Thursday, May 7, 2009

One more reason a smartphone-style OS should take over

Here’s one more reason that a smartphone-based OS, such as Windows Mobile or Android or the iPhone’s OS, should take over–and I mean completely take over the consumer space: I want smartphone style OS integration across my calendar, clock (with timers), browser links, cameras, and so on.


Yes, I know I can do all of this with a little bit of effort in Windows, but frankly I’m too lazy. It’s either it works out of the box or I move on.


Now, I have downloaded Windows Live Essentials (or at least parts of it) a couple dozen times for my Windows 7 beta machines. It’s a little clunky, but not a terrible thing.


I guess it makes sense to have Windows Calendar as a separate download, but at some point it gets silly. Why isn’t Microsoft Paint a separate download? Or Windows DVD Maker? Or Media Center? Or just about any application in Windows itself?


The problem here is that the manufacturers are going to have a field day creating their own applications and making Windows subpar to OS X as well as Linux.


That makes me want to simplify even further. If I can’t create an event via the taskbar calender out of the box, then I’m all for tossing out Windows classic en masse. Let’s go as basic as we can. And that means smartphone-style OS time.


Sorry, I’m just disappointed that my iPhone works better than Windows. I’ll get over it. I just needed to vent a little.