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Microsoft To Abandon Windows Phone?
symbolset writes "Microsoft has had some trouble as of late getting adoption of their mobile products. Even Bill Gates has said it was inadequate. Despite rave reviews of Windows Phone in the press it has failed to get double digit share of the smartphone market. Now comes reports from WMPoweruser that WP8 will lose mainstream support in July 2014."
Er, that likely means they'll be on WP9. How long will Google update Android 3.x or even 4.0?
Trololol samzenpuss, trololol.
Ridiculous headline title. All this means is they're going to be moving onto the next version of the OS by then (WP9?). Speculating that they're going to leave the phone market entirely is a little far-fetched at present.
Yes, WP8 will be abandoned... for WP8.5 or WP9.
Microsoft is still dealing with the fact that their flagship products throughout the 1990's are almost universally associated with crashes, poor performance, and overhyped marketing. It bit them with the Zune, and now it's biting them with the phones. You know why XBox is so big? It doesn't have the word 'Windows' or 'Microsoft' in its name, and it had (still has?) its own business unit with its own management structure not tied to Windows.
On the other hand the OS support date is reset with any never version of the OS, so a Windows Phone 8.5 or 9 update in November 2013 would bring along its own 18 month of security updates. Microsoft has already promised all current Windows Phone 8 handsets will receive the next major version of the operating system.
The article said they would be updated the system to a new version and that the new version would be pushed to all windows phones. That system would get security updates for 18 months. It sounds like they just want people to upgrade to me.
This posting looks like FUD, if you read the article it says.
All window 8 phone devices will get new version of OS, which will have a 18 month support window.
No you deserve -42 for believing a /. headline about Microsoft.
The article says the following at the bottom, "On the other hand the OS support date is reset with any never version of the OS, so a Windows Phone 8.5 or 9 update in November 2013 would bring along its own 18 month of security updates. Microsoft has already promised all current Windows Phone 8 handsets will receive the next major version of the operating system."
oh christ was my first thought to that....
I'm not a huge fan of Microsoft but I do feel for Nokia and the bus that their staff were thrown under.
I'd be kinda surprised if this is true though, Microsoft are known for flaunting failed products for years to save face. This would be another reason to add to the list for why metro sucks ... it's pretty sad that the whole windows ecosystem was imho designed from the mobile up rather than an extension of the desktop.
This sounds like FUD though and for once it's not coming out of Redmond.
The article discusses dates on which Microsoft will end support for its current product, which is designed to be superseded on (at least) an annual basis. It doesn't mean that Microsoft plans to get out of the phone business, or will delegate software development to Nokia or Google, etc.
it's just part of the push to release everything quicker, more often, and more detriment to the consumer who must constantly re-purchase everything.
I know Microsoft shafted their customers over windows Phone 7 [and earlier versions] sacrificing a 10% smartphone marketshare for 2%, but you can only do so for so long. That 2% they have now they can expect to drop [to nothing] if they continue to abuse its customer base.
Yes, WP8 will be abandoned... for WP8.5 or WP9.
Yes, WP8 customerswill be abandoned... for WP8.5 or WP9.
Fixed it for you...they will call it Windows phone 8.8, which they will day is the same as 9 :)
Microsoft is still dealing with the fact that their flagship products throughout the 1990's are almost universally associated with crashes, poor performance, and overhyped marketing. It bit them with the Zune, and now it's biting them with the phones. You know why XBox is so big?
Except the reality is Windows Phone [was] is not very good, [125 REASONS NOT TO BUY A WINDOWS PHONE 7.5 http://my-symbian.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=44034%5D. The harsh truth is it was never a serious competitor which will hurt Microsoft in the future, as its potential customers continue to get burnt....it will end up like the Zune.
"If you want updates, buy Nexus." Is there a problem with that rule of thumb, other than that U.S. prepaid carriers tend not to carry Nexus phones?
Er did you just criticize iOS over Android for update availability?
For someone who professes to know of business models, you are pretty out of it.
Microsoft has already promised all current Windows Phone 8 handsets will receive the next major version of the operating system.*
*For sufficiently loose definitions of "current".
#DeleteChrome
Not going to believe it until/unless they stop selling the phones (and w/o a new version being offered).
All said, Microsoft likely makes enough money from the Great Android Extortion, so even if they stopped distributing WP8 tomorrow morning, they'd still make money hand-over-fist.
(OTOH, how would you think Nokia would react if such a thing happened?)
