Microsoft Office 2010 Ten things we still don't kn

[chaohong63]

Microsoft has just concluded its February 15 press conference with the Mobile Globe Congress in Barcelona, the place company officials showed off a demo unit of a Windows Mobile phone seven Sequence cellphone.
Those of us observing the Webcast received a fantastic idea in the “Metro” user interface that will be on these phones. If you’re a Zune HD user, you won’t have any trouble figuring out the interface,Microsoft Office 2010, which includes the same “hub” and “pinning” concepts Microsoft pioneered with the Zune HD. We know there is going to be a dedicated Bing hardware button on the phones. We know Version 1 of these phones won’t have support for Adobe Flash.
We also know who’s on the list of Windows Mobile 7 cell phone makers (LG, Samsung, HTP,Office Home And Business 2010 32bit, HP, Dell,Office Professional 2007 Product Key, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, Garmin, Asus and Qualcomm) and carriers (T-Mobile, Orange, Verizon, VodaFone,Microsoft Office 2010 Standard Key, Sprint, Verizon, Telefonica, AT&T and Telstra, among others).
But there are still lots of things we still have no idea about, after Microsoft’s hour-and-a-half mobile-strategy presentation.
Here are ten of just a few of my still-unanswered questions (some of which I’m hoping to get more details on later today):
1. When are the Windows Cellular phone 7 phones coming to market — other than by “holiday 2010″ as the Softies said today? Does that mean September, October,Office Professional, November? Will all in the Windows Mobile phone 7 handsets be out this year, or are some going to lag into 2011?
2. Will Windows Telephone seven phones be able to multitask? Microsoft showed a video criticizing its competitors for lacking multitasking, but no one said these new phones will multitask. Instead, Microsoft execs said users would be able to access multiple apps via “hubs.” that doesn’t necessarily mean multitask.
3. Which version of Internet Explorer is the Windows Cellphone 7 Sequence running? Microsoft execs said it’s a more advanced version of IE than the service has ever shipped. But they didn’t say which version of IE it is.
4. What’s the operating system inside the Windows Phone 7s? Microsoft execs never said the words “Windows Mobile 7″ (and I don’t believe that Windows Phone seven is the name of the OS, contrary to what some bloggers have asserted recently). Which version of Windows CE is with the core in the OS? CE 6.0 R3 (Cashmere?) or something more or less current?
5. Which Windows Live services will come “standard” as part for the Windows Mobile seven experience? Microsoft officials said “some” of them will be. I’d assume Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Photo ##############. But what about Live Mesh, Movie Maker, Live Writer?
6. There were a lot of rumors about Microsoft offering a “business” version of Windows Mobile seven and a “consumer” version of it. At today’s event, Microsoft officials emphasized that users want one phone to handle consumer and enterprise tasks. Does this mean that the very consumer-oriented UI for Windows Phone 7 is the only UI? Or will users get a business option at some point? And no mentions in the Office Cellular 2010 product today also made me wonder how/when Microsoft and its partners will make that next-gen Office suite available to Windows Telephone seven users. (Remember The Office Cellular 2010 release is a iIndows Cellular 6.5 app… so if there’s no backward compatibility, it’s unclear how/when it will support the new Windows Telephone 7s.)
7. What about the promised over-the-air updates for Windows Mobile 7? What about Silverlight support for Windows Mobile seven? Microsoft execs have been on record in the past committing to these features but no mention of either today.
8. Does the fact that all Windows Cellular phone seven devices will be Zune music/video-capable (as Microsoft execs said today on stage) mean that there are no more dedicated Zune HD players coming from Microsoft? Is the Zune HD, introduced in the fall of 2009, the last of that line? (Update: I asked Microsoft and obtained a no comment on this one.)
9. What happens to My Cell phone (Microsoft’s backup/recovery service)? Windows Marketplace for Mobile? No mentions of either of these during today’s event makes me suspicious about their future. (Update: Windows Marketplace for Cellular becomes one on the hubs in Windows Cell phone 7 devices; sounds like it will not include Windows 6.x apps.) And what about the new release of “Dorado,” the Zune app for PCs? Will that support Windows Mobile phone seven devices?
10. The elephant in the room (Pink) was not mentioned or alluded to at all during today’s MWC event. I had heard late last week that Microsoft is planning a separate Pink rollout event for the Pure and Turtle phones made by Sharp — possibly this spring. How does the Pink “experience” integrate with/relate to the Windows Mobile phone seven one, if at all?
Beyond the development tools strategy/vision for Windows Telephone seven (which Microsoft execs have said will be a topic for the Mix 2010 show in mid-March), what else do you want to know about Windows Cellphone 7?
Update: I got a few answers and lots of “no comment — yet” responses to some of these questions when I had a chance to talk to Microsoft after its event was over today.