Windows Mobile 7, more details leaked

Mobile Crunch have received some supposedly reliable information on Windows Mobile 7 and if true, we are looking at Microsoft doing a full 360 degree turn on how open Windows Mobile will be.

First, Win Mo 7 is essentially a copy of the Zune HD’s kernel. It comes in one screen size and will work best on OLED devices. Microsoft will give official specs to hardware makers and force them to comply or else refuse them access to the OS. This includes a regimented screen and RAM size as well as a minimum processor speed.

Win Mo 7 has no background processing and will use an Apple-like notification service. There is no system resource access and no threaded processes. In fact, there is no customization at all.

Win Mo 7 will not run 6.x code. End of story. It is based on Silverlight and .Net. Everything save a few basic programs will not work under Win Mo 7. There is no expectation that this will be a “business device” and the focus is currently on games including some XBox Live functionality for gaming and messaging. There will be a Microsoft App store with an easy approval process.

So there you have it, if true Microsoft are making great moves to protect the operating system and shake off the reputation of soft reset hell, poor UI and all round bad experience.

I predicted that future Win Mo apps would only be available from their Marketplace a while ago and even asked them the question on the podcast when we interviewed Loke Uei

I personally think this is no bad thing, a stable Win Mo platform would be a great step forward.

via Mobile Crunch