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The Mobile Gadgeteer

Matthew Miller & Joel Evans

April Fools a little early: Windows Phone 7 Series will have copy and paste

By | March 17, 2010, 5:31pm PDT

Summary: After many days of back and forth, Microsoft is now apparently stating that Windows Phone 7 Series will have copy and paste–just not on launch day.

I was going to cover the rumors earlier that had surfaced that were stating that Windows Phone 7 Series wouldn’t have copy and paste, but they just seemed too far fetched. Instead, I was waiting to confirm with some people “in the know”. I still haven’t heard first hand but now the folks at istartedsomething have it on good authority that Windows Phone 7 Series will have copy and paste eventually.

According to the post, copy and paste is

“definitely a scenario and feature that the team is putting a lot of thought about and hope to bring to the platform soon after initial release.”

It goes on to say that the team itself knows how they’re going to implement copy and paste in Windows Phone 7 Series but did not think they could implement it without affecting the release schedule.

I only have one word for this: phew! Seriously though, how can Microsoft release its new mobile operating system without copy and paste? Didn’t the company learn anything from Apple’s release of the iPhone and its two-year delay in getting copy and paste implemented into the platform?

Now we have to wonder if the company really had planned on implementing copy and paste in the platform eventually. I bet that the team had planned to roll it out but is now fast tracking the rollout since it’s getting hammered for its explanation that most users don’t need copy and paste.

Regardless, copy and paste is coming, so that’s a good sign. Unfortunately, it’s not coming on day one and even though the platform will ship with Office support, even the Office apps themselves won’t do copy and paste.

In the end the lack of copy and paste may turn out to be a good thing for the folks behind QuickOffice and Documents To Go. If they manage to implement copy and paste, they could see some serious sales on launch day.

One more thing: I want to give props to Jason Dunn of WindowsPhoneThoughts. Not only has he been passionately following every moment of this debacle and keeping me aware of many of its layers, but he has not been shy about his opinions either.

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Topics

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands and technologies into the mobile and wireless space.

Disclosure

Joel Evans

Joel is a serial entrepreneur with his most recent business, CronkSoftware (cronksoftware.com), focusing on consulting and building games and applications for mobile devices. Joel has consulted for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile division and advises other companies on how to incorporate mobile into their existing brands and products. Joel purchases many of his devices and others are sent for review on a 30-day loaner basis and then returned to the supplier. If any devices are provided as “keeper” Joel will clearly disclose this in his reviews.

Biography

Joel Evans

With more than a decade of mobile, Internet and wireless experience, Joel specializes in taking existing brands, technologies and services into the mobile and wireless space. Joel is currently serving as the Managing Director of Cronk Software, Inc., a company he founded to offer full-service, end-to-end mobile strategy, design and development services.

Joel is the former founder and "Chief Geek" of Geek.com, a website praised by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and others as one of world's best sources of information for technology professionals and enthusiasts.

Joel also serves as a technology expert for a number of well-known publications and regularly advises corporations, analysts, journalists and bloggers on what the future of technology will bring. He brings decades of relationships with leading game publishers, online communities and publishers, along with both hardware and software product management and delivery expertise. Joel can be found online as "JoelGeek" and you can follow him on Twitter @JoelGeek.

13
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Quite the opposite, actually.
matthew_maurice Updated - 18th Mar 2010
Joel hasn't proven anything. As he himself states, he hasn't "heard
first hand", so anyone who's gone to Journalism school would stop
reporting right there until they got a comment on the record (or at
least tried). However he goes on, and the debacle just gets better.
If you read the post he references, it says that CCP on WP7S is a
"scenario" that unnamed sources "hope" make it in the product
"eventually." In contrast that "other blogger" has a direct quote from a
named Microsoft executive, and the best part is that Joel calls
that the rumor! So not only does Mr. Evans seem not to know the
definition of the word "rumor" or understand basic journalistic
principles of fact-checking and source attribution, but in a bigger
sense these mixed messages only serve to increase Microsoft bashing.
It's clear that either they're lying to us or they don't know what they're
doing.
0 Votes
+ -
Someone is going to look pretty stupid shortly.
matthew_maurice Updated - 17th Mar 2010
The question is whom? I'm betting it's you.

