Re: Can't View Images via Activesync Pocket PC Explorer

At 31 Dec 2007 08:20:15 +0000 Paul Murphy wrote:

But the number of users with machines using these pocket operating
systems who are unwilling or unable to upgrade their pocket OS will
be tiny compared to the number of users with desktop PCs running
Windows XP who are unwilling or unable to upgrade them, It's an
entirely different ball game.

True, But given the average PC life cycle, I suspect the landscape will be
different in two years. (Just as guess as to when we'll see a version of
WM that needs a different style of connectivity.)

Checking the Windows Mobile Device Centre 6.1 download page I see
as well as full support for WM2003 up, it also offers 'Basic
connectivity support for Windows Embedded CE 4.2, 5.0, Pocket PC
2002, and Smartphone 2002 devices - Connect over USB and serial,
use desktop passthrough using the PC's internet connection, and
file browse' - that's far from the latter users being 'left
out in the cold'.

"Basic connectivity doesn't include the ability to sync PIM data with
Outlook. Given that's the primary use of most WM devices, that's "left out
in the cold" to me!

Given that both WMDC and Active Sync only sync contacts
and emails with certain Office products, rather than the desktop
OS provided contact Address Book and Outlook Express, in the case
of XP (a big mistake
IMO), that's all I'm using AS 4.5 with
my WM 6 ppc for.

Ah, but prior to WM5/6, all WinMo devices included a copy of Outlook, so
synching with Outlook Express was never a priority- you got it's "big
Brother" with your device.


Our interpretations of 'WM5 and 6 work fine with AS 4.5' means clearly
different things then. I wouldn't call taking over twice as long to copy
files to card storage or unreliable connections which often drop when
using
AS 4.5 but work fine with just my memory card reader 'working fine'.

As I've said, my beta AS 4.5 is very stable as to connectivity. Copying
files through AS is slower than a card reader, I'll grant you that, but
maybe I have lower standards! ;-) USB transfers of pictures from my
digicam take twice as long as using the card reader as well, so I don't
expect much from AS in that respect. If I want to transfer a largefile
withouta reader, I use File Explorer over WiFi.
I'd be
quite happy if they were to get rid of Active Sync altogether and just
supply a Windows XP compatible version of WMDC to consolidate
development.
It seems silly to continue to make 2 entirely different connectivity
packages when the core OS (XP/Vista) is not that dissimilar, it's not
like
we're talking Win 98 vs. NT for instance.


Agreed. I'd be happy to see consolidation as well, but based on posts here
and in the AS NG, WMDC is a bigger nightmarethan Activesync!


Win98 users are locked out of WinMo 5 and 6 (Win98 doesn't support AS
4.x.)

That's understandable in that the core OS is fundamentally very
different to the current NT based options (although Microsoft may
not choose to use those terms these days with regards to XP and Vista).
The number of people who only have ancient desktops/laptops to
connect with but relatively state of the art pocket PCs will be small.

Agreed, but I guess I wonder why modern devices can't work in some sort of
"compatibility mode" to sync with older versions of AS- they sync to the
same versions of Outlook, sync the same data types, and even support the
old style "serial over USB" connection. Frankly AS was never as stable
before or after 3.7/3.8. (Which also ran on Win98, BTW.) Forcing us to
continually upgrade to less featured versions of AS is annoying- we've lost
sync over IP, manual conflict resolution, and most verbose error messages.
("Sychronization Error" isn't the most helpful message when
troubleshooting!)


Hardly- HTC rarely offers OS upgrades for their devices- and then only
if
they're still being sold when WM versions change. They'd just as soon
see
you buy a new device than extend the life of one you own.

I'm not referring to providing updated OSs for their pocket PCs, I
mean the companies deploying WM devices may consider releasing them
with entirely different OSs such as Symbian etc which are widely
used by other phone makers.
HTC is pretty tight with MS. I think they've carved a pretty good niche
with very little competition in WinMo. I think they'd get their hat handed
to them if they went up against Nokia with Symbian products!

By the time WM7
rolls around, I suspect the idea of Vista-only hardware and software
won't
seem as crazy as today.

Unlike the example above of connecting with Win 98 vs. XP, the
fundamental
core differences at driver level wont mean WM7 devices can't connect to
XP
desktops, that is unless they deliberately choose to make WM7 very
different
to WM6 at a core level but I cant see that happening.

Perhaps, but 7 is supposedly another "ground up" redesign, as WM5
supposedly was. WM6 and WM 6.1 (the next release) are very similar to 5.

The only reason for
discontinuing support of XP connectivity, would be if they choose
to do so in an attempt to push customers to upgrade their desktop/
laptop OSs.


Ironically, the WMDC headaches have had the opposite effect on me! My
Vista upgrade for my main PC is still in the shrink wrap, because reliable
synching and connectivity with my mobile devices are more important to me
than any of Vista's features.



I'm still running the original beta of AS 4.5 and it's pretty darn
stable.
I've never upgraded because of the problems reported here with the
release
version of 4.5 and I don't feel the urge to join those having problems...


I've not tried the Beta version, just the release version that came with
my
TyTN II. If the release version is not as good as the beta, then that's a
worry. Roll on an XP compatible version of WMDC!

I suspect the beta is really based on 4.2 with whatever connectivity
enhancements were needd to connect to WM6 devices (WM5 requires 4.0 and up,
6 has to have 4.5.) My guess is based on the fact that upgrading to the
4.5 release wiped out existining partnerships and forced you to re-partner
all devices, but I don't remember 4.5 beta doing that- it installed over
4.2 without changing any settings, IIRC.


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