Windows Phone Dies Today (theverge.com)

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Windows Phone Dies Today (theverge.com)

Posted by msmash on Tuesday July 11, 2017 @04:40AM from the rip-windows-phone dept.

From a report: Microsoft is killing off Windows Phone 8.1 support today, more than three years after the company first introduced the update. The end of support marks an end to the Windows Phone era, and the millions of devices still running the operating system. While most have accepted that the death of Windows Phone occurred more than a year ago, AdDuplex estimates that nearly 80 percent of all Windows-powered phones are still running Windows Phone 7, Windows Phone 8, or Windows Phone 8.1. All of these handsets are now officially unsupported, and only 20 percent of all Windows phones are running the latest Windows 10 Mobile OS.

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Glad by fred6666 · 2017-07-11 04:42 · Score: 2

it never took off.
A monopoly on both desktop and mobile would not be a good thing for consumers.
1. Re:Glad by Oswald+McWeany · 2017-07-11 05:01 · Score: 1, Interesting
  
  They were too late to the game. If they had been first they probably would have been the standard.
  We'd all have been complaining about it like we do the windows desktop- but it would be silly to have anything else because Windows Phone would be the standard.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
2. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:10 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  But they never would have been first. The iPhone was a fundamental reimagining of the mobile phone, a generational change. After the iPhone razed the landscape of clunky, carrier controlled phones, others, like Android and Windows phone, were able to step into the new world. The iPhone was the big bang of mobility devices.
3. Re:Glad by dlleigh · 2017-07-11 05:15 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Microsoft was not late to the market: they have been working on phones for a long time, and PDAs before that. Windows Mobile on phones predates both the iPhone and Android.
  For whatever reason, Microsoft was just never able to get mobile right.
4. Re:Glad by Oswald+McWeany · 2017-07-11 05:16 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  But they never would have been first. The iPhone was a fundamental reimagining of the mobile phone, a generational change. After the iPhone razed the landscape of clunky, carrier controlled phones, others, like Android and Windows phone, were able to step into the new world. The iPhone was the big bang of mobility devices.
  That's not entirely true. There was the IBM Simon and the Palm Pilot phones and blackberries before iPhone. There were also other "dumb" phones that could run apps. I had one that predated iPhone.
  Apple were just the first to put a really solid device together that worked well and appealed to a large market.
  It's not impossible to believe that someone at Microsoft could have thought "Let's make a better version of the Palm Pilot Phone" before Apple had the idea... they just didn't. Or if they did, the stupidity of the MS management squashed the idea until it was too late.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
5. Re: Glad by that+this+is+not+und · 2017-07-11 05:23 · Score: 1
  
  Apple just leveraged their iPod success. In the clamor to claim the smart phone market they've brushed that fact off to the side.
6. Re:Glad by sexconker · 2017-07-11 05:27 · Score: 1
  
  I had a Windows Mobile 5 (later updated to 6) phone. It was actually pretty great. And I was doing things miles beyond what the iPhone did years later.
  The only thing it didn't have was built-in GPS, so I bought a GPS receiver ($99 at the time) and an add-on for mapping and navigation (at $5 a month, I think).
7. Re:Glad by unixisc · 2017-07-11 05:27 · Score: 1
  
  I don't think there would have been any monopoly, and besides, Microsoft no longer has even a desktop monopoly. Apple has quite a viable alternative, and if they introduced a few Macs in the $500 range, they'd be good to go. Chromebooks too - if they dropped the requirement that everything has to be on 'the cloud' and provided some w/ adequate storage, they'd be pretty good as well.
8. Re: Glad by tripleevenfall · 2017-07-11 05:30 · Score: 2
  
  It doesn't really matter whose shoulders you're standing on when you break through, does it? You still did the work to break through.
  If it had been M$, they'd be on top of the world. But they're not.
9. Re:Glad by The+Grim+Reefer · 2017-07-11 05:31 · Score: 1
  
  They were too late to the game. If they had been first they probably would have been the standard.
  Really? Windows CE was released in 1992. My first smart phone ran it. My iPaq from 2003 ran it's predecessor Widows Mobile. I had two phones after that (and prior to 2008) that also ran Windows Mobile. So no, iOS and Android were not first.
10. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:38 · Score: 0
  
  What MS did wrong was to panic as MSM oohed and aahed over the iPhone bling, and dropped backwards compatibility between 6.5 and 7.
  End result was burned bridges that even getting into bed with Nokia didn't fix, instead it just tossed Nokia onto the pyre.
11. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:40 · Score: 0
  
  What the iPhone brought to the table was using a finger, not a stylus. It seems obvious today, but back then, people were just plain used to tapping a stylus on a screen with the PDAs and smartphones, because screens were not as responsive as they are today.
  Other than that, the Windows Phone I had, when the iPhone came out, sported every feature the iPhone did, and even a few more be it Bluetooth, installing applications (not apps), Exchange compatibility, and so on.
  People talk about how great the iPhone is, and I remember the hype from day 1... and it might sport one feature that other phones don't have, like Force Touch... but in reality, Samsung or the Google Pixel runs rings around Apple's offering in many other ways.
12. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:40 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, MS had a solid foothold with the PocketPC lineage. Hell, 6.5 equipped devices sold for years before companies started adopting cased iPhones (WTF...) and Android for the same job (hand held POS, inventory tracking, etc).
13. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:41 · Score: 0
  
  In the timeline of mobile devices, there are two timeframes:
  pre-iPhone and post-iPhone
  It really is that simple. The difference between those two eras is night and day. The iPhone was a seminal event. The relic handsets that existed prior to the iPhone launch are laughable in their naivety and crudeness. We view them now not much differently than stone arrowheads and axes made from flint. But that perspective only came from the enlightenment of the first iPhone.
14. Re:Glad by gsking1 · 2017-07-11 05:42 · Score: 1
  
  Too much hype about apple. Sure the iphone was better, than many others at the time, but it was more evolutionary. It combined some of the best ideas and added a few new ones. Before iPhone, the Palm and Blackberry were standards. The iPhone solved some issues with those for example, it didn't require the server software for email unleashing the market to the masses. The Palms were nice, and many loved them, but they had trouble with stability issues once phones were added. Much more evolutionary than revolutionary. With that said Apple seemed to have gotten it right and I've been with apple since 4S.
15. Re:Glad by stooo · 2017-07-11 05:43 · Score: 1
  
  >> Windows Mobile 5 (later updated to 6)
  That's soooo cute, really. Most Winphones didn't update, and were obsoleted overnight !
  
