Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology.
How many apps does it take to screw in a light bulb? That was the question facing Microsoft as rival mobile operating systems backed by Apple and Google added tens of thousands of applications giving users stylus-free access to a wide range of capabilities. For a company whose co-founder trumpeted the notion of information at your fingertips, it was a bitter position. The light bulb wasn't screwed, but Microsoft looked as though it was.
Finally, though, the light bulb has turned on, and it has lit a path in the opposite direction from the guiding user interface philosophy that characterized Windows Mobile, née Windo
