dot.Bench

There's nothing like an extraordinarly well-thought-out piece of technology design to get my blood pumping. If they can just give you a moist towelette that has the "new car smell" to it that I can wipe on this, I would be in heaven.

Disclaimer: I will try not to offend the ever growing nation of iPhone users, but if you are sensitive to hearing unkind words about Apple, Steve Jobs or anything beginning with the letter "i", then I would skip this post.

I will make no apologies about it, I am a Windows Mobile fan much the same way that I prefer Microsoft Operating systems over nearly ever other (save possibly for my one-time crush: BeOS). Back in the heydays of the late 80s and early 90s, I was an Apple fan. I used them at college because I used them for Quark Xpress, Aldus Pagemaker, Adobe Photoshop while I was an editor on the college paper(s) and literary magazine. While I never bought an Apple for home use, I was one of the happy Apple Newton owners.

I will also concede that Apple wins, hands down, when it comes to usability and  user experience design. No matter what Microsoft has tried in the last two decades, it is perpetually playing catch-up to the Apple's design aesthetic and excellence in consumer-focused interface design. Even the screenshots of Windows 7 still seem like they're just on the verge of picking up the trail blazed by OS X.

Since I'm a UX professional, it should therefore seem natural that I would prefer Macs to PCs in my professional and personal life.

But I don't, and frankly, I'm not even on the fence about it. Because no matter how much I admire their design prowess and commitment to UX principles, they violate an even bigger personal ethic: namely, that it's MY technology and I should be able to do what I want with it. What does that mean, exactly? Well, to me, that means:

1. Once I buy it, don't prevent me from being able to mod it, skin it, tweak it, nudge it, upgrade it, make it mine from the inconsequential details down to the basic building blocks.
2. Hardware is my domain, software is yours. I want your operating system, but I don't want your hardware constraints. Let me change the case, the drives, the video card without having to crack the Human Genome or ask Big Brother's permission. Selling me a device that I can't even remove the battery from <cough>iPhone</cough> is an insult to my DIY sensibilities.
3. I'm fine with your right to proprietary technology and intellectual property, but DRM is a whole different story. If you roll over and let DRM invade and control your software platforms <cough>iTunes</cough> then I don't consider you to be looking out for my interests.
4. Support your developers and empower them. Don't make them jump through unnecesasry hoops and cowtow to your whims in order to help make your software platforms successful by providing a rich, vibrant catalog of applications<cough>App Store</cough>.

I understand why the Apple made the decisions it did. They looked at the "user flexibility" vs. "consistent user experience" dilemma and opted for the UX. But I'm not comfortable with that trade-off. I also know I'm not their core audience. I'm a big ol' nerd. I build my PCs from components, I have my own server rack in a closet at home, I write code as well as consume it.

But at the same time, I'm not as far down the other end of the spectrum to be a big Open Source fan. I do believe Open Source software has its place in the technology ecosystem, but is and should be an option and not the answer to every situation.

All of this leads me to the reason I started writing this: Windows Mobile and the iPhone. 

I won't deny that parts of the iPhone make me very envious. As usual, Apple created a user experience that is beautiful and engaging. They also made a sexy little form factor with usability features that extend all the way down to the hardware layer. Not matter how many problems I have with how they review, approve and manage apps in their App Store, it is a great resource and something that Microsoft is only just now starting to address.

Then they ruined all their hard work when they locked the battery inside the damned phone. To repeat a joke I read on the intarwebz, we live in a world where it's easier for Steve Jobs to replace his liver than it is for an iPhone user to change their battery.  I could rail on about iTunes, which is another big disappointment for myriad reasons. Factor in some of the annoying and ridiculous antics by AT&T like their additional fees for tethering even if you have an unlimited data plan, and I just flat-out refuse to get one, ever.

I am the mostly happy owner of two different HTC Touch Pro phones running Windows Mobile 6.1; one on Sprint and one on AT&T (aka HTC Fuze). I have nothing but flattering things to say about HTC. They make great looking phones, with great specs and good user features. They give me phones that look good but still have a sliding keyboard. My Touch Pro was 3G ready before the iPhone was.

Then there's the HTC TouchFlo interface layer for Windows Mobile. They single-handedly made owning a Windows Mobile phone nearly iPhone comparable, just so they could sell more of their phones and not be restricted by how badly Microsoft had managed their mobile user experience. But an interface on top of another interface isn't an answer <cough>Microsoft Bob</cough>, it's a Band-aid, and it's got be to be removed soon so we can heal the boo-boo it's covering.

Rather than despair that Microsoft isn't up to the challenge, I know otherwise. Microsoft has done some very useful user interfaces, including:

• Windows Media Center
• Microsoft Zune
• Windows 7

I won't say that any of the above examples are stellar, but they were created with the right balance of simplicity and control. I wish I could say the same of Windows Mobile (even the upcoming version 6.5 is not much more than an incremental facelift). I won't even talk about Windows Mobile 7 yet because all the screenshots and demos floating around out there are so preliminary that it's almost a guarantee that the final product will be nothing like them.

So rather than talk about what they're going to do, I'll end this rant with a Wish List for the next version of Windows Mobile and hope that someone out there is listening:

• Build only one Windows Mobile OS, but allow it to flip between "Business" and "Consumer" modes. I should be able to go  flip modes with a thumb swipe so that when I'm using the phone for business -- interacting with Exchange, using Office apps, etc -- it has the more traditional Windows Mobile experience (which does serve the business user adequately) But after I leave the office, let me flip a switch and have a Zune-like interface that lets me consume digital media, tweet, update Facebook, browse the web with quick thumb swipes and simple, sexy menus.
• Learn from the mod crowd.  There are a whole slew of Windows OS skining apps out there like WindowBlinds or SkinCrafter, including ones for Windows Mobile, that let your users not only change the small stuff like theme colors and wallpapers, but bigger things like menu options, interface layouts... everything. If you build interface customization directly into the OS, then users don't have to burden their phones with interface-on-interface apps to get the user experience they want or need.
• Learn from Apple's App Store.  Do what they do well; ease of use and a vast catalog of apps, but don't repeat their mistakes; draconian bureaucracy for developers who want to get into your store, letting mobile carriers bully you into prohibiting apps that people want/need (tethering apps or programs like Skype that compete with carriers on their own data networks).
• Lead the market and stop chasing it.  Apple, RIM and Palm are now way out ahead of you because they put serious money, manpower and vision behind their products. If you don't see where the mobile computing market is going (laptops in 5 years will be what Desktop PCs are today... rapidly becoming obsolete), then you will never make a product that will get you the real maketshare you covet.
• Play well with others. The mobile application platform market is going to become the new prom. You'll never get to be prom queen if you don't get out there and shake some hands and kiss some babies. Makes friends, partners and alliances first and focus on being proprietary and exclusive second. The more a mobile platform works with other mobile platforms and technologies, the more it will be valuable and useful to your consumers. In the cage match between useful and cool; useful will eventually win, no matter what anyone tells you.

I want to be a Windows Mobile user five years from now. Please, Microsoft, don't make me buy an iPhone.