  --
  aaaaaaa
16. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:43 · Score: 0
  
  Pretty sure there were Windows CE based smartphones as well that predate the iPhone. I had a Kyocera 6035 then a Samsung I300 smartphone long before the iPhone was around. Apple certainly did NOT invent the SmartPhone. I think they were the first to integrate a 3D-capable GPU and capacitive touchscreen (vs resistive). They were the first to implement a "fun" smartphone that had more than simple niche appeal to business users and techies.
17. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:43 · Score: 0
  
  Sadly back then most people were not interested in phones beyond something to call their mom/boss with.
  Only when the MSM got hot and bothered about the iPhone did people sit up and take notice, because Apple.
  End result was a turning back of maybe a decade of smartphone development, as the initial iPhone was more a glossy featurephone than a smartphone in the lineage of Windows Mobile and Symbian. Android 1.0 was more smartphone than iOS 1.0 even.
18. Re: Glad by that+this+is+not+und · 2017-07-11 05:49 · Score: 1
  
  I remember, though, the "Get a free iTunes song" bottle caps on Pepsi bottles. It reminded me of Jobs' comment to Scully about "selling sugar water to kids".
  The Apple Phone success wasn't very technical at all. Like most of the Apple aura it was slick pop marketing. The tech people at Apple are no different than those at any other company. Like Google, it's a marketing operation. (Cues up that Rush song: "...salesmen. Salesmen!!")
19. Re:Glad by alexgieg · 2017-07-11 05:59 · Score: 2
  
  Chromebooks too - if they dropped the requirement that everything has to be on 'the cloud' and provided some w/ adequate storage, they'd be pretty good as well.
  They're doing that already. Newer Chromebooks run Android apps, which can all use local storage. It isn't a great solution by any means at least until apps that leverage the screen, the keyboard and the mouse start appearing, but it's being done.
  
  --
  Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
20. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:07 · Score: 0
  
  And you're an idiot. Shut the fuck up and die already.
21. Re:Glad by tim620 · 2017-07-11 06:10 · Score: 0
  
  Smartphones existed before the iPhone. Apple just improved the interface. Although an "iPhone-like" interface would have been developed anyway. Google bought Android Inc. in 2005 and they had been working on the Android interface prior to that (since 2003-ish?). The beta for Android was released/shown in 2007 and officially released in 2008. So, we would have had the same or similar smartphones today with, or without, Apple.
22. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:12 · Score: 1
  
  Clearly you weren't alive before the iPhone. Blackberry and Palm and all sorts of great handsets were on the market with features the iPhone lacked for years to come (they eventually got them).
  The "everything before the iPhone was crap" mantra is getting stupid.
23. Re:Glad by Chris+Mattern · 2017-07-11 06:18 · Score: 1
  
  By "updated to 6" he means "I bought a new phone"
24. Re:Glad by jellomizer · 2017-07-11 06:27 · Score: 1
  
  The real issue that I see, is that the Windows Phone didn't bring anything to the table. It was just a Me Too attempt.
  The Market was already dominated by Apple as the design that other base after. And Android was the alternative that worked on all the non-apple devices.
  Google beat Microsoft to the rest of the devices game.
  If Microsoft brought something good to the table, Support for native x86 windows applications? or just better cross platform support. That may had been enough to change the market.
  With the only exception with the XBox line. Microsoft had had a hard time trying to get people off the windows x86 platform.
  Failures such as
  Zune, Windows CE, Windows NT for Alpha... When ever Microsoft looses PC Comparability it has a hard time in the market.
  
  --
  If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
25. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:35 · Score: 0
  
  Microsoft wanted to be a software company, and sit on its ass and collect licensing fees and let the OEMs do all the work.
  The problem is that while this got devices into consumer's hands at a cheap price, and did get Windows on a lot of devices, it didn't ensure the quality of them.
26. Re:Glad by swb · 2017-07-11 06:48 · Score: 1
  
  I think Apple's big breakthrough was that it was all screen. Until that point every PDA Phone was half keyboard, half screen and on the iPhone you had a "giant" screen which seemed even bigger and more useful with pinch zoom and scrolling.
27. Re: Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:49 · Score: 0
  
  This couldn't be more wrong. iOS is nothing like the iPod.
28. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 07:11 · Score: 0
  
  yep
  o2 atom
  2005
  http://www.gsmarena.com/o2_xda_atom-pictures-1372.php
  had 2 of these - ran windows mobile 5
  was running ported windows applications - I remember playing virtual pool on it all the time.
  but you have to remember apparently apple invented everything, and nothing existed before they pulled the iphone out of their arse
29. Re:Glad by Anne+Thwacks · 2017-07-11 07:26 · Score: 2
  
  Pretty sure there were Windows CE based smartphones as well that predate the iPhone.
  Indeed there were - I had two! They demonstrated all that has killed the Windows Phone today - and more!
  The software looked good, and had the features expected of Windows of its day: There was never enough ROM or RAM, it kept locking up or rebooting itself or needing re-boots - which deinstalled all your apps!
  And there were some extras, familiar to today's WinPhone users: It had few apps from third parties, and no bug fixes, ever. When the OS was upgraded, you were left behind. new OS versions could not be installed on the old phones.
  What made the iPhone a massive hit was that the software had bug fixes, and updates - because Apple had the clout and good sense to fight the carriers.
  If only Nokia had released regular bug fixes and software upgrades, and had ditched that appalling "SIgned for Symbian" that effectively blocked third party software, the world would be a better place. Who knows, perhaps Nokia would have been able to buy MS.
  
  --
  Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
30. Re:Glad by drago177 · 2017-07-11 07:27 · Score: 1
  
  For whatever reason, Microsoft was just never able to get mobile right.
  Totally agree - I'm floored by all the comments claiming MS was late. But I believe what they missed was apps. I agree with the other fond memories of WM mentioned. I remember, despite seriously hating MS, I thought in 2006, "Wow, they got this WM 5.x pretty right, this is the wave of the future. It's just a pain to install software. They need something like apt-get." How many years did MS sit on it's butt before Apple came out with a technically inferior phone, with the exception of the app store?
31. Re:Glad by davester666 · 2017-07-11 07:44 · Score: 1
  
  What "late to the game"? They were only late to copying the iPhone.
  They had WinCE (pronounced "wince"), WAY before the iPhone was a gleam in SJ's eye. And when the iPhone was released, the head of Microsoft, at least publicly, dismissed it as a toy. Google at least pivoted to a touch-screen only UI when the iPhone was announced. Microsoft took years to switch.
  
  --
  Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
32. Re:Glad by Paradise+Pete · 2017-07-11 07:52 · Score: 1
  
  They were too late to the game. If they had been first they probably would have been the standard.
  They were in the game long before Apple and Android. As I recall, Ballmer liked his strategy. He liked it a lot.
33. Re: Glad by Paradise+Pete · 2017-07-11 07:55 · Score: 1
  
  The Apple Phone success wasn't very technical at all.
  They got a real OS onto a phone. A feat that the RIM CEO called impossible and accused them of lying.
34. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 08:08 · Score: 0
  
  The iPhone is one gigantic success and made Apple, by some significant measurements, the biggest corporation ever. You under-hype them.
35. Re: Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 08:15 · Score: 0
  
  The first iphone was nothing like the second iphone.
36. Re: Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 08:29 · Score: 0
  
  That is why the iPhone killed them.
37. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 08:43 · Score: 0
  
  >> Windows Mobile 5 (later updated to 6)
  That's soooo cute, really. Most Winphones didn't update, and were obsoleted overnight !
  Sounds strangely similar to another major phone company's business model. Planned obsolescence isn't a new thing and it certainly hasn't gone away.
38. Re: Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 08:44 · Score: 0
  
  The Apple Phone success wasn't very technical at all
  It's very easy to take for granted and dismiss what the original iPhone has done better dans anything else before it. Windows Mobile 6.5, PalmOS, Nokia and Ericsson Symbian all was babies OS without any solide graphical, media, files and network API.
39. Re: Glad by StormReaver · 2017-07-11 08:57 · Score: 1
  
