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Windows 10 Mobile Needs To Be Put Out of Its Misery (betanews.com)
From a column on BetaNews: It's time for Microsoft to pull the plug. Windows 10 Mobile has been on life support for a long time, and the software giant is only making things worse by not giving it the mercy killing it deserves. It may sound harsh, but there's no future for Windows on smartphones in its current state. Microsoft wants to keep the door open to future developments but, let's face it, when it decided to sell Samsung's new Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ through its stores it basically sealed its own platform's fate. There is no turning back from this. We know it and its fans know it too. [...] Really, the only reason I can see Microsoft developing Windows 10 Mobile -- or Windows on smartphones -- further is to give its fans the illusion that something could happen. One day. Someday. Eventually. Maybe. Hopefully. If all the stars align. And Apple and Google and all the other successful vendors are wiped out from the face of the Earth. Hey, it could happen!
Blackberry FTW!
Microsoft are just holding on for a cycle or three until they get a functional surface-phone that can dock-&-desktop up and running. Then it will die off.
But I can't make a straight-faced recommendation that anyone else get one because of the lack of apps available. It's a great choice if you don't want to be spied on :-)
When this thing finally breaks, I can't see getting another one.
Besides, think of the backlash they would get from people who DID buy Win10 phones.
Everybody loves to hate Microsoft and in this case, they're hating Microsoft for supporting a platform beyond it's commercial lifespan, upto it's support lifespan.
Evil Microsoft!
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Such insight! Such a well thought out opinion piece. After reading it, I realized that Mr. Bamburic is right. How can I use a product knowing that so many other people don't? What will people think about my choice of phone? What an incredible loser I must be for using a relatively unpopular gadget. I'm running out today to replace my Windows 10 phone.
I don't respond to AC's.
MS provides support for its products even when they have signally failed in the marketplace, like Win 10 Mobile. Contrarily folks bitch when they DON'T provide patches for old out-of-support software -- there's a current furore over a security hole in Win2003R2 Server which MS isn't patching since they stopped support for that particular version over two years ago.
Regular Win 10 runs perfectly well on phone-sized systems such as tablets without the hardware limitations of phones two generations back (ARM CPUs with one or two cores, limited memory, limited storage etc.) so Win 10 Mobile isn't really needed but there are still customers out there who do use it. It will reach EOL and support will eventually be terminated but there's no rush.
Just give it another year! According to Windows Central, next year everything will get fantastic! They have been saying so for half a decade or so now, so it has to be right.
Windows RT was killed off the moment Microsoft decided it would run store apps only. .NET applications, but Microsoft just said no.
It could have run native desktop applications built for ARM or
Even today, nobody gives a crap about the Microsoft store, and nobody is buying apps on it.
Yes, because when Microsoft decides to support your platform, that's a great assurance of (a) your platform's longevity and (b) how they will never compete against it. They couldn't start adding features to the Galaxys sold through their store that start winning the battle against Google for control of Android!
Also, unlike Google, MS has really good support for failed products. It's one reason I'm far more likely to build something on an MS platform than a Google web-service. (Okay, I'm on AWS, but the point holds.)
Your ad here. Ask me how!
Analysts and pundits have been telling Microsoft to do this for some time. Personally, I think they need to get out of the business of telling Microsoft how to run theirs. Microsoft has a vested interest staying in the mobile space, even if their phones don't sell shit. The personal computing market is so spread out across the spectrum of devices, people's primary way of digital interaction can change a easily as the wind. If Microsoft does not stay in this space, they will be ill-prepared for this.
... only because MS could never convince PHONE app developers that it was worth using. It always was a bit player, and has become irrelevant given the Google-Apple ownership of the market.
Full disclosure: I do have a Windows phone. For the most part, I like it.
What's special about Windows on a phone?
Primarily, the user interface. As much as the tile orientation stinks on a desktop or non-touch laptop, it makes great sense and works very well on a phone. Better, really, than the way stock or most phone makers' Android implementations do.
Also:
* Multitasking works well, though that's also true of the competition.
