@gerbick

Dude that is exactly what I was thinking. Funny enough I think this just illustrates the ignorance or just simply the lack of open minded individuals who rather judge something without trying it.

I came in with the ignorance and loathing, after I really owned a phone with the OS believe me that my opinion of the OS changed for the better. I was never a fan of the tiles, but as gerbick said it was simplistic and unique enough to really leave an impression of a swift UI, something I can navigate around very quickly in. It sync to my email very well, and the email client was actually very good comparing to the competition. I actually liked how easy it was to input something into the calendar ... although it did not sync well with Googles' Calendar. Having Office in your phone is quite useful, and also the neat integration with Skydrive and Sharepoint is also a plus. The Xbox integration could always be better, but it looks like MS is building the foundations for what appears to be the most robust cloud gaming experience. I actually like how the maps/ and search service work. Even the voice search works quite flawlessly. The next iteration of WP7 Mango is set to improve on the experience, and I give credit to MS as they are actually listening for the first time to consumer ... guessing having near zero consumer base is a humbling experience.

As for the negatives, belief me there are plenty like the CPRM SD format, or lack of SD expansion. One big pet peeve of mine is the dependence on Zune to pretty much get anything done on your phone. Also the media playback can be improved in the UI sense. I can't believe the Audio player doesn't have a seek/ progress bar ... you would have to fast forward in your track. I think MS wants people to conform to the notion of 4MB mp3 files which you wouldn't want to seek in but rather just fast forward. Here in lies although the biggest threat WP7 brings, Conformity and the marginalizing of those who do not fit the model they seek to serve ... like me who has 1+hr mp3 tracks and I cannot seek 30minutes into a track but rather have to fast forward. The marginalizing is exactly why I don't go to the Iphone and WP7 seeks to mimic more of the IOS experience rather than the Android/ MeeGo experience of true openness for the user.

With that said, right now MS seems receptive to the consumers and I hope they are willing to broaden the experience to users who don't fit their model ... which a lot of us here don't to some degree. As for ecosystem, the only 2 advantages I see is WP7 brings is gaming plus enterprise level of productivity. WP7 left a pleasant impression, and since I never liked Android (I have tried it) I see the WP7 as an alternative. Will it be successful? I guess it is a question worth asking in another post.

The overall message is that WP7 is actually not the boogeyman as we so easily say around here. If you try a WP7, which right now you can get at a steal and some promo's give an Xbox to boot. I think a lot would have changed minds, so try it before knocking it or otherwise you are liable in giving a biased, or misinformed opinion on the matter.