  They got a real OS onto a phone. A feat that the RIM CEO called impossible and accused them of lying.
  IBM got a real operating system onto a watch in 1998.
40. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 08:58 · Score: 0
  
  You are talking bullshit, one example of an ancient all screen phone is the HP iPAQ H6315:
  https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1651000,00.asp
  Difference is the way the touchscreen worked: pressure. Never owned a PDA with cellular, but I could use my nails to generate input on my H36xx if not cut to short.
41. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:01 · Score: 0
  
  My Windows 6.1 phone is still going strong. It even has one awesome feature I haven't been able to find anywhere else: flip it over to turn off the ringer.
  Of course, I don't use any of the smart features. It would really suck compared to today's standard if I did. But as a general phone it's excellent with a long battery life and fits in my pocket along with other items.
42. Re: Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:08 · Score: 0
  
  Apple was "just" the first people to get their shit together. That framing belittles the accomplishment and is ignorant in that who else has done that? No one.
  "Just" a Ferrari.
43. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:24 · Score: 0
  
  > They were too late to the game. If they had been first they probably would have been the standard.
  In 2007 or so Microsoft had 42% of the US smartphone market. How it that 'being late' ?
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Mobile#Market_share
44. Re: Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:26 · Score: 0
  
  Incorrect.
45. Re:Glad by Stormwatch · 2017-07-11 09:27 · Score: 1
  
  There was the IBM Simon and the Palm Pilot phones and blackberries before iPhone.
  1994 to early 00s, that's a huge gap there. You fail to mention Nokia's GEOS-based 9000 Communicator, launched in 1996. It was perhaps the first commercially successful smartphone, and the first mobile device to do web browsing with graphics.
  
  --
  Circumcision is child abuse.
46. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:28 · Score: 0
  
  Microsoft was early... but screwed up just like they do the desktop.
  lockups, hanging, poor updates, poor apps, poor design, poor security...
  Apple did it right.
  Microsoft can't do squat where they don't have a monopoly lock.
  They tried supercomputers... but failed so fast the only entry in the top500 was below 400, and the performance was so bad the entry used Linux to get better. Windows couldn't even use all the nodes.
47. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:32 · Score: 0
  
  Microsoft spent around 8 years to buy a market big enough to "break even" in the 8th year.
  That is a HARD TIME, and cost them about a billion dollars every year.
  Microsoft loses every time they can't use their monopoly to lock people in.
48. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 10:04 · Score: 0
  
  Support for native x86 windows applications?
  Who the heck wants a Windows desktop application on a phone? That just sounds terribly painful.
49. Re:Glad by breeze95 · 2017-07-11 10:17 · Score: 1
  
  I had a Windows Mobile 5 (later updated to 6) phone. It was actually pretty great. And I was doing things miles beyond what the iPhone did years later..
  Sorry but I call BS to this. I had Windows Mobile 6 on my TMobile Dash and the operating system was a dog. The original iPhone and Android phone was way way above and beyond the capabilities of Windows Mobile 6. One of the problems with Windows Mobil 6 was the operating system tried to duplicate the look and feel of the Windows desktop environment. There is a reason why Windows Mobile phones never exceeded 15% market share and this is before the iPhone and Android.
50. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 10:33 · Score: 0
  
  They had a great shot with WP7 - it actually had some momentum. But they just didn't quite seem to realise 'whole lifecycle' mattered - it wasn't long before anyone that had a WP7 was left behind -- you had to use Zune software that you couldn't install, they were slow in releasing updates, they let the carriers have too much sa.. And, once burned again, nobody was going to give them a third chance. (Windows Phone 6 and before etc was their first chance; WP7 was their second.)
  Apple have NEVER abandoned an iPhone version that fast - when iPhone "N" is released, iPhone "N-1" is still supported. Not so much in MS land.
  It's still, in my opinion, a pity they never built a 'execute WP7 silverlight apps on desktop' environment -- that would probably triple the number of apps in the Windows app store, even today. (Yes, they had 'killed' silverlight, but they could have kept THAT part of it alive.)
  Now... well, there's some cool stuff on W10 mobile. But they can't quite seem to have things 'together' enough, making me think this reflects Microsoft's internal culture (aren't they famed for their stack ranking and similar in-fighting) and cost-driven model nowadays more than anything else.
51. Re: Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 11:01 · Score: 0
  
  Google came along and offered the same, only it was better because you didn't have to install crappy iTunes on your PC just to use all of the features. Thus, Google took over 82% of the market while Microsoft was trying to make an exact copy of Apple, only with its even shittier Zune client and a very poor substitute (live tiles) for the notification shade paradigm.
52. Re:Glad by baka_toroi · 2017-07-11 11:53 · Score: 1
  
  You're underestimating how out-of-this-worldly easy to use the iPhone was for the common population. The iPhone was a smartphone that just fucking worked (as cliched as it sounds). iOS 1.0 didn't even include an app store. It was that browsing the web with Safari was almost as comfortable as doing it on a PC, excepting the obvious differences in form factors.
  
  Windows Mobile 6.5 was DOS-like in comparison. Obviously designed for an era other than of readily available processing power.
53. Re:Glad by OneHundredAndTen · 2017-07-11 14:44 · Score: 1
  
  They were too late to the game. If they had been first they probably would have been the standard.
  They were very early to the game. They were there way, way before iOS and Android. They could have owned the market. But, they failed. Ignominiously. Abjectly. As it behooves the despicable company that they have always been. And thank goodness for that.
54. Re:Glad by drinkypoo · 2017-07-11 15:30 · Score: 1
  
  Windows Mobile 6.5 was DOS-like in comparison.
  I wouldn't go that far. I'd say it was Windows 98-like in comparison. That's still a pretty spectacularly crap interface compared to the iPhone, though. The pathetic thing though is that we had LCD organizers before either one existed which had an iPhone-like interface with an ultra-simple launcher, apps always taking up the full screen and the like, but Microsoft still felt that phones needed to have an interface just as complex and powerful as a PC in spite of the drastically lesser screen real estate.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
55. Re:Glad by drinkypoo · 2017-07-11 15:31 · Score: 1
  
  The difference is the simplified interface. Although you could buy a date book/organizer from e.g. SHARP which had an interface that simple for years before the iPhone came out, and even Palm used a simplified interface, Microsoft chose to go fully complex with their mobile interface and it sucked.
  It also didn't help Microsoft that wince was an unreliable POS
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
56. Re:Glad by Desler · 2017-07-11 15:46 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah and the smartphone market in those days was a tiny fraction of what it became after the iPhone.
57. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 19:00 · Score: 0
  
  if Nokia had been able to mount a hype train the same way that Apple was and still can it seems, then we would all be using GEOS or Android today
  (I'm guessing Android would still have been developed as a response either way)
  Quite frankly, I would much rather have seen Nokia rise to power on a hype train than Apple... Atleast Nokia has had a schred of decency in their history... in sharp contrast to Apple!
  Also... I don't think Nokia would have jacked up prices to the same INSANE levels that Apple did and still does!
  At the end of the day, no company other than Apple, could imagine that users were so braindead that they would fall for all the empty hype BS that Apple delivers on a daily basis!
  So congratulations... Apple succeeded and still succeeds in one thing and one thing only... to trick the braindead with their reality distortion field!
58. Re:Glad by sexconker · 2017-07-11 19:01 · Score: 1
  
