetted? The IE team even admitted they don’t talk about stuff til a higher-up mentions it. There are policies in place. If it came from a developer blogging then it is official!
Are Microsoft going to hide behind their bloggers now? Was it the MS blogger community trashing WinXP recently now that Vista is out (whereas the messages leading up to Vista’s release were definitely pro-XP).
This goes all the way back to Windows 1.0. Keep people waiting for the next big thing from you and they delay switching to a competitor. It’s how Redmond was built and how the West was won.
I’m sorry, but you don’t know anything about how MS deals with bloggers.
– ex-MS blogger.
Which is okay to say if you’re going to actually enlighten us tohow you see Microsoft dealing with internal bloggers. I think they, like a lot of corporate bloggers, are tolerated as long as the message is along company lines.
i.e.
MS Blogger says “if you think iPhone is cool, Windows Touch technology will blow your socks off”
MS Blogger says “Mobile IE to render web pages correctly”
MS Blogger says “We weren’t going to talk about IE8 until the higher ups mentioned it”
Is the company going to back away from these statements? Are these rogue bloggers running against the grain? I dunno, I’ve only been watching from the sidelines and seeing what Microsoft has done with their blogging efforts. They’ve a long way to go before they can be considered “transparent” (which is still streets ahead of Cupertino which only permits superstars to blog).
Besides the “blogging” diversion is moot. It was, if you READ the post rather than jumping to Microsoft’s defence, statements made by the company representatives at the Mobius conference. Which is it? Unofficial blogging? Uninformed marketroids? You can’t have it both ways – claiming that you’re transparent by letting people blog and then not standing behind what they say.
Is Microsoft THAT beleaguered that ex-employees have to jump their defence?
Here’s how Microsoft “manages” bloggers:
MS Employee: “Hey, I’d like to blog”.
MS Employee: “Hey, anyone? How do I blog?”
Current MS Blogger: “Set up an account on the blog site. Don’t say anything stupid. Good luck.”
MS Employee: “Thanks! Ok, here I go! ‘Hello World, I’m in the X team, and I’m excited to be working on blah blah blah'”.
There is one official MS policy on blogging: don’t be stupid. If a blogger “leaks” information he/she shouldn’t, they’ll get in trouble with legal and his/her manager.
There is no oversight. There is no “vetting”. No manager looks over your shoulder while you blog. Marketing don’t blog unless it’s about marketing (are there any marketing blogs? who cares – no-one likes marketing). Perhaps one of the most interesting MS blogs comes from the Hiring team – one of those folks posted a great entry in which called most of the Microsoft PMs looking for hires dumb, which I enjoyed reading a lot. If you want the naked truth about MS, that’s a great place to start.
A blog at MS is an individual employee, excited by his project, looking for feedback from the wider community, trying to talk directly to the people who care about the technology. It’s not through a filter. So, that’s blogging at MS. I know because I blogged for years at MS, and encouraged others to do the same. My blog is still up there, in fact – it was in the most popular 10% of MS blogs.
If you don’t think the MS blogging policy is transparent, I can’t possibly see how it could be more so. I would encourage you to read the blogs, rather than imagine how you think they are controlled on the other side of “the wall”.
As for the comment on WM’s browser: Like I said, if these were official statements, then it’s a first for the WM team who generally don’t say anything. I didn’t say it was impossible, I said it was a first. I’m glad to see it too – it demonstrates that the higher-ups are concerned by the iPhone and are pushing the right teams to make the right fixes. The fact they are going public at this stage indicates a real sea-change in management style, which is another change for the better.
The more really good mobile browsers out there, the better if you ask me. No-one made websites specifically for IE Mobile, because IE Mobile sucked ass and no-one wanted to use it. If MS actually make it a GOOD mobile browser, mobile browsing as a whole benefits.
I’m defending MS in the sense that I’m correcting your misconceptions, and providing background. For example, about blogging, and about the existing policy on announcing new products. I’m not defending the current Window Mobile browser though 🙂
I do read MS blogs. Mostly about technologies I’m interested in (and I don’t just mean Robert Scoble’s old blog). I’ve gone off a lot of them recently because, for one thing, it’s all about embrace and extinguish again. Silverlight, OOXML and the rest. If there’s anything out there that’s rather good, fire up a link. I’m always interested in good content (for various values of “good”).
I, however, disagree on whether Microsoft making a good mobile browser benefits anyone other than Microsoft. If desktop IE is anything to go by (and the point of this whole tirade of mine), they won’t render most web pages properly anyway. It’d be a crying shame for WinMo IE to render pages better than Win IE.
A couple of AAPL blogs would be nice to see….maybe when Steve retires.
There’s always Fake Steve 😉