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Look, I know most of the folks frequenting /. are ardently anti-MS (Hence all the clever usage of a $ instead of the 'S'), but this is really an embarrassing attempt at click bait. It isn't in the realm of truth and feel sorry for the poster and the people jumping on board with it to fuel some frothing Anti-MS rage or resentment at some perceived slight. Slashdot is poorer this.
So many injustices..so little time..
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Here's what the article said: On the other hand the OS support date is reset with any never [sic] version of the OS, so a Windows Phone 8.5 or 9 update in November 2013 would bring along its own 18 month of security updates. Microsoft has already promised all current Windows Phone 8 handsets will receive the next major version of the operating system. [emphasis mine, misspelling is in the original article
So it could be freudian, and what the author was really thinking slipped through his typing fingers: it will neverhappen that newer OS upgrades will be provided to current windows-phone users.
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There is sensationalistic journalism, and then there is blatantly misleading journalism. This is the latter.
Assuming /. wants to be taken seriously, someone's wrist should be slapped for this and/or the headline updated.
While WP7 is different from WP8, WP8 is based on the common architecture of NT 6.2 which will be used as the basis of current and future Windows OSs. So while WP8 may have broken compatibility w/ 7, the same need not necessarily be true of WP 9 and beyond.
I do agree that Microsoft should have had a way to upgrade WP7 phones w/ WP8. Although I wonder to what extent the carriers or OEMs (like Nokia) might have to say about that. For the OEMs, such an ability would simply mean that new phones not be bought, while for the carriers, it could involve unlocking the phones (which in the US would mean that a carrier, having financed a phone, now has to eat the costs while that phone can be used to switch to a competitor).
...the year of Windows on the smartphone.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
re: it's pretty sad that the whole windows ecosystem was imho designed from the mobile up rather than an extension of the desktop.
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And the sad thing with the latest iteration of the apple OS is that Mountain Lion has turned into an iOS-copy-fest rather than leaving in the features that make a desktop useful like scroll-bars that stay in place, and not having to fucking scroll in order to see the scroll bars in the first place. That is a serious fail, imho, and enough for me to tell my parents not to upgrade their 10.6 machines up. Me, I'm linux-debian-knoppix (with gnu in there, of course), so I could say it doesn't affect me. But I read of all of the fury with gnome's meanderings and the first round of KDE 4.0 screwing up all of the features that 3.x had already gotten right.
.
I played with older versions of knoppix with kde 3.x branches (I think it was a knoppix 5 distro) and I like how the desktop maintains state between shutdowns when you install it to hard drive. The new Knoppix 7.04 using LXDE does not maintain state between boot-ups. I put one of my mom's computers on Knoppix 5.something with KDE 3.something and she loves the fact that she can shut down with editor windows in a document and browser tabs open (not just hibernate or sleeeeeep) and actually reboot back into the work environment which she left open. It's fucking astounding when a desktop is done right.
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Unfortunately, all of the key gnu/linux desktop guys (kde, gnome, lxde), ms windows, and apple are all walking down the wrong path by bringing the wrong
(a) tablet-touch and
(b) phone-os-metrofication and
(c) clean-look-ma-no-widgets-apple-without-scrollers-or-buttons and
(d) look-i-can-fuckup-ubuntu-like-the-big-os-boys mistakes.
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Nokia won't be around, after all the patents/engineers will be at MS by then.
Waiting for an amusing sig.
Nokia alone is doing
35m for 2012
55m for 2013
85m for 2014
HTC did another 12m or so in 2012 and is expecting growth.
Carriers pushed through huge subsidies all during 2012 and Verizon continues to see Microsoft as key to their business strategy.
What sort of product doing 40% year-over-year growth, good reviews, moderate or better OEM support, so or better developer support, and a good fit for Microsoft strategy gets cancelled?
This article sounds like flamebait to me.
Pretty much so. They continued with the clunky, sluggish and buggy Symbian for waaay to long.
Uh, no. As someone who actually USED a Symbian phone and wrote code for Symbian phones (for longer that I wanted to), the problem wasn't bugginess. The problem was that it was terrible to write code for. It took C++ and decided to spin it around and around until it made you want to throw up. They had their own notation, for pete's sake. But as far as bugginess goes? Android is FAR buggier and FAR more insecure than even Symbian circa 2006.
Not like this mattered much in regards to the top level story anyway, Nokia's CEO was desperate to push Nokia back into the US market again (they had always been solid in Europe), and figured teaming up with a very US-ish company like Microsoft would give them a market edge (as if they adopted Android, they'd be just another Android blah blah phone manufacturer competing with the rest of them...and Google itself). It turned out to be a bad call...Windows Phone is the latest in a fairly tainted line of mobile OSs and that taint still haunts all of the children of WinCE to this day. Every new regurgitation has something wrong with it that drives its users up the wall. Microsoft just never "got" mobile. And when it was too late, they started paying off bloggers to write good press about their stuff. Instead of doing what Apple and Google did...basically, imitating and building on the successful points and user interaction flow of previous mobile OSs, Microsoft was transfixed on making its users enjoy their own generally jarringly different user experience and flow. They always had to have things work their way, even if their way wasn't very practical. Mobile client OS design isn't easier than desktop client OS design, and there are way too many people at Microsoft that didn't understand this.
That said, if Microsoft decided to drop mobile, their shareholders would be furious. They'd lose a lot of stock value. The press would be terrible, PR damage control would be too much to deal with. They will continue to count on that handful of very headstrong people, typically older people, who have been using Windows for 20 years, refuse to ask anyone else's advice, and just conclude that Windows Phone would be the easiest for them to use. Then they get frustrated and complain about it at me. They may continue to ride that 10% of the market for the next 10 years if they have to, because quitting for them would cost them more than losing cash on it for the next 10 years. Just ask Meg Whitman over at HP about that one.
Even the article says that WP8.Next would have its own cycle......so a WP8.5 or WP9 would still get at least 18 months of support. The summary is just FUD. There was nothing in the article and nothing in their source saying that Microsoft was abandoning Windows Phone as a platform......just that the OS support has a time limit.
if what you said was true, no one would be stuck on a win 7 phone....but there they are.
Redmond is the FUD factory
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.
As near as I can divine, Microsoft is no longer going to ship service packs like they did with Vista and prior. Windows 7 is probably only getting service pack 1. Windows 8 basically is SP2. Windows 9 will be SP3. They are on an incremental release cycle, like Apple's OSX, and all those Windows 8 phones might possibly be running Windows Phone 10 by 2015.
Now, they will be nickel-and-diming you for the desktop OS ($40 CHEAP!), but it might not be the case with phones, especially subsidized phones on contract where all the licensing is handled by the carrier. Also something I'm keen to see, Microsoft does not have a great track record with delivering incremental upgrades that don't crater *recent* old hardware, so it'll be interesting to see if they change their ways in that respect.
But the headline and summary is just a FUD encounter of the fourth kind: FUDabduction.
Microsoft has already stated that they are moving towards a faster update cycle for all of their software products. All this means is that there will be no new OS updates for WP8.0 after July 2014. They will have 8.5 or 9.0 out before that date.
BTW, Google has the EXACT same upgrade/support cycle for each version of Android (18 months).
I expect more than this from the Slashdot editors!!! After all, they are supposed to at least understand the tech industry which includes software update/support cycles.....
Microsoft has abused its locked-in public for far too long; failed to fix things which were important to users, forced "upgrades" onto business. They abused their monopoly power to everyone's annoyance... even the developers, developers, developers.
Is it any wonder why, when Microsoft decides to expand into a market they were too late for, that they couldn't draw any fans (because there are none) or developers or anyone? You can only buy so much, but you can't buy customers ... well you can to a degree, but you can't pay them enough to suffer through more Microsoft than they already have to.
I remember long ago.. Windows95... I was excited. Windows98. Still excited. They were good and popular because anyone could get it... piracy was part of their market share and part of their marketing plan. Once they had full control, the turned on "genuine advantage" and here we are.
Fool me once, Microsoft, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.
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
No wonder Slashdot is losing readership fast, with barely a few comments for stories compared to earlier.
This is absurd. Slashdot's growing at an astounding rate in both the troll and fanboi demographics.
The summary is wrong, but I don't think it's FUD. It's more like trolling to get the clicks of all the Microsoft bashers and haters.
Nokia won't be around, after all the patents/engineers will be at MS by then.
Nokia's patents may end up in M$'s pocket, but not the engineers
Most of the Nokia engineers I know are self-starters, and most of them can't stand Ballmer's manner
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
You know, windows phone doesn't need articles in crappy tech blogs to inspire FUD.
Windows 8 is a market place dud. Like WebOS before it. No matter how much tech bloggers like you, if the market doesn't like you, pack it up. It would be one thing if they had a niche and made money. Problem is, they're not making money on windows phone. Microsoft cant afford to keep flushing cash away.
