Is Nokia's CEO a Microsoft mole? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is Nokia's CEO a Microsoft mole?

#81

Post by bambax » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 12:02 PM UTC

astrodust wrote: post #73

ttrashh wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Multiple reasons imho: They got a great deal from Microsoft that Google wasn't willing to match, the OS is beautiful, plenty of existing Xaml developers, great platform + language and better tooling than Android or iOS.

Everyone is under the impression that the waters are poisoned or they'd be flocking to the platform. XNA is actually a decent toolkit, and the Visual Studio environment is way better than the Android Eclipse mish-mash. What's preventing uptake is a complete lack of understanding in their market, an inability to take down even weak competition like RIM, and no clue how to leverage their success from the 360 on to a ph…

> If they'd just called it the Xbox Phone it would've sold ten times better

It's quite obvious that the Windows brand is burned; people hate Windows -- and Microsoft know it better than anyone else!

They had a campaign some time ago where they tried to demonstrate that people actually liked Vista, if only they didn't know it was Vista.

Of course, what it really showed was that people are incredibly prejudiced against the Windows brand.

Re: Is Nokia's CEO a Microsoft mole?

#82

Post by com » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 12:21 PM UTC

kb101 wrote: post #14

It is definitely noteworthy that the N9 and the N8, both examples of excellent hardware running competitive software, have basically been sandbagged by Nokia. Contrast this with RIM, who just released a slew of stop-gap phones until QNX (BBX) is ready... but they still are promoting the hell out of those phones and are getting decent sales, keeping the company viable. And those aren't even world-beating phones. Meant…

I just used an N8.

My pocket review: absolutely not ready for prime-time - number pad shrank and grew a couple of pixels every time I touched it during a call, with associated delay for the redraw.

The hardware seemed ok (although I'm no fan of their design language now, and yet their first WinPhones will have the same?), the display crisp and the telephone functionality was entirely fine.

But the clunky software, as well as the user interface just reeked of something rushed out by amateurs in the mid 1990s. Competitive? Nope.

As a current Android user, I await with interest what WinPhone can offer. Nokia's homebrew? Not so much.

Re: Is Nokia's CEO a Microsoft mole?

#83

Post by kb101 » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 12:49 PM UTC

com wrote: post #82

kb101 wrote: post #14

It is definitely noteworthy that the N9 and the N8, both examples of excellent hardware running competitive software, have basically been sandbagged by Nokia. Contrast this with RIM, who just released a slew of stop-gap phones until QNX (BBX) is ready... but they still are promoting the hell out of those phones and are getting decent sales, keeping the company viable. And those aren't even world-beating phones. Meant…

I just used an N8. My pocket review: absolutely not ready for prime-time - number pad shrank and grew a couple of pixels every time I touched it during a call, with associated delay for the redraw. The hardware seemed ok (although I'm no fan of their design language now, and yet their first WinPhones will have the same?), the display crisp and the telephone functionality was entirely fine. But the clunky software, as…

Your opinion matches the consensus when the N8 came out loaded with Symbian ^3 (generally deemed to have been rushed out the door); but I am curious if you had the opportunity to see which version of Symbian was running on the phone you tested. Were there three homescreens by any chance?

Re: Is Nokia's CEO a Microsoft mole?

#84

Post by kermitthehermit » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 6:34 PM UTC

Yes, he is, he's the trojan horse MS sent inside Nokia so they could "control" a large phone manufacturer.

Re: Is Nokia's CEO a Microsoft mole?

#85

Post by com » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 8:49 PM UTC

kb101 wrote: post #83

com wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just used an N8. My pocket review: absolutely not ready for prime-time - number pad shrank and grew a couple of pixels every time I touched it during a call, with associated delay for the redraw. The hardware seemed ok (although I'm no fan of their design language now, and yet their first WinPhones will have the same?), the display crisp and the telephone functionality was entirely fine. But the clunky software, as…

Your opinion matches the consensus when the N8 came out loaded with Symbian ^3 (generally deemed to have been rushed out the door); but I am curious if you had the opportunity to see which version of Symbian was running on the phone you tested. Were there three homescreens by any chance?

I'll check tomorrow; I simply used it as a telephone and was forced to interact with UI features to do so: first impressions are sometimes quite important, and it really did the opposite of wowing me.

Re: Is Nokia's CEO a Microsoft mole?

#86

Post by majorlazer » Fri, Oct 21, 2011, 6:32 AM UTC

rbanffy wrote: post #78

majorlazer wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In fact, Microsoft is giving them away for free at their stores. Do you have any sources for that?

http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2011/10/19/microsoft-dishing...

Sorry, but that's far from free. Very misleading statement.

Re: Is Nokia's CEO a Microsoft mole?

#87

Post by astrodust » Mon, Oct 24, 2011, 11:34 PM UTC

bambax wrote: post #81

astrodust wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone is under the impression that the waters are poisoned or they'd be flocking to the platform. XNA is actually a decent toolkit, and the Visual Studio environment is way better than the Android Eclipse mish-mash. What's preventing uptake is a complete lack of understanding in their market, an inability to take down even weak competition like RIM, and no clue how to leverage their success from the 360 on to a ph…

> If they'd just called it the Xbox Phone it would've sold ten times better It's quite obvious that the Windows brand is burned; people hate Windows -- and Microsoft know it better than anyone else! They had a campaign some time ago where they tried to demonstrate that people actually liked Vista, if only they didn't know it was Vista. Of course, what it really showed was that people are incredibly prejudiced against…

To a degree Apple is a poisoned brand. "Everyone" thinks their products are way more expensive than the alternative. It's a mindset they've had to work to undo.

Even as an Apple fan, I always thought the 8-core Mac Pro was expensive compared to the alternatives, yet the Dell equivalent is about $800 more.

Re: Is Nokia's CEO a Microsoft mole?

#88

Post by aurynn » Thu, Oct 27, 2011, 10:40 AM UTC

somebear wrote: post #47

aurynn wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MeeGo Harmattan isn't as polished as iOS - it's got a lot of first-generation performance issues, definitely requires some babysitting to keep it running well, but it's miles ahead of Android. It feels like the Harmattan team at Nokia really understood good UI and good design, and wanted to build a product around those ideals. The N9 is also a really slick piece of hardware. Someone designed and loved this thing, and…

I think the guys at Nokia design will be very happy with that comment. Fortunately most of them are still employed with Nokia and working on exciting stuff. I feel bad for most of the MeeGo devs though. Most of them were laid off or quit in frustration over having their baby flushed down the toilet. Quite a large number of them ended up with Intel to keep working on MeeGo, just to see Intel drop the effort as well. M…

Please pass on my remarks to the design team - I'm very impressed with their work, and I do wish that they continue their excellent designs.

I truly wish that Nokia had gone behind the N9 with everything it deserves. I feel it's the first time that Apple has actually been challenged in design, in integrity towards an ideal, in making something that exemplifies that internal drive. After seeing the WP7, even knowing it was coming, I know that their lovely design work was cheapened by that release. It's still good design, but it lost something tangible and wonderful, that sense of being something different and better. By shipping WP7, it became something that exists secondary to another goal, instead of a goal unto itself. Cheapened, as though a device that exists not symbiotically with the software designed to run on it, but any random garbage that can be sold with it.

It lost its soul.