From what I've seen the lack of cut, copy and paste in Windows Phone 7
Series was hardly a "rumor." Multiple sources have Todd Brix, Senior
Director for Mobile Platform Services Product Management, directly
quoted as saying "We don't enable copy and paste and we do that very
intentionally," So either he lied, those bloggers lied, or the second-hand
source you reference, a "person close to the den", lied.
0 Votes
+ -
Interested in picking up one of these fantastic
phones for yourself when they come out? happy
0 Votes
+ -
Don't worry about it
rynning 17th Mar 2010
If WM 7 (why don't they call it v1 since that's what it is?) doesn't have copy-paste, don't worry. If it's anything like the iPhone, you'll find you don't need it that much. Sure, I was happy to have it on my iPhone and the implementation is very easy-to-use and universal throughout all apps, but I only end up using it about once a month. But like I said, it sure is nice when I want it...
0 Votes
+ -
DUH, it's the best soap opera in the industry!
matthew_maurice 18th Mar 2010
If only Windows Phone 7 Series was as good as the drama surrounding it.
As it stands, it's good entertainment, but lousy business. Oh well, it will
be excellent material for the screenwriters of The Pirates of Silicon
Valley 2: Electric Boogaloo
.
0 Votes
+ -
Ah, and you LIKE watching soap operas!
NonZealot 18th Mar 2010
As it stands, it's good entertainment

That explains a lot. You post with the
sophistication of someone who likes watching soap
operas. happy
0 Votes
+ -
Blah, blah, blah, TROLL, blah, blah.
matthew_maurice 18th Mar 2010
NT
0 Votes
+ -
I was gung-ho at 1st.
A. Noid 17th Mar 2010
But I now think they have WAY more to fix than just copy and paste. Expansion memory, and not being locked into the windows app store, are 2 major Iphone gaffs. Why duplicate the things Apple screwed up on.
0 Votes
+ -
More Problems than Just C & P
rshol 17th Mar 2010
-No file system access.
-No sideloading apps.
-No databases on phone.
-No memory expansion.
-Heavily sandboxed apps.
-No replacing/duplicating core functionality.

I already have a phone with all those "features", why do I need another?
0 Votes
+ -
Wow...
storm14k 18th Mar 2010
I had not been following much but...

-No replacing/duplicating core functionality

That could definitely deal a pretty hard blow for NEW devs (meaning those not into the MS world) looking to choose a platform. The lack of databases may be a blow too.
Doesn't matter. Windows Mobile 7 is DOA. If I wanted a
mobile phone with all the things I dislike about the iPhone,
I'd get an iPhone.
Not only did you prove the other blogger who made this claim wrong (but we expect that behavior on zdnet anyway) but it sure is quiet in here from all the people that were bashing Microsoft about this on the other blog.
0 Votes
+ -
Quite the opposite, actually.
matthew_maurice Updated - 18th Mar 2010
Joel hasn't proven anything. As he himself states, he hasn't "heard
first hand", so anyone who's gone to Journalism school would stop
reporting right there until they got a comment on the record (or at
least tried). However he goes on, and the debacle just gets better.
If you read the post he references, it says that CCP on WP7S is a
"scenario" that unnamed sources "hope" make it in the product
"eventually." In contrast that "other blogger" has a direct quote from a
named Microsoft executive, and the best part is that Joel calls
that the rumor! So not only does Mr. Evans seem not to know the
definition of the word "rumor" or understand basic journalistic
principles of fact-checking and source attribution, but in a bigger
sense these mixed messages only serve to increase Microsoft bashing.
It's clear that either they're lying to us or they don't know what they're
doing.
0 Votes
+ -
No C&P, No Sale
WiredGuy 18th Mar 2010
In the case of Apple or Palm, they can ship their phones with any OS they want because they make the handset.

In this case, Microsoft has to get handset manufacturers to pay them actual money to use the Windows7 OS on their handsets. If a handset maker is choosing an OS and Windows7 (which they must pay real cash for) and it can't do copy and paste, and Android can (which is available free of charge), who would choose Windows7?

If Windows 7 mobile can't do copy and paste, no handset manufacturer will license it.

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