* If you join the Insider program, you can get system updates and even upgrades well beyond the year or 2 that most phone carriers will support anything - regularizing that (so you don't have to be an Insider to be independent of carrier lack of support) would make Windows more like Apple.
* Even in 10 (was better in 8.1), hardware requirements are somewhat less than for Android. Same Snapdragon etc. processors, but Windows runs acceptably in half the RAM of Android. Which is funny because in the non-Mobile world it's the other way around (Linux runs decently in half the RAM of Windows).
So what to do? Since MS seems to be moving all of its mobile stuff to Android, move the UI as well. After all, it's just a shell anyway. Then, if the corporation eventually gets back into the phone-mobile game on its own, think about some way to do an Apple but do it right (unlike previous attempts).
I don't know why people bash the Windows phone. I love mine. It is the perfect size to shim up that old table in the den with the short leg.
How ya like dat?
Just as bad IMHO.
It won't fly. Android is far too entrenched. Like windows mobile, Ubuntu is years late.
The only viable mobile OS's are Android and iOS.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
How many mobile operating systems has Microsoft released over the years, each one incompatible with the last? They've been doing it since the Palm III era at least.
I'm posting this comment now from a Windows Mobile device.
Yes there is, They are maintaining extra code to do this. It costs developers, time, money, it complicates the app store, etc.
I have no problem with vanity projects. If MicroSoft wants to spend $100 million a year to keep windows mobile around, that is there business.
They are not doing it for their user base which is essentially a rounding error.
vi +
...like iOS but much less popular. Yawn.
Microsoft has done a poor job of making phones but they got a lot of good designs after they bought Nokia's phone making division. Yes, they are losing a lot of money on making these devices but I think they need to totally rededicate themselves to building a new phone to put on the market. Doing this will undoubtedly cost them even more money and other parts of Microsoft may even possibly suffer as a result but it's for the greater good. We are talking about how best to destroy Microsoft, right? ;)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
This is like someone saying, "there are more VW's than Mercedes on the road, Mercedes should just give up already", it's fucking retarded. You don't attempt to compete by giving up. If you don't like windows mobile don't buy a fucking phone with windows mobile on it, it's that simple. I know a lot of companies who prefer windows mobile because the ease of integration and security when paired with a windows based network, there IS a demand for it, albeit a bit low.
There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.
runs the same "windows apps (non win32 variety)"
You mean, is there any person outside Microsoft's own marketing team who opens the Windows Store on purpose?
The Store isn't even a solution, it's a problem looking for one. And cpl. Hicks has a good suggestion.
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
"think of the backlash they would get from people who DID buy Win10 phones."
All 6 of them.
I'm not saying there's no market for an Xbox Phone, but keep in mind that Sony has pretty much given up on the Vita and even Nintendo is struggling in the portable market. Android and iOS didn't just kill every other phone, they also put a serious dent in the portable games market (not to mention MP3 players, low end cameras, personal organizers and if you include tablets, even the laptop market).
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
but people shy away from it because "oh this app I don't need in my life is not available! Guess I have to get the less secure platform that is android!"
It's funny you say that, because that's the exact same argument that Windows (PC OS) users make for why people should stick with Windows on the desktop, and avoid Linux.
So which is it? Are apps important or aren't they? If they are, then Windows Phone is a terrible choice. It's not just silly games or other such apps, it's things like secure banking apps, apps to file your taxes (common in many European countries), etc.
i had a windows phone (80 bucks at target) wasn't a bad OS, mainly just a lack of apps and such.
not sure why it gets all the hate, it seemed at least as usable android.
(definitely miss webOS on my old palm pre though, that was great.)
I would actually like a windows phone. I'm an Android man, and the options for Windows phones on t-mobile sucks compared to my Nexus 6P, which I'll probably run for 4 or so years like I did the last phone I had. That said, when I bought this phone, I wanted to try a Win10 phone. I enjoyed playing with my friend's and it seems it has a really good thing I would enjoy more if Android had such an option: integration.
