This design is truly a ground breaking step for Microsoft and as all the people above have mentioned, it’s not necessarily a good one for everybody.
I don’t use twitter, reluctantly use facebook. Email and SMS are my social tools (as well as the pub).
Having these features is a great idea, Microsoft are firmly aiming at the internet generation, a market that Apple has had under it’s grasp for some time.
Now, if I can turn those features off, configure it to pull RSS feeds and have the ability to pull photos from multiple different sources (such as MobileMe, Picasa and flickr) I’d be really interested to see how it works.
LEARN Microsoft, LEARN. Apple tries to bend people to their ways. “You will use your data the way we tell you too”. 20% of people will without question, 60% will use the hardware and grumble about been forced down a track they don’t really want to and 20% will refuse out right (for what ever reason).
You need to let those 80% of people know that you understand and can help, without them feeling that they’ve been tied into a single choice…after all, we get tied “into” to much know days, broadband, mobile, mortgages, people want to have the choice.
However, it’s far too early in this game, we need to see more (and try some).
I REALLY, REALLY want to get rid of that XBox live icon…that would be the single reason why I wouldn’t want to use it…kill it now!!
Shane on the new Windows Phone 7 Series user interface. It was a tough decision this week, with lots of great comments and a lot of real insight, but Shane’s effort essentially summed up what a lot of people were saying about Microsoft’s new mobile OS in an eloquent, yet personal fashion. Well done.