  Nope, Samsung released a free update.
  Samsung Blackjack SGH-I607.
59. Re:Glad by sexconker · 2017-07-11 19:08 · Score: 1
  
  I could cut and paste on my Samsung Blackjack running Windows Mobile 5 (5.5 I believe is what it had when I got it) and Windows Mobile 6 later.
  I could browse the real internet, get real email, and even download and manage files. Over bluetooth, I connected to a GPS receiver and got live turn-by-turn navigation from a third-party application. I could get games (I only got a few), I could watch all sorts of video formats, I had a real fucking keyboard, I had customizable shortcut keys, it was easy to hack and run whatever I wanted, I could tether it to my PC and use its data connection, etc, etc.
  Hell, how long was it before the iPhone supported MMS?
  I'm sorry you bought a shitty phone, I guess. And in what way did WinMo try to "duplicate the look and feel of the Windows desktop environment"? I had a home screen with a few icons, then some nested menus to go through to get to everything else.
60. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 19:22 · Score: 0
  
  I agree!
  Also the track record of MS on mobile platforms, ensures that they do not deserve and never will succeed on mobile devices!
61. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 20:58 · Score: 0
  
  This is... just wholly incorrect. I had the iPaq 3850 with the GSM sleeve as a phone, and upgraded to PPC 2003 when it was released. It was a paid upgrade, mind you, but it was available. Also, updates/bugfixes were released by compaq routinely as needed, you can just download and install them. Hell, I was involved in porting linux to the damn things back when Compaq's cambridge research lab was still open!
  206mhz SA1100 processor, 32MB ram, 64MB FLASH ROM. As in, when i did a hard reset, the installed apps were NOT removed. You just had a shitty lower model I suspect, or something like the HP journada which was unflashable (ROM only - not flash rom) and resided everything in ram. Not all models were like this.
  Shit, Age of Empires II was awsome on that device, and i had other 3D games on it and shooters, etc, that i used with the collapsable external keyboard I had for it.
  I *miss* WinCE, and between my iPhone, Lumia 950 XL, and Nexus 6, i'd get rid of them all in a heartbeat if i had an LTE capable WinCE 6.x handset. It was bloody rock solid stable.
62. Re:Glad by Big+Hairy+Ian · 2017-07-11 23:21 · Score: 1
  
  They were too late to the game. If they had been first they probably would have been the standard.
  I had a Windows Phone before Apple started making Ipods being the first in the game is no guarantee of success.
  
  --
  Build a Man a Fire, and He'll Be Warm for a Day. Set a Man on Fire, and He'll Be Warm for the Rest of His Life.
63. Re: Glad by Wraithlyn · 2017-07-12 01:01 · Score: 1
  
  Yes. And more importantly, they correctly anticipated that the emergence of ubiquitous multimedia-capable phones was the biggest threat to standalone MP3 players. So they beat everyone else to the punch and put out an iPod-killer. A lot of companies would've sat on their laurels and resisted cannibalizing their own sales.
  It's hard to imagine that kind of boldness and confidence of direction from them today. I miss Jobs' Apple.
  
  --
  "Mind, as manifested by the capacity to make choices, is to some extent present in every electron." -Freeman Dyson
64. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-12 01:49 · Score: 0
  
  MS failed by trying to force the Windows 8 into Windows mobile developers machines. By tying Windows mobile SDK to Windows 8, they immediately got rid of enterprise scale development houses, which had standardized the workstation to Win7. Same goes for hobbyists, who had a taste for not installing the Fischer Price UI and spyware into their own machines.
  Of course, it did not help when MS had intentional and major binary and source code level compatibility breaks between phone generations which made potential customer base too small to invest on software development.
  MS failed in so many levels just because of their greed, stupidity and disrespect against customers and developers that they can blame their failure only at their own management.
65. Re: Glad by Paradise+Pete · 2017-07-12 02:08 · Score: 1
  
  IBM got a real operating system onto a watch in 1998.
  Also a fine technical achievement.
66. Re:Glad by JohnFen · 2017-07-12 03:17 · Score: 1
  
  In fairness to Microsoft, Apple didn't understand the importance of apps at first either. They didn't even allow third parties to create them. In terms of apps, the difference between Apple and Microsoft is that Apple figured out and adapted to the reality of the business rather quickly.
67. Re:Glad by JohnFen · 2017-07-12 03:19 · Score: 1
  
  I remember WinCE. It was truly horrible.
68. Re:Glad by Stormwatch · 2017-07-12 03:50 · Score: 1
  
  They did, it was called MeeGo. And the Microsoft-planted CEO Stephen Elop killed it in favor of Winblows Phoney.
  
  --
  Circumcision is child abuse.
69. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-12 04:34 · Score: 0
  
  No, they weren't late... They've had windows on mobile phones long before the iPhone. They were just not good at marketing it. What they were late at was providing a user friendly GUI
70. Re:Glad by mjwx · 2017-07-12 07:09 · Score: 1
  
  solid device together that worked well marketed
  The Iphone didn't do anything new, it didn't do anything particularly well except for marketing. Previously, smartphones were exclusively for business, That's who RIM, HTC, et al. targeted. They were quite deficient at first, being less capable than the Nokia E series at the time. The first Iphones didn't even have 3G (which was common in 2007 in most countries) and wouldn't connect to Exchange. What they did have was tens of millions of marketing dollars behind them.
  
  And as much as the fanboys will hate me for pointing this out... they wouldn't have half the capabilities they do now without Android coming across and stealing the market. I remember when Android came out featuring the capability to copy and paste, iFanboys said they'd never need it. Of course 18 months later when it appeared on IOS, it was touted as wonderful and magic... same with Wifi hotspot, wired tethering, home screen alerts (took almost 8 years for that one).
  
  --
  Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
71. Re: Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-12 15:30 · Score: 0
  
  Apple's overpriced phones really didn't hurt them that much. What killed them was Android.
72. Re:Glad by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-13 14:03 · Score: 0
  
  Microsoft was not late to the market: they have been working on phones for a long time, and PDAs before that. Windows Mobile on phones predates both the iPhone and Android.
  For whatever reason, Microsoft was just never able to get mobile right.
  It was simple.two many phones, confusing models, carrier exclusivity. They should have bought their way into every carrier - had one super flagship and one value phone, with clear branding and Identity and they would have been a serious competitor - I think their platform was pretty good - just managed by people who could not see the obvious flaws in their marketing
wind down by profssrfink · 2017-07-11 04:43 · Score: 1, Flamebait

Took a long time to amortize that $8 billion Nokia purchase. Jeez.
It's not April 1st... by __aaclcg7560 · 2017-07-11 04:44 · Score: 3, Funny

My friend works at a Sprint store. They have a Windows phone in the back room. Everyone asks for the iPhone or whatever Android phone is sale. They never ask for the Windows phone.
1. Re: It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 04:50 · Score: 0, Troll
  
  The two worst mobile OS are all that's left. As per usual in the tech world, garbage wins with the consumers.
  Not surprised.
2. Re:It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 04:53 · Score: 0
  
