I’ve been an active member at XDA-developers.com for 4 years. You trivialize all the concerns raised by people, and swipe them off the table as though presented by immature babies. Who do you think helped prop up a sorely behind the times Windows Mobile in a post-iPhone world, where they wisely re-thought the whole user experience by making a touchscreen respond to finger navigation, not tiny little checkboxes you need glasses to read? Did you ever wonder why XDA was never shut down with Cease & Desist orders? because many a Microsoft Windows Mobile developer were members of XDA and got many a cue as to how to adapt their own obsolete O.S. to stay competitive in an increasingly non-stylus-based world?

When Ballmer himself acknowledged that MS had blundered seriously by failing to focus on a new OS, while instead doing amazingly innovative things to WM 6, like the revolutionary honeycomb staggered column idea, it was clear all was not right in Ballmer Forest up north. Remember when WM7 was due to market, to make up for these blunders, in Feb 2010 ? That data came and past and now it’s officially September. WHo wants to take bets it’s more like October or November 2010?

But more important, your whole argument is predicated upon making tough decisions that enable whole new platforms of innovation for the future.

Guess who did that right over a decade ago? That’s right, the man people love to hate, Steve Jobs — when he assessed the OS they were using for desktop computing, and decided to stop development of System 9 — and to rip it all up to build OS X and make it unix based. You better believe that caused an uproar. And similarly many intransigent Mac users at the time refused to give up their precious System 9 or 8 or even 7, because they didn’t want to pay more money and replace all apps.

But Jobs made that tough call at a time when they weren’t behind some 8-ball of someone else’s innovation, and it was “Be radical or die”. It was a huge gamble but he was prepping his company for the next 20 years. Most people eventually got on board with OS X when Apple eventually entered the realm of affordability — with cheaper iMacs or notebook computers.

But that wasn’t the only radical move Jobs made. Enjoy a great presentation one day and google for YouTube of Job’s announcement of the switch to Intel processor… And the BIG REVEAL when Jobs, a showman for sure, showed the slides that proved that from DAY 1, OS X was mandated to run on an Intel chipset, long before they were ever in production.

THAT’S vision, and that’s smart gambling for the future. Jobs amazingly solved the issue of people complaining about “why should I switch to Mac when I have all this PC software” by — surprise — a dual boot piece of machinery.

These were not 9th inning radical decisions after the PANIC BUTTON was pushed, like in Ballmer’s world and mini-brain. They were long-term gameplans executed with exquisite precision.

But you have provided no similar strong payoff for this alleged brave decision of Microsoft in jettisoning its creaky aging WM6 OS. You have avoided all talk of usability and increased productivity for consumers — or the offering of whole new experiences. No, you have constructed your shoe-horned paid cheerleading piece around some kind of economies of scale rationale… with some presumption that in this more advanced computer-aged world we live in today, consumers GIVE a rat’s ass about “ooh, I’ve got a Windows computer, better have a windows phone too, and an X box”….

Are you kidding me? How many consumers do you know who behave in that way today? The walls have broken down. Many Windows PC owners use iPhones. Many Mac owners (and PC owners) like me use Windows Mobile phones, and now Android phones. iTunes is cross platform. People download the same HD episodes of LOST or MADMEN on Windows machines and on Macs, it doesn’t matter to them. While you’re still stuck in 1999, when consumers dared not cross the brand-name divide, whether out of brand loyalty or fear of incompatibility, or relearning from ground zero.

I think your whole argument is as puffy as popcorn, and about as nutritious. But great you got a paycheck to spread some propaganda. You deserve a night out at Pizza Hut as your prize.

BC would have given WM7 a distinct advantage.
Without it, there are many apps WM7 will never see.