I can shoehorn my own set of services for one or two aspects of this, but the same apps on my desktop, a similar experience if I suddenly use my phone as a desktop when docked, the use of XAML for development. Man, now I'm tempted to look at my abysmal options again.
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And iOS is only large in the USA. If the current trend continues, the market share of iOS will be in the single digits soon.
So why would Microsoft not make its own skin for Android? It's not merely trivial, but it's already been done, almost. Or maybe closer. Or even by somebody else.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Five. Bob in San Francisco chucked his in the Bay and went and bought an iPhone. He wanted to be a proper hipster again.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Microsoft is looking big at the augmented reality and virtual reality spaces and lacking the skills to engage that workspace could cost them big in the long run. There might be a longer game where they're using the Mobile platform as a way to advance their understanding of computing with physically mobile systems. Their current market share is floundering, sure, but the profitability expectations might be leveraged considerably further down the road than many are presuming.
Christ, if anything, Windows 10, desktop or mobile, has to be one of the most counterintuitive interfaces. It's clunky and inelegant. To each their own, I suppose, but I truly don't like my Windows 10 tablet very much, but seeing as I don't want to fork out $400+ for a decent 8 inch tablet, I do use it. I installed Nox on it so I can run the FBreader app, seeing as it doesn't like the writers are ever going to produce a decent Windows version with sync.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Most the of Win10 tables are using the same or similar processors. So compiling a mobile phone version for teh same code base is relatively easy. The only real difference is the drivers and couple of apps to dial a phone and take text messages. Its all part of Microsoft's Universal Windows Platform So Microsoft pays $1-2 million dollars in developers and testers to keep a product running and keep the door open for the next big thing.
I look forward to a full version of Win10 on a RaspberryPi like platform. Go to the store and get a TV box about the size of a Roku for $100. You have basic computer that can plugin anywhere. That would be the PC killer more then a tablets and Chromebooks. Full Windows on a small cheap machine.
I would switch to a Windows phone but cost has been the biggest factor for me. I can buy a cheap $20-40 Android phone for what I need. Why put out $200-500 for features I don't need or use? I just need to make some calls, get text, and occasionally use the GPS directiond.
You say things that offend me and I can deal with it. Can you?
iOS is popular in many other places.
Market share is not everything. It is no use having 90% of a market and not being able to make money.
Apple gets the majority of profits from smartphones. Those making low end androids can't keep on doing that forever.
I see room for both. That would spur at least some form of competition. The last thing we want is a return to the days when Windows had 95%+ of the Desktop market.
It stagnated something rotten.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
"This indicates that they don't really have a clue..." ["They" are Microsoft top managers.]
That's the underlying problem. Apparently Microsoft top managers are socially and mentally extremely limited.
If you were a top manager of a software development company, would you do things that caused stories like this article to be written? Network World, Aug. 4, 2015: Windows 10 is possibly the worst spyware ever made. Quote from that story: "Buried in the service agreement is permission to poke through everything on your PC."
The abusiveness of many of the features of Windows 10 are like a multi-billion-dollar advertising campaign that very effectively says, "Dislike Microsoft products".
The answer? Replace ALL the Microsoft top managers, in my opinion. Does anyone else have an idea that would fix the problems at Microsoft?
Another solution: All countries and the U.S. could support ReactOS so that the Windows OS can be eliminated. No company should be allowed to have a virtual monopoly!
Companies that are routinely abusive should be re-organized or eliminated.
Except it does not. Have a look at the app store - you can see tumble weeds blowing through. Even big name apps are just not there.
I think a big part of the problem is that Windows Phone app and Windows Tablet apps are different things, running on different CPUs, with different UI etc. Of course you can write a unified app, but the unified apps only work on Windows 10, which came out when the downturn was already in full swing.
I meant to write "All countries and the U.N."
It's quite nice too.
My girlfriend had one through work for a while, there were no apps, but it could browse the internet quite well, was an inexpensive phone, pretty darned thin, and had a real all day battery.