  Why would anyone possibly want Windows on a phone? People only begrudgingly accept Windows on their PCs because the other choices are shit and people have old software they run, but in the phone market no one cares about x86 applications and any other historical baggage.
3. Re: It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 04:56 · Score: 0
  
  Cool story, Steve. Need some chairs to throw?
4. Re:It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:01 · Score: 1
  
  Why would anyone possibly want Windows on a phone? People only begrudgingly accept Windows on their PCs because the other choices are shit and people have old software they run, but in the phone market no one cares about x86 applications and any other historical baggage.
  Because it doesn't pop up "you won an ipad" buzzing/beeping redirects when you open the web browser
  Because it has a bluetooth implementation and voice response system that actually works without a need for cludgy, privacy eating, published by god knows who third party apps
  because it isn't owned by google stealing every movement you have ever made, indexing your emails and asking if you want to take a picture and post it everywhere you go.
  because although the UI isn't 100% configurable, it is actually good. and android cant seem to be configured to be good without investing 15 hrs a week into rolling your own.
5. Re: It's not April 1st... by dougdonovan · 2017-07-11 05:03 · Score: 1
  
  the windows phone is an antique. its already worth more than a droid or iphone combined working or not.
6. Re:It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:24 · Score: 1
  
  Sounds like you should buy an iPhone rather than the ghetto knock-off.
7. Re:It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:31 · Score: 0
  
  Sounds like you should buy an iPhone rather than the ghetto knock-off.
  That only solves the last item in the list.
8. Re:It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:43 · Score: 0
  
  Never seen the first 3 happen on an iPhone. I'd I've owned every one since the 3GS days. Maybe you shouldn't install Chinese malware after jailbreaking an iPhone?
9. Re:It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:52 · Score: 0
  
  My friend
  [citation needed]
10. Re: It's not April 1st... by tigersha · 2017-07-11 05:59 · Score: 1
  
  No, he's right. I have an Android, a iPhone and a WinPhone lying around. I like the WinPhone, and am looking around for a cheap Lumia. It is really a nice phone.
  
  --
  The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
11. Re: It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:59 · Score: 0
  
  Sure I can. I've run every iPhone I've owned through my own proxy server. I can see all traffic to and from.
12. Re: It's not April 1st... by tigersha · 2017-07-11 06:03 · Score: 1
  
  That is something all of the Apple haters tend to forget. Apple is a hardware company. The make money from slick expensive hardware, not from user data.
  Their software is very cheap for what it does, actually, unlike Microsoft.
  They do NOT sell user data like Google or Facebook because it is not part of their business model. Which is the main reason I use my iPhone even though I like my Windows Phone more.
  Strangely, this puts Apple at a disadvantage in the big neurocomputing AI thing that seems to be coming on like a Tsunami: Google has a hell of a lot more data to trains their networks since they have all the data about searches , scans peoples emails and are not ashamed about it.
  If AI is the future Apple better start watching their backs.
  
  --
  The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
13. Re: It's not April 1st... by Desler · 2017-07-11 06:04 · Score: 1
  
  What specific data is Apple giving away? Don't handwave and be vague.
14. Re: It's not April 1st... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 08:14 · Score: 0
  
  Cool story. I had a Windows phone and returned it after a week to get my money back. I thought it was horrendous.
  Opinions are like assholes. Everyone has one.
15. Re: It's not April 1st... by Stormwatch · 2017-07-11 09:34 · Score: 1
  
  Everyone did. Why do you think retailers kept it in the back?
  
  --
  Circumcision is child abuse.
16. Re:It's not April 1st... by Stormwatch · 2017-07-11 09:39 · Score: 1
  
  because although the UI isn't 100% configurable, it is actually good. and android cant seem to be configured to be good without investing 15 hrs a week into rolling your own.
  Android's stock interface is pretty good. Or you can easily find an alternative launcher to your liking. Even ones that are modeled after WP or iOS, if you're into that. Ew.
  
  --
  Circumcision is child abuse.
17. Re: It's not April 1st... by mcswell · 2017-07-12 03:10 · Score: 1
  
  Maybe it *is* April 1st.
  I have a Nokia running Win8 (not enough memory to upgrade to Win10). It's by far the favorite phone I've ever owned, much preferable to the Androids I used to own (YMMV, and no, I've never put out the $ for an iPhone). But I would part with my precious Nokia for, oh, say, $1000 (which would allow me to upgrade to a newer Windows phone).
Story icon by acoustix · 2017-07-11 04:46 · Score: 1, Interesting

Why does it have an Android icon for a story about a Windows OS?

--
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
1. Re:Story icon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 04:51 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  That's how dead the windows phone platform is
2. Re:Story icon by amiga3D · 2017-07-11 04:54 · Score: 1
  
  Android license fees paid to Microsoft subsidize windows phones.
3. Re:Story icon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 04:55 · Score: 0
  
  +1 Funny
4. Re:Story icon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:05 · Score: 1
  
  Why does it have an Android icon for a story about a Windows OS?
  "Posted by msmash"
5. Re:Story icon by unixisc · 2017-07-11 05:13 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, they should have used a Windows icon.
6. Re:Story icon by DNS-and-BIND · 2017-07-11 05:21 · Score: 0
  
  The icon doesn't mean "Android" to the Slashdot editor, it's a generic icon that means "smartphone." I should have been a taxonomist.
  
  --
  Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
7. Re:Story icon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:21 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, they should have used a Windows icon.
  Prediction:
  Eventually the editors WILL correct the icon... and then they come back and moderate everyone who noticed the error down to "-1 troll" so that they don't show up for most people. That's what usually happens when they make a mistake.
8. Re:Story icon by TheDarkener · 2017-07-11 05:25 · Score: 1
  
  lol
  
  --
  It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
9. Re: Story icon by that+this+is+not+und · 2017-07-11 05:27 · Score: 1
  
  A couple years ago they quietly retired the bill-borg icon for Microsoft. I am sure a whole branding team at Microsoft worked for years to make that change happen.
10. Re:Story icon by thegarbz · 2017-07-11 05:39 · Score: 1
  
  Why does it have an Android icon for a story about a Windows OS?
  Microsoft ended support for the Windows Mobile Icon a few years ago. We make do with what we have.
11. Re:Story icon by stooo · 2017-07-11 05:45 · Score: 1
  
  Yep !
  Windows phone icons also been replaced by android today.
  
  --
  aaaaaaa
12. Re:Story icon by acoustix · 2017-07-11 06:11 · Score: 1
  
  The icon doesn't mean "Android" to the Slashdot editor, it's a generic icon that means "smartphone." I should have been a taxonomist.
  The mouseover text says Android.
  
  --
  "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
13. Re:Story icon by freeze128 · 2017-07-11 06:13 · Score: 1
  
  When you hover your mouse pointer on it, the tooltip says "Android".
14. Re: Story icon by unixisc · 2017-07-11 06:48 · Score: 1
  
  They could replace the Bill borg w/ either a Windows window logo, or a Windows flag logo, if the latter is about anything before & including Windows 7
15. Re:Story icon by DNS-and-BIND · 2017-07-11 07:07 · Score: 0
  
  Read it again. The icon doesn't mean "Android" to the Slashdot editor, he considers it a generic icon. It's msmash, he's dumb.
  
