Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 Now Available, Windows Mobile Users Left Waiting
Posted by Jason Dunn in "SOFTWARE" @ 09:13 AM
Microsoft has just released Exchange 2003 SP2 to the Web for download, and there will no doubt be thousands upon thousands of installs of this software today. Many people like myself have been asking our hosted Exchange providers when they'll be implementing SP2, but most of us are forgetting one very important thing: SP2 is useless to Windows Mobile users until we get upgraded software on our devices. And we have no idea when, or even if, that will happen.
Here's how it works: in order to get the true push email that SP2 is touting, you need to have a Windows Mobile 5 device with a piece of software on it called the MSFP. MSFP is not a part of Windows Mobile 5 shipping today, so even if you have a brand-spanking-new device, you don't have the software you need to take advantage of SP2. Here's the really painful part: the distribution of MSFP is once again being left up to the OEMs/carriers. That means that we'll likely see a similar pattern emerge: some will release it a few months from now, some will delay it for many months, and some will never release it and instead hope people will upgrade to new devices. I truly hope I'm proven wrong, but in the history of Windows Mobile I've yet to see an OEM or carrier put the needs of their customer first. The best thing we can all do is start emailing/phoning the companies that sold us our Pocket PCs and ask them when they'll release the MSFP. Let's make some noise!
Microsoft has ceded too much control to the fickle OEMs/carriers, and not created a strong enough technical infrastructure to allow pure Microsoft updates to occur. Windows Mobile 5 has made some steps in the right direction, but there's still far too much OEM custom-code required for many of these updates. Until Microsoft can make Windows Mobile devices as easy to update as our desktop computers, it will never live up to the name "Windows".
Here's how it works: in order to get the true push email that SP2 is touting, you need to have a Windows Mobile 5 device with a piece of software on it called the MSFP. MSFP is not a part of Windows Mobile 5 shipping today, so even if you have a brand-spanking-new device, you don't have the software you need to take advantage of SP2. Here's the really painful part: the distribution of MSFP is once again being left up to the OEMs/carriers. That means that we'll likely see a similar pattern emerge: some will release it a few months from now, some will delay it for many months, and some will never release it and instead hope people will upgrade to new devices. I truly hope I'm proven wrong, but in the history of Windows Mobile I've yet to see an OEM or carrier put the needs of their customer first. The best thing we can all do is start emailing/phoning the companies that sold us our Pocket PCs and ask them when they'll release the MSFP. Let's make some noise!
Microsoft has ceded too much control to the fickle OEMs/carriers, and not created a strong enough technical infrastructure to allow pure Microsoft updates to occur. Windows Mobile 5 has made some steps in the right direction, but there's still far too much OEM custom-code required for many of these updates. Until Microsoft can make Windows Mobile devices as easy to update as our desktop computers, it will never live up to the name "Windows".
