Microsoft calls Android 'free like a puppy'

Microsoft calls Android 'free like a puppy,' we can't decide if that's a bad thing or not

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/microsoft-calls-android-free-like-a-puppy-we-cant-decide-if/

Made me lol, so I thought I'd post this...

 

Horribly written article. With the total lack of context, I can't even tell if MS is comparing Android with:

WinMo (I had initially assumed from the headline that MS was taking potshots at the Nexus One, but upon further reading this doesn't seem to be the case. Also, isn't Chrome OS supposed to be taking on the role of competing with WinCE/7 on the netbook/mobile internet device front, leaving Android as a smartphone-only platform?),
WinCE (given what Nvidia has been doing and the mention of a tablet device, I was then led to think that WinCE was what they were talking about), or
Win7 (the mention of Windows being a mature platform further threw me off)

 

Perhaps they are reffering to some kind of subcription with monthly payment, pupies need to eat and puppy food aint cheap

 

it was more of a play on free as in beer, free as in speech; then microsoft comes out with a crappy comeback 'free like a puppy' at ces... I just thought it was a funny thing, that's all

their reasoning is that puppies are cute at first, but take more work later on; however, it's crappy because most people like puppies

 

That's only partially right.

A puppy is free to take home, like at one of those free puppy give aways. Android, the OS, is free. Your decision to take something home is often emotional.

Once you get home though, you realize the practical consequences of your actions. This is where the meat of the analogy is. After the emotions of getting something new has worn off, you realize its flaws. Just like a puppy, Android, just isn't read for primetime. Not without years of loving and caring training.

And he's right. Conceptually it's great. The problem is that the ecosystem is unstable. Conflicting standards and there is no major power player driving major development. It's like wikipedia, without the direction....

 

Well if the rumor's are true and Windows Mobile 7 (supposedly scheduled to be demoed/announced at Barcelona during Mobile World Congress next month) shed's backwards compatibility with previous generation WM apps, it better blow away the competition or I'm moving to Android. I do hope that app developers will be on board, but judging by what OS's the new apps come out for, I'm not holding my breath....

 

I'm just hoping for something with a decent PIM.....

The closest I've found is Palm's Pre.

The current WIM outlook interface just doesn't cut it on a mobile interface. The old Palm calendar ran circles around it.

Apple's BS calendar options make me want just want to carry around my old Treo. But too bad I've lost out on the OTA exchange syncing.

Androids is promising. I haven't played with it enough. My biggest gripe is that I have to flip out the keyboard to do anthing, defeating the whole purpose of having a cellphone. If I wanted to flip the keyboard out and use two hands to see my calendar, I might as well flip open my tablet......


For Android though, the ecosystem is never going to get legs unless a major player (ie Google) provides some major development muscle. But I don't think Google is looking to do that ATM.

 

Oh, I suppose you never heard of that tiny little company based out of California...I believe its name was Google .

Huh? Not all Android phones even have a keyboard.

 

What about the Nexus One? I bet that will help drive development

 

Why Windows Mobile didnt just go ahead and buy PocketInformant and include it as a standard element of their platform, is just beyond me. It is miles ahead of any PIM they or anyone else eve made on Windows mobile and it blows away the iphone's built-in calendar/contacts.

 

The response to the Nexus One is that it has slowed development. The new features it has cannot be replicated on other phones because hardware in the cellphone market is largely proprietary and non modular.

 

Unless there are some licensing issues, I don't see why other phone manufacturers cannot create a compatible technology or include that one as part of their phones. They can even create new technologies and software, then license it to other manufacturers if it is successful...

 

What new features does the Nexus One have relative to other Android phones such as the Droid?

 

Furthermore, what can someone do with a Nexus One that i can't do with my G-1 Android?

Humane society advertises that the 60 dollar fee for a puppy from them is cheaper than a 'free' puppy out of the newspaper. Because when that free puppy gets home, in come the 100 vet initial vaccinations, spaying, etc that the human society has already done and paid for. Draw a parallel to MS?

 

Maybe Microsoft is insinuating that free=cheapy=bad.

 

But android doesn't have a stylus or resistive screen and menus to make use of it

 

What's all that stuff Weegie? LOL j/k