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Report: Samsung Replacing Its Apps With Microsoft's For Galaxy S6
An anonymous reader writes: SamMobile is reporting that the next major revision of Samsung's Galaxy S line of phones is going to have some major changes. According to insider sources, Samsung has gotten rid of many of their pre-loaded apps, making them optional downloads. What's interesting is that they're replacing these apps with software from Microsoft — apps like Skype, Office Mobile, and OneDrive. "With Windows Phone failing to make a dent on the smartphone market, Microsoft has recently shifted focus to its software services, and having them pre-installed on one of the bestselling Android smartphone lineups might just give the Redmond giant the exposure it needs to court consumers into switching from Google's massively more popular services that come preloaded on all Android devices."
If you hate to see Microsoft go, if you want to see Microsoft thriving on the mobile scene, please people, please buy more Samsung phones!
I'm guessing, but given how preloaded stuff has a bad air about it, like a public lavatory that is never properly cleaned (thanx Rowling), MS might not be doing themselves a favor here.
There's no way I'm going to increase the risk of exploits on my phone with software from a vendor with such a poor security record as Microsoft. And yes, I actually am ok installing the closed-source Google apps package because time has shown that that the attack vector is lower with their offerings.
It's purely a data and numbers thing, not fanboi-ism.
...I'd have to install it anyway. The two other apps will just have to be removed manually. That shouldn't take long. And someone will probably release a tool to get rid of that. The irony is that many companies fight to get their [crappy] software on MS Windows (anti-viruses and other suckware), and now MS has to operate the same move on a rival phone OS...
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
I'm really trying to decide if this is a brilliant corporate move or totally insane that they are abandoning their base
Samsung is really making a big effort to become the new most hated company. I had already given up on its TVs, and from now on no more Samsung phones for me. Actually, no more Samsung products, period. I am sick and tired of these clowns and their shenanigans.
It doesn't matter who codes it or the quality of code. Just a quick check on google store comments will show you that people _hate_ bundled software.
It happened to everyone, check Layar, Shazam and even Google play services which enables otherwise impossible things on older firmware.
Even a small shareware developer, if clever, won't allow his/her software to be bundled.
I can't even imagine security implications of this. Microsoft doesn't understand Unix & Java. Never did.
i've never seen a trojan so powerful.
Ars has the insight on the patents Microsoft owns and uses against manufacturers of Android phones ---
http://arstechnica.com/tech-po...
Ironically, it was a government of a country which is known for its anti-freedom reputation that revealed the list of Microsoft's patents
I'm not sure that it is even possible but is needed is a very simple app that clears off all the bloatware and apps that nobody wanted anyway.
It can't leave the phone unlocked as most users are not even aware of what root is and could cause even more awkwardness to themselves.
That would also cause some supposedly secure apps to stop working as the phone would now be "insecure.
It would also block business use as MDMs would block the devices.
I remember there used to be the Decrapifier for new Windows PCs and people who did not feel able to uninstall things themselves.
Somehow, I imagine that Google would not been keen and manufacturers would be even less enthusiastic. PhoneCos would be even more anti!
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
It amazes me irresponsibility on Samsung part. Why are they working with company that is leading in destroying American jobs.
MS should be shut down and erased from our landscape.
Samsung took a hit last financial quarter. MS is your last nail to the coffin. They will sabotage your company the same way did with Nokia.
Samsung is too big for Microsoft to sabotage like that. But they still can kill their smartphone division if they want to.
I have a better idea: preload nothing but the OS and desktop environment (well and key utilities like voice memo/dictation software and an alarm clock) and leave the rest up to me.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Samsung has become the next Nokia. Once dominant in the market, only to see their market share dwindle in a few quarters. They grew too quickly and spread too thin, releasing 3 smartphones a week and one tablet per week in 2014. No way to differentiate, even from their own products. Sounds just like Nokia around 2009-2010.
Samsung's financials last year and especially last quarter show that the company has made a downturn.
And now Microsoft is supposed to save them? How does that even work? Did you not study in business school?
