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Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

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Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Windows Phone (Lumia 710) besides my iPhone, that I bought two weeks ago. The phone itself was released in Europe in November 2011. And now it's outdated/legacy already? It breaks trust. How would I know that if I buy a WP 8 phone that it will be supported with upgrades a year down the line?

Wouldn't such criticisms be valid for Android as well?

Yes, but majority of users don't care about upgrades. Those who do care ... they usually go custom ROM route. Quite a few of my friends have cyanogenmod roms with newer android versions, since the manufacturer (htc, et al) dropped support for the device.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when they've repeatedly proven it's a disastrous strategy (see: Zune). That's not the best example to use of Microsoft's failure. Every time Zune has been brought up for discussion here, I've seen primarily two types of responses... From people that actually owned a Zune: Fantastic product (better than my Apple iPod) . From people that never owned or tried a Zune: It's absolute crap (I've never seen any of my iPod…

I was given a Zune. It was well made and easy to navigate, much better than the Archos I bought before I bought my iPod. If the Zune had been released before the iPod, it would have been an impressive piece of hardware. A great product! However it wasn't. I tried really hard to enjoy my Zune. It felt like a waste just to throw it away. The problem was that it was almost as good as my iPod. Releasing a product that is…

I can't believe you just complained about the Zune software in a comparison with Apple's stuff. iTunes is the most amazing piece of garbage I've ever been forced to use for so long.

I bought an iPod in 2005, it was a nice piece of gear for sure, but for some random reason I ended up buying a Zune in 2007, and the iPod never saw the light again until I managed to break the Zune. The main reason for that is I never wanted to see iTunes again. I would have succeeded were it not for my damn company-provided iPhone! :)

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every company has failures and successes. For every a zune there is also xbox, Kinect and PC periferals. For iPad there are Apple TVs and Newtons, etc. What's the point?

Xbox is a failure by almost every financial metric. Microsoft is not anywhere near recouping the initial costs. The entertainment/devices division is rarely profitable and last quarter lost over $200 million.

And the quarter before that ... the entertainment & devices division made $528 million.

Here are the last six quarters prior to Q3 2012, all profitable

http://betanews.com/2011/10/20/microsoft-q1-2012-by-the-numb...

http://betanews.com/2011/07/21/microsoft-q4-2011-by-the-numb...

http://betanews.com/2011/04/28/microsoft-q3-2011-by-the-numb...

http://betanews.com/2011/01/27/microsoft-q2-2011-by-the-numb...

http://betanews.com/2010/10/28/microsoft-q1-2011-by-the-numb...

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something that corporations around the world would deploy to every single employee in a heartbeat? That's not necessarily up to IT anymore, thanks to the iPhone. To achieve your goal, they would have to build something that those employees insist on bringing to work under pain of termination, as they did the iPhone. Nothing in Microsoft's DNA -- and specifically in Steve Ballmer's DNA -- would permit the creation of…

I think iPhone started the BYOD movement because it was so much better than the rest of the devices for quite some time. Its only now that android and windows phone are catching up. If you see there are only marginal differences between the top of the line devices now. So the "insist on bringing to work" that you talk about is not strong enough as long as the device is a easy replacement. Both Android and I think win…

Another aspect of BYOD is that companies aren't paying for phones any more. I don't think they'll ever go back, even if someone could develop a mullet phone that pleases both consumers and IT.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#155
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Agreed.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#156
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was given a Zune. It was well made and easy to navigate, much better than the Archos I bought before I bought my iPod. If the Zune had been released before the iPod, it would have been an impressive piece of hardware. A great product! However it wasn't. I tried really hard to enjoy my Zune. It felt like a waste just to throw it away. The problem was that it was almost as good as my iPod. Releasing a product that is…

I can't believe you just complained about the Zune software in a comparison with Apple's stuff. iTunes is the most amazing piece of garbage I've ever been forced to use for so long. I bought an iPod in 2005, it was a nice piece of gear for sure, but for some random reason I ended up buying a Zune in 2007, and the iPod never saw the light again until I managed to break the Zune. The main reason for that is I never wan…

> iTunes is the most amazing piece of garbage I've ever been forced to use for so long.

I don't have that many complaints about it. It looks weird on Windows, of course, but it blends in nicely on a Mac. From your comment, I assume you haven't used Sharepoint.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#157

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…

Joel Spolsky famously wrote about those competing imperatives in a 2004 essay on the API war: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html "There are two opposing forces inside Microsoft, which I will refer to, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as The Raymond Chen Camp and The MSDN Magazine Camp." The former is obsessed with backwards compatibility, and the latter is obsessed with the Next New Thing. Spolsky's thesis w…

Well that explains why Raymond Chen's blog is called The Old New Thing.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#159
post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was given a Zune. It was well made and easy to navigate, much better than the Archos I bought before I bought my iPod. If the Zune had been released before the iPod, it would have been an impressive piece of hardware. A great product! However it wasn't. I tried really hard to enjoy my Zune. It felt like a waste just to throw it away. The problem was that it was almost as good as my iPod. Releasing a product that is…

I can't believe you just complained about the Zune software in a comparison with Apple's stuff. iTunes is the most amazing piece of garbage I've ever been forced to use for so long. I bought an iPod in 2005, it was a nice piece of gear for sure, but for some random reason I ended up buying a Zune in 2007, and the iPod never saw the light again until I managed to break the Zune. The main reason for that is I never wan…

I will admit that I never liked iTunes as a music manager for my iPod. I used a program on Linux to put songs on my iPod, however, I liked iTunes much more than the Zune software.

Re: Microsoft introduces Windows Phone 8

#160
post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legacy devices means devices from 3-4 years ago for Apple. If I buy a Windows phone today, it won't run the next major version of the OS. I'm just glad I didn't buy a Lumia 900 when my upgrade became available like I planned to.

My original iPad is now legacy barely more than 2 years after it's release. It's last available update is from June 6, 2011. So essentially about 1 year and 2 months of support.

Huh? 5.1.1 just came out last month: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1521
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