  --
  Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
16. Re:Story icon by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 07:32 · Score: 0
  
  Cos there is no Zombie icon?
17. Re: Story icon by LinuxIsGarbage · 2017-07-11 10:10 · Score: 1
  
  A couple years ago they quietly retired the bill-borg icon for Microsoft. I am sure a whole branding team at Microsoft worked for years to make that change happen.
  Wasn't there also the "Windows" icon with smashed out panes? I think it was very popular in the era when Vista was a flop, and before Windows 7 arrived.
18. Re: Story icon by unixisc · 2017-07-11 16:57 · Score: 1
  
  No, upto Windows 7, the logo was a flag, so smashed panes couldn't have happened there. Windows 8 was where MS made the decision to replace the flag w/ a trapezoidal window, and that's where you might have seen it, since the Metro interface (as it was then called) was an UI disaster, being so radically different from Windows 7
19. Re: Story icon by LinuxIsGarbage · 2017-07-11 21:55 · Score: 1
  
  October 2010 "66% of All Windows Users Still Use Windows XP"
  The icon is the cracked Windows
Dies... by Nutria · 2017-07-11 04:48 · Score: 1

does not mean what you think it means.

--
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
1. Re:Dies... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:03 · Score: 0
  
  does not mean what you think it means.
  "dead" means "ready to bury in the ground" which certainly applies
2. Re:Dies... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:24 · Score: 1
  
  In fact, it would be more appropriate to say "Windows Phone Buried Today", because it died a REALLY fucking long time ago.
3. Re:Dies... by Darinbob · 2017-07-11 05:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  My coworker has a new Windows phone. He likes it. If you don't need a million apps then it's not a bad product. The UI I think is pretty nice; what fails on the desktop works on the phone.
  However, it's not dead because even the summary says there's a still Windows 10 phone. All that died was the previous version. That in itself should be the story, the Microsoft is accelerating the planned obsolescence in their rush to emulate Apple. But it's not dead. I know it's a Slashdot meme to declare things dead at the first sign of sniffles, but sheesh...
4. Re:Dies... by Nutria · 2017-07-11 06:15 · Score: 1
  
  Will Windows 8.1 phones keep working? If so, then the phones aren't dead.
  
  --
  "I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
5. Re:Dies... by PolygamousRanchKid+ · 2017-07-11 06:48 · Score: 2
  
  does not mean what you think it means.
  Meanwhile, Darl McBride, the owner of the intellectual property rights to the Windows Phonery, has announced that the Windows Phone is "not quite dead yet", and "thinks he'll take the Windows Phone out for a walk."
  Owners of iPhones and Android phones will still be able to use their devices, provided they pay the Elusive Useless Litigation Acquiescence of $1,399 to cover the iPhone and Android infringement on the Windows Phone technology. McBride plans to use the influx of funds to finance yet even more litigation.
  However, rumors persist that the briefcase full of cash carried by Bill Gates' younger brother, Fredo, never made it to the Cayman Islands. John McAffee has publicly suggested that whole SCO operation, otherwise known as, "The Other, Other, Operation" was privately funded by Bill Gates through a Ho Chi Mihn Trail of Intelligent Africanized Bee Toilets, but McAffee was wiggin' on "Fringe" potency psychotropic drugs at the time.
  
  --
  Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
6. Re:Dies... by unixisc · 2017-07-11 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  More precisely, Windows Phone/Mobile is fine for work: it has Office, OneNote & Outlook coming w/ it, and along w/ Calendar & Maps, it's ideal for use as a business/work phone. Yeah, you're out of luck if you want Snapchat or Pokemon Go: however, there are a few other apps that still work, such as Fandango, which is still supported. The calculator is awesome: features not just a calculator w/ different modes, but also unit conversions. Toss in a currency converter, and they'd be all set.
  However, lately, devs have been pulling some supported apps from the store, such as Yelp! Which makes it tough to maintain for the long haul
7. Re:Dies... by maestroX · 2017-07-11 07:55 · Score: 1
  
  However, it's not dead because even the summary says there's a still Windows 10 phone.
  
  It's dead. Apps in the app store are not updated, my banking apps are being phased out, for Win10. Also, build quality has become gradually worse from the label Nokia to Microsoft. Apps (e.g. whatsapp) becoming worse, more app quirks. Last buy was a Lumia 640, great value, great battery. I found winphone a great improvement to Android 4 but will be returning to Android reluctantly.
8. Re:Dies... by bad-badtz-maru · 2017-07-11 09:01 · Score: 1
  
  Office and OneNote work better on Android then they do on WP. WP was always last to receive any updates of any MS app, many times it was a year or more behind.
9. Re:Dies... by Darinbob · 2017-07-11 09:50 · Score: 2
  
  Yup, a good calculator by default would be great for Android.
10. Re: Dies... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 10:15 · Score: 0
  
  My game is still on their store. Blade Master of Mibu. It's the only mobile app store that I bother with these days because there's too much competition on the others and the users treat games as disposable as tissues
11. Re:Dies... by sd4f · 2017-07-11 15:47 · Score: 1
  
  Yea, it's just the official end of mainstream support. Reality is WP8.1's last update was early to mid 2015. With this though, more apps will lose support and possibly stop working. While the OS worked quite well, third party support really dropped badly in the last couple of years, and from the position where it was, i.e. not very well supported to begin with, it just went dire for the platform.
12. Re: Dies... by tepples · 2017-07-13 02:20 · Score: 1
  
  [Windows Phone Store is] the only mobile app store that I bother with these days because there's too much competition on the others and the users treat games as disposable as tissues
  Have you considered PlayStation Store (for PlayStation Vita) or Nintendo eShop (for Nintendo 3DS)?
How to upgrade to Windows Mobile 10 by syn3rg · 2017-07-11 04:49 · Score: 2

How to get Windows 10 Mobile
Windows 10 Mobile Specifications & Systems Requirements

--
The contents of this message have been doubly encrypted by ROT13
1. Re:How to upgrade to Windows Mobile 10 by unixisc · 2017-07-11 05:17 · Score: 1
  
  All phones are not upgradeable to Windows 10 Mobile. I tried it w/ a Lumia 520 I once had, but the system requirements clearly stated that it was not possible.
  Microsoft should make Windows 10 Mobile something like Android Marshmallow, so that people can swap the definitions of primary & secondary storage, then pop a 128GB SD card into any old Windows phone, define that as the main memory, and then install Windows 10 Mobile on that, and re-define the 8/16/32GB internal memory as external storage.
Nothing of value... by Desler · 2017-07-11 04:50 · Score: 1

Will they be having the same mock funeral they arrogantly had for the iPhone? The hubris was astounding.
Developers, Developers... by Malggi · 2017-07-11 04:53 · Score: 1

If anything proved Balmer's screed of "Developers, Developers, Developers!" it's Windows phone.
I had two Windows 8 phones and they were both (subjectively) amazing. A great user interface with live tiles, fluid animations, very low latency response times. Live tiles were a lot of fun too. Cortana three years ago had all the features that Google Assistant is finally rolling out today. The People app is to this day the best phone based contacts app I've ever seen.
BUT! Third party development was non existent. When I would show this phone off to friends they would love it, but when they realized it didn't have Snapchat, that was a deal breaker. Windows Phone was to the iPhone what MacOS was to Windows. Superior OS, but lack of applications killed it.
It's too bad really. I have an LG G6 now and it's a nice phone, but I still miss my Nokia 928. Now I know how people must have felt when WebOS folded.
1. Re:Developers, Developers... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:27 · Score: 0
  
  I went from WebOS to Windows Phone. I've been on android for 2 years now, with a launcher setup to mimic WebOS as much as possible.
  I hate the front end of android so much.
2. Re:Developers, Developers... by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · 2017-07-11 05:27 · Score: 1
  
  It's why Microsoft bought Xamarin, a cross-platform mobile environment, and made free. It's also why they have been helping Unity3D so much. They are trying to make developing for Windows on Mobile super cheap, to the point of one additional checkbox in the "Export to all platforms" dialogs.
  
