The sometimes-believable, sometimes-not fellows over at
DigiTimes are reporting today that Windows Mobile codename "Maldives" is going to break out as version 6.6 (a name we'd
previously heard associated with version 7) with native support for capacitive touchscreens next month -- a launch window that would line up nicely with Mobile World Congress, where
6.5 was announced a year prior. HTC's
HD2 has already proven that it's possible to cleanly support capacitive touch on a 6.x-based device, so it's reasonable to think that this is legit -- but what we don't yet know is how this dovetails with
6.5.3, whether they're the same thing, and if Microsoft is doing this simply to buy itself a few precious extra months to bake
WinMo 7 to a crispy, golden brown perfection. We'd already heard before that 6.x and 7 will
have an opportunity to coexist in the marketplace, so it's entirely possible that 6.6 is the version that'll carry that torch on the 6.x side of things -- but if this gets announced alone without a mention of
Robbie's ground-up rewrite at MWC, we'd wager there'll be riots in Barcelona.
posted January 14th 2010 2:22PM
@maati
Can I get a WTF?
@maati: I think you're over analyzing things.
Digitimes is rarely very accurate, so I'd say you'll see the continuation of 6.x for lower/older phones, as well as WM7 revealed at MWC.
@Alan Strangis Digitimes?! That's where we got this article from??
@Alan Strangis
Well, Digitimes knows the codename, so they must have heard something.
But frankly, I belive that there's no WM6.6. Digitimes was referring to WM6.5.3 and the part about WM7 being delayed is probaly just wrong.
I'm still waiting to upgrade my HTC Fuze to 6.5. Hurry up AT&T!
@mailbox01 www.xda-developers.com
@mailbox01
I'm waiting for a WM6.5 upgrade for my Q9h ....
I know, it'll never happen. SHIT.
@mailbox01
Not going to happen officially. That phone never existed for all they care.
Go to xda-developers and get a 6.5 or 6.5.3 ROM.
*sigh* and us Sprint-users with a Touch Pro 2 are yet still rocking 6.1. waiting any minute for the official release of 6.5... *stares at phone*...
...dammit! *throws phone angrily*
I really don't see much wrong with this. Instead of them stockpiling the features to be released god knows when, they're just shipping them out as they finish them. As I see it we're getting Windows Mobile 7, just piece by piece.
@Dafrety at this rate it will be by the end of 2012 after the last remaining WinMo user will have migrated out to another platform
@Bill Gates
Will you add an additional 0.4? and when will you release? and will it be worth the 3year wait?
I think microsoft wants to complete the whole cycle before winmo 7..
6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 and then only would we see 7!
Hmm, am I the only one who prefers the 6.1 UI?
I'd rather have two buttons at the top (three with HTC Sense, which makes the center area one button for the notification screen) and three at the bottom than five at the bottom. Plus it makes more sense for the softkeys to be on the outside... plus the current UI gives more space for writing on the softkeys...
And the HTC home screen task manager, which is awesome and really useful, doesn't work with the new 6.5 UI...
@Bill Gates it will be funny if this is actuall bill gates, and he knows that people won't believe that he is real bill gates, so he can have as much as he can with his comments.. just to keep it on topic, those buttons are not that bad with a good wallpaper.. (I have them)
What a joke...
@TheJason
Whaaa?
A "Name" is a name not a number, that is a version.
See below
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
Version 6.1.7600 Build 7600
@TXToast Yeah, I have 7600 Ultimate as well. I was a little confused as to why it would be called 6.1, but then I read into it a bit more.
@N900 It's all marketing, you never know until the release what they are going to call it. Maybe it will have a real name like "LoneWolf" or Supper Cool Phone OS 20 10.
Windows NT 4.0 NT 4.0.1381
Windows 98 4.10.1998
Windows 98 SE 4.10.2222
Windows 2000 NT 5.0.2195
Windows Me 4.90.3000
Windows XP NT 5.1.2600
Windows XP 64-bit Edition (IA-64) NT 5.2.3790
Windows Server 2003 NT 5.2.3790
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition NT 5.2.3790
Windows Vista NT 6.0.6002
Windows Home Server NT 5.2.4500
Windows Server 2008 NT 6.0.6002
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 NT 6.1.7600
@TXToast Except with Windows7 there was a real push to stay as closely compatible to Vista as possible. They wanted it to be the smoothest upgrade or transition experience possible to help overcome the crapfest that was the Vista launch.
However, with WinMo 7 there is a concerted effort to get as far from Winmo 6 as possible. That is what Bach was talking about when he was saying it is not just an "evolutionary" change. Win7 was an evolution of Vista. I don't think anyone has even mentioned the possibility of a seamless upgrade, backwards compatibility with existing winmo. It is supposed to be a whole new system.
@Bill Gates
In someways its scary to think hes running your company
http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u46168/ballmer.jpg
I wonder if this means the updated firmware for my Sprint HTC TP2 will now also be the 6.6 version? Whenever they decide to push it, that is.
A little digging leads me to believe that 6.6 is a no brainer, but not what is the "next big thing from redmond".
For instance, http://www.microsoft-entertainment-jobs.com/
Looking under the Windows Phone and other sections, it should be quite obvious now that they are building something that converges nearly everything (zune, xbox, win live, media room etc etc). They're building out some serious infrastructure.
Go ahead a read it.
Plus if you do a search for "Microsoft Mobius 2009" there have been some tell-tale reactions to what to expect.
I'm getting tired of this win mo crap. If I don't see something good by the time at&t releases an android or webOS phone I'm jumping to a new OS this time around.
I've always had a soft sport for WinMo, even though I prefer Maemo and Symbian. Despite its lack of open-source components, WinMo is one of the more open mobile platforms out there, and the guys at Xda-Developers are total badasses. It's far more hackable than iPhone OS, BlackBerry OS, and even Android; it's about on the same level as Symbian in terms of hackability.
There was a long time when my phone was the only Windows-based computer I owned; that's not true anymore, as now all of my computers run Linux (thanks to the death of my HTC Wizard and my purchase of an N900), but I still maintain that WinMo is the only Microsoft product worth a damn.
Though I'll say I'm a bit disappointed at this news--I hate capactive touchscreens, and I'm disappointed Microsoft has jumped on this stupid fad.
@jgp: There could still be the possibility that WinMo 7 may still support resistive touchscreens.
@Bill Gates
So the plan is to release mobile 7 in 2015!
2009 --> 6.5
2010 --> 6.6
2011 --> 6.7
2012 --> End of the world break
2013 --> 6.8
2014 --> 6.9
2015 ==|> 7
@Ahmed Alzayani
I had a feeling this render was accurate.
http://wmpoweruser.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/wmconcept-thumb.png
when are they gonna get it right and release what we want them to release?
@MayankS Hell yeah!