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Why I'm Close to Giving Up on Windows Phone 7, as a User and a Developer

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31–40 of 85 posts

Re: Why I'm Close to Giving Up on Windows Phone 7, as a User and a Developer

#32
post #7

I think this attitude has been the downfall of a lot of developers over the years. You fall in love with the development environment and then you transfer that love to the platform itself. The problem is sometimes great platforms aren't paired with great products. Microsoft is at least two generations behind Google and Apple at this point. Some would argue three generations. I'm a .net developer who loves C# too so I…

You fall in love with the development environment and then you transfer that love to the platform itself. The problem is sometimes great platforms aren't paired with great products.

I hit into this with the Amiga in the 80's and 90's. Boom, Commodore goes down. Lots of anger ensued, got over it. Then did the same with BeOS in the late 90's. Boom, Be Inc goes down. Lots of frustration ensued, got over it.

At this point I seriously considered buying my first (and last) Windows operating system box, just to get "Boom, Microsoft goes down", too.

Re: Why I'm Close to Giving Up on Windows Phone 7, as a User and a Developer

#33
post #7

I think this attitude has been the downfall of a lot of developers over the years. You fall in love with the development environment and then you transfer that love to the platform itself. The problem is sometimes great platforms aren't paired with great products. Microsoft is at least two generations behind Google and Apple at this point. Some would argue three generations. I'm a .net developer who loves C# too so I…

But putting a lot of resources into Windows phone 7 at this point is just folly It feels like MS isn't putting enough skin in the game. They shipped the OS in September. Great. That gets you a toe in the door. They should have rev'ed that OS at least as many times as Apple has theirs. Apple has shipped 5 updates to iOS since September. MS -- one (the update to prepare for future updates, so really not even a real upd…

And to complete this, even if you compare W7P with the early iPhone OS (arguing that both are version ones, not that they're both living in 2011), the first 6 months Apple shipped 1 major updates, 3 bugfix updates and 1 compatibility update (for the 1st gen iPod Touch).

And a second major update in month 7.

2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 were all followed by 2 major and 2 bugfix updates in the first 6 months.

Re: Why I'm Close to Giving Up on Windows Phone 7, as a User and a Developer

#34
I'm always under the impression Microsoft is counting on luck when it comes to bringing out software. The kinect (or what's the name) is a big success, but is this because of the hardware or the software? I'm wondering too if Microsoft takes itself serious at times.

Re: Why I'm Close to Giving Up on Windows Phone 7, as a User and a Developer

#35
post #27

Was the first release of iPhone or Android really that flawless compared to WM7?

I bought an original iPhone because a colleague said "there's an awful lot it doesn't do but what it does do is so good you won't miss the rest".

I may be miremembering but I don't recall any real issues with it, and it still is the best phone I've owned.

Re: Why I'm Close to Giving Up on Windows Phone 7, as a User and a Developer

#36

I'm always under the impression Microsoft is counting on luck when it comes to bringing out software. The kinect (or what's the name) is a big success, but is this because of the hardware or the software? I'm wondering too if Microsoft takes itself serious at times.

It's an interesting point. I think MS's courting of kinect hackers signifies that they haven't quite figured out what it's for yet. They know they're sitting on an awesome piece of hardware, and damned if they know what to make of it. Right now it's Wii++ and they know it could be so much more, but they don't know what. They're looking for inspiration from those who really do see its potential.

Really, this is a microcosm of MS in the Ballmer era. They still have incredible engineering talent, but they have no vision.

Re: Why I'm Close to Giving Up on Windows Phone 7, as a User and a Developer

#37
post #18

Is it any better with Android? Here's a list of issues: -- Android resets your phone to factory settings without asking you or even giving a warning if you port a number to it. This deserves a class-action lawsuit. See here: http://androidforums.com/droid-x-support-troubleshooting/131... -- Using the built in email application, sent emails often stuck in the outbox. See here: http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/and…

Android sells ... a lot. That's what's better. One would assume that if it sells well, then it must be good enough to compete with other modern mobile platforms.

Re: Why I'm Close to Giving Up on Windows Phone 7, as a User and a Developer

#38
post #32
post #7

I think this attitude has been the downfall of a lot of developers over the years. You fall in love with the development environment and then you transfer that love to the platform itself. The problem is sometimes great platforms aren't paired with great products. Microsoft is at least two generations behind Google and Apple at this point. Some would argue three generations. I'm a .net developer who loves C# too so I…

You fall in love with the development environment and then you transfer that love to the platform itself. The problem is sometimes great platforms aren't paired with great products. I hit into this with the Amiga in the 80's and 90's. Boom, Commodore goes down. Lots of anger ensued, got over it. Then did the same with BeOS in the late 90's. Boom, Be Inc goes down. Lots of frustration ensued, got over it. At this poin…

Yeah. OS/2 and Smalltalk for me. Thankfully the MVC pattern really picked up steam so it wasn't a complete waste

Re: Why I'm Close to Giving Up on Windows Phone 7, as a User and a Developer

#39

Microsoft's an interesting beast. Things that "should" matter to them, like Windows, somehow reach the point of almost falling apart (see Windows Me or Vista). Then, groups that are practically losing money build great things like the Xbox 360 and Kinect. Some products that stumble end up dead, like the Zune, while others are dragged back up to par (see IE9 and Windows 7). This current mess could mean anything from "…

Whenever anyone talks about the problems that beset Microsoft it seems almost a universal consensus that it's political infighting/poor management.

An honest question, though: is some of it the tools and/or engineers?

I've never worked in a big software company so for all I know management can have these kind of devastating effects (for this long a period of time). I suppose I just have a hard time believing that everything that goes wrong is the fault of management (Vista, Zune, WP7 at this point) while everything that goes right is brilliant engineering (2000/NT, 360, Kinect).

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