At a time when that was impressive, I'm surprised it didn't take off, there are plenty of people that just want internet, GPS, and a camera.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
If it's anything like the Windows 6 Mobile it's a severely lobotomized variant of the real deal.
Microsoft should have let Windows Mobile 6 be the last version and not try to waste energy on a futile business.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
They can't abandon the smartphone market because of Samsung's move.
I know Microsoft is coming out with a phone that will have the docking features to turn it into a desktop but more importantly will run Win32 desktop apps natively.
I think this could be the way for them to get a foothole into the market from the business side where companies could give employees phones that double as their work computer.
Still, it's quite a dumb idea to try to sell a Samsung product running Android in their own store that can be both a phone and a desktop along side their own computer and phone solutions.
I guess their own products are too far behind to offer as an alternative at this time. This will put them in a bind at some point.
Despite all the marketing messages claiming otherwise, Windows Phone is quite different from Windows Tablet. I think Windows Phone has a decent and simple UI, while the tablet UI is just a bit confusing.
Remember when Michael Dell said Apple should just distribute it's remaining cash and put apple out of it's misery since everyone was using Windows now?
"Windows 10 needs to die" --
Actually, if you read the headline, it said 'Windows 10 Mobile needs to...
I disagree w/ it, but there is a great difference b/w that, and Windows 10, which is generally assumed to mean the desktop version of the OS.
So much for "journalism." Even Dice managed to run this site better than that
I agree w/ you on this. The number of tech related articles are really at a minimum: bulk of it is about the environment, politics and social networking.
The answer? Replace ALL the Microsoft top managers, in my opinion. Does anyone else have an idea that would fix the problems at Microsoft?
I still smell collusion. Microsoft was found to have violated its monopoly position, then Ashcroft announces that there will be no punishment. Gates puts his funding into a foundation where later administrations can't get at it easily, just in case a people's candidate somehow makes it into office, and runs around the globe pushing Big Pharma IP law while he was massively personally invested in Big Pharma. Microsoft develops the ultra-spyware OS and gives it away for free. I don't think Microsoft would be allowed not to make spyware.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
This was what I came here to comment on.
Microsoft has fans? Who knew?
For that matter, who are they? MS employees and stockholders don't count.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
I completely agree. Even if Microsoft has shown itself to be incompetent in running its phone line, that doesn't mean that no one else can.
Like I've often said, for business & work related stuff, particularly in a Windows 10 environment, this is a good phone to have. If one doesn't have to have Pokemon Go, one can certainly use this phone in the work environment. If they share the OneDrive account, files can easily be synced b/w the phone & laptop. Similarly, one could take notes in OneNote on the phone, and pull it up on the laptop later. If the email used by the company is Exchange based, then the phone uses Outlook. Granted, all these things could be downloaded by a Galaxy, but a Lumia would come w/ many of these as the default messaging/mail/cloud options. If one has the corporate employee list on Outlook, it would automatically be there on the contacts list. The calculator includes an units converter. Really handy.
Microsoft could do a couple of more things, like include a professional VOIP and video calling app that's integrated w/ Outlook. That would make this complete for corporate use.
The other thing about it - if a company issues Windows phones to their employees, chances are likely that it'll only be used for office work, and not for playing games or snapchat. If I ran a company, I'd issue Lumia 550s to employees to use for just work related stuff.
It would be a recompile, from what I can see. The code base is common, but Windows 10 Mobile so far is ARM based, so they would have to maintain separate binaries.
At this point, for any ARM based stuff that they have, they should include the capability of downloading and running stuff from any of the Android based stores - be it Google, Amazon or Samsung
I'll second this. Most of the times I've gone to the store to look for things, be it Meetup, Vonage, 8x8, Toy Blast, et al, I've been disappointed.
While this is true, if you look at the phone's app store, you'll find some common phone apps, such as Yelp!, Fandango, Shazam, which are there on Windows Phone/Mobile, but not there on the desktop. So I'm not sure that if the phone was based on, say, an Atom, that it would have been better supported.
don't go near Server 2016 then.