  --
  Your ad here. Ask me how!
3. Re: Developers, Developers... by that+this+is+not+und · 2017-07-11 05:30 · Score: 1
  
  Windows Phone had an official app for The Register. I found that amusing, and for a time, useful.
4. Re:Developers, Developers... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:38 · Score: 0
  
  I guess that is why unity died?
  Xamarin was always free... subject to the threat of Microsoft patent litigation.
  Who wanted that?
5. Re:Developers, Developers... by MrKaos · 2017-07-11 12:17 · Score: 1
  
  If anything proved Balmer's screed of "Developers, Developers, Developers!" it's Windows phone.
  The thing that really killed Windows mobile was when they killed the first version, Windows Mobile 6. Like always with microsoft development there is a big upfront investment to be certified.
  Developers who made that investment in WM6 were soon disappointed when MS changed the platform entirely and effectively neutered the return these developers invested in the platform. Since developers aren't stupid it was hard to see anyone investing in the new platform. Once bitten, twice shy.
  So MS shot themselves in the foot with their mobile strategy by doing this to early adopters. Why would any developer invest their time in a company that did this to them.
  
  --
  My ism, it's full of beliefs.
6. Re:Developers, Developers... by drinkypoo · 2017-07-11 15:35 · Score: 1
  
  So MS shot themselves in the foot with their mobile strategy by doing this to early adopters. Why would any developer invest their time in a company that did this to them.
  I think the real problem was that they didn't spend enough time with .NET on wince before making the switch. Developers didn't take up .NET in sufficient numbers to make it work by that time, in part because .NET on wince was shit. The devices didn't have enough power to run .NET apps.
  
  --
  "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
7. Re:Developers, Developers... by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · 2017-07-12 08:08 · Score: 1
  
  Xamarin always had a free tier (and as you pointed out, may have, but almost certainly didn't, infringe on Microsoft's IP.) I recall something about the free tier was so off-putting that I went partway through learning it, but didn't finish. Microsoft has fixed both those issues.
  
  --
  Your ad here. Ask me how!
8. Re:Developers, Developers... by MrKaos · 2017-07-12 16:40 · Score: 1
  
  I think what you're saying is at that time .NET was shit on wince AND the platform didn't have enough cpu time to support it? It's an interesting perspective that I hadn't considered.
  The outcome of their solution to bringing something to market early was they alienated the people who would have become their advocates, hilarious greedy m$, thanks.
  
  --
  My ism, it's full of beliefs.
It isn't dead by Ukab+the+Great · 2017-07-11 04:54 · Score: 1

It's, it's, um, probably pining for Mt. Ranier.
1. Re:It isn't dead by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2017-07-11 05:37 · Score: 1
  
  Given we're talking about Microsoft... it's just pining for Redmond Town Center Mall.
  
  --
  #DeleteChrome
2. Re: It isn't dead by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:41 · Score: 0
  
  They still make it a special point to use this bullshit in Hawaii-5O.
A death march from start to finish by evolutionary · 2017-07-11 04:54 · Score: 1

The usual story with MS: Enter the market too late, rely on their dominance of the general user desktop market (decreasing with tablets and phones), and hoping a marketing/hype effort will be enough to compensate.IE/Edge is another example. The only question now is, between the heavyweight 'A' players. (Android and Apple) which will dominate the market. (or perhaps a fork of Android)

--
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" - Einstein
1. Re:A death march from start to finish by Misagon · 2017-07-11 05:04 · Score: 1
  
  To nit-pick, they didn't enter the market late. They were just left behind when the Blackberry and then the iPhone and Android whizzed past them.
  They have been trying to catch up, but didn't make it.
  
  --
  "We mustn't be caught by surprise by our own advancing technology" -- Aldous Huxley
2. Re:A death march from start to finish by Oswald+McWeany · 2017-07-11 05:05 · Score: 1
  
  The only question now is, between the heavyweight 'A' players. (Android and Apple) which will dominate the market. (or perhaps a fork of Android)
  Depends on your definition of dominate. Android dominates by market share.
  Apple dominates in profits for the host company.
  
  --
  "That's the way to do it" - Punch
3. Re:A death march from start to finish by thevirtualcat · 2017-07-11 05:22 · Score: 1
  
  It's the same thing that happened to IE.
  When Firefox (and later Chrome) hit the market and started decimating their market share, the just said "meh, businesses still love us." By the time they woke up, all they could do was damage control. Now they bitch and whine about how "browser monocultures" are the worst thing ever.
4. Re: A death march from start to finish by that+this+is+not+und · 2017-07-11 05:33 · Score: 0
  
  So as consumers get more and more of a clue, it's inevitable. Apple adopted the x86 and commodity pc components (the ide inferface hard drive!!!) It will be marvelous to see them forking Android (a bent fork with only one tine, it's the Apple Way!)
5. Re:A death march from start to finish by DuckDodgers · 2017-07-11 06:08 · Score: 1
  
  You skipped an important aspect of the story: the people who would otherwise be at the vanguard, the Microsoft fanatics, aren't interested. They thought Microsoft was serious about Pocked PC 2000, then it was abandoned. Then Windows Mobile, and then it was dropped. Then Windows Phone 7 was important. Then it was dropped. Then Windows Phone 8...
  
