[Bassey]

> - Apple users don't have to traipse off to find, download and install a 3rd party ROM
> just to get usability on their pricey device - and I kind of admire that.

Actually, I think you've hit the nail on the head there Mikem. The two companies (MS and Apple) operate on an entirely different philosophy - and this goes through all of their products. Microsoft has designed a platform. it is a base from which anyone can build any tools they like. If someone wants to make a WM device work like an iPhone, they can. If they want it to look like Ubuntu, they can. If they want it to look like a 70s calculator, they can do that too. Manufacturers can use any set of hardware they wish. If a new technology comes along, anyone is free to implement it. Remote wipe, it was there straight away. Phone tracking. It was there. GPS, whatever you want. It is left to the free market to decide if there is customer demand and then the market will supply. MS (to an extent) model Windows Mobile on Free Market Economics. They supply the "Market" (in this case, an open set of API's) and leave the market to innovate and design.

Apple control everything. You want security. Wait 12 months until the next release and hope apple supply it. You wanted remote wipe. Wait 12 months for another release and hope Apple were listening. You want phone tracking, same thing. Proper GPS. Ditto. Want a keyboard. You never know. You want the interface to change to something more usable (and PLEASE don't say you actually like the homescreen on the iPhone) it "might" happen. But only if Apple do it - and they won't tell you if they are going to do it. It will just happen or it won't.

Of course, with Apples approach comes lots of "Free" stuff. Apple load their OS's up with Bells and whistles and that is often enough for a lot of people. But it's still Communism. It's still "any fruit you like, as long as it tastes of Apple".

Some people are fine being told what to do, when to do it and paying £500-£1000 for the privilege of using a phone that is still owned by Apple and that apple can remove paid-for apps from or change how it works or or or... For that, they get a stable system that works in a particular way and most of what they need is included. There are huge benefits.

Others don't like the idea of a secretive group maintaining almost complete control over something we have paid for and prefer to take our chances with the free market. Sure, it might be a bit more risky - it's certainly more hard work. But if things move, and the market changes, I change with it. Not the device. Not Microsoft. I'm not reliant on them. Microsoft could die tomorrow. It wouldn't matter because my device belongs to me and, with the support of the market, anything is possible. I keep hearing "I can't believe MS have left it until W6.5 or WM7 to move forward". That's nonsense. They've done no such thing. I haven't used WM5, WM6 or WM6.1 EVER. I've used Winterface. I've Used PointUI. I've used Mobile Shell. I've used HTC TF2d and HTC TF3d. You're just thinking the way APPLE want you to think. YOU have to wait for YOUR device to get up to speed when apple permits you. I don't. I can completely change the way anything works today. And I can do it again tomorrow. I don't recognise ANY of the limitations you complain about because they don't exist on MY phone.

It might seem like a ridiculously over-the-top analogy (Communism V Free Market) but think about it. Apple really do maintain absolute complete control over YOUR device. But, as far as I can tell, 99% of the arguments above come down to "The iPhone can already do this out of the Box whereas you need 3rd party software on WM". Well, I prefer to think of it the other way around. With 3rd party software, ANYTHING is possible with WM. You're stuck with what Apple will let you do with an iPhone.

You're happy with that, great. But it isn't for me.