Microsoft's First Love: The iPhone
Microsoft bought Seadragon Mobile a year or two back for its mobile GUI. As I recall, Seadragon lets users drill into content on small screens so you can actually read words and see images -- pretty handy for someone like me who has 48-year-old eyes and refuses to get glasses. But is Seadragon good to go on Microsoft-powered phones? Not yet.
So what exactly does it run on? How about an iPhone? That's right: Microsoft is shipping a preview version for Apple fans, while the Windows Mobile faithful has to wait. And it's all because the iPhone has a strong enough graphical processing unit (GPU) to run the new interface.
This is all good news. Along with growing support for open source, moves like this signal a kinder, gentler, more accommodating Microsoft.
Posted by Doug Barney on December 17, 2008