Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

sfgate.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 31 posts

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#11

Post by robin_reala »

pilif wrote: post #10

What really concerns me about Windows Mobile 7 is the damage it's going to do among mobile web applications. You see, right now, if you want to do a mobile webapp, you can live in HTML5 land with working scripting, working DOM, good CSS3-support and all other goodies. Sure, there are differences between mobile browsers, but all major platforms are now using webkit of some sort (and for those that don't, Fennec is ava…

We can only hope that either:

a) they release an OS update soon next year with an IE9 rendering engine

b) no-one buys the product

I actually suspect that both are likely, at least in Europe.

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#12

Post by pilif »

robin_reala wrote: post #11
pilif wrote: post #10

What really concerns me about Windows Mobile 7 is the damage it's going to do among mobile web applications. You see, right now, if you want to do a mobile webapp, you can live in HTML5 land with working scripting, working DOM, good CSS3-support and all other goodies. Sure, there are differences between mobile browsers, but all major platforms are now using webkit of some sort (and for those that don't, Fennec is ava…

We can only hope that either: a) they release an OS update soon next year with an IE9 rendering engine b) no-one buys the product I actually suspect that both are likely, at least in Europe.

rooting for b) myself, but I can't post that here on HN, can I? That's not constructive at all.

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#13

Post by pilif »

akadien wrote: post #5

This may give RIM some competition in the mobile enterprise space.

really? Isn't all the PR about WP7 really focussed on the consumer? You don't read at all about the enterprise features (does it even have any?), but all is full of Facebook, media sharing and stuff.

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#14

Post by rbanffy »

robin_reala wrote: post #11
pilif wrote: post #10

What really concerns me about Windows Mobile 7 is the damage it's going to do among mobile web applications. You see, right now, if you want to do a mobile webapp, you can live in HTML5 land with working scripting, working DOM, good CSS3-support and all other goodies. Sure, there are differences between mobile browsers, but all major platforms are now using webkit of some sort (and for those that don't, Fennec is ava…

We can only hope that either: a) they release an OS update soon next year with an IE9 rendering engine b) no-one buys the product I actually suspect that both are likely, at least in Europe.

> a) they release an OS update soon next year with an IE9 rendering engine

Unlikely - Microsoft's strategy is to fragment every market it can't control and prevent commoditization of the platform layer. The inclusion of a broken IE was probably deliberate.

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#15

Post by rbanffy »

pilif wrote: post #13
akadien wrote: post #5

This may give RIM some competition in the mobile enterprise space.

really? Isn't all the PR about WP7 really focussed on the consumer? You don't read at all about the enterprise features (does it even have any?), but all is full of Facebook, media sharing and stuff.

I think he meant it as competing for the third place. I know RIM still sells a lot of smartphones, but it seems reasonably obvious it won't recover ground once it's lost to iPhone and Android.

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#16

Post by rbanffy »

bad_user wrote: post #6
karterk wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they had done that, I am sure you would have commented here saying it looks like a cheap imitation. Have you actually used the phone?

That's my problem with Microsoft software ... they get hyped months or years in advance with nobody actually using the damn product. And when a product is hyped, you've got to expect a backslash when it doesn't support basic functionality people got accustomed to. I also think that if third-party integration like Twitter will be less than what Facebook got ... WinMo 7 is basically screwed.

> they get hyped months or years in advance

Remember how cool was WinFS?

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#17

Post by pilif »

rbanffy wrote: post #14
robin_reala wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can only hope that either: a) they release an OS update soon next year with an IE9 rendering engine b) no-one buys the product I actually suspect that both are likely, at least in Europe.

> a) they release an OS update soon next year with an IE9 rendering engine Unlikely - Microsoft's strategy is to fragment every market it can't control and prevent commoditization of the platform layer. The inclusion of a broken IE was probably deliberate.

makes me think...

maybe it's time we developers stood up and said "no".

Let's stand together and declare that "working mobile web" just isn't a feature of WP7. If you want the cool bling of todays mobile web, you'll have to get any other phone aside of WP7. Any will do. Just not WP7.

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#18

Post by Mrcurious »

I have played with the samsung device for a week now and I hope people give the platform a chance. The ui and overall performance is higher than the captivate. The ui is innovative and lean.

The platform needs apps. I think there will be some interesting opportunities for developers right out of the gate. Keep in mind that ms is giving their employees a free winphone after launch. Building apps that appeal to developers/technoratti may be a good way to bring in a few extra bucks this fall.

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#19

Post by brk »

pilif wrote: post #12
robin_reala wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can only hope that either: a) they release an OS update soon next year with an IE9 rendering engine b) no-one buys the product I actually suspect that both are likely, at least in Europe.

rooting for b) myself, but I can't post that here on HN, can I? That's not constructive at all.

It's a grey area, I think.

There is little reason to support a platform that appears to break common-sense web apps. To take it to an extreme, would everyone be expected to support (or remain silent about) a new mobile platform that only supported gopher:// ?

Re: Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 too little, too late

#20

Post by DjDarkman »

karterk wrote: post #4
DjDarkman wrote: post #2

I found the UI unappealing and the heavy use of rotation effects amateurish. Is this the best they can do? Draw rectangles... Vertical list of applications??? Microsoft what have you been smoking? And sorry but I just can't shake the feeling that the UI looks like some half-baked demo. Microsoft should have just copied the iPhone and Android, they would have had a lot more success.

If they had done that, I am sure you would have commented here saying it looks like a cheap imitation. Have you actually used the phone?

There are stuff that these OS-es got right, and there is no known better way. Not doing the same just for the sake of not being called a copycat is a stupid thing to do. The perfect counter argument for these is: "that's what people were used to"

This all only holds up if there is no known better way.

Post reply on HN