InfiniteTech Blog

Windows Phone 7 Success

2011-09-25T22:00:00.002-04:00

Windows Phone 7 has been out for a little over a year now, and is expecting Mango (think of Mango as WP7.2) in the next few weeks. In the past year it hasn't been very successful, already releasing on all 4 of the major carriers in the United States, but only on a handful of devices. Perhaps the biggest problem with WP7 for the moment at least is the limited selection, Verizon, Sprint, and T Mobile only have 1 or 2 handsets each, while AT&T have around 4. I'm not including any unreleased devices for the sake of simplification. For users on every carrier but AT&T you can only get the one phone. Remembering that everyone has different preferences, from type of keyboard to preferred screen size, that really hurts sales. That isn't to say that Microsoft doesn't have anything good to show for Windows Phone 7. Making all phones have certain specs or better definitely helps to improve user experience. WP7 seems to be designed to play the middle ground between iOS and Android. Mango defiantly will help to drive the success for WP7 as the original release to me seems a little rushed; considering how many features that are available on every smartphone these days were omitted from the original release and noDO it reminds me of how many features were omitted from the first few versions of iOS (as a reminder, video recording and MMS were the biggest issues I had with my iPhone 3G, MMS did eventually get added a few months after the 3GS came out) Something I do love about WP7 is that it uses Zune's client to sync music and video. [Can everyone who hates iTunes yell into their monitor?] Another plus for WP7 is MetroUI, I'm personally not a fan for it, but it's a fresh, yet clean and simple UI and for that, I'd have to give it a thumbs up.

To answer any Smart-Alec comments about Windows Phone 7 being more secure than Android, just as I have just one thing to say. Security through obscurity.

HP Should Open Source WebOS

2011-09-25T19:45:00.000-04:00

Since HP is dismantling Palm the last of Palm due to the failure of the HP Touchpad and webOS as a product. Assuming that they aren't going to use it in the future, webOS might as well be released as a fully open source product. I only say fully because there are proprietary components in the operating system, just as there is in Android. The product failed twice, let it be, and evolve as Linux did. HP can still be involved in development and control of the overall view of the operating system, but let it be a mobile linux distribution. I haven't personally used webOS, however I've heard mostly positive things (other than the lack of Applications). I would love to see how it would develop as a fully open source project, hell I would love the dual boot webOS and Android on my Motorola Atrix, or Asus Transformer.

Windows 8 Blocking Linux Installations

2011-09-24T20:34:00.000-04:00

When I hear that the UEFI requirement for Windows 8 combined with the new boot system, will block someone from installing Linux, it really pisses me off. Mainly because I don't believe it's going to happen, remember Microsoft (unsuccessfully) tried to convince the courts that they do not have a monopoly because of the existence of Linux, though there is a chance that they will try something of that nature, but without a doubt, nearly every OEM is going to have an option in UEFI to disable this feature, and I wouldn't even be suprised if it's able to be disabled from Windows itself (remember you can overclock from the operating system now). Should we be worried about MS shutting Linux out of the PC market, maybe a little. Remember the Windows Terms of Service does state that if you chose not to use the preinstalled copy of Windows, you are entitled for a refund, forcing a user to use the preinstalled operating system, would make having that in the agreement pointless. If OEM's don't add options to disable this feature, I am almost certain that there is going to be angry customers (mainly linux and bsd users) going back and forth between Microsoft AND OEMs trying to return their copies of Windows (anyone remember when this happened before). Now, the reason, at least I believe behind the conclusion many people seem to have jumped to is Microsoft (as well as Apple) are trying to hurt Android (and by extension Linux) with software patents. This being said, any computer you have now, or custom system will not have this feature, only ones with the Windows 8 badge. There is also at least 1-2 years before Windows 8 comes out, so for all we know, things will change, Alpha, Beta, or RC candidates may shed the light on this feature.

Goodbye, and Welcome!

2011-09-24T19:53:00.000-04:00

Yes we are a Blogger now, due to issues with my schedule, I am no longer able to update the site as I wished, so I am using a free (and reliable host) so that I can continue to afford to maintain this site, the .net version of my domain will vanish along with that server December 9th (though I have already shut it down) I will update this site when ever I have time (who knows I may end up posting more) If anyone has any questions or concerns, feel free to contact me.

If you are wondering what I have been doing, and plan on doing, I will be starting to release Android applications. When I get a few finished (and submit them to the Android Market, I do plan on opening a new for said apps.