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With Microsoft now owning the Nokia phones, they can potentially have the same control over firmware updates as Apple, which leaves HTC and the others at a disadvantage whichever OS they use.

I think that what everyone is missing in this discussion is that the complete name of the Lumia phones is four words long. One the first things that was promised when the merge happened was rebranding the name of the products to make them shorter. So change is from Nokia Lumia Windows Phone 930 to

Lenovo choose to do it at the OEM level by preinstalling Pokki.

The iPad sure couldn't replace a desktop, but the Surface Pro is getting pretty close. You can run 4 monitors off the thing, and plug in a USB keyboard and mouse. You could also add a USB hard disk for extra storage. It could pretty much replace most people's desktop machines, an still act a very capable tablet when you want to bring it with you. It's a little on the pricey side right now, but if you don't need quite as much power, you can do similar stuff with Transformer T100, which has less power, and can only output to a single monitor, but can still run all your Windows programs. Once we're able to get enough power in a small enough form factor (I'd say we're already there), why do we need to have bulky desktop machines?

The issue you're talking about might be a bug...
http://forums.wpcentral.com/no...

But...

Hello officer, why such a stink over robbing the blind mans collection of wind chimes? My neighbors did it too!

That analogy would make more sense if one of your neighbors stole wind chimes from 60 people in plain sight with hundreds of witnesses that would testify, and another one did the same from 37, but you stole from 3 people, and the police come after only you with a SWAT team while the others watch the raid while lounging on their front lawn. Your OP in this thread sounds exactly like that given the marketshare numbers.

UK != European, which is where I suspect you are from. In Germany I see them now all the time. In Spain I have the impression that coloured plastic is everywhere and it's NOT iPhone 5cs. I've not visited Italy recently but I hear it's doing even better there. don't take my word for it

I had an N95, it was great for its time but became an anachronism the day the iPhone was released. Today you can buy Nokia phones that do more than iPhone for less money. Really, /. Nobody likes Microsoft but it's time to accept that Winphone is a good product, that people like it, and that it is going to seriously challenge Apple and Google.

http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-sales-explode-europe-gain-us-pass-iphone-italy

Just some from the first Nokia quality information out of Google.

That's more than a year old, and the calibration issue was fixed long ago.

Recalls (e.g. T-mobile)

Source?

Now to be honest, these kinds of problems and complaints are pretty standard levels for second rank manufacturers. You need the high volume of Samsung or Apple to be able to get the manufacturing fully tuned.

Oh yeah, such things never happen with Samsung. "If you don't know about them then it's for you to Google", good advice, you should use it too.

In the old days, Nokia could use their own factories to build and optimize quality.

Those old days were a long way ago... Please, it's the company that gave me an N81 with brittle nonsensical buttons at the top and fastened the USB/power port to the N900's system board with a bit of dried out snot. The quality of Lumias feels like a huge improvement.

What problems?

There are plenty, so really if you don't know about them then it's for you to Google. Here's a random list for the Lumia 900 alone to get you started

• Purple screen - Grays appear with a purple hue...
• Vibrate feature rattles / Lumia 900s often sounding like an electric razor
• Inline remote on headset issue

Just some from the first Nokia quality information out of Google. There's another they list Camera button won't wake the phone - but I don't see why they don't put that down to software quality? Apart from these you will want to look at Lumia 800

• battery problems (probably software-hardware integration; should certainly have been picked up in the production facility).
• Recalls (e.g. T-mobile)

It's worth just having a look through dicussions like this one where you can just feel the astroturfers being drowned in a sea of sadness.

The real full picture is known only to Nokia of course and is well hidden for good reasons.

Now to be honest, these kinds of problems and complaints are pretty standard levels for second rank manufacturers. You need the high volume of Samsung or Apple to be able to get the manufacturing fully tuned. The main reason this is an issue is that Nokia used to be the best of the best.

Are you aware that Nokia's been producing most of their phones outside Finland long before Lumia was a thing?

