Microsoft: Windows Phone 7 series 'will not initially offer copy and paste,' case-specific actions integrated into OS
By Ross Miller 
posted March 19th 2010 6:41PM
posted March 19th 2010 6:41PM
On copy and paste:
On the unlocked emulator:Windows Phone 7 Series will not initially offer copy and paste; instead, we try to solve the most common uses for copy and paste via single-tap action. For example, people often want to take an address and view it on a map, highlight a term in the browser and do a search or copy a phone number to make a call. Instead of the user manually doing a copy and paste in these scenarios, we recognize those situations automatically and make them happen with just one touch. In our early testing people have been pleased with this approach, but we're always listening to feedback and will continue to improve our feature set over time based on what we hear.
We are extremely pleased with the level of excitement we're seeing for Windows Phone Developer Tools. When we decided to provide a Windows Phone 7 Series Emulator as part of the tools, we anticipated that people would attempt to unlock and explore the code. We have been very clear that the emulator is based on early code and is not reflective of the final user experience. Windows Phone 7 Series is still under development. The UI has been disabled to avoid confusion and allow developers to focus on testing applications on the underlying platform. We continue to recommend that developers use the emulator as provided to avoid any issues and unpredictability that may be introduced by an unlocked version.
@eka
The OS has it (Windows CE 6.0), Microsoft just hasn't implemented it yet. There might be a C+P hack right after release.
To one-up the iPhone they just need to give more options for each recognized text and more types of recognizable text.
IMO, copy/paste would be made at least 90% unnecessary if they allowed for a context menu to appear, giving you a few options of things you can do with the recognized text, including SMS, Email, Search, Send to IE Address Bar, etc. No need for a system-wide clipboard, just a message from the current view to the destination app.
They'd do away with copy/paste completely if they allowed text to be selectable, and providing the context menu I just mentioned to that selected text. The list of possible actions in the context menu could be expandable, so third party apps could show up on the menu (Like that photo-editing app showed up on a context menu in the Pictures Hub).
They will implement copy and paste...... Or else people will just use pieces of hardware that have already emerged from this archaic paradigm of not copying and pasting. If the most widely accepted hardware (iphone) can change its tune than why cant the biggest douche factory (MS)?
@hated one
Did you type this on your iPhone? If yes, I'm sure you'll agree it's not as perfect as you see it. If no, LEARN TO F'ING TYPE!
I'd give you a nice long retort, but in the spirit of worthlessness, carry on, troll.
@N900 :: since when allowing C&P is a system wide security hole? Since when can you excecute code in something you desing to hold data, not executable code? I may not be a good programmer, because I certainly don't see a system wide C&P as a security hole... well, it could be, if you design it like a drunk college student on acid... but he, I can be wrong, care to enlighten me?
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....
This might be a silly question but........
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... Where's the source link?
This is the shit
@AlienSix Not at all. Conceptual Hotlinking is useful for the single use case of a user wanting to search for more information about a specific type of data, or using data in the limited fashion which the developer has foreseen and accomodated. It completely ignores the reality of the use case of online social networking, one of the use cases that is HUGE right now with smartphone users. How do you copy an URL to Twitter? How do you link a picture to a forum? How do you send an Ebay auction to your friend via SMS? This hotlink crap is neccessary but woefully insufficient. Microsoft can go on and on about how their phone OS is going to change how people use the web, but the web will not bow to a few million users with an inept phone OS. Even the tremendous ego of Steve Jobs had to capitulate and bow to the will of the internet as a whole, and add that "bag of hurt" that is copy & paste to his baby.
I still don't understand why they never implemented it in the first place. Didn't they see the community's raving reaction when iPhone OS 3 first implemented Copy and Paste? Such a basic feature to leave out to duplicate things, specifically text, especially when Microsoft Office running on there. I mean, who seriously wants to type out the same thing over and over? It's merely an innovation to solve that problem.
C'mon M$.
@docmars
iPhone OS had nothing, literally nothing, about text operations when they first came out. The added C&P afterwards, but that's all.
WP7 is coming out with case-specific actions integrated to deal with text operations. I'm not sure how well it will work, but at least they have done something about it.
my take:
copy & paste = old, plain & simple, one-task
case-specific actions = new, multiple scenarios, could be very useful if they make it smart enough
I'm sure it's very easy to just add C&P, but it could sacrifice a newer and more innovative idea.
Now Microsoft is innovating, but everyone just bash and want the old stuffs. What do you people want?
