Seriously are they even trying?

Yup that’s right, it’s Microsoft. And this time is their mobile OS: Windows Mobile.

You’d think it’s designed to work on a mobile device that’s always on right? Wrong. It has a whole range of problems that prevent it from running smoothly for a long time.

The most important one: it leaks memory like there’s no tomorrow. Start and close a few apps and you’ll soon end up with very little free memory.

Secondly, keep it running for a few days and the next application you’ll probably start is going to crash the entire operating system. Bang you can’t do anything with the device other than to reset it(ah which takes a whole lot of time). This reminds me of earlier versions of Windows like 95 or 98, but the about box on mine says “© 2007 Microsoft Corporation” so they should have had a lot of time to learn from their previous mistakes.

Thirdly. It’s supposed to be able to cope with a permanent internet connection. Well it doesn’t. I’ve just recently got decent mobile internet connectivity so I don’t disconnect the device from the internet anymore. Now it crashes every day. It’s set to auto check mail every 30 minutes so I suspect that’s what’s killing it. Still it shouldn’t. What’s the point in having the auto sync option if it kills the OS. And it’s no technological marvel either. It just does a send/receive every 30 minutes. Even though I set it up to use IMAP it still feels POP3′ish. You still have to send receive every time you want to read an e-mail message.

To be honest it feels like software from the middle ages. You get the feeling they don’t bother to test it, but seriously don’t the people who develop the software use it themselves? I bet they’re waiving their BlackBerries and iPhones and laughing at the idiots struggling with the crappy software they’ve developed.

Looks like Windows Mobile is the new IE6. I gather they’ll be rewriting the software from scratch but it’s kinda too late. It was too late with IE and it’s probably even worse with Windows Mobile as people are starting to see MS software isn’t the only alternative. They’ve surely lost one customer and I have the feeling it’s not only me who’s frustrated.

Let’s do it, Romania – not a bad idea

I just got the following e-mail (forwarded by my brother):

Atasez in continuare 2 link-uri legate de miscarea “Let’s do it, Romania!”, campanie de curatare a deseurilor din natura Romaniei, care va avea loc intr-o zi , candva in intervalul mai-septembrie 2010 (nu s-a stabilit inca data exacta).

Site-ul campaniei il gasiti aici, la fel si detalii despre cum va puteti implica, cum puteti promova campania si ce trebuie sa faceti.

http://www.letsdoitromania.ro/

Ideea a pornit de la modelul Estoniei, care a reusit sa adune 50.000 de voluntari care s-au mobilizat sa isi curete tara de gunoaie. (De retinut ca populatia Estoniei = 1.300.000 locuitori, deci aproximativ 4% din populatie a fost implicata). O prietena din Estonia care a participat la campanie mi-a spus ca a fost extraordinar, ca aproape toata populatia tarii a participat si spiritul actiunii a fost cel mai important. Din cate zice ea, atitudinea oamenilor fata de natura si de depozitarea deseurilor s-a schimbat radical. Gasiti aici detalii despre cum a decurs campania:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5GryIDl0qY

Este vorba de O SINGURA ZI care poate aduce o schimbare pe termen lung in constiinta populatiei din Romania. Sunt sigur ca vor fi multi sceptici la adresa sustenabilitatii si impactului pe termen lung al acestei miscari dar trebuie sa recunoastem ca undeva trebuie inceput.

Ca si voluntar cu experienta in diferite campanii, miscari si evenimente, cred ca oamenii vor fi receptivi si ca va fi o experienta unica din care vom invata multe.

Ar fi bine daca ati putea promova evenimentul mai departe, in mod repetat, pana la data realizarii lui (Messenger, Facebook, afise, orice) astfel incat, pana in vara sa ne adunam in numar cat mai mare .

O zi buna tuturor!

To start with, I’m by no means the greenest guy on the planet. In fact I consider quite a number of the green campaigns stupid and useless, but there is obviously a problem here in Romania and this campaign has got potential.

There were quite a number of forest cleaning activities last summer, but they just didn’t impress people. There seems to be a critical number over which an event is considered worth taking into account. Also large masses of people seem to impress others better so should this campaign gather enough people to make it count, it might mean something.

I’ll keep track of the event and post more info as I get it.