Microsoft Releases Windows 10 Preview For Phones

An anonymous reader writes: Microsoft has launched Windows 10 preview for phones. To get started, you'll need to download the Windows Insider app from the Windows Phone Store. Microsoft has already released multiple new Windows 10 preview builds, but those were limited to just PCs. The new preview for smartphones comes with a slew of new features. Until now, the Windows Insider app only worked for Microsoft employees. Now, users who are part of the Insider program can install the first Windows 10 preview build, as long as they have one of the six compatible devices. The Windows 10 preview works on the Lumia 630, Lumia 635, Lumia 636, Lumia 638, Lumia 730, and Lumia 830.

Comments

I want

[rossdee]

I want my next desktop xomputer to have an OS designed for desktops, not phones

I am happy with Android on my phone

Re:I want

[cyber-vandal]

Not a troll but a genuine question - what's stunted about ASP.NET MVC?

Re:I want

[benjymouse]

Not a troll but a genuine question - what's stunted about ASP.NET MVC?

ASP.NET MVC along with the other "web MVC" have really little to do with the real MVC as in the original smalltalk MVC described by Trygve Reenskaugs MVC. Web MVCs are bastardizations of the original concept, often only riding the name for recognition. I blame Struts and RoR for starting this trend.

I believe grand parent was referring to the original MVC which was a way to design interactive, event-driven GUIs. The original MVC was a recursive concept: The view could itself be a "tool" that in turn followed the MVC pattern. See http://heim.ifi.uio.no/~trygve...

As far as "web MVCs" goes, ASP.NET MVC is a really good one. But real MVC it is not. But that's a lost cause. An entire generation of developers have grown up believing that RoR and Struts were examples of MVC. In actuality, the designers og Struts and RoR grossly misunderstood the concept.

Where's the crossover?

[tepples]

Which raises the question of the dividing line between devices for which a phone-style UI is best and devices for which a desktop-style UI is best. Should a battery-powered computer with a 10 inch screen and a detachable keyboard, such as the Transformer Book or the Nextbook, have a "desktop" or "phone" user interface?

Re:Where's the crossover?

[Blaskowicz]

It should have a command line.
Note that on desktop we've had a dual interface since the days of Windows 3.0 : desktop interface and command line interface. Web could be a third, or it's just a subset of the desktop interface (ignoring lynx, elinks etc. which are only useful in specific context)

There could be a Metro/Android/Ubuntu/whatever interface, but one special "app" just gives you the command prompt (and it always works, has the unix-like programs and can access the multimedia, off-line documents files etc. if it's sandboxed from the other apps)

As a Windows Phone user

[FxEffects]

I find it interesting that Microsoft has chosen to use the lower tier Lumia line for the launch of their Insider app for Windows Phones. They have left out their power user base completely. I own a Lumia 928 which certainly has better hardware than all the phones currently available to use the Insider program. Lets hope Microsoft can expand its program quickly before users start to feel alienated.

Re:As a Windows Phone user

[Kultiras]

They didn't make the choice to exclude anybody, there is a technical limitation. The reason this first release is only compatible with those six devices is because they are the only six on the market with system partitions large enough to handle the in-place upgrade process. The higher-end devices have less free space on the system partition. They have a solution for this problem, but it is not ready for deployment yet.

Some context on why we chose these and not higher end phones like the 930/Icon or 1520: We have a feature that will be coming soon called “partition stitching” which will allow us to adjust the OS partition dynamically to create room for the install process to be able to update the OS in-place. Until this comes in, we needed devices which were configured by mobile operators with sufficiently sized OS partitions to allow the in-place upgrade, and many of the bigger phones have very tight OS partitions. Note that this doesn’t mean that Windows 10 will take more disk space than Windows Phone 8.1, it’s just a function of the upgrade process at this point. Once the partition stitching feature is completed, many more devices will be supported.

Source: http://blogs.windows.com/blogg...

Re: I see what you did here

[brobins8]

You converted her login to a Microsoft account and had no idea you were doing it? What the hell?

It should have a choice

[justthinkit]

The user should have a choice. How about the first 5 times it boots up, it gives the user a choice? As well as a check box to "make this selection permanent"?

UI, not kernel

[tepples]

Linux is a kernel. An operating system includes a user interface, and this makes up the bulk of what changes between desktop and mobile operating systems. The UI of a phone OS is more likely to have certain features related to the phone environment than a UI of an OS designed for desktop PCs. These include large, squarish controls, multitouch gestures, an on-screen keyboard by default, an "all maximized all the time" window management policy designed for 3 to 6 inch screens, technical measures to prevent users from making changes that cause the machine to interfere with other users of the same cellular carrier, and technical measures to prevent users from making changes that cause excess support calls to the cellular carrier.

Re: I see what you did here

[spire3661]

To be fair, MS DOES NOT make it clear the ramifications of switching to an MS account versus local. This is FULLY MS's fault for trying to eliminate local accounts via obfuscation and pressure.