Sure; however most of their top end phones were in their own plants and the ones needing the most supervision would always be done in Finland first. If you don't think that direct contact between the factory and the development engineers is critical to optimization then you haven't understood why Apple has to take such a control-freak attitude to their suppliers. Nobody except Apple and Samsung can afford that nowadays. In the old days, Nokia could use their own factories to build and optimize quality. Then, as a phone design became old hat, they could outsource the production whilst knowing everything they needed to to ensure that their suppliers kept up the quality they needed.

What problems?

There are plenty, so really if you don't know about them then it's for you to Google. Here's a random list for the Lumia 900 alone to get you started

• Purple screen - Grays appear with a purple hue...
• Vibrate feature rattles / Lumia 900s often sounding like an electric razor
• Inline remote on headset issue

Just some from the first Nokia quality information out of Google. There's another they list Camera button won't wake the phone - but I don't see why they don't put that down to software quality? Apart from these you will want to look at Lumia 800

• battery problems (probably software-hardware integration; should certainly have been picked up in the production facility).
• Recalls (e.g. T-mobile)

It's worth just having a look through dicussions like this one where you can just feel the astroturfers being drowned in a sea of sadness.

The real full picture is known only to Nokia of course and is well hidden for good reasons.

Now to be honest, these kinds of problems and complaints are pretty standard levels for second rank manufacturers. You need the high volume of Samsung or Apple to be able to get the manufacturing fully tuned. The main reason this is an issue is that Nokia used to be the best of the best.

Are you aware that Nokia's been producing most of their phones outside Finland long before Lumia was a thing?

Sure; however most of their top end phones were in their own plants and the ones needing the most supervision would always be done in Finland first. If you don't think that direct contact between the factory and the development engineers is critical to optimization then you haven't understood why Apple has to take such a control-freak attitude to their suppliers. Nobody except Apple and Samsung can afford that nowadays. In the old days, Nokia could use their own factories to build and optimize quality. Then, as a phone design became old hat, they could outsource the production whilst knowing everything they needed to to ensure that their suppliers kept up the quality they needed.

I'd say that the rumours of Microsoft's death have been greatly exaggerated. The phone, with help from Elop's Nokia is doing pretty well now, at least in Europe. http://www.wpcentral.com/new-data-shows-microsoft-doubling-its-smartphone-market-share-uk

Stupid thing indeed, to send lawyers to make things worse for Windows Phone users who are mere pawns in Google's strategic games.

Buy a ms product and expect not to get shit on? Ah, come on! W phones should come with toilet paper.

What? Google's is the one doing the shitting.

Anyway, right now WP has the best Youtube app right now and the only one with no ads and a preload button for later viewing.

http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-8-version-metrotube-now-available

We don't get ads either, idiot. Have fun till the 22nd because that's when it gets shut down. And if it doesn't Google will make it go black.

Stupid thing indeed, to send lawyers to make things worse for Windows Phone users who are mere pawns in Google's strategic games.

Buy a ms product and expect not to get shit on? Ah, come on! W phones should come with toilet paper.

What? Google's is the one doing the shitting.

Anyway, right now WP has the best Youtube app right now and the only one with no ads and a preload button for later viewing.

http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-8-version-metrotube-now-available

Dude, that's the tip of the iceberg... you should see the things they've been doing to try to prevent windows phone from developing apps that use google services.. A couple of recent examples:

1) They tried to prevent WPs from syncing Gmail calendar and contact data (link). Note that this involves deliberately breaking something that wasn't broken. Making changes/improvements is cool -- but why not work with MS to ensure users don't get affected? How about a little heads up for a major change like that?
2) They've been hindering the development of a youtube app on WP (link). They've even deliberately broken third party youtube apps on WP more than once before this latest spat.

At least Apple and MS are honest about their intentions... I can't stand the doublespeak the comes out of Google's top leaders.

Larry Page: Every story I read about Google, it's us versus some other company or some stupid thing.