  It's poetic justice. The big reason Microsoft still dominates corporate desktop is legacy support. Companies are running Windows 95 and Windows NT applications they still need in dusty corners. That's why they bought XP, and Vista, and 7. But in Microsoft's quest to fight Blackberry and Palm and later the iPhone and Android, they kept introducing things and then dumping them. So legacy works against them.
6. Re:A death march from start to finish by sd4f · 2017-07-11 16:03 · Score: 1
  
  Actually, now that you make that analogy, it seems spot on. MS's approach has been to target 'enterprise' with their mobile products once it became clear the consumer attempt wasn't going anywhere (around 2013-2014). I've been quite sceptical about the strategy of targeting enterprise only, because the rise of the smartphone was decided by consumers, not enterprise. Browser wars appear to have gone in the same direction, while I'm purely an observer, it appears to me that even enterprise has been moving from IE/Edge purely because consumers, their staff, are so used to using something else. I'm now forced to use chrome at work (I prefer Opera though).
7. Re:A death march from start to finish by thevirtualcat · 2017-07-12 09:03 · Score: 1
  
  To be fair to them, up until the last decade or so, enterprises were their bread and butter.
  Before the iPhone, how many people did you know who had a smart phone (Palm, Blackberry, WinCE, etc) that *wasn't* issued by work? I knew one person who had a non-work smartphone.
  Internet Explorer is similar. Around the time Firefox was an upstart, many business-critical apps were being written around IE and ActiveX. To the average CTO, adding features like tabbed browsing just looks like "increased training burden" and "increased testing costs." So Microsoft was probably right when they said "Our customers don't want tabbed browsing."
  The assumption was that the consumer market would continue to be happy with the crumbs of the enterprise market. Turns out they were wrong about that and in both cases and they had to play catch up.
Still better than Android by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 04:56 · Score: 0

Even dead, WP was a better OS than Android.
Popular /= good
1. Re:Still better than Android by Desler · 2017-07-11 05:25 · Score: 1
  
  By the same logic, niche and unpopular != good.
2. Re:Still better than Android by DonkeyG5 · 2017-07-11 05:28 · Score: 1
  
  At least Microsoft didn't let manufacturers play with their OS like Google has done with Android.
3. Re:Still better than Android by tigersha · 2017-07-11 06:05 · Score: 1
  
  Agreed, although the Bluetooth sucks
  
  --
  The dangers of excessive individualism are nothing compared to the oppressiveness of excessive collectivism
4. Re:Still better than Android by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:45 · Score: 0
  
  Didn't get them much did it.
  Dead product, where Android has 99% of the market.
Missed Opportunity by pr0t0 · 2017-07-11 05:01 · Score: 1

I still think MS probably should have purchased RIM and re-introduced the Blackberry and BES. Blackberry was the enterprise phone for a long time, and it seemed like a natural fit back when Microsoft was courting Nokia in 2013. BB was on life support back then, but still had its fans.
It might have worked.
Probably not.

--
I'm sorry, but your opinion seems to be wrong.
1. Re:Missed Opportunity by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:12 · Score: 0
  
  No.
  BES was a god damn nightmare and a relic from a previous era.
  Ask anyone who ever administered BES if they'd like it back make sure to do it from a distance or duck preemptively.
  The whole blackberry ecosystem existed because phones were dumb and data was metered by the byte. It was the model where the network routed and processed the data so it could be carefully distributed to low powered devices with expensive transit costs.
  Well, now you can get multi-megabit cheap data and a quad core phone for less than a hundred bucks.
  Phones are computers and they can fetch their own mail. And web pages. And video streams. And everything else.
2. Re:Missed Opportunity by zlives · 2017-07-11 05:17 · Score: 1
  
  BB was always about security and still is. clearly that is something if you don't care for... then there are other choices including no management.
3. Re:Missed Opportunity by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:22 · Score: 0
  
  Blackberry was saddled with those RIM royalties...an albatross around any suitor's neck. It was essentially a poison pill precluding any engagement. The deeper your pockets were, the more RIM would be looting from you. The parasite took what it could from BB. With a financially healthy host like MS, it would have become more virulent.
4. Re:Missed Opportunity by unixisc · 2017-07-11 05:24 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, that OS might have been more successful had it remained in Nokia's hands. Microsoft could have bought off RIM and integrated their features into Windows 10 Mobile, which incidentally is what Windows Phone should have been like.
  Had Nokia kept it, there could have been 2 stores - one Microsoft's, one Nokia's, and there would have been more of an incentive to buy those
5. Re:Missed Opportunity by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:29 · Score: 0
  
  Security? So that's why their phones are just rebranded Chinese junk with Android? You best be joking...
6. Re: Missed Opportunity by that+this+is+not+und · 2017-07-11 05:38 · Score: 1
  
  Microsoft could have leveraged Blackberry into something-Exchange and captured the entire business market. The only people who would now be using Apple phones in business would be the guys with tasseled shoes.
7. Re: Missed Opportunity by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 10:38 · Score: 0
  
  I see your tassled shoes and raise you a manbun
8. Re:Missed Opportunity by JohnFen · 2017-07-12 03:29 · Score: 1
  
  BB was always about security and still is.
  Well, it was, until BB decided it was OK to weaken security in exchange for being allowed to continue to sell phones in certain markets. That basically eliminated the only reason to use BB phones.
9. Re:Missed Opportunity by zlives · 2017-07-13 06:53 · Score: 1
  
  not entirely true, you can setup BB to use private keys so they would then have to use tools to decrypt your stream like certain govt agencies do. the governments of india, china and US forced the issue on their citizens. if those citizens cared for security they would make the change in their governments. as a business you have the ability to configure.
10. Re: Missed Opportunity by zlives · 2017-07-13 06:54 · Score: 1
  
  too bad they decided windows phone was a better option for their cash.
11. Re:Missed Opportunity by JohnFen · 2017-07-13 07:08 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, that was what I was referring to.
  
  if those citizens cared for security they would make the change in their governments.
  Wow. That's not a realistic response at all. In most of those governments (perhaps including the US), the only way to enact such a change is through violent revolution. Such an action is unlikely to succeed, and even if it does, it would take a long time and cost a whole lot of lives.
  That's all rather beside the point, though. Regardless of whether or not there exist ways to change the situation politically, the fact remains that BB cannot be relied upon to provide a secure communications channel.
12. Re:Missed Opportunity by zlives · 2017-07-13 11:37 · Score: 1
  
  i don't think violent revolutions really work (or most often not). Looking at the political landscape, typically its more important to the citizenry whom you sleep with than your ideas about privacy. Thus things won't change unless it becomes important. so probably never... look, there, squirrel.
  BB provides a secure channel if you configure it. now if your adversary is your government... you better roll your own. Even then when the collusion between Govt and private sector is on the wire (att, verizon) just make sure govt is not your adversary or go dark.
LOL by Trailer+Trash · 2017-07-11 05:08 · Score: 1

the millions of devices still running the operating system
LOL!
Yeah, right.
They should just call the 2 people still using Windows phone to let them know.

--
Do you have ESP?
1. Re:LOL by Dunbal · 2017-07-11 05:16 · Score: 1
  
  I already know. You need to find the other user.
  
  --
  Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
2. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:26 · Score: 0
  
  LOL!
  Yeah, right.
  They should just call the 2 people still using Windows phone to let them know.
  Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft personally knocked on my door to thank me for using a Windows Phone and told me that they were stopping support and he wanted to tell me personally as I was the only other user.
3. Re:LOL by Desler · 2017-07-11 05:29 · Score: 1
  
  And then kicked you in the nuts and walked away laughing?
4. Re:LOL by Fly+Swatter · 2017-07-11 07:17 · Score: 1
  
  I already know. You need to find the other user.
  Hi! I am the second user. The ops job is done here.
  Shame they broke the promise of the windows 10 upgrade for my lumia 450. Bastards.
5. Re: LOL by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:05 · Score: 0
  
  So I'm in a very exclusive club by posting from Nokia Lumia 930.
6. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-12 01:35 · Score: 0
  
  My company (multi national 100k+ employees) still has 90%+ of staff on Windows Phone. It's on its way out, we'll move to Android over the next 2 years, but in the meantime there are still millions of company windows phones in use.
  In other words, it may be dead but it hