What happens when you take away your staff members' favourite smartphone and hand them a Windows Phone instead? Laptop Mag decided to find out, as they plucked three volunteers to leave behind their Blackberry, iOS, or Android device for a week and move to the Microsoft platform.

The toughest part is getting people to try it in the first place, especially those who are wedded to iOS or Android. To give Windows Phone a fair shake, we had three LAPTOP staffers gave up their iPhones, Android handsets, or BlackBerries for a week. Here’s what we loved about the OS, and what could use work.

Amazingly, they each chose three different areas to summarise - three areas that are always the discussion points of Windows Phone, namely social networking integration, the metro user interface, and the volume of applications. What are the chances of that happening?

Articles like this are good - they show readers that there is an alternative to the iOS and Android world, and that Blackberry's unique features are perhaps not so unique after all. I honestly doubt than any other 'alternate' mobile operating system would be given this amount of time and curiosity from the press. Microsoft, almost a year and a half later, are starting to get the traction in the media they need to make Windows Phone a success.

Hat tip to Charles Arthur.