He means like in these stories?

http://www.wpcentral.com/google-microsoft-remove-youtube-windows-phone-store

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-admits-it-was-blocking-wp8-maps-2013-1

Stupid thing indeed, to send lawyers to make things worse for Windows Phone users who are mere pawns in Google's strategic games.

For example, the imaging tech in Nokia's flagship Windows Phone is far better than Android phones, look at the below videos for proof.

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/mobiles/samsung-galaxy-s4-video-is-shakier-than-rivals-in-test-50011238/

How about advancing the state of the art for smartphone camera imaging tech through its loss making Motorola Unit instead of trying to compete by making Windows Phone worse by sending C&D take down letters?

Why doesn't Google use it's loss making Motorola to advance the state of smartphone camera tech like Nokia is doing instead of trying to prevent people from getting Windows Phone by sending C&Ds and takedowns?

Windows Phone is selling better than what the Google-shill SJVN would like you to believe. Around 7 million phones a quarter is not bad at all, especially with increasing every month and even outselling the iPhone in some countries.

http://wmpoweruser.com/nokias-5-6-m-q1-sales-means-about-7-million-windows-phones-sold-in-q1-2013-150-growth/
http://www.wpcentral.com/which-countries-windows-phone-outselling-iphone
http://wmpoweruser.com/microsoft-claims-a-more-than-20-smartphone-market-share-in-poland-and-mexico-says-nokia-is-getting-all-their-energy-right-now/
http://wmpoweruser.com/full-kantar-numbers-for-march-2013-shows-steady-windows-phone-progress-reaches-highest-sales-share-figure-so-far/

Wow, I didn't think Slashdot could go lower but it just managed to do that.

Next headline: MS to abandon Windows, because Windows XP support Ends April 8, 2014?

Microsoft will make Windows Phone 9, in fact they even have people working on testing it.

http://msftkitchen.com/windows-phone-9-testing-begins-also-windows-9-gets-a-mention-from-microsoft

And Windows Phone 8 phones will be upgradeable.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2416002,00.asp

And Windows Phone is growing marketshare:

http://wmpoweruser.com/italy-shows-their-windows-phone-strength-already-15-of-windows-phone-market/
http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-has-a-16-3-market-share-in-poland-one-of-the-highest-in-the-world/
http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/story/analyst-windows-phone-sees-strong-growth-uk-and-italy/2013-01-23
http://www.wpcentral.com/long-queues-china-nokia-lumia-920-sells-out-two-hours [And yes, that's actually picture of people queuing for Windows Phone)

Picking up some loyal users who seem to like it :
http://wmpoweruser.com/pcmag-readers-choice-awards-2013-windows-phone-wins-mobile-os-category/
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/01/customer-satisfaction-of-windows-phone-on-the-rise-according-to-survey/

And winning some awards
http://www.wpcentral.com/nokia-lumia-920-struts-its-stuff-and-takes-prestigious-innovative-handset-award-2013
http://wmpoweruser.com/nokia-lumia-920-wins-engadget-smartphone-of-2012-user-vote/

And yet we have this bullshit FUD summary, headline and article? No wonder Slashdot is losing readership fast, with barely a few comments for stories compared to earlier.

The partyline biased moderation, calling people with alternate viewpoints shills and chasing them away into karma hell can only last so long before the echo chamber gets tired of listening to itself and packs it up.

Reminds me of this story http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/02/16/2259257/draconian-drm-revealed-in-windows-7

Even the mainstream tech media noticed that. Interesting read: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/02/oh-the-humanity-windows-7s-draconian-drm/

I doubt any one would care now, with most people having written off Slashdot as the hiding place of anti-Microsoft trolls and zealots living in their alternate reality. Posters like bmo, symbolset, tuple666, Zero__Kelvin, LordLimeCat, Jeremiah Cornelius, UnknowingFool, rtfa-troll, binarylarry, MightyMartian, drinkypoo, pieroxy and a whole bunch of others have ruined Slashdot beyond repair and seem to suffer from this affliction: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/07/25/1757253/linus-calls-microsoft-hatred-a-disease

Wow, I didn't think Slashdot could go lower but it just managed to do that.

Next headline: MS to abandon Windows, because Windows XP support Ends April 8, 2014?

Microsoft will make Windows Phone 9, in fact they even have people working on testing it.

http://msftkitchen.com/windows-phone-9-testing-begins-also-windows-9-gets-a-mention-from-microsoft

And Windows Phone 8 phones will be upgradeable.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2416002,00.asp

And Windows Phone is growing marketshare:

http://wmpoweruser.com/italy-shows-their-windows-phone-strength-already-15-of-windows-phone-market/
http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-has-a-16-3-market-share-in-poland-one-of-the-highest-in-the-world/
http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/story/analyst-windows-phone-sees-strong-growth-uk-and-italy/2013-01-23
http://www.wpcentral.com/long-queues-china-nokia-lumia-920-sells-out-two-hours [And yes, that's actually picture of people queuing for Windows Phone)

Picking up some loyal users who seem to like it :
http://wmpoweruser.com/pcmag-readers-choice-awards-2013-windows-phone-wins-mobile-os-category/
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/01/customer-satisfaction-of-windows-phone-on-the-rise-according-to-survey/

And winning some awards
http://www.wpcentral.com/nokia-lumia-920-struts-its-stuff-and-takes-prestigious-innovative-handset-award-2013
http://wmpoweruser.com/nokia-lumia-920-wins-engadget-smartphone-of-2012-user-vote/

And yet we have this bullshit FUD summary, headline and article? No wonder Slashdot is losing readership fast, with barely a few comments for stories compared to earlier.

The partyline biased moderation, calling people with alternate viewpoints shills and chasing them away into karma hell can only last so long before the echo chamber gets tired of listening to itself and packs it up.

Reminds me of this story http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/02/16/2259257/draconian-drm-revealed-in-windows-7

Even the mainstream tech media noticed that. Interesting read: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/02/oh-the-humanity-windows-7s-draconian-drm/

I doubt any one would care now, with most people having written off Slashdot as the hiding place of anti-Microsoft trolls and zealots living in their alternate reality. Posters like bmo, symbolset, tuple666, Zero__Kelvin, LordLimeCat, Jeremiah Cornelius, UnknowingFool, rtfa-troll, binarylarry, MightyMartian, drinkypoo, pieroxy and a whole bunch of others have ruined Slashdot beyond repair and seem to suffer from this affliction: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/07/25/1757253/linus-calls-microsoft-hatred-a-disease

But on a related-note, the first jump Microsoft made from Windows Phone 7.5/7.8 to Windows Phone 8 broke compatibility for all existing third party applications. That move really upset the early developers on that platform (especially when they had been told that MS was going to be different and was not going to be fragmented).

From where do Slashdotters get their information? From only other Slashdot posts filled with lies and misinformation?

From http://www.wpcentral.com/microsoft-reaffirms-app-compatibility-windows-phone-8-hints-silverlight-death

"With regard to existing applications: today’s Windows Phone applications and games will run on the next major version of Windows Phone. Driving application compatibility is a function of Microsoft’s commitment to its developer

There were over 120,000 available for WP8 at launch, most of which were WP7 apps.

Wow, I didn't think Slashdot could go lower but it just managed to do that.

Next headline: MS to abandon Windows, because Windows XP support Ends April 8, 2014?

Microsoft will make Windows Phone 9, in fact they even have people working on testing it.

http://msftkitchen.com/windows-phone-9-testing-begins-also-windows-9-gets-a-mention-from-microsoft

And Windows Phone 8 phones will be upgradeable.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2416002,00.asp

And Windows Phone is growing marketshare:

http://wmpoweruser.com/italy-shows-their-windows-phone-strength-already-15-of-windows-phone-market/
http://wmpoweruser.com/windows-phone-has-a-16-3-market-share-in-poland-one-of-the-highest-in-the-world/
http://www.fiercewireless.com/europe/story/analyst-windows-phone-sees-strong-growth-uk-and-italy/2013-01-23
http://www.wpcentral.com/long-queues-china-nokia-lumia-920-sells-out-two-hours [And yes, that's actually picture of people queuing for Windows Phone)

And yet we have this bullshit FUD summary, headline and article? No wonder Slashdot is losing readership fast, with barely a few comments for stories compared to earlier.

