MS says no to 3rd party UI in WM7?

December 30, 2009 | By WenWP

Windows Mobile is very well known for its wide variety of User Interface like Sense and Panels, well MS wants to put and end to that. The news comes from German site Teltarif.de (via MSMobiles) and they say that Windows Mobile 7 will bring a very unwanted end to User Interfaces that manufactures like HTC and SE add to personalize the device.

There is an alternative to this story, MSmobiles is also speculating that MS might be developing two versions of WM7. The first version will consist of all MS settings, the so-called "Microsoft experience", and their own UI(which must be killer if they are doing this) and the second version will not have their UI, but whatever UI companies add on themselves.

I have mixed thoughts about "forbidding of 3rd party user interfaces in Windows Mobile 7", it could be a good sign that Microsoft is very confident about what they have come up with and they want everyone to use it and bring back some respect to their UI name. I also think it is a bad idea because not everyone likes the same things, and if we are all stuck with one thing, then that would not be very interesting, because multiple UI’s simultaneously is what really sets us apart from Android, iPhone and just about every single OS out their. This is big, but lets just say “XDA get your knifes and pans ready, you might have some cooking to do.”

Comment your thoughts, with intense

About Wen M

Working for WMPU is awesome. Love to write personal articles, and I do it very often. I am the reviewing editor (self appointed), so you will see alot of reviews and giveaways from me. I own quite a few devices not just Windows Phone but Android and others. I live in Minnesota, USA and love traveling to other places.

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Tagged microsoft, windows mobile 7

joujou

that, dear microsofters, is suicide.

i can imagine the meeting. "we need to be more recognizable" "yeah, like the iphone". and there they go and destroy the one big advantage of winmo, where its ahead of its time – could undoubtedly, over time people will get used to smartphones in a big way, and customization will become bigger and bigger.

and then when apple introduces this ability in 2014, you will see them jump through hoops and hover back. and people will think "apple invented this" yet again.

well, if thats what you want, just go and try it.
Chris

That sucks for me as this would destroy my WisBar software completely.
ASMSA

msmobile is on crack (as allways) there has been code found in newer manila that relates directly to its interaction with WM 7. If anything its the second option but chances are its just BS.

http://intensedebate.com/people/WMPerson MobileOSNews.com

Its actually not their news, they found it on a Chinese web site

http://celljudge.com celljudge

so which story is right this or the one before it that says sense will run on top of wm7?

http://intensedebate.com/people/WMPerson MobileOSNews.com

The could be both right

John

im getting sick of 3rd party UIs. None of them are complete, but I think perhaps they should make it easier for them to make them more complete while making a killer complete UI themselves. I think they are aiming for more 'brand recognition through screenshot' that the iphone has with its iconic, icon springboard homescreen.
David

Just look at the headlines of MSMobiles and ask me why they are credible at all. It's clear they are an anti-MS site. This is all on their current first page. No need to go deeper than the text visible there. So why would a rumor they post about MS have credibility?:
Microsoft employee explains why Windows Mobile 7 is delayed 4 years: the need to go back to drawing board
… or in other words: Microsoft had to start from scratch because if they would release what they had, the world would laugh them out

My Phone service of Microsoft fails real-life test and fails to locate a lost Windows phone

Microsoft shill – Michael Gannotti – names top ten 10 Windows Mobile apps – an exercise in insincerity

Microsoft mobile consists wholly of incompetent baboons.

Derp

I don't think they're anti-MS, but you are right about the incompetent baboons thing.

Ever watched an MSMobiles video review? Yuck.

http://intensedebate.com/people/simbadogg simbadogg

I dont think that people like having choices between multiple UIs at all. I simply think that people just want a GOOD UI. to be honest, the UI used for wm6.5 isn't that great, Touch Wiz sucks (its REALLY bad). For the most part, when you start to go through the UIs that manufacturers throw on their devices, the only one that's actually good/has been good over the years has been touch flo/sense from HTC. So i for one welcome the 1 UI and 1 UI only stance of MS, as long as its a good one. Because we have all borne witness to what happens when u have a crappy UI. companies like HTC begin to shine and you end up putting developers in business to make apps that simply cover up the ugliness with makeup.
http://intensedebate.com/people/EGOvoruhk EGOvoruhk

Unless Microsoft gets rid of the registry, which wont happen, I don't see how this is possible
http://intensedebate.com/people/JKingDev JKingDev

I think what this means is that MS will not allow OEMs to make their own UI's. With the flexibility of the OS it would be pretty impossible to make replacing the default UI impossible (unless they plan on sand boxing the whole OS-app architecture which would indeed be a disaster).

I think this is very good. As long as MS's default UI is a good one. Better than both Titanium and TF3D (and I think both could use improvement). There needs to be consistency with WM devices. Right now a customer can expect a very different experience depending on what brand WM device they buy. There is no confidence in the OS itself. The software should not be a deciding factor when choosing a WM device. Any device running WM should deliver the same experience. It should be the hardware you are choosing.

