Software Imperium Microsoft has admitted cocking up and forgetting that blind people will not be able to use its Windows Phone 7 gear.
While we would have thought that the Imperium would be rushing around trying to find any customers at all, senior Microsoft officials have admitted that Windows Phone 7 (WP7), does not include the accessibility components for those with poor eyesight.
It is not that the software hadn't been invented. Under the reign of Bill Gates Microsoft had lots of useful settings for the impaired.
To make sure that the blind can't buy any third party add-ons, Redmond has made sure the devices are not compatible with any third-party screen-access technologies.
Andy Lees, president of Microsoft's Mobile Communications Business, told AFB that he was responsible. It was not intentional, just a dreadful cock-up.
"We were incompetent on this," he confessed.
Part of the problem was that Redmond forgot to talk to advocates and assistive technology developers regarding the problems with WP7.
Lees said the Imperium would fix the problem but it will "take several years".
It all started when Redmond decided that no applications from earlier Microsoft mobile operating systems will run on WP7.
By doing a "hard reset" on WP7 Redmond made sure that it could control over the specific features and functions that will be built into the phones. It learned this technique from Steve Jobs.
The idea was to pitch the WP7 between the autocratic iPhone model and the anarchic Android.
The only problem was that the system was too autocratic for third parties to make up for the Imperium's mistake and Redmond had not developed the software itself.
Lees said it would be a plan to develop Windows Phone into a compelling option for people who are blind or visually impaired.
On the drawing board was a plan to expand use of speech functionality for better eyes-free phone use and technology to enable screenreading functionality, specifically tailored to the one-of-a-kind Windows Phone interface.
Microsoft promised to incorporate more users who are blind or visually impaired into the design process, although we would have thought given the current situation it would be a classic case of the blind leading the blind.
can make someone fail or succeed just by posting some bad or good comments, it will be childish and immature.Those days are gone where some blogger fanboys
used to comment badly bashing MS product sitting inside cupertino office can turn the balance sheet numbers or someone from Redmond bash competitors
products. Intention is either fanboyism or they think it will save their jobs. People who read comments know who all these people are and what their vested
interest is. Best example is WP7 itself, see after all negative reports from some quarters, sales are increasing day by day. The nearby AT&T store got two
lots of 100 devices each and they sold both lots in three days.
I have been a iPhone user for long term, Android user for short term and now a Windows Phone 7 Samsung Focus user.To be frank I liked all the three devices.
But if you ask, which one is better value proposition without doubt I would say Windows Phone 7. I think anyone else than a fanboy needs much knowledge to
say which one is better. I see in a year or so WP7 taking the market share in a big way, mark my words. Only thing that can change this is if others come up
with something new and solid like WP7, So as a consumer its good to have competition. There are MS fans, Apple fans and Google fans. Undoubtedly Microsoft
leads the pack followed by Google and then Apple. The future looks equally bleak for all three. There are some stregths and weakness for everyone. I love to
hate Microsoft, but just not taking any fanboy comments at facevalue, I could see Microsoft as the one who is in the dominant position. Followed by Google
and Apple. Cloud presence and bank balance makes all difference ,since a long term player in this domain will ultimately emerge as the winner. Being said
that I think even Amazon like companies are second to none. Only time will tell.
At the end of the day what these junkies write doesnt matter ie, why all these companies balance sheets are looking day by day. Take Microsoft itself , there
is no other company which is bashed by fan boys. But still Windows 7, Kinect , Bing all are success itself. True that they had failed in KIN, Courier etc.
Apple had its own failed products like ping etc. But then there is iPhone too. Similar stories Google also has. So the more you experiment or fail with small
projects, these big companies really gets lot of energy to compete so that should never be a yardstick to measure the success or failure. If that was the cas
e iPhone would be never iPhone, gmail would not be gmail, google will not be google, facebook will not be facebook. Kincet and Bing are better examples here. See the market share they had initially and how they quickly learned and captured a fare share.
At this point Android is the one showing an enormous adoption rate and growth compared to iOS and BB. Considering how late is MS with 7 mobile it will take a while (if at all) to gain significant market share, and considering that they decided to copy the specific flaw of Apple (closing the platform) I see it even harder.
At least iPhone has some openings, such as HTML5. Windows Phone 7 does not even allow that. Therefore, every bit of content on Windows Phone 7 must go via Microsoft's servers in Redmond.
This was a big mistake. Windows Phone 7 is obviously failing. You'll see Nokia's MeeGo OS do much better than Windows Phone 7, due to the open approach of MeeGo. Nokia must know that if you arrive late to the party, you can't take everything for yourself, hence an open OS.