As General of the Army Douglas MacArthur said: “War's very object is victory, not prolonged indecision.”

So you might wonder why Stephanie Ferguson, general manager of the Windows Mobile Group at Microsoft, having “met with people all over the world who were likely to buy a smartphone and talked with them about what’s important to them in their phone,” should be so pleased to conclude that the “one thing that was very clear after all these conversations about phones is that there is no “one size fits all” in this market.”

To cater for this disparity, Ferguson announced: “On October 6th, you’ll see new Windows phones designed for a variety of tastes, needs and price points - with or without keyboards, with or without touch screens, as well as your choice of GPS, accelerometer and high resolution camera.”

In other words, Microsoft is still aspiring to be everything to everybody. And, as the American food writer Anthony Bourdain said in an interview with Chris Tan, “Bad food is made by chefs who are indifferent, or who are trying to be everything to everybody, who are trying to please everyone.”

It’s time Microsoft made up their mind. Because there’s no doubt, in trying to fight on so many fronts the Redmond massive, already on the defensive, is severely exposed.

MacArthur would not be impressed.

Even a single manufacturer, with total control over any hardware platform, would be challenged to create an operating system able to function effectively with both touchscreen and keyboard handsets.

However Windows Mobile 6.5 is to ship in Europe with handsets from no less than six phone manufacturers, namely Acer, HTC, LG Electronics, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba.

Needless to say, the combination of so many potential configurations does not auger well.

With the iPhone Apple have only the touch interface and a single screen size to contend with. Conversely RIM offer a number of different options with the BlackBerry, but they too still have total control over both the hardware and operating system.

By definition, Microsoft is more exposed to the vagaries of others, and has not been slow to say so.

Inevitably it could be argued that Google faces the same problem. But Android differs from Windows in two key respects. It is both open source and free. So handset manufacturers can “tweak” the OS with proprietary extensions to their own requirements, and they do not have to pay to install it.

Of course HTC have previously attempted to “customise” Windows by overlaying their own TouchFLO interface, most noticeably on the Touch Pro2 where, as PC Pro states, it “casts such a heavy veil over the iniquities of Microsoft's mobile operating system that you hardly realise it's there.”

This might explain why as Stephanie Ferguson said, “interestingly enough, we discovered that most people who carry a Windows phone don’t realize it’s running Windows Mobile.”

Cynics might suggest that anybody knowingly experiencing Windows Mobile will have since changed handsets. For evidence they would no doubt refer you to the welcome that greeted the Toshiba TG01.

Only a brilliant disguise such as that offered by HTC, they would argue, can make the OS palatable.

Not surprisingly Ferguson chooses to ignore that possibility.

“We also heard from many people considering their very first smartphone purchase that they’d very strongly consider a phone running Windows,” she went on to say, “because it’s a brand they know and trust.”

She omitted to mention whether those who had previously owned a Windows smartphone would countenance purchasing another.

Fortunately relief may yet be at hand. If Ferguson has her way, WinMo phones could soon carry a health warning.

“You’ll see us try to simplify our branding,” she explained, “so it’s easier for people to know when they’re carrying a Windows phone and easier to find them in stores.”

Hopefully her optimism will be justified and Microsoft's indecision will somehow finally prove decisive.