Yes, Server 2008R2 was just about perfect. Then they went and messed ther UI up by adding huge amounts of whitespace and moving things to totally crazy places.
There have been a very large number of times that I've wanted to stangle the person responsible for the UI Mangling. They have no concept of 'Ease of Use' whatsoever.
I'd rather be riding my '63 Triumph T120.
But who would buy it? If one preferred Windows 10 Mobile to iOS 9, he'd have gotten a Lumia 950. If one preferred Windows Phone 8 to Android Kitkat, he'd have gotten one of the many Lumias Microsoft sold. Why buy something like an iPhone just to delete iOS and replace it w/ Windows 10 Mobile? That's like buying a Macbook and replacing OS X w/ Windows 10.
Does anyone else have an idea that would fix the problems at Microsoft?
Stop using Microsoft, and the problems with Microsoft automatically fix themselves. It's amazing how well computers work when you don't allow Microsoft to touch them.
Acquiring Nokia's Lumia line was their big mistake. They should have stuck to the PC model and just licensed the OS to the different companies - Nokia, Blu, HTC, et al. By acquiring Nokia's assets, they turned off the other vendors: as it is, this was a fringe platform, and on top of that, the vendor itself was giving them competition
This makes very good sense, particularly if the enterprise software is Windows based. It makes sense to leverage the code to Windows phones, and use such phones exclusively for corporate use
Actually, I love Microsoft's ringtone for Windows 10 phones
It's dying already, but Microsoft doesn't NEED to put anything out of it's misery...
The truth is that despite Windows Mobile completely failing to compete against Android or iOS, they did manage to get a bit of the low end market, particularly in a few developing countries.
You know, I had a Lumia 1020, and despite all it's pitfalls and problems (which was why I jumped to Android right after it), it still is a perfectly functional phone.
Apps are either abandoned, outdated or alternative versions because devs refuses to work in ports that will have such a low userbase, the promises of the platform getting better overtime particularly from rabid Microsoft fans gets tiring pretty fast, community is kinda toxic, and rather than a matter of being third to receive every new app (like Android users expect to be second), it's a matter of not expecting to receive anything new at all.
On the upside though, it is a solid, relatively secure and locked down platform. The basics of what most people use is there, even if sometimes in an incomplete or outdated shape or form (apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Google suite among others). For a time, there was some pretty interesting Microsoft experimentation around the camera and some other stuff. It's an interesting route to go with for those wanting an alternative platform that forces you to keep things to a minimum (something between Symbian and iOS).
Microsoft will just keep rolling with it up to whatever time they finally come out with the next gen of Surface/Continuum phones, if that ever happens knowing how slow and hesitant Microsoft is. And then, they'll promptly abandon Windows Mobile 10 just like they did it with Windows Mobile 7.
Would I recommend the platform to anyone these days? Nope. It's moribund. Flies and vultures are flying over it. Even the market that the platform had some penetration is shrinking fast. Android is fast becoming the king of low end market, and chinese brands will quickly take the position over the coming years, if they don't take the mid and high end position too.
Microsoft "graced" some of the developing countries with it's presence in the low end smartphone market, but they remain absent as a company with a functional, official product line for some reason (they don't bring Surface products to Brazil officially, their online store stuff directly links to some other retail store filled with outdated 3rd party crap, it has nothing about new stuff like Hololens or Surface Studio, they pretty much treat the country as dumping grounds for cheap outdated crap).
As a tech brand, Microsoft and several others failed to catch on in developing countries because they keep shoving outdated stuff to us whilst ignoring that we're plenty aware of what's going on outside the country. That is, for hardware... software like Windows and Office probably still are kings in install base, even if most of it is pirated. Meanwhile, chinese brands among a few others just knows that in order to build traction in developing countries, you need a presence here and you need to release your latest brand new stuff in order to have real presence, even if most of the country don't have the money to pay for those. It's about brand presence.
