14 DAY TRIAL // Redmond-based software company Microsoft is getting ready to deliver to the world a new flavor of its Windows Mobile operating system, WinMo 6.5, which will land on the market as soon as October 6, along with a series of new services the company designed specifically for handset users. Among these services, as all of us know by now, there will be the Windows Marketplace for Mobile, the software portal from where users will get applications for their devices.
While most of the details regarding the Marketplace have been covered already, it seems that there are still some that weren't unveiled previously, such as the fact that Microsoft would have the power to delete applications from users' Windows phones through the storefront. A remotely kill switch doesn't sound like a good thing, one should agree, yet it has its own purpose, and Microsoft has explained this already, Ars Technica notes.
To be more specific, we should mention that there have been some rumors around the web lately suggesting that Microsoft will be able to delete apps from Windows Mobile-powered handsets in case it has removed them from the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. No further details have been provided, and one should imagine already that the blogosphere went crazy when learning this. Yet, Microsoft comes now with an explanation to the kill switch: it is intended for harmful applications only.
“In the vast majority of instances where an application is removed from Windows Marketplace for Mobile, users of this application will continue to be able to use these applications on their phones,” a Microsoft spokesperson said, Ars Technica reports. “In the rare event an application from Marketplace exhibits harmful behavior or has unforeseen effects, Marketplace has the capability to remotely uninstall these applications. While we hope to avoid this scenario, we will make refunds available in such cases.”
For what it's worth, this sounds more like a good thing than a bad one, and we might even consider applauding Microsoft on this one, especially since refunds are included. Some of you might already know how difficult it is sometimes to get rid of a harmful app from your device, and having someone to do it for you seems relieving. It's rather unlikely that Microsoft would use this “power” to wipe other apps too, just because it doesn't like them, for it would face a bunch of lawsuits it would certainly not like.