You really get the impression this should be a bad idea. Microsoft has announced a delay to Windows Mobile 7.0. This, you'll remember, was going to allow people to release phones to rival Apple's iPhone and, we assume, Android.
The announcement comes in the wake of the Android release. Could this be any worse for Microsoft? The article to which I've linked above says it's a blow. But I think it's actually a good idea. The easy thing to do would be to release a system so there's something out there and if it needs patches as it goes along, OK, it needs patches. Apple has released bug fixes for the iPhone 3G so why not?
Except that's not how things work in Microsoft-land. I've said in this blog before that Apple releasing a fix that reduced dropped calls (on a phone, for goodness' sake...) was a sign that the device was released too early. Few other people said so because for some reason Apple has this teflon technique of avoiding all criticism. I'm expecting the pendulum to swing back the other way anytime, for what it's worth.
Microsoft doesn't have that luxury. If anything at all goes wrong with the system when it's released the press is unanimously hostile - rightly so, if people are paying good money for something second-rate. So it can't afford to release something that isn't so absolutely ready it's not true.
Personally I'd like to see Microsoft taking the lead rather than the flak for this. Refusing to release something if it's not actually ready? You know, that could just catch on...