The partyline biased moderation, calling people with alternate viewpoints shills and chasing them away into karma hell can only last so long before the echo chamber gets tired of listening to itself and packs it up.

Reminds me of this story http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/02/16/2259257/draconian-drm-revealed-in-windows-7

Even the mainstream tech media noticed that. Interesting read: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2009/02/oh-the-humanity-windows-7s-draconian-drm/

I doubt any one would care now, with most people having written off Slashdot as the hiding place of anti-Microsoft trolls and zealots living in their alternate reality. Posters like bmo, symbolset, tuple666, Zero__Kelvin, LordLimeCat, Jeremiah Cornelius, UnknowingFool, rtfa-troll, binarylarry, MightyMartian, drinkypoo, pieroxy and a whole bunch of others have ruined Slashdot beyond repair and seem to suffer from this affliction: http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/07/25/1757253/linus-calls-microsoft-hatred-a-disease

This place was always anti-MS but reasonable and informative comments used to get modded up a few years ago, not anymore.There are enough things to bash Microsoft with, why make up lies and spread FUD?

Of course, the real blame is on moderators for modding up these kind of posts and marking others rebutting replies to them as troll and flamebait.

Last one out, switch off lights.

Jessica Alba now posts as AC on Slashdot. woo!!

http://www.wpcentral.com/jessica-alba-wields-red-lumia-920-windows-phone

http://wmpoweruser.com/jessica-alba-continuing-to-use-her-red-nokia-lumia-920/

You really should read the reviews section. Most of the comments were about how it doesn't work in WP8.

On the other hand, Tokenshell/WP appears to work.

The fact that MSFT had to cut their Surface order in half [bgr.com] should be a surprise to nobody

I've seen you post this at least a dozen times. Every time you start a rant about Surface, you invariably bring up this unsubstantiated claim from unnamed Eastern component suppliers. After this "rumor" hit the web, Microsoft actually increased retail distribution, said they're increasing production, are increasing availability to more countries, and said they're expanding the product lineup. Together, these point to a completely different direction than your stale, 3 month old rumor.

You're starting to sound like a broken record.

Hell even with this, is it 23GB in base 2 like the OS, or is it base 10 like the manufacturers?

It's base 2.

all those people getting home and finding none of the Windows software they've accumalated for years will run on the damned thing, THAT is what is gonna make this into a megaflop.

All the software they've accumulated over the years WILL run on the Surface Pro. That's the entire point of this device. It runs full Windows 8 on an Intel Core i5. You don't seem to know much about this product you constantly are blasting. Even 23GB is enough for any application I've come across, but this can be expanded to 30+ GB by removing the recovery partition. This is the same you'd get with a Macbook Air at 64GB. You can even expand storage easily with an SD card.

Wow plus starcraft, 36gb. your point?

The fact that MSFT had to cut their Surface order in half [bgr.com] should be a surprise to nobody

I've seen you post this at least a dozen times. Every time you start a rant about Surface, you invariably bring up this unsubstantiated claim from unnamed Eastern component suppliers. After this "rumor" hit the web, Microsoft actually increased retail distribution, said they're increasing production, are increasing availability to more countries, and said they're expanding the product lineup. Together, these point to a completely different direction than your stale, 3 month old rumor.

You're starting to sound like a broken record.

Hell even with this, is it 23GB in base 2 like the OS, or is it base 10 like the manufacturers?

It's base 2.

all those people getting home and finding none of the Windows software they've accumalated for years will run on the damned thing, THAT is what is gonna make this into a megaflop.