Back on topic, I think Microsoft needs Windows 10 Mobile to keep going 'till it dies of old age not to add insult to injury. It'll already be bad enough to make the shift for another mobile version, or the full Windows 10 version that works on mobile with Continuum, by itself. But if they just kill Windows 10 Mobile out of nowhere abandoning the few people who are still hanging on a thread out there, then they'll lose even those. If we were to backtrack sometime ago, truth is, Microsoft should've stopped in Windows Mobile 8.1. It should've gone from there directly to Windows 10 without the Mobile part, with a new Surface Phone and the Continuum thing. But they didn't, and lost the opportunity. Remediation time.
is coming out soon.
But how readily will Grandma take to apt-getting her apps? I see a lot of family IT desperate phone calls in our future.
iOS does really well in Japan too.
This is something that both Google & Microsoft have fixed recently: Google since Lollipop, and Microsoft since Windows 10 Mobile. Even with the old Windows 8 phones, there were a few that couldn't be upgraded to 10, like the Lumia Icon. Not just that, on those older phones w/ Windows Phone 8 or Android Honeycomb or KitKat, since the upgrade was a carrier responsibility, those devices ended up as abandonware. Like my old Verizon Ellipsis 7, which I ultimately upgraded to a 10.
Any Windows 10 Mobile device will get updates as long as Windows 10 gets updates. Similarly, any device w/ Lollipop or beyond will get updates: I recently updated my Moto X on Lollipop to something that allows me to store and run apps from the SD card.
An Operating System should not be used as an Advertisement Delivery System.
So I'm one of the 0.5% using Windows Mobile 10. I enjoy the OS, and prefer it to Android or the other mobile OS that people seem to like. I can see why the numbers are dwindling though. Worldwide, IOS is small and on expensive proprietary hardware. Android - though it is not as secure as IOS or Windows - is easily consumed whether one buys a US $2,500 Huawei Porsche Mate 9 (http://www.welectronics.com/gsm/HUAWEI/HUAWEI-Mate9-Porsche-Design.HTML) or an off-brand devices for under US$50. Microsoft really shot themselves in the proverbial foot changing from Windows 7 to Windows 8 then to Windows 10. I see what they hope to achieve with Windows 10 and the unified platform but think it will be more of a change in a few years.
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
The Windows app store has to be the worst of signal to noise ratio. There are damned few apps of any kind, and most are just fucking awful. I'll take my chances with the iTunes or Google Play stores, simply because there's actual selection.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
You only get to say you're in the game when you at least get up to the plate. Thus far, Windows mobile offerings, from the first until now, haven't even got there. Yes, Microsoft has near-infinite resources to keep throwing new mobile offerings out there, but so what? Blackberry still has boatloads of cash, and even it has pretty much declared defeat.
It's nice you have faith in MS. I do not, nor apparently does much of the market.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Funny you should mention the typing.
She said all her coworkers that upgraded before her (they wanted until a phone was lost or broken to upgrade) commented that the Samsungs and iPhones do not do as well with their terms of art (they learn them, but don't suggest them as often).
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
Windows 10 a death sentence!!! What a steaming pile of shit! do we go into all the problems with that POS! WIndows 7 was the LAST stable version of Windows I've used. But thank god for Wine - it lets me run all the Windows apps on Linux I really need....
The Truth is a Virus!!!
I'd very much like to be the 7th. I have a Windows 8 phone (not enough memory for Win10). I've owned an Android, and I much prefer the Windows OS on the phone (and I get along just fine without all those Android-only apps, thank you). I would really like to have a Win10 phone. There are used ones for sale, but I'm hesitant to buy sight unseen.
I've owned Android phones and still own an Android tablet. I never found the phones intuitive, and the tablet is so unintuitive that each time I haul it out (mostly for long airplane flights), I've forgotten how to use it. And as for the apps it supports, it was a huge disappointment; doing email on it, for example, is sheer torture.
My Windows (8) phone, OTOH, is the easiest to use phone I've ever had, and email on it is trivially easy. (I don't own a Windows tablet)
Like windows mobile, Ubuntu is years late.
