I found myself yelling at the TV as I just watched the post-competition interview with Jennifer Heil on CTV, who just won the silver medal for Canada in the ladies moguls event.

The questions were worded as though to make her feel terrible for not winning the gold medal. ‘So Canada still doesn’t have a gold medal on home soil‘, ‘what are you going to feel when you’re up on the podium with your silver medal‘, ‘did the pressure affect your performance‘, etc. It was a disgraceful interview.

Congratulations Jennifer! Canada’s proud!

It’s rumored that Windows Mobile/Phone 7 will be shown to the public for the first time this coming Monday, February 15, 2010 at Mobile World Congress. Based on the comments by executives, such as Robbie Bach, and some pretty specific rumors out of the Windows Mobile camp, it’s not a huge stretch to expect something about the oft-delayed platform to be presented.

One point above all else in those rumors that has many staunch Windows Mobile users riled up: no multitasking. I’d like to make a few comments on the matter. Note that the following is not based on my knowledge of the real thing, but simply my thoughts and opinions.

In a smartphone platform, multitasking is not needed for the vast majority. Attempting to do multiple things at once on a smartphone is implicitly limited by the screen real estate. Applications need to take up the entire display (I don’t consider widgets ‘applications’). The scenarios in which one uses a smartphone are distinctly different from a PC, Mac, or arguably, an iPad, where multitasking would be more useful.

What most people want, whether they can verbalize it or not, is session state persistence and background notifications. 95% of the time, that application you want to ‘minimize’ will simply sit in the background, doing nothing except consuming valuable resources. Instead, close the application, save its state, and provide a way for notifications to/from that application to be bubbled up in the operating system. The next time you open that application, it will return from its cryostasis, ready to pick up where you left off.

For example, you open up the email client, read an email from a friend that includes a link to a restaurant website. You click that link, closing the email client, while at the same time opening the browser. The page loads and you decide you want to take a look at where it is on a map. You copy the address and open up a Google Maps application, closing the browser. You paste the address and pan around, getting your bearings. Satisfied, you reopen the browser and find it at the same place on the website you just visited. You don’t even notice that the browser process was terminated. You peruse the menu for the evening and decide to reply to your friend, confirming a reservation. You open up the email client, and you’re back at the email you read to start the scenario. None of this requires ‘multitasking’ support, simply session state persistence.

The key is providing a level of transparency to the user. The operating system may be starting and terminating processes, but as long as the experience of managing multiple applications’ interactions is as the user expects, there is no need for multitasking to accomplish these tasks. Yes, this puts a bit more responsibility on the application developer’s shoulder. The developer must consider session data and how to best store it for their application.

With all that said, I’m certain there will be cursory ‘multitasking’ provided by the operating system, despite the rumors. Some core services, such as music and phone, should be able to run alongside other applications, much like what is possible with the iPhone.

No one wants to deal with this.Apple absolutely had it right when they introduced one of the first no-multitasking mobile operating systems with the iPhone OS. However, they did not add background notifications until several iterations later, which was a bummer. I believe the benefits achieved by removing multitasking on the smartphone platform outweighs the 0.1% power-user scenario, where multitasking might actually be useful. For most people, managing a process list is out of their comfort zone. Applications would simply pile up in the background, with users having little experience with memory management. It would simply appear as though performance were vanishing for no reason. The geeks can whine as much as they like, but at some point or another, they’ll need to realize that mass market success cannot be achieved by catering to their needs alone. I’ve gone through a highly technical computer engineering degree, but I know that when designing features, they cannot be for users like me. Read The Inmates are Running the Asylum if you want to know what designing for programmers and engineers means to the rest of the world.

Windows Mobile/Phone 7 is a well-kept secret even within Microsoft. The intranet portals are walled off from non-team employees. Furthermore, little concrete information is disseminated outside the walls of the Studios. I’m super excited to see what the team had accomplished since my time at Microsoft. They know that this is probably the last chance for them to create something that is at least on par with the best of the best out there. Based on my interactions with the people working on the project and the very different  design mentality within the team, I’m excited about the prospects.

In three days, everyone will see what’s been cooking.

I’m sporting my first piece of jewelry, in the form of an iron ring on my right pinky. It’s the sign of a Canadian engineer who has taken the Iron Ring oath to uphold a certain level of ethical behaviour. The ceremony was this past Saturday. I won’t talk any more about the ceremony, since it’s intended to be a quiet, private thing, not an event to be described.

However, the ring, well, it symbolizes for me the (near-)completion of 5 years of continuous schooling and internships.
The engineering program at Waterloo hasn’t been easy. We’ve lost around half our class and I hope with all my heart that everyone that’s made it this far will graduate this June.

Five years ago, I was wrapping up my high school days, and just informed that I was accepted to Waterloo, Toronto, Queen’s and McGill. I hadn’t yet decided on Waterloo; in fact Waterloo gave me the worst offer of them all. I remember my calculus teacher in grade 12, Mr. Taylor, asked me if Waterloo was the only co-op school out of the bunch. It was, and he highly recommended that I try it. I respected Mr. Taylor a great deal. He helped make calculus interesting for the class, which is a pretty tough thing to do. Between him and another teacher at the school, with whom I didn’t have any classes, but graduated from the Waterloo mathematics program, I was eventually convinced a co-op program might be interesting.

Life certainly would have been different had I gone to any of the other schools, but I don’t regret my decisions. Sitting here with a Microsoft offer signed and a late July start date booked, I feel alright. We’ll see what the next few years bring, but one thing is for sure – I’m not going to settle for anything that makes me unhappy. That’s also not to say I’m averse to hardship. I simply need to know that I’m working toward something that I can be content with.

The ring is a tangible representation of the hard work I’ve put into the program, and while I won’t always look back with great fondness, I will always appreciate the opportunities the program has provided me.