All the software they've accumulated over the years WILL run on the Surface Pro. That's the entire point of this device. It runs full Windows 8 on an Intel Core i5. You don't seem to know much about this product you constantly are blasting. Even 23GB is enough for any application I've come across, but this can be expanded to 30+ GB by removing the recovery partition. This is the same you'd get with a Macbook Air at 64GB. You can even expand storage easily with an SD card.

http://www.wpcentral.com/steve-ballmer-windows-phone-sales-300-percent

There is an issue with syncing Google accounts WPCentral , which seems to be more an issue of Google changing their API rather than a bug as such with the phones.

From my own experience with an HTC 8X I had to reset the phone and reinstall apps (no biggy) I set Gmail to forward to Hotmail and copied over all the contacts and since then it has run flawlessly. Battery life with light use is up to three days

Since the Sony Tab 20 is a Windows x86 machine, you should be able to run anything you'd like on it:

http://www.wpcentral.com/look-at-sony-vaio-tab-20-windows-8-pc

That said, if you're billable rate is high enough, and you need a beefier machine you should probably just get a monitor for your existing machine which has stylus support (there's a 24" model which has touch):

http://www.wacom.com/products/pen-displays/cintiq/cintiq-22hd

Your wish is Sony's command. Presenting the Tab 20:

http://www.wpcentral.com/look-at-sony-vaio-tab-20-windows-8-pc

20" display, 2 hour battery.

I do not believe it yet accepts incoming calls when the app is not open. That makes it pretty pointless.

http://www.wpcentral.com/understanding-skype%E2%80%99s-limitations-windows-phone

Microsoft says they are working to change the way skype works so they can work better with it. Which is the wrong way to solve the issue. Fix your OS not demand others to change their applications that work everywhere else.

Surely it's no Apple or Samsung, 7 million phones in two quarters isn't great but nothing too shabby.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/05/nokia-7-million-lumias-sold-to-date-in-54-countries/

They were held back by the hardware, single cores and display resolution earlier with the WP7 phones, now the hardware is much more competitive, the camera tech is like no other around, and they're pretty much at or near the top in the specs war.

http://www.wpcentral.com/sites/wpcentral.com/files/postimages/4213/iPhone%20versus%20MONA4.png

Not to mention things like working with gloves on, which no capacitative touch screen around seems to be able to do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=0lAi1fVfXl8#t=227s

PS: I have nothing to do with first post troll/shill or whatever that is on Slashdot. I have been reading Slashdot since 10 years and posting since atleast 5. In many stories, it appears to be a troll and not shill making the comments(with nicknames like Waggenered Strom and Auntie Wag/Uncle Wag ) for they know 20 comments will follow discussing the troll itself.

Except according to actual WP7 owners, the 7.8 solution is fine: http://www.wpcentral.com/poll-results-majority-windows-phone-users-happy-proposed-78-update

That's a poll put to the users of wpcentral.com. It's a fanboy site so of course they're going to view the platform through rose tinted glasses. The fact that only half of the respondents were "happy" speaks volumes.

As for you comparison to iOS, my Girlfriend has a 3GS.

Your comparison is meaningless. The 3GS is sold as an entry-level last-last-gen iPhone. The Lumia 900 is the flagship Windows Phone (or at least the marketing would lead you to believe that) and it is being sold today despite the fact that it will never see the next major version of the OS. The comparison would be if the 4S were being sold with no hope of seeing iOS 6. If that were the case people would be up in arms but when MS does the same thing the fanboys like you come out of the woodwork to apologize for them.

Spinmeisters like you tarnish the reputation of Windows Phone much more than MS ever could.

Except according to actual WP7 owners, the 7.8 solution is fine: http://www.wpcentral.com/poll-results-majority-windows-phone-users-happy-proposed-78-update

Of 6400 respondants, 54% said they're happy, 20% said they're not but staying with windows phone, 20% said they're not sure, and only 6% said they're leaving Windows Phone.

Personally, I'm happy with the decision. They're moving the platform forward yet still porting features for legacy owners. I bought a Lumia 900 about a month before this news and I'm still happy with it. It does everything I want, and will be getting more features in the future. Most non-hardware related features are being ported back to the Lumia 900. By the time I'm ready for a new phone, Windows Phone 8 will be all the better.

