October 6 will be the retail launch of Windows Cellular six.5-based phones from a variety of handset makers and carriers. But it;s truly some thing larger: It;s the kick-off of Microsoft;s strategy to convince people that Windows is (or, at least,
Microsoft Office Professional 2010, should really be) all over the place they're.I;m not gonna repeat what plenty of other weblogs and web sites already have,
Buy Office 2010, in terms of a feature-by-feature assessment of Windows Cellular six.5. (Gizmodo;s evaluation has screen shots and details and ends by noting the Zune High definition crew has completely one-upped the Windows Mobile staff — kind of ironic, given the Zune software team is now part of MediaRoom/Media Center and the Zune Hardware folks are part of Windows Cellular.)Today is the day when Microsoft and its phone partners start using officially the “Windows Phone” branding for Windows Cellular phones. Windows Cellular is still the name that would be used for the operating system powering phones; Windows Phones may be the uber-brand for all phones running Windows Mobile, regardless of the carrier.That change may seem like semantics, however it;s not. It;s key to the three-screens-and-a-cloud mantra that Microsoft officials are repeating these days. The idea is you have Windows on your PC, Windows on your phone, Windows on your TV and Windows in the cloud and because it;s one big Windows world, everything works seamlessly.The reality is not quite like the ads. The operating systems powering these totally different Windows platforms aren;t all the same. Windows Mobile — for now,
Microsoft Office Pro 2007, at least — is still primarily based on the Windows Embedded CE core. CEO Steve Ballmer lamented to TechCrunch recently:“We have one and a half operating systems, Windows and Windows Mobile. Windows Cellular is kind of a half because it’s not entirely the same as Windows. And everyday,
Microsoft Office Standard, I say I’d love to get those two things to share more.”But until Microsoft can figure out how to do that, the company will have to rely on user-interface similarities and common services to further the company;s “One Windows; message.Example: Notice the way that Windows Media Center, the Zune Hd and Windows Mobile 6.five all use the same kind of vertical text menus as their primary interface. (Still,
Windows 7 Discount, because OEMs can and do layer their own interfaces over Windows and Windows Cellular, this UI consistency, in cases where it does exist, often gets buried.)There can be more examples heading forward, as Microsoft makes its Zune Video Marketplace, Zune music-subscription service and other premium services common across multiple Windows platforms. But until then, Microsoft;s “Life Without Walls” message still has some pretty solid walls in its path.Do you think Microsoft will ever get to the point where Windows is the 1 and only OS that the company is supporting across platforms? Does it actually matter whether the Softies can do so?