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Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

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Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#91

Post by HorizonXP »

runjake wrote: post #65
sjwright wrote: post #43

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he made it really clear that Apple's job wasn't to beat Microsoft. Apple then delivered on that assessment and created entirely new markets for themselves. Sadly, somehow, Microsoft went all XOR on our asses. I'm still baffled about how Microsoft is still trying to out-Apple Apple when they've repeatedly proven it's a disastrous strategy (see: Zune). Microsoft are kings of productiv…

> Something that competes with Blackberry? The BlackBerry is pretty much dead. This is now largely the iPhone's market (being the only modern smartphone platform with completely solid Exchange support ), so Microsoft is back to competing with Apple again. Android has some level of Exchange support, as well. But what that entails depends on the OEM and their modifications (eg. Exchange support on an HTC Android device…

Legacy BBOS is for all intents and purposes, dead.

BlackBerry 10 hasn't launched yet, but it's not exactly dead. Those of us actively developing for it are seeing lots of progress, and feel that RIM is far from dead.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#92

Post by MatthewPhillips »

pohl wrote: post #88
rome wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current Windows 7 phones are getting updates, 7.8. Contrast this with the original iPad which won't get ios 6 and it was released in 2010.

There's a legitimate reason for excluding the original iPad, though: it has to push four times the pixels as the iPhone 3GS, while still being limited by the same 256M of RAM that the 3GS has. Apparently at least one essential application (my guess would be Mobile Safari at least, probably many apps) couldn't provide an acceptable user experience within that constraint. Perhaps there's a legit reason for the current…

I vote that "different kernel" qualifies as a legitimate reason too.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#93

Post by KeyBoardG »

desigooner wrote: post #30

I get a chuckle out of reading people's views w.r.t. Microsoft. There are a good number who complain about lack of innovation & how Microsoft invests too much time in supporting legacy systems and that they should totally get rid of the CE core. Then there's the other end of the spectrum where Microsoft is stupid to stop supporting certain platforms because they're clearly not thinking about the users who use those s…

People would damn MS either way. They could've updated older WP7 devices only to have them run slow and have newer apps not work correctly due to missing hardware features. As a developer, that'd be nightmare to support.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#94

Post by KeyBoardG »

ttol wrote: post #10
cryptoz wrote: post #6

> incompatible with current devices Interesting. This may well be the right move for the long-term, but they're going to end up with a lot of angry early adopters right now. Android upgrades look nice all of a sudden.

I think cutting all the legacy is a good move -- start over from scratch. They have the wherewithal to round developer support (and also leverage their Xbox relationships), so cutting baggage is a good idea.

Its not entirely a start over from scratch. Every WP7 app will work going forward. I do agree with the move though. Its better than having a bunch of old phones running WP8 with a poor experience.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#95

Post by forrestthewoods »

stewie2 wrote: post #25

yes, finally supports C++.

Not sure why this was downvoted, C++ support is huge. The biggest thing holding Win Phone 7 back was requiring C#. Meant every iOS/Android app needed to be rewritten from scratch which obviously isn't going to happen for anything but the absolutely most popular stuff.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#96

Post by HorizonXP »

KeyBoardG wrote: post #90
sjwright wrote: post #43

When Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he made it really clear that Apple's job wasn't to beat Microsoft. Apple then delivered on that assessment and created entirely new markets for themselves. Sadly, somehow, Microsoft went all XOR on our asses. I'm still baffled about how Microsoft is still trying to out-Apple Apple when they've repeatedly proven it's a disastrous strategy (see: Zune). Microsoft are kings of productiv…

Microsoft is already eating RIMs lunch without a buy out. A lot of RIM's enterprise software is tailor written for the old BBOS and wouldn't do MS a lot of good.

Which is why RIM is trying to move their expertise into areas such as Mobile Fusion, allowing administrators to managed BYOD in the enterprise. Imagine BlackBerry BES services on your personal Android or iPhone, so you can access your company's assets in a secure manner. It's something RIM is working towards, and is honestly something that Microsoft's culture wouldn't allow.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#97

Post by simba-hiiipower »

cryptoz wrote: post #6

> incompatible with current devices Interesting. This may well be the right move for the long-term, but they're going to end up with a lot of angry early adopters right now. Android upgrades look nice all of a sudden.

Definitely agree about it being the right move for the long-term; Microsoft tends to have a bad habit of sacrificing performance and features for the sake of supporting old systems, glad to see this is changing.

As for all us ‘early adopters’, I for one don’t mind at all. There are some features of the new OS that simply aren’t supported by current-generation WP hardware or just wouldn’t perform well on it. I’d rather not get an update than get one that compromises the performance of my device (which I love as-is anyway) or one that seriously fragments the platform.

And, the way I see it, if WP8’s future is one of greater integration with W8 and Xbox, and Microsoft can really deliver on their ‘3 Screens & The Cloud’ vision [1], and this decision is integral to that (which it seems to be), then I’m fully on-board with it.

Also, they just announced that all existing Windows Phone 7 devices will get an update, to ‘Windows Phone 7.8’, which will bring all the UI changes and many of the new WP8 features. Most importantly, they’ve stated that all non-native code WP8 apps will work on WP7. I think that's the most important thing anyway and this approach makes for a good middle-of-the road solution. It allows developers to focus on just one platform and gives (the admittedly few of us) current WP7 owners continued access to new apps and features.

[1] http://blogs.msdn.com/b/stevecla01/archive/2009/05/21/three-...

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#98

Post by MatthewPhillips »

sjwright wrote: post #21
thejake wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But who is going to buy a Windows Phone 7 device now? Nokia's already poor device sales is going to fall off a cliff.

For that matter, who is going to buy a Windows Phone 8 device now, since there's no reason to believe it will run Windows Phone 9?

They changed to a better kernel. A really old and battle tested kernel. It is an exceptional reason to break compatibility but it's hard to argue that they shouldn't have made the decision. Certainly they won't switch kernels again soon because there is no better Windows kernel than NT.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#100

Post by toksaitov »

pilgrim689 wrote: post #85
zdw wrote: post #77

iPhone 3GS, released June 2009 and iPhone 4, release June 2010, both get iOS 6 (albeit with fewer features than an iPhone 4S). No Windows Phone 7 is getting Windows Phone 8. Supporting older hardware = brand loyalty, and environmental responsibility. Yes an iPhone costs more - it's also going to be updated for longer...

"albeit with fewer features than an iPhone 4S" And that's pretty much what's happening with WP7. Windows Phone users are getting an upgrade [1], but it won't be as fully-featured as WP8. Apple just did the slick move of calling both the partial update and the full update by the same name. [1] http://www.slashgear.com/windows-phone-7-8-brings-wp8-ui-to-...

With each version of iOS, developers can access new API on older devices. With Windows Phone 7.8 it will not be possible to access shared native API set.
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