I've been using Windows Mobile since the first iPaq and have had a string of Windows Mobile phones. I've been very frustrated with the lack of progress Microsoft has made in improving the operating system, but have held on. Recently I have had to use a Palm Pre for work and after a week of use I can tell you that going back to Windows Mobile isn't an option. I have a real browser. The UI is pretty convenient and the system is overall so much easier to use that Windows Mobile compared to a Pre is like comparing MS DOC 5 to Windows 7.

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things that Plam can improve. But Microsoft has dome basically nothing to Windows Mobile for 3+ years. In the meantime APple has come out with the iPhone, Google has built Android and Palm has launched the Pre. And Microsoft still doesn't get at. As a single but prominent example, Microsoft is offering IE 6 as their big advancements at a time when the handheld competition is basically offering IE 8 on the handset.

I am a Verizon customer and HATE them for being slow to get new handsets to market, but they do have the best network. I am usre all Verizon customers on this board have been frustrated with their slow process for releases which they claim gives us better quality, but which only seems to give us handsets with the same bugs as everyone else has but 6-12 months later. If Sprint was close to as good I'd dump Verizon in a minute.

So I wait and hope for Verizon to have the Pre and some decent Android handsets early next year. But unless I see Microsoft dramatically changing their behavior offering competitive capabilities and ease of use and the handsets being prices aggressively to compete I'm gone.

I've been an advocate of Windows Mobile for years but now I am embarrassed to be using such an antiquated, clunky system.