This should be good for devs too. As long as it is still possible to modify the OS and UI behavior devs can keep selling programs like wisbar. It should be easier too, because devs wont have to worry about what OEM software will interfere.

Consistency in an OS is good for everyone.

http://intensedebate.com/people/WMPerson MobileOSNews.com

Very good point, I wish I would have though of it when I was writing the post
http://intensedebate.com/people/Foamy Foamy

I only have experience with HTC Uis but what is wrong with the current system where you can change which one is used in the settings? i assume to can change the omnia to use the default MS UI? obviously the current MS UI is terrible but the system works. even if the UI was changing the interface across the whole OS it should be possible to have a system like this.

it makes no sense to allow third party UIs but not from the companies making the phones. this means that either they're making two versions of the OS; one which is locked to the WM default and another which can be changed or they're just making it so that the OEMs cant ship devices with their UIs enabled as default but they allow people to enable them later.

i can't see the first happening to be honest but the second one makes sense as your points above show. i don't know what affect it would have on the industry though. on one hand it may increase UI innovation as the OEMs have to compete with the third party devs at the same level. it may also be bad by stopping the OEMs from bothering or making them charge. it may be fantastic by having any UI made by any company work on any winmo phone. HTC could just offer sense for free on any HTC device but others could still use it by paying.

http://intensedebate.com/people/JKingDev JKingDev

And just because OEMs can write there own UI doesnt mean they cant modify the stock one. For instance, if the WM7 homescreen ends up being a widgets type home screen a la android (which I would like) HTC can still add their own widgets. They just cant replace the whole home screen with their own stuff.

I am not advocating a complete removal of customization. Just limited OEM customization. Developers should still run wild.
Diego!

What da hell???

OMG! If this rumor happens to be true, well Stevie B, you’d better start sending off some resumés away ’cause you’ll be getting fired…

Jeeze, they don’t understand that everybody wants different UI’s and that one thing that WinMo is ahead of every other company (apple, android) is that you have the availability of changing the UI on your phone whenever you want.

John

i would say most people want a functional, eye candy UI thats easy on the fingers and the eyes, and isnt a throwback to windows 3.1.. which is why people change the UI on windows mobile in the first place. It will not be a big deal if they dont allow UI changes. I think they should have fewer vendors too of their devices personally.

boybawang

This is good news!! I hate bloatwares!
http://twitter.com/MaxYeremin @MaxYeremin

I call bulls**t on this – first, it is MSMobiles we're talking about. Second, there is nothing in Windows that can prevent a custom shell, on a technical level. It's just replacing the explorer.exe. Nothing, short of a term in the licence.
baboon

geez luise, it is not story from msmobiles.com but just reported by msmobiles.com => the story original comes from Chinese site and is reported also by the biggest German mobile news portal, so it is not totally uncredible.

please note also, fellow monkeys, that msmobiles was the ONLY site to report that official upgrade to Windows Mobile 7 is coming to HD2 and now HTC Russia confirmed it, so you see!

go eat some banana!

http://intensedebate.com/people/WMPerson MobileOSNews.com

quiet right, they were, but for some reason people have really really bad feelings about them.

ganondolf

i dont understand why people think there will only be one ui, at the moment wm6.5 has its own ui which anyone making a wm phone can use. but it the phone companies wants to make there own ui they can disable the ms ui in the options like they can do now. we all know wm7 is made on ce 7 (i believe wm is missing ce 6) so it makes it near impossible for them to not let companies customize. saying this i think they will have more rules that certain features can not be changed or disabled to keep the whole experience to a high level. Also they already have a minimum hardware spec level required.
Dave

This would be disastrous. OEMs would balk like crazy at this. If home screens and UIs were to stay the same on all devices OEMs would have no way of differentiating themselves in the market. Without this the platform would be extremely bland. You can't compare this to the iPhone and say that the iPhone has brand recognition because of its icon based home screen. It is not a platform. It is a single device, made by a single manufacturer.

The one thing that Windows Mobile has always had is flexibility. Take that away and you take away its last advantage. Take it to market with a single look and you have immediately narrowed your market. If you like consistency across brands, fine, simply set it to the Microsoft UI in your settings, and let everyone one else have a choice.

If you look at this from another way…I don't think Microsoft has the market strength to make such demands of their partners. They have been loosing market share. Given that fact, how do you go to your partners who are all using your platform less and less in favor of other OSs and tell them you are taking away their biggest means of recognition? That sure doesn't seem like a way to bolster the relationship.

Dave
Guestos

In the SF dev camp video, the MS guys clearly said that they'd still allow all kinds of customizations. Specifically, they said that they "love SPB" and their flagship product, the Mobile Shell.
Wesley

I would not buy a Windows Mobile phone with no Manufacturers UI on it, that's all I'm saying, Winmo 7 coming in the year 3000 included.
http://intensedebate.com/people/Lennard Lennard

I'll take this news with 10 grains of salt, especially since msmobiles reported it (even it they weren't the first with the info, wwhat are they the second to report it?)