How many windows 8s can they afford? They're not a well oiled machine like Apple, nor are they like Amazon or Google and use other lines of business to keep themselves afloat while they try things in other markets.
The major problem Microsoft faces is that outside of enterprise, who *needs* Microsoft?
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
They aren't abandoning windows phone. If the story poster had read the story, he would of seen they are stopping support for windows phone 8 in 2014, but considering windows 9 will be coming out fairly soon, that is hardly a problem. Does this guy think that Microsoft has abandoned windows because they stopped support for XP?
Rocket Surgeon.
Microsoft's main line of business is still software development (be it desktop software or tablet/mobile OS), so you still have some expectation of the products being properly supported. On the other side, the only thing you can expect from Google are new ways for them to gather more information, and present more targeted ads.
it's not totally fud.
for example, if you're a windows phone developer you just had a forced migration to windows 8 on your development kit.
if you bought a windows phone 7 device just few months ago(or today) what good is a 3 year warranty?
it would't be so bad if the api's weren't still incomplete tbh.
but it's ridiculous that a company like MS would stop support before the devices run out of warranty!!!!!!!!!!!!! they want to take back the enterprise? how about they stop fucking around with support like that. even if the support promise means _nothing_ in the first place so it doesn't actually matter that much.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Microsoft likely makes enough money from the Great Android Extortion
If Microsoft "makes enough money from the Great Android Extortion", how much money must Microsoft's competitors be making from android? Obviously enough to easily afford to pay off Microsoft for the Great Android Extortion.
How long do you think a company can last if it survives by lapping up the slops left over by its competitors?
//On the other hand the OS support date is reset with any never version of the OS, so a Windows Phone 8.5 or 9 update in November 2013 would bring along its own 18 month of security updates. Microsoft has already promised all current Windows Phone 8 handsets will receive the next major version of the operating system.// - From the article. Why the title is so misleading?
Microsoft Corporation Data Mining Analyst, Senior - ADS
Online Advertising is one of the fastest growing businesses on the Internet today, with $40 billion of a $600 billion advertising market already online. Microsoft is innovating rapidly to grow its share of this market by providing the advertising industry with a world-class online advertising platform and service. The Microsoft Ads Research & Development team is one of the most strategic and growing teams at Microsoft.
As part of a software company with powerful innovations and part media company with global properties, at Microsoft Ads we bring both our technical and creative side to the table. Through incisive analytics, we know who cares - both when and where. We understand how to get in front of the right people at the strongest point of influence. Above all, we love data and excel at interpreting it for our partners. Collecting valuable information from every campaign and mining it for insights
http://washington.jobs/bellevue-wa/data-mining-analyst-senior-ads-817244-job/32762254/job/
The typical support channel is through the carriers who, as most experienced customers know, replace the new phone they bought (often on the same day!) with a refurb or used phone if a problem is encountered.
I recall an experience I had with Sprint. Bought a brand new phone. It had some problem with its keypad. They went to replace this new phone with a refurb. I said "hey, wait a minute. I bought a NEW phone. Why am I walking out of here with a used one?!" "policy." "So like if you bought a new car, and within 15 minutes you noticed a problem, went back to the dealership and they gave you a used car, that would be OK with you?"
Sick of Microsoft. Sick of carrier games. Sick of the race to the bottoml offering as little as the market will accept for the highest possible price; charging for things which are free; requiring things which the users don't want or need.
Who are these jokers?! Well, I'm glad I'm not as alone as I thought I was. But I still have co-workers who agree with my rants about the carriers and recently, he just renewed his contract with Verizon for another two years for a shiny new Galaxy S3... just a week or two before the announcement of the S4. So he's stuck with expensive data plan, expensive "older model/close-out" phone for the next two years... literally spending twice as much as he should be.
There is no shortage of people who can't see beyond today.
I can always choose not to use Google, but where do I turn when my own computer OS is data-mining my privacy back to Redmond?
Linux.
No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
Who licensed it on terms that allowed the carriers to lock the phone?
AOSP is licensed by its contributors under the Apache License 2.0. If you're referring to Google Play Store licensing, which is separate from the free software license of Android proper, Google does require that all devices with Play Store support Android Debug Bridge (and thus allow sideloading through adb install), even if (I admit) not rooting.
It used to be that all Windows OS got 5 years of support. That was the case for Windows Phone 7. But that was not popular with the wireless carriers as their device warranties only lasted 18 months and did not want the hassle of updating their devices beyond that point.
Microsoft is making this change so that the OS support is consistent with the device warranty.
If you want to complain, complain to the carriers.