NOrtel. NOvell. NOkia. Three companies who made patent deals with Microsoft. Three companies who are no longer relevant as a result. The only thing to learn from this is "NO, NO, NO..." to any deal with Microsoft.
Goodbye Samsung. Hope your executives set up nice golden parachutes for themselves.
Embrace, extend, extinguish. Samsung is already being extinguished? That was quick.
hey at least this means the odds of a root exploit just went up
.. unless it comes fully rom-unlocked and you can trivially replace the factor MS crap with a AOSP load or something.
I wonder how much MS had to offer to PAY samsung to do this. (I'm sure they've agreed to strict confidentiality on that)
this will not have been done out of charity purposes. my guess is that MS gave something on the order of 2 billion dollars. Mind you, I don't have coy qualms: the problem is, they'll have a built-in incentive to "monetise" the apps ["premium" content, degraded base versions, making sure that alternatives do not work]. to give an example on how these things work, you cannot install the Western digital cloud client on the Amazon Kindle, since it would cannibalize revenue out of amazon cloud.
Now, the one (or two) billion dollar question is: will Samsung still retain an hardware edge big enough to get buyers to swallow the minimal choice of software in respect to older versions of Samsung hardware?
"If a boss demands loyalty, give him integrity. But if he demands integrity, give him loyalty." (John Boyd, 1927-1997)
I am thinking they will release a web browser for android also. Spartan makes more sense now....
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2015/01/21/spartan-microsofts-new-browser-challenge-google-chrome/
That's probably why.
I had almost every S series phone: S1, S1Adv, S2, S4 and now S5. And I loved them.
But I don't want microsoft software on my smartphone.
Now I guess it's time to end this and switch to a different device.
I think Samsung is not listening to their customers at all:
We don't want microsoft crap. That's why we use Android over Windows Phone.
On the other hand we want Tizen at last, but you only release some low-end device.
Start listening to customers, or you will end up like microsoft.
Interesting read. Now as a question to those in the know. From the linked Ars Technica article:
"Microsoft said over 50 percent of Android OEMs"
Who are the other (under) 50 percent? Because this would influence my next buying decision.
They're ditching Samsung - not Google - apps for Microsoft ones. So it's just a different sort of crapware. It'll get uninstalled before too long, or not used. It does nothing to bridge the gap between Android and Windows Mobile or whatever its called (I don't even care any more). Nothing to see here.
Is there more to this than meets the eye?
First we had the story that Samsung Smart TVs would record anything you said in front of them, and then send that data off for parsing in order to make the voice-control features work. Except they are/were being coy about where the data went, and who else could hack into the TV to listen to conversations.
Next we had the story about a "mistake" that left users in Australia, who were trying to stream hi-def movies from paid-content providers, with "adverts" popping up in the middle of playback - like every 15 minutes - and displaying a silent Pepsi commercial.
Now we have this story that Samsung are going to pre-load software from MS onto their phones... Let's side-step the fact that this is looking to be Microsoft getting into bed with Google and producing apps that run on Google's Android [which apart from MS wanting to bring down Apple is just a bit weird] and let's instead focus on what Samsung are up to.
In a word: "Monetization". Yes, I know that's not a real world. But it's starting to look as though Samsung are making wholesale changes to their approach in a way - in any way - to bolster revenue.
Are they in financial trouble or something? Companies only usually get this jerk-off stupid when they're about to go to the wall...
Google's massively more popular services that come preloaded on all Android devices."
More like Google's massive amount of crapware that you never use, can't delete, can't move to a smartcard with 10x the memory of the internal memory.
It has not been able to dislodge Apache from the web-server market. Linux is firmly established in the server marketplace.
It is still sitting on a huge stream of license revenue even from linux/android players. FAT partition, some of the basic interoperability patents are producing more revenue. Microsoft makes more per android device than does Google!