The only viable mobile OS's are Android and iOS.
They aren't as much *late* as *not member of any large app eco-system*.
There's a really strong networking effect. People want to use smartphone also for the app featured
It's a catch-22 : nobody is going to write application for Windows 10 Mobile because there aren't as many user as Android and iOS, and nobody is going to use Windows 10 Mobile because there aren't as many apps on it.
Microsoft *was* aware of the problem. They *did* want to find a way to run android apps on Windows 10 mobile phone. But that's an extremely difficult task when you're not even running a Linux kernel. The only thing that came out of thes failed experiment is WSL (Windows Service Linux - a minimalistic Linux API layer that the NT kernel can expose in addition to Win32 etc. and that enables you to run a few unmodified Ubuntu console applications directly under Windows 10).
We'll see how it goes with Ubuntu. Canonical has toyed with the idea of running android apps.
Meanwhile Jolla's Sailfish OS isn't doing that bad, because it's designed on purpose to run android apps in addition to native QML apps.
(Official commercial version feature aliendalvik, community version relies on sfdroid).
So their users aren't left in the dust.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
What I'd really like to see is Continuum with x86/x64 support (as is announced). The technology has been in the windows code base for a long time. It dates back to DEC Alpha and the hard part of this type of emulation really is library support. The ABI between x86/64 and ARM is extremely similar, but just enough different in all the right places to cause problems. Microsoft has full control over their own code and libraries which makes calling ARM libraries written by Microsoft pretty easy as Microsoft can easily compile their ARM code with either an x64 compatible ABI or they can provide a thin "thunk like" layer to handle byte alignment in structures they know about.
The problem is using non-Microsoft libraries... of course, if Microsoft opens the ARM platform properly this time, it should be possible for developers to pretty much recompile their code for the platform with little or no changes as ARM and x64 are ridiculously similar except when handling inline assembler. The only real problem is some fairly nasty byte/word alignment issues where ARM is very "RISC-like" and where Intel has always allowed arbitrary byte alignment (except in SIMD), ARM has always been assholes on this. So Microsoft would have to add a crap load of really horrible code to account for structures packed in an ARM unfriendly manor.
Well once this code is golden, I doubt I'll use Windows Phone as a phone, but I will use it as a portable computer... if the performance is reasonable.
The last thing is, Microsoft absolutely has to make it possible to run the entire Visual Studio Enterprise directly on Continuum with reasonable performance.... and they absolutely have to release a phone with enough storage to run it as well.
I have one Android phone - a Moto X. Never had any Samsung phones, though seen them, since a lot of my relatives have them. My main issue w/ those - they have too many pages created, which is really annoying
Who would bother with Windows 10 mobile after the debacle of stopping support and and effectively bricking Windows Mobile 5 devices last decade. The seamless synchronization between Windows Mobile 5 and Office XP was wonderful. So they broke it.
NRRPT/RCT
I had never heard of ReactOS, but your post got me curious so I looked into it.
And I learned that it targets compatibility with Windows Server 2003.
Does that not make it a dead-end OS? Is there any software house that still supports Windows Server 2003?
Here's another commenter who recently came to the same conclusion:
ReactOS is a dead end, Linux works on everything nowadays and is way more stable, plus it has better compatibility with Windows software as it receives Wine updates, while ReactOS lacks a proper update platform
AFAIK.
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
I've been a Windows phone user since they first brought in the Modern UI and have stood by it for a few reasons (for one, I much prefer Modern UI over rows of icons), although the lack of app support prevented me from ever recommending it to others, but my support is definitely waning now. My phone currently seems rather buggy, there are some apps I wish I could get and I've wanted to get a new phone for a while (I regret going 6"; I want something smaller) but there isn't really any exciting Windows phones. If Microsoft were to release a Surface phone by the end of the year that supported a stylus, I MIGHT buy one and hold on to the platform for a little longer, but at this point I'm just waiting for an Android phone (or iPhone, if they brought back the headphone jack!) to do something exciting enough for me to consider it worth ditching my completely capable phone.