Where can I get me some Microsoft Hatorade?

Just to clear things up, to all the grammar police out there the title is intentional.  When you look out at the tech blogosphere you will be hard pressed to find anything positive about MS. The writers have lost sight of commenting about technology for technology sake and instead they have chosen teams (Apple and Google) so that in the end everything is filtered through that lens. It is as if Microsoft stole their lunch money!

Lets start with the upcoming Windows Phone 7, it is a total break from the current Smartphone UI’s consisting of icons in grids whereby all tasks accessed through various apps. It is an elegant way to consolidate information in a seamless manner and all the data is presented in context using live tiles and hubs. The Metro UI brings a fresh method of creating applications that none of the OS’s offer. My favorite example comes from this article where the author compares WP7 Associated press app to the iPhone one. WP7 wins hands down IMHO. This is just one of the many like Hulu app, Olympic app and many more that show the great promise of the panorama  effect in contrast to the current methods. I can go on and on about the pictures hub that brings together all the sources from the phone, facebook, windows live etc into one place, XBOX live integration, Zune player and Office. What do we get instead? Critics hung up on the fact that WP7  will not include copy and paste at launch, no multi tasking in the traditional sense,  lack  UI customization etc. I personally find that old WinMo 6.5 and earlier had the easiest implementation of copy and paste, the iPhone’s is passable while Android’s is just downright painful.

When the Android OS came out about two years ago, I can’t recall the pundits clamoring for Google to just give up because the iPhone was on the rise and Blackberry and Symbian had practically cornered the market. They Instead  saw the promise of an OS with an open source licensing with the freedom to customize and tolerated bugs and the lack of features. Should Google never have tried to enter the market? Why is it then that most of the critics are now saying it is too late for Microsoft to re-enter the market with WP7? Google just hired the WebOS UI designer to work on the Android UI so that OEMS can stop adding custom layers that confuse users from one Android phone to another but when MS created the new UI that restricts OEMS from modifying the start experience it is somehow the end of the world!

I love what Apple has done the new iPhone hardware using glass and the aluminum body construction. I also like that they stuck with a pocketable screen size and opted for a 5 megapixel camera with a better sensor instead of joining the mega pixel madness that usually ends with crappy pictures and videos. That doesn’t mean I’m getting one but their pushing of boundaries advances the overall market to produce better products. The introduction of free turn by turn navigation by Google is yet another technological advancement that provides the users with a great service that used to be confined to standalone products or carrier solutions that were somewhat pricey.

I believe that WP7 will also push the Smartphone boundaries with live tiles and hubs, Zune player, XBox live and office. I just wish more people would look at technology from the exciting and different ways it makes our lives better rather than if company “A” produces it it is good no matter what while if company “B” produces it is from the devil. I for one I’m glad that I passed on the Hatorade.