As for you comparison to iOS, my Girlfriend has a 3GS. To say that it runs all the latest apps and the lates OS is a bit misleading, as she's missing features, and many of the latest apps and games built for 4 or 4S hardware cause her phone to lag and many of them just crash randomly. The same can be said for my iPad 1 and apps like Infinity Blade, Netflix, and MLB AtBat 2012. This is almost the same situation Microsoft is giving to Windows Phone users, except they're being upfront by calling it WP7.8 instead of WP8.

Except not upgrading WP7 users.

Except they are, Windows Phone 7.8.

And now their attempt with Windows 8 to destroy the OEMs.

Destroy OEMs with Windows 8? How would they do that? Are you referring to the introduction of WindowsRT? If so then a market for such a thing doesn't even exist, i hardly think Microsoft's "Surface" is going to destroy OEMs, but you keep that love for a DOA platform alive if you must ;)
If Microsoft did indeed break bonds with some OEMs I would say that would be great! Less OEMs tied to Windows, how can you say that's a bad thing? Or evil by Microsoft?

Thank motorola and Google. Motorola is trying to get money from every copy of Windows sold. So now Microsoft will have to either increase the costs of windows, eat the cost and pay motorola, or remove the software and sell it...

Motorola: http://www.dailytech.com/Windows+Xbox+360+Could+be+Banned+in+Germany+as+Patent+War+Continues/article24592.htm Google demanding WP7 apps be removed: http://www.wpcentral.com/content-infringement-complaints-google-and-windows-phone-marketplace

Actually, there is some quite compelling argument for this issue. Since long before Nokia started selling WP7, it's been extremely widely reported by customers that even when they walk into a store and specifically ask for a WP7 device, the salespeople refuse to show it or sell it. Yes, you read that right - the salespeople actively refused to sell the customer a product that the customer asked for by name.

The most common reason, apparently, is actually the same Windows Mobile you mention. Compared to modern smartphone platforms (including WP7), it was at best a niche platform and at worst a piece of shit. The salespeople remember that, and apparently can't even tell the difference between WP7 and WinMo (which is blatantly obvious to anybody who tries using them both for 60 seconds, and I'm talking about the stuff that's more than "skin" deep).

Hell, this was mentioned on Slashdot in June of last year: http://www.mobile.slashdot.org/story/11/06/10/1936237/Windows-Phones-Getting-Buried-At-Carriers-Stores
There's plenty of other coverage of this issue, if you do a search for things like "WP7 carrier store" or similar. Another example right from the mouths of customers: http://forums.wpcentral.com/general-discussion/186449.htm

Oh, MS, you even manage to fuck up building a walled garden.

So, they require $99/year and vet the applications, and still let through stuff like this or this.

No wonder WP7 is at stunning 2% market share.

1. You may dislike the UI, but a lot of people love it because of the minimalism.

2. Yes it's not Open Source.

3. Sorry on this point, it just crossed 50,000 apps and the growth is accelerating http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-marketplace-hits-50000-apps

4. Yes no dev on OS X and Linux

5. Microsoft's developer tools are no where close to shitty, they're simply the best in the industry (YMMV).

6. The last point proves that you're a troll. XBox 360 is nowhere close to last place. It just had a record Thanksgiving beating all other consoles and they're flying off shelves thanks to Kinect and the new media features. Also, they're top on the biggest metric, the amount people spend money on, buying games.

Actually, the 360 is pretty much on par with the PlayStation 3 for 2nd place. The PlayStation 3 will eventually surpass it (it sells more in Asia and Europe and will likely outlast the 360 in the marketplace for 6 months - 1 year). So, he's right, it will end up dead last eventually. As for 1st place, well that would be the Wii.

The UI is horrible.
It's not open source.
No one is making apps for it because it is dead in the market.
You can't develop for it on OS X or Unix.
You are forced to use Microsoft's shitty developer tools.

But, hey!, it has connectivity with Microsoft's piece of shit last place console!

LOL, fail.

