Microsoft "photocopies" missing iPhone Cut/Copy/Paste feature
Following in the footsteps of the iPhone, it seems that Windows Phone 7 OS won't be support Cut/Copy/Paste.
Engadget's Chris Ziegler has confirmed this with Microsoft:
We just super-double-ultra-plus-confirmed this with Microsoft -- Windows Phone 7 Series will not have copy and paste functionality. There is a data-detection service built into the text-handling API that will recognize phone numbers and addresses, but Microsoft says most users, including Office users, don't really need clipboard functionality. We... respectfully disagree? Sure, let's leave it at that.
[poll id="513"]
OK, when the iPhone was released back in 2007, it too was lacking any way for users to cut, copy and paste functionality. Apple's position at the time was very similar to that of Microsoft's - people don't need this feature. Screams reverberated around the internet for two year until Apple added the feature as part of an OS update.
What really surprises me about this issue is how Microsoft can defend this omission with the hollow claim that "most users, including Office users, don't really need clipboard functionality" when the level of outpouring over the absence of this feature on the iPhone made it pretty clear that people did want the ability to cut, copy and paste. This is doubly so given that Windows Mobile users already have this feature at their disposal. With the iPhone, there was no prior expectation of any feature.
[poll id="514"]
It's quite amazing given that Microsoft has been able to learn from the release of the iPhone that the company still chose to bring out a handset that didn't have Cut/Copy/Paste support and lacked the ability to multitask. These were two features that the iPhone lacked (it still lacks multitasking support, but rumors are that the next OS release will bring this to users), and both features that users made clear they expected from a smartphone.
Seems to me that Microsoft has copied some of the bad features of the iPhone launch.