@HighestRanked2
Yep. There's multitasking alright. The OS simply sends a notification to the program that states that it's about to be put in the background. The programmer then chooses whether he wants his program to run fully, reduced, or suspended entirely, in order to conserve CPU cycles.
Copy/paste really has no excuse. The people who are apologizing for it now are hypocrites. Although no c/p now doesn't mean they might not add it in the future based on customers' complaints, as they have already stated. Even so, allow me to say this: IT'S NOT EVEN OUT YET. FOR GOD SAKES.
@HighestRanked2
"Goodness Gracious!" says the passive-aggressive, once-banned iTroll.
I can wait for clipboard functions so long as it's way better then Apple's implementation and comes out shortly after WP7S debut. So umm, GO! Don't take over 9000 years like Apple did!
so they'll implement something like the accelerator thingy in IE8?
select some text, click that translucent blue button to link to search, translate, definition etc....
@timepilot84 Yes, but I think the difference here is that MS isnt saying its not needed as Apple once did. They fully admit that C&P is important and will add it on a later iteration. In all honesty, C&P isnt use enough to warrent the focus right now. Most users never use it even if its avalible, and MS has tons of other things to nail down before launch. Think about it... after the innovation that was the iphone V1, no one complained about it... it wasnt until after a year and some change went by that users started to get antsy. I very much doubt that MS will wait as long as Apple did to add it.
I for one can do without WinPho7.
RIP WP7S:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYUNKmjt7cI
Windows 7 series is looking more and more like iPhone OS 2.0 everyday. Everything that everyone complained about until 3.0 is here, lack of copy/paste, multitasking, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if the announcement tomorrow was a lack of MMS. The App store is a closed system exactly like iPhone's. This does not seem like Microsoft. Their products are suppoused to be easy and open for program development. When every me and my brother argue windows/mac that is always his first shot. The only striking difference is the xbox live integration.
Missed the windowsphone7series tag
Why so serious, everyone?
The phone looks nifty. I want one because of Zune Marketplace. I wasn't expecting it to be Windows 7 on a phone... and that's really about it.
I would like to see copy paste, too, but the sky isn't falling without it. Some of you people are frighteningly attached to these mobile OS's. Walk away from the computer, (ie take a step back), and come back when you stop raging. You fail to see the insignificance of an individual mobile OS that is destined to be replaced by the next best thing every couple years.
@hated one
WP7S doesn't run on older phones because it has very high hardware requirements, there's no way those old Qualcomms can run it. Also, this uses an entirely rewritten kernel which is very hard to implement on old hardware. If Apple redid their OS they wouldn't make it compatible with their current iPhones.
BTW, WindowsCE 6.0 has C+P (not to be confused with CP), but Microsoft hasn't found a way yet to implement it in WP7S. Which is why you can copy and paste in the emulator
@24hourpartypal
Oh fuck, I am feeding the troll. Everyone, run, it's for your own good...
Copy/Paste = DLC
oh i see.
no one c&p's in sms anymore?
right..................... they do.
so do the right thing and ADD IT.
At least they are going to considering putting it on eventually. Microsoft definitely working hard to regain the power in the smartphone industry.
Well that settles it for me then. No WinMo7 for me till they add it. I thought it was BS that Apple didn't include such basic functionality as copy/paste initially either. I use it almost every day multiple times a day, especially when using social apps lime FB or texting. The idea that I always want to call when I see a phone number, click when I see a link or map something when I see an address is ridiculous as well. Often I use c/p for just such things as sharing with another person or when adding contact info.
Frankly I thought MS was smarter than this. Now I see they are just doing what everyone accuses them of all the time in copying Apple. The iPhone has some cool features but I was really expecting MS to step up and try to at least do something better than the previous gen iPhone.
Off to look at an alternative at this point I guess.
@davidmuful
WOW. Microsoft RDF is now fully functional. The base UI has no 3D at all.
What strikes me as funny is that in MSFT's blog post announcing their updated iPhone app on the very same day that that they said they wouldn't offer cut and paste in WM7, they say:
"Copy and paste URLs: you told us and we listened! We now support copying and pasting URLs."
http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/search/archive/2010/03/19/new-bing-app-for-iphone-is-here.aspx
You would think that they'd have learned from Apple's experience dealing with users disappointed by the lack of c+p.
Full statements after the break.
On copy and paste:
[Excerpt copy/pasted into the article]
................. CAN YOU SEE THE IRONY HERE!!!
