Microsoft’s firmware update process is famously annoying: all installed software tends to be lost with every update. All other manufacturers have since tackled the problem – Ars Technica has just spotted the following job posting on Microsoft’s web site:
Have you wished to see your Windows Mobile phone with new features “magically” show up without you buying a new one? Do you want to see greater and better quality and cool software delivered to your love ones’ Windows phones from just a click? If this is your dream, this is a place for you. Come join us to make this dream into reality! With the mobile industry’s strong growth and several competitors playing in the field, we are going to have a challenging but fun time to show customers what Windows phone can become in the next few years.
We are in Windows Mobile device update team. Our goal is to enable customers to anticipate and enjoy a predictable stream of new and improved capabilities for their Windows Phone via a Device Update service that is worry-free and easy-to-use. Broad scope and impact, deep technologies, engineering challenges, partner interfacing with OEMs and MS internal partners, and fast pace delivery are all part of our charter. In the agile development environment, you will be working with PM/architect/test and partner teams to deliver critical stack of the update solution. You will lead a team of smart developers to solve problems in mobile OS, PC applications, and interacting with web services.
I personally hope that this will come to fruitition in WM 7 – the current situation where vendors and Microsoft are responsible for updates together is not exactly comfortable.
Moving the firmware update scheme to a method like the one used on the PC would require a large investment on the side of vendors and manufacturers alike, but would make large deployments of new Windows Mobile versions easier on the long run.
While this would help developers, manufacturers are very unlikely to loose control over their device’s life cycles…what do you think?
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