From: Weimer, Clay
Sent: Monday, November 01, 1999 9:26 AM
To: Akimoto, Steve
Subject: RE: why microsoft doesn't get it
Also Microsoft needs to clean its product/marketing story. CE is not what this article really is about. This article is about the Palm PC environment, which is built on CE but you wouldn't know that from the article. All the complaints about CE here are really the Palm PC's groups separate decision's and mistakes.  I wonder about the core CE OS team, actually an admirable small group of people I remeber last year at the dev conferences, and had some hard time with their marketing people always trying to get accross that the Handheld, the Palm PC, the AutoPC and other efforts were really separate application groups and consumer marketing efforts within Microsoft...and actually I bet their hearts lie with the verticals that really are differentiating themsleves in the marketplace with CE.  Oh well, I think big company-itus is finally infected the seattle monster...I personally think Bill's been going downhill since he got married ;-), kind of like what happen to Agassi when he married Brooks Shields...
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Akimoto, Steve
Sent: Monday, November 01, 1999 8:03 AM
To: Weimer, Clay
Subject: why microsoft doesn't get it

CE losing Palm arm wrestle
Updated 4:42 PM ET October 29, 1999
Current quotes (delayed 20 mins.)
MSFT 93 3/4 1 3/16 (1.28%)
 By Carmen Nobel, PC Week

Microsoft Corp. can't seem to get a grip on handheld computing.

As the Palm OS continues to grow in popularity, some handheld hardware makers are abandoning rival Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Windows CE. To compound matters, the Redmond, Wash., company is falling short in its efforts to simplify an operating system that developers say is too complex for palm-size devices.

The next version of CE for palm-size devices, which comprises CE 3.0 and an additional software layer, is in early testing and is likely to miss Microsoft's initial target to ship by year's end.

The main attraction of the new palm-size operating system version, code-named Rapier, is supposed to be a simplified GUI that takes a lesson from 3Com Corp.'s Palm OS. But, according to some developers testing Version 3.0, changes to the GUI are superficial at best. For example, certain icons and functions are more accessible in menus than they are in Wyvern, the current GUI.

A new icon for the "@" symbol makes it easier to create e-mail messages, and new pen and keyboard icons ease toggling back and forth between handwriting and tap-typing, testers said. But other features, such as the Tools menu and the Start menu, have simply been moved, not improved.

"They've still screwed it up," said a software developer who designs products that run on both the Palm OS and CE.

"I don't think Microsoft realizes that they have to get rid of the Start menu. Moving the Start menu doesn't reduce the number of taps."

Cold feet Some hardware makers agree.

"I don't think CE translates well into the palm form factor," said Michael DeNeffe, director of mobile PCs at NEC Computer Systems Division. "It seems asinine that you have to go to a Start menu on a palm-size device."

NEC builds tablet-size CE devices for vertical markets, but the Mountain View, Calif., company scrapped plans for developing a palm-size CE device after building a prototype two years ago. Motorola Inc. entertained developing software for CE two years ago but decided against it due to a lack of interest in the operating system by top management.

Last month, consumer electronics giant Philips Mobile Computing Group, of Campbell, Calif., announced it was dropping its Nino line of CE devices, saying it wasn't satisfied with the market and wanted to focus on smart phones.

Microsoft may be harming its CE efforts by trying to stretch the platform too far, developers said. The company markets CE as a platform for mininotebooks, pen tablets for vertical markets, embedded systems and palm-size devices.

"They need to decide what they want to be when they grow up," said another CE developer, who requested anonymity.

Microsoft officials declined to comment for this story.

As Microsoft struggles with CE, the Palm OS from 3Com's Palm Computing division has become the hands-down favorite in the palm-size market. Palm OS is expected to grab 80 percent of the market for palm-size PCs this year, according to International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass., while Microsoft's market share will remain stagnant at about 13 percent.

To jump-start interest in CE, Microsoft is looking to Rapier along with a couple of initiatives announced this week. The company is creating a venture with NTT DoCoMo to deliver wireless services in Japan. Microsoft is also investing in Vadem Inc., a San Jose, Calif., startup that focuses on handheld computing. Under the terms of the latter agreement, Microsoft will retain the rights to Vadem's handwriting and ink compression technology.

CE's major flaw, some users say, stems from Microsoft's decision to mimic the look and feel of the traditional Windows GUI on a much smaller form factor.

"They started out with an operating system that was lame on the desktop, and they're sticking the same thing on a far more underpowered platform," said Steve Durst, an engineer at Skaion Corp., in Arlington, Mass., and an avowed fan of Linux and the Palm OS. "How can they expect that to succeed?"