Windows Mobile 5 - Intant Messaging Anecdote
Omar Shahine posts a helpful workaround to turn off audible notifactions occur when a contact goes online in messenger. This quotation of Mr. Omar is very illustrative though of the usability of Windows Mobile, and I think gives insight into how the development teams meet market requirements:
Here are the registry keys you’ll need to add to your device:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Notifications\{A877D65E-239C-47a7-9304-0D347F580408}]
“Options”=dword:00000008
@=”Messenger: Contact Online”
“Wave”=”notify”
“Duration”=dword:00000000[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Notifications\{A877D65F-239C-47a7-9304-0D347F580408}]
“Options”=dword:00000008
@=”Messenger: New Message”
“Wave”=”notify”
“Duration”=dword:00000000
Its nice that there is a registry key on my Pocket PC that can be used to meet a key use case of instant messaging. Its disappointing that this very basic use case wasn’t delivered by the development team (though someone obviously thought of it or there wouldn’t be a registry key) and included in the very first release. Instant messaging is hardly a new concept.
I don’t have Mobile 5 yet, but I am doubtful it comes with a registry editor or a shell. So this becomes a can of worms, downloading bits of shareware and open source of the internet to get the device working. Thats great if you are a programmer or serious system admin. I’ll be more inclined to just not use messenger on Mobile until I don’t need a registry editor to make it work.