So it is still collecting money by the firehose, and tries to buy its way into market dominance. It did not work well even when it had the monoply, adoring wall street anlysts, and had the ability to destroy the funding of emerging competition by just a press release. "Microsoft is planning to enter the xyz segment..." says spokesman to Investor Business Daily and the venture capital vanishes in xyz segment. It did not work even those days. Will it work now? No way.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I just got a second gen Moto X from Wind Mobile and it has no extra crap ware install vs what was installed on my HTC from them 3 years earlier. Now if I could just uninstall all Google shit with out root that would be nice.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
As somebody who really likes the price/performance point of samsung *Hardware* i have to say that I appreciate if they stop to put their randomly changing (sometime functions vanish when you update) office suite and their completely weird and buggy "communications" crap on the device.
If they have a long-term thing with MS that wil mean that Office mobile will get better because there is money to make for MS, and that they replace their useless bloatware with thing which i alreaady use.
Use any Android phone you like. Microsoft makes money on every single one that is sold thanks to their patents.
I'm wondering who is 'winning' from this deal?
Goodbye Slashdot. You've changed.
I know, but I don't really care about this - it's manufacturers' problem.
I care about my phone being microsoft-software-free.
First sue Samsung over Microsoft' Android-related patents, then get them to bundle MS apps in return for dropping the lawsuit. Tony Soprano would be embarrassed.
"Microsoft sues Samsung over Android patent payment dispute"
since the "standard Samsung apps" are horrible or non-existent. The G5 doesn't have a "standard document app", nor does it have a "standard" cloud app. It's all carrier-specific. Google drive doesn't count it's still an app you have to install usually. Here's a list of g5 pre-loaded software. They all have Polaris Office pre-loaded, other than this there is no cross-handset standard apps. What I really wish Samsung would do is remove Knox and it's anti-root stuff. Putting extra steps in my rooting is annoying lol.
What utter crap. The anonymous reader has it all wrong. It's obviously made up and is inaccurate and so are the assumptions.
1. Having MS apps is a boon. Better than the equivalent android crap.
2. Windows Phone has made a mark and a discerning buyer will choose this over most android devices. No need to root it.
3. If a manufacturer wants to go pro, then they will (and do) provide a Windows phone in their line-up.
4. Onedrive and Office+ the camera roll is a phenomenally good setup. Far superior than the google/android equivalent.
Don't allow your generic hatred for MS and Apple cloud your judgement. Do some reading and ask around before you poo poo the concept.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
This is the beginning of Microsoft creating a competing ecosystem on Android. At some point in the not so distant future it will be entirely feasible for an Android manufacturer to dump Google's software stack in favor of Microsoft's. Unlike Samsung and many other handset manufacturers, Microsoft has the know how and capability to create and maintain a viable alternative to Google's ecosystem.
MS must have paid Samsung a lot to commit suicide. I've been using Android for a long time and my last few devices have been Samsung. Finding MS crap on my expensive new device would really piss me off. Skype was something that I used for many years, even using their official Linux client, but MS buying Skype broke too many things.
Being a bit anti-MS doesn't stop me from being annoyed at how intrusive Google has become on Android. The "...Google's massively more popular services..." comment ignores the fact that we don't have a choice, services are updated automatically, with added bloat and intrusion, without the user having any control. There is so much junk in there now that I have no interest in. Gmail was what started my journey with Google and it is still the best email option. Their search engine has become less useful in finding information in recent years because search results tend to be filled with sales, closed ended third party searches and spam. Maps is less useful now then they were for routing and trip planning because they removing capabilities, now it spams ads and other crap that is useful for people just wanting an interactive map. Plus is the most painful thing ever created and you are forced to have a g+ profile to do basic things that have nothing to do with g+, just so Google can get their user numbers up... Useful products are killed off or dumbed down so I don't bother wasting time on anything new they bring out because you can't trust them to keep it going.
Rant over... Sorry.
Attacking both Google and MS isn't going to win me any friends around here... shit... almost forgot... Apple is pure evil and a bunch of wankers, just like the losers that buy Apple products. Ah, fixed that just in time.
As long as they can be uninstalled, great. If they're always installed then boo.
I've got a long term investment in the Google infrastructure, for better or worse. I don't want to be directed to use a different infrastructure (OneDrive, etc), and I don't want that cluttering up my phone. Luckily I expect it is easily fixed this time round via installing the correct apps from the Play store, but what about the future?
Some major money must have passed hands. Shame.