Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

Hello Windows Phone Thoughts Readers! My name is Steve McPherson (@stevenmc1060 on Twitter) and I will be working with the rest of the Windows Phone Thoughts Team as a Contributing Editor. I'm REALLY excited to be here and share my passion with our readers and I'm incredibly proud to be part of a team that has contributed in shaping the Microsoft Mobile platform and Community over the years.

My technical and business background is fairly diverse in that I've held both Sales and Technical roles for companies such as Microsoft, EDS, NET and Interim Technologies. In these roles I have always championed mobile technology as part of my "night job" and look forward to formally adding value to the Windows Phone Community.

I currently work for a company called Network Equipment Technologies (NET) and we manufacturer VOIP gateways which are "purpose built" for Microsoft UC. As part of this role, I find myself evangelizing Microsoft's Voice platform which tends to bleed over into Windows Phone through discussions with customers who have questions around enterprise mobility and unified communications.

As a Contributing Editor, my focus will be to share with you a new voice in your daily reads. My hope is that the information I provide will be valuable to you as a user and a technologist. To that end, I hope that the news and views I share will translate to increased passion for the Windows Phone platform for you, our reader and enable you to share that passion with your friends and colleagues.

I'm looking forward to a productive dialog with our community and sharing the passion that I have for Mobile technology.

I'm looking for at least two, and up to four, new Contributing Editors to join the team at Windows Phone Thoughts. This is an exciting time for Windows Phones and we want to amp up our coverage of this exciting platform. Interested in being a part of that? Keep reading.

First, a little background. Over the years at Thoughts Media, I've usually recruited Contributing Editors using the same method: I look for people who are actively contributing in our forums, helping others and who generally have a good attitude and knowledge about technology. Activity level was measured by post count.

Since we merged all our forums together, however, it's become difficult to figure out who's posting where, and I also know there's a certain segment of people who are avid readers but don't post that often - but when they do, it's great stuff. So, in light of these changes, I'm altering my method of recruiting Contributing Editors: I'm calling for volunteers.

So here's the pitch: I'm looking for 2-4 people to join the team here at Windows Phone Thoughts as Contributing Editors. All sorts of people are Thoughts Media Contributing Editors: accountants, software engineers, consultants, students - the point being, there isn't a professional writer among us (other than myself). I'm looking for passion and interest first and foremost. It's a voluntary position with perks: if you want to review items (that's 100% optional as a Contributing Editor), you'll get the opportunity to test, write about, and sometimes keep consumer electronics hardware and software. You'll get the opportunity to represent Windows Phone Thoughts at trade shows in your area (if applicable), special events around the world, and the biggest perk of all is to have a platform from which to share your opinions and thoughts with the world. That's really what being a Contributing Editor is all about.

Requirements for the position? That you enjoy writing about technology and enjoy sharing your opinions with others. Also, that you have a few minutes most week days/evenings to write up posts. News will be assigned to you, but you're also highly encouraged to post on whatever you want: interesting things you've discovered, things that you have opinions on, and the usual rants and raves. It's a volunteer position, so we understand that real life comes first, but there's a minimum level of commitment that we're looking for.

If this sounds like something you're interested in, please use the contact form to get in touch with us. Make sure you provide us with your forum user name so we can check out your posting history (hopefully you've posted at least a couple of times, but that's not mandatory), and we'd also like a brief summary of who you are and what you do. If you have any questions, please post them in the discussion thread and I'll answer them. I look forward to hearing from you!

PS: If you can't make the time commitment to join the editorial team, next week I'll be posting about joining our review team, so watch for that!

I'm looking for at least two, and up to four, new Contributing Editors to join the team at Windows Phone Thoughts. This is a rough phase for Windows Phones in general, but I believe that Microsoft is on the right track with Windows Phone 7 and am committed to continuing to cover this platform with passion and excellence. Interested in being a part of that? Keep reading.

First, a little background. Over the years at Thoughts Media, I've usually recruited Contributing Editors using the same method: I look for people who are actively contributing in our forums, helping others and who generally have a good attitude and knowledge about technology. Activity level was measured by post count.