How about just letting the user be able to use copy and paste? I mean, don't remove cp&p. Sounds stupid.
Am Just reading all da Comments and some r damn hostile and some r way excited !! COme 1 !! B Logical !! I been using WM phone for more than 4 years .. very loyal to it as well as using iphone and other sets ( NO ANDROID YET ) . The main Beauty of Windows Phone is da Customization and Multi taskinG ( I BET Every 1 Of U Agree on It With Me ) .. WM 6.5.x and Older versions have just dead gorgeous and da best Home Screen and themes available than any other Handsets on da Market !! XDA developers and people at Modaco Supported this platform as well as HTC TouchFlo ( NOW SENSE ) Samsung TouchWiz and LG's S Class and WHo can Forget SPB Shell !! So If there is't what was da Main beauty of WM , Y should i or some 1 who loved WM Buy It ?? innovation is Good But Microsoft is FollowinG Iphone !! microsoft shd know the Strength of there Plat Form and Shd Not Drop it For All those who already Love WM for its multitasking and customization !! Else i Myself am going for Sony Ericsson Xperia 10 this Holiday Season !! And Lemme Tell U !! I Love and Have Loved My Samsung Omnia 2 Much More than Iphone 3GS !! Sorry Microsoft , But thats da way it is and Trust Me its da Voice of Every WM users !! Ask Urself , Dont u know that ??
probably no one will read this far down but I feel this should be said anyway....
how the hell can people say that they honestly aren't going to buy wp7s devices because of this "lacking feature" 6+ months before we see a final product?
Most of the time apple shows off a product, they are within 3 months of releasing it, therefore the videos and the walk throughs only need the finishing touches. M$ decides to show people the process that they are taking to revamp the OS and not spring it on people (a la WebOS and Palm) and people bury them for it. Honestly, with all the other rumors that were out there, would you have wanted something that did traditional c+p and looked like PHOTON? seriously?
imho, c+p in the traditional vein should be gone from all phones in this generation...i say that as someone who avidly uses my stylus and c+p on my wm 6.5.3 touch pro. At times, i find it cumbersome to c+p in opera and skyfire *having to tap and hold, then hit make selection, then actually selecting text (god forbid you have to scroll to get it all) then tap and hold again (god forbid you are on the train and you end up not holding the tap long enough), then selecting copy or cut can be a damn pain.* M$ wanted this to be a new PHONE experience, Not a small computer. The vast majority of people want their touch screen phones to finger friendly so M$ is trying to accommodate them. (don't believe me? go through XDA-Dev's and look how many times people ask for a finger friendly SIP/keyboard!!)
It's so easy to look at the current gen's OS and feel completely lost without c+p but that's not the question here. this IS something new, and something that isn't finished yet. Let M$ show you the implementation of the share but and its algorithms before you say what you can and can't do on the OS. Who knows? They may implement the share button in a way that you weren't expecting.
quick thing and slightly off topic, to those of you who have a netflix account and are saying that you wont buy a wp7s phone, are you stupid or something?? instant watch movies/shows on your phone in wvga? really? Something tells me come the holiday time, you people that jumped ship early are going to regret your decisions.
@ExpectAFight If you heard that a paint program is being released in 7 months that doesn't include the color yellow, could you say for a fact that you wouldn't buy it? I could. Same difference. Even though the developer states that the color yellow isn't used by a lot of mobile users, and orange is sufficiently close to yellow for their test groups, I still wouldn't support a paint program lacking such a basic feature. It's indicative of a bad engineering or design trade off, and may portend even worse decisions by the developer.
Not having Cut and Paste sucked on the Iphone and It will suck not having it on WP7. If you have a current windows mobile phone the features mentioned in the article are already in Win Mobile 6.5 and they do work well. But being a power user. I rely on cut and paste heavily to edit text messages sent to me and resend them to other contacts in my phonebook or email. I have owned many windows phones which all have had cut and paste and could not see living with out. So I guess I will be holding on to my Touch Pro 2 a little longer.
When I read 'case specific' I initially thought 'case sensitive'. Heh.
@timotim I'm glad they're relenting on their original stance against C&P. Originally they stated at MIX10 that there would be no copy and paste on WP7S, and that was a conscious decision to omit the functionality. It was said during a presentation, then later confirmed with MS's PR people. Now, the story is that they're going to add it at a later date, which is acceptable. I'd like to think the nastygrams I sent them had something to do with their apparent change of heart...