Windows Mobile is just plain awful. There. I've said it, and I feel pretty good. No, wait. Actually, I don't because those words aren't strong enough. Windows Mobile is a scourge, an embarrassment. It's a mass of over-engineered effluvia that only serves to slow you down, get in your way, and make you miserable.

Considering that Microsoft is ever so close to launching one of its best desktop operating systems in years, this is simply unconscionable. When I attended the Windows 7 Professional Developers Conference in 2008, I wondered if I would hear anything about the similarly named Windows Mobile 7. I knew that Microsoft was working on the mobile OS. There'd long been great anticipation that it would be a significant leap forward for Microsoft's mobile effortsan honest to goodness and much needed reboot.

The reality, however, was beyond disappointing. No, Microsoft could not talk about Windows Mobile 7 at the conference. They couldn't describe how and the mobile OS might work together. In essence, Microsoft's Windows group seemed to know nothing about Windows Mobile 7. Even worse, they confirmed my greatest fears: Windows Mobile 7 wasn't even on the same development track as Windows 7. No one could tell us for sure when it would release.

Now, a year later, we know even less about the mobile OS. Sure, Steve Ballmer recently talked about renaming Windows Mobile Phones "Microsoft Phones." That's great, Steve. That should make a big difference. In the meantime, we'll suffer with Windows Mobile 6.1 devices (and , which should arrive next month, and addresses interface issues but leaves the guts intact).

Up until last week, I'd spent only limited time with Windows Mobile phones. I've used Palm OS-driven phones, spent considerable time with the iPhone, fiddled with Symbian, and have grown to love my . Just last week I traveled to South Korea where, unfortunately, my phone is not provisioned to work. I needed a loaner, so I took the with me. It's a lovely, blue phone, with a full qwerty keyboard and an attractive, high-res touchscreen. Considering how much I missed the touchscreen from my old , I should have loved this phone.

I didn't.

For those of you who haven't used a Windows Mobile phone, you should understand that unless a carrier or phone manufacturer does a lot of work, the WinMo environment is a lot like an itty-bitty version of Windows. That, on many levels, is a bad thing. Yes, the Windows Mobile phone multitasks naturally. It also does about as bad a job as Windows of managing multiple tasks and limited system resources (Windows 7 promises to be better). At one point, I tried to launch my Saga's camera and was confronted by a message telling me the phone was collecting resources to launch the camera. I've never seen anything like that on any other platform. When you switch from app to app, or simply launch an app, you see Windows Mobile's color wheel spinning and spinning. I rarely see my Blackberry Bold churning like this.

Since Windows Mobile leaves everything running unless you shut it down, it can drain power faster than beer at a frat party. My Blackberry Bold easily lasts the day (and more) on a single charge. Even my Treo 700p could make it through the day (even after 3 years of use). The Saga never did. That, partially, is the hardware's fault, but it's also up to the OS to manage processes and power consumption. Windows Mobile simply didn't do this. Speaking of useless, the Saga's low-battery message always told me that "the main battery" was low on power. Um, there's only one battery. Why call it "main?"

Startup and shut down are equally slow. What is Windows Mobile doing?

The Windows Mobile 6.1 homepage, desktop, or whatever you want to call it, is okay. I mean, it's passable but not exactly an elegantly-designed mobile interface. Icons are too small, and the tabbed interface is a bad idea for a mobile phone. I had the choice of navigating with a traditional mouse pointer or by Navigation mode. The latter made no sense because it simply hid the mouse and made you guess what you were highlighting. It was almost like a game.

The Windows Start button on all Windows Mobile phones is an embarrassing misunderstanding of the mobile interfacean environment most people navigate with their index finger or thumb.

The browser was useless. I couldn't even figure out how to copy and paste a URL to my Twitter app.

By the way, if you think it's just me, take a look at how many manufacturers, like Samsung, try and hide the Windows Mobile interface. Usually they do a pretty good job. In fact, some of the Samsung phones I saw in Korea last week were particularly impressive. Still, the spinning color wheel keeps show up, a clear sign that this is still cruddy, old Windows Mobile underneath.

Windows Mobile 6.5 does improve on this situation somewhat. There are nice, big words on the screen. The browser will even feature nice, big buttons. It all looks rational, except that the "Start" menu is still there. Microsoft needs to kill that before it makes it to Windows Mobile 7.

I'm looking forward to Windows Mobile 7, but I can't help but think about what a monumental missed opportunity this mobile OS has been for Microsoft. When WinMo 7 arrives next year (we hope), it could be too little, too late. The iPhone OS keeps getting better and better. Symbian has Nokia firmly behind it, Android is finally gathering steam, and some partners, including Samsung, are building their own open-source mobile OSes. Microsoft could have used the Windows 7 roll-out as a launching pad for a whole new mobile initiative. Instead, that strategy is riding along, decoupled from Microsoft's most important product. Steve Ballmer and company had time to fix this. They could have forced the mobile and desktop teams to work together. They clearly didn't, and that mistake could doom Windows Mobile.

I honestly don't know why Microsoft didn't scrap the whole WinMo interface and system years ago. Seriously, what's stopping them? They can't use the same excuse they use for Windows: there's too much legacy hardware and software that relies on, for instance, the Registry to do away with it. Yeah, there are a bunch of WinMo phones out there, but people don't have whole businesses, major apps, and peripherals tied to them.

It's not the first time Microsoft has misread a market sector. Look at how it's handled the Internet. Up until this year, it's been a disaster. Now, the company has some good productsthink  and another chance at online success. I don't know if there'll be the same kind of second act for Windows Mobile.