[Windows Phone 7 General] feygor:
Just to sum up some of my opinions to points made here (i haven't quoted them all):

Windows phone does have a problem with promotion, I don't think Microsoft is fully committed to it, but who would be after running a great but quite OS like WM. They will increase their advertising as their market share increases (let's just hope it does increase).

I have to agree on the name issue, why on earth Microsoft decided to link the phone to windows rather than Xbox live is beyond me, after all, the Xbox is their most successful venture, it has power and backing, unlike windows that just says 'we aren't here to mess around' it's not a casual name, it's a business name. WP7 isn't just a business phone.

I have to disagree with the 'too many devices', I think you need plenty out there to give WP7 presence in a phone shop. Microsoft isn't a miracle worker like Apple, they can't release a copy of the Zen, with a screwed up file system limited by the most buggy, slow program ever and just stick a simple name like iPod to it and it sells like a cure for cancer. Nokia have dropped everything for WP7, they aren't a dumb company. Android haven't gotten where they are today because of their OS, it's because of their availability, it's the only way to beat iPhone.

An OS with a phone that suit everyone, with reasonable pricing that makes iPhone look boring? Sounds good to me.

The locked down OS isn't for everyone. I admit I have been limited due to WP7. I like having a file explorer, having a registry editor. I used to live to change my theme every time I got bored. WP7 is locked down, but that appeals to a bigger proportion of the market, the proportion who aren't developers and creative computer users. It bring stability and warranty, and this gives one up against android.

I thought I'd hate Zune, but it's better that the alternative of iTunes. It's quite fast, and Zune pass is really great. I think it was a bad idea in the way that they have a complete fail of a mp3 player and music service and they are trying to keep it alive by pushing it through WP7.

The file transfer is annoying, android can happily do this. I think WP7 needed to find a balance between the locked down dictatorship of Apple and the open-source instability of Android. They are trying to establish themselves as the best of both worlds. Great idea but it doesn't offer much space for growth.

And Skydrive... sigh.

I liked the idea that it was just an added extra that WP7 used. It's not a selling point, the whole great thing is that it has been around for years and it works. iCloud is new, unreliable, at the very best Apple can hope to have something as good as skydrive in a couple of years. WP7 doesn't need to offer 'new' services, because it relies on a lot of technology that just 'works'.

Finally my overdue attack on Siri. I was sold when I first heard about it, saw it demoed, saw the adverts. MVC has never failed to amuse me that it cannot pick up my soft geordie accent. Siri seemed like a game changer. Then I played with it. It sucks just like all the other voice dictation software. Give it a command and you just hear 'i'm sorry, I didn't catch that...' by the time I loose my patience with the patronising voice taken straight out of an elevator, I may as well have whipped out my WP7, hit the search button and manually typed in what I need.

One last thing. For me to follow WP7 they need to do 1 thing. Please please please please disable the touch sensitive button during games. How many times have I lost a highscore because I accidently hit the serach button. Even with the instant resuming it forgets some kind of progress. FIX IT PLEASE.

I'm done.