1. You may dislike the UI, but a lot of people love it because of the minimalism.

2. Yes it's not Open Source.

3. Sorry on this point, it just crossed 50,000 apps and the growth is accelerating http://www.wpcentral.com/windows-phone-marketplace-hits-50000-apps

4. Yes no dev on OS X and Linux

5. Microsoft's developer tools are no where close to shitty, they're simply the best in the industry (YMMV).

6. The last point proves that you're a troll. XBox 360 is nowhere close to last place. It just had a record Thanksgiving beating all other consoles and they're flying off shelves thanks to Kinect and the new media features. Also, they're top on the biggest metric, the amount people spend money on, buying games.

You can actually force it down to your phone. This worked on my Focus.

http://www.wpcentral.com/force-mango-update-early-through-zune-software

http://www.wpcentral.com/force-mango-update-early-through-zune-software

Worked on my Samsung Focus

http://www.wpcentral.com/force-mango-update-early-through-zune-software

No, they won't. When Android was catching up to iOS no money was made by anyone until critical mass was reached. Most users on mobile platforms do not pay for any applications which makes critical mass very important.

Android vs Windows Phone free apps - A case study: Part II. Free apps are yielding great returns on WP7 because the market place is that much less saturated. Although WP7 is far from "critical mass", in 30 days WP7 revenue for this free app was $108.55 with 114,920 impressions vs. Android's $3.44 of revenue and 11,606 impressions. This is just one case study and there are a lot more. Decent money is being made now, even with 3-5% marketshare.

Woops... source: http://www.wpcentral.com/adduplex-adds-pot-attract-developers

Those 3 people have 10,000 apps to use though...growed faster than Android or iOS stores, silly Slashdot with it's anti-MS bias and tunnel vision from reading only the posted news and comments.

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/cell-phones/windows-phone-marketplace-fastest-to-hit-10000-app-milestone/5596
http://wpcentral.com/milestone-windows-phone-marketplace-hits-10-000-will-overtake-rim-6-months

Actually there are a few apps (third party) that MS has allowed to run in the background.

http://www.wpcentral.com/multitasking-coming-wp7-pandora-can-multitask-now

Scherotter said while a few major apps will be able to multitask, such as Pandora, the music streaming app that will play in the background while the user is doing something else, independent apps will not, for now. Scherotter said that eventually, independent apps will be multitask-capable, but he wouldn't say when that would be.

Of course they didn't note exactly what those 'few major apps' are.

NOT correct. Please don't count on article titles to be correct. That's like counting on a slashdot summary being correct.

Currently, only Microsoft apps can multitask. The key words in the announcement... errr... sorry, article, are in bold below:

More importantly that multitasking is coming to Windows Phone 7, just no firm date;

Scherotter said while a few major apps will be able to multitask, such as Pandora, the music streaming app that will play in the background while the user is doing something else, independent apps will not, for now. Scherotter said that eventually, independent apps will be multitask-capable, but he wouldn't say when that would be.

And if you read the update, currently Zune is cited as the app that can do this.

So, let me correct your statement:

Actually there are a few major apps (third party) that MS has promised, at some future undisclosed date, may be allowed to run in the background.

Not sure about you, but when Microsoft DOES announce dates for things (Windows 93... 94... Vista as a couple examples) or features (those left out of Vista as examples), it's already something I dont lend much credence to. When they aren't even willing to announce a date, I have NO idea what to think.

That aside, point is, GP was correct. WP7 does not multitask anything but a few Microsoft released apps (or at least Zune).

A -1 Wrong mod (for you) would have saved me so much typing. ;-)

Actually there are a few apps (third party) that MS has allowed to run in the background.

http://www.wpcentral.com/multitasking-coming-wp7-pandora-can-multitask-now

Scherotter said while a few major apps will be able to multitask, such as Pandora, the music streaming app that will play in the background while the user is doing something else, independent apps will not, for now. Scherotter said that eventually, independent apps will be multitask-capable, but he wouldn't say when that would be.

Of course they didn't note exactly what those 'few major apps' are.