Since we merged all our forums together, however, it's become difficult to figure out who's posting where, and I also know there's a certain segment of people who are avid readers but don't post that often - but when they do, it's great stuff. So, in light of these changes, I'm altering my method of recruiting Contributing Editors: I'm calling for volunteers.

So here's the pitch: I'm looking for two people to join the team here at Windows Phone Thoughts as Contributing Editors. All sorts of people are Thoughts Media Contributing Editors: accountants, software engineers, consultants, students - the point being, there isn't a professional writer among us (other than myself). I'm looking for passion and interest first and foremost. It's a voluntary position with perks: if you want to review items (that's 100% optional as a Contributing Editor), you'll get the opportunity to test, write about, and sometimes keep consumer electronics hardware and software. You'll get the opportunity to represent Windows Phone Thoughts at trade shows in your area (if applicable), special events around the world, and the biggest perk of all is to have a platform from which to share your opinions and thoughts with the world. That's really what being a Contributing Editor is all about.

Requirements for the position? That you enjoy writing about technology and enjoy sharing your opinions with others. Also, that you have a few minutes most week days/evenings to write up posts. News will be assigned to you, but you're also highly encouraged to post on whatever you want: interesting things you've discovered, things that you have opinions on, and the usual rants and raves. It's a volunteer position, so we understand that real life comes first, but there's a minimum level of commitment that we're looking for.

If this sounds like something you're interested in, please use the contact form to get in touch with us. Make sure you provide us with your forum user name so we can check out your posting history (hopefully you've posted at least a couple of times), and we'd also like a brief summary of who you are and what you do. If you have any questions, please post them in the discussion thread and I'll answer them. I look forward to hearing from you!

PS: If you can't make the time commitment to join the editorial team, next week I'll be posting about joining our review team, so watch for that!

With apologies to the Great Bard, a site by any other name still smells as sweet, does it not? Welcome to Windows Phone Thoughts, the site with a new name, new logo, but all the same great content from Pocket PC Thoughts and Smartphone Thoughts!

Over the years as the Windows Mobile Professional and Windows Mobile Standard platforms have gotten closer and closer together, I've looked forward to merging Pocket PC Thoughts and Smartphone Thoughts into a single site. Many of you have no doubt noticed over the past year especially that the content on Smartphone Thoughts has been largely mirrored from Pocket PC Thoughts. So much of the news about the platform is the same, only the application development for each platform - and the hardware differences - kept them apart. I've wanted to merge these two sites together under a single site name - a site name that reflects the current Microsoft branding - for quite some time, and it's been painful to have my flagship site bear the name of a brand (Pocket PC) no longer in use...yet I held off merging the sites, waiting for the day when Microsoft finally had only one mobile brand. Well, the Windows Phone brand is about as close to that as I can get today, so I'm taking this opportunity.

I'm also going to commit to re-energizing my efforts in the Windows Phone realm - we're going to staff up here at the site (stay tuned for the public call for volunteers), focus on expanding our review team to review more phones, software, and accessories, and strive to be even better at publishing the latest Windows Phone-related news and commentary. I want Windows Phone Thoughts to be the first place that you'll come to for the latest and greatest news and views about Windows Phones and the Windows Mobile platform. Let's be honest - right now it's hard to be a Windows Mobile enthusiast, but I believe that the best is yet to come from Microsoft in this space and I want to continue to support their efforts here - and, of course, speak openly when I think they're screwing up.

It will be hard retiring the name Pocket PC Thoughts - a site that has existed for longer than any other online property I've ever created - but all the great content, and you, the great community behind it, will live on under a new name. The same goes for Smartphone Thoughts - I'll miss that eye-catching orange design, but that core of what made that site great was the community and the fantastic volunteer Contributing Editors that have poured their efforts into it over the years. All that will continue to exist as I move the content from the old forum locations into the new forums. I should also add that more than a few things will be a bit...broken over the next few days as we fix glitches here and there - some things can't be fully completed until after everything goes live.

I welcome you to Windows Phone Thoughts!