[Windows Phone 7 General] Spike15:
Again, you're comparing platform environments, not platforms.

The difference between iPhone OS and Windows Mobile is the fact that Windows Mobile -- the platform -- is intentionally missing key parts when it ships.

For example, the dialer stack.

iPhone OS isn't missing these things -- Apple writes them. You'll find that when the manufacturer of an operating system writes or has to approve things, that they'll run much better, but then you also give up a degree of freedom.

It's the conundrum that Windows desktop OSes run into with WHQL. You get drivers that are certified by the people who make the operating system, but you also have to wait for those drivers to go through certification, and you give the manufacturer of the operating system complete control over which drivers they will and will not sign.

It's the conundrum that the enthusiasts are running into with Windows Phone 7 Series. You're giving up all that customizability because -- in the interest of stability -- Microsoft is consolidating themselves as the sole certifier.

The problem with Windows Mobile is the simple fact that it's such a vichysoisse -- regardless of which Windows Mobile version you're running, you're never just running Windows Mobile, because of the way Windows Mobile is structured, in order to have a functional operating system you're running Windows Mobile with a number of 3rd party applications, and those 3rd party applications are integrated with the operating system in a deep way.

It's the same conundrum you run into with kernel mode drivers and bluescreens on the desktop operating system. When my computer bluescreens because a kernel mode, 3rd party driver went ballistic, whose fault is it? It's easy to blame Microsoft and/or Windows, but that's not where the blame lies.

Interestingly enough, I've recently started with the personal policy of only installed kernel mode drivers that Microsoft supplies through Windows Update, and I haven't experience BSoDs related to my video drivers since.

Weird how that works...

That last sentence is the answer to everything.

I was talking to a bunch of people about operating system stability the other day, and as much of a Mac- and Linux-hater as I am, I had to admit that no modern operating system just ups and crashes all by itself. If you installed Mac OSX, Linux, Windows, Windows CE, iPhone OS, Android, et cetera, without any 3rd party software on (or "in") it, and left it alone, notwithstanding hardware failures or power outages, it would probably run for all eternity without problems.

The problem is when you introduce 3rd party software to the mix.

And with Windows Mobile designed the way it is, you have 3rd party software necessarily buried deep within the operating system.

So you can't blame Microsoft or Windows Mobile per se, you have to realize that the problems with Windows Mobile come from the fact that hardware manufacturers are writing drivers, dialer stacks, et cetera, with little-to-no oversight by Microsoft, and quite frankly they suck at it.

That's what I've always liked about Microsoft's model as opposed to Apple's. Microsoft is a software company, so they write software, and they're damned good at it. HP (for example) is a hardware company, so they make hardware, and they're damned good at it. And when you fuse the two (Microsoft Windows 7 running on an HP EliteBook 8730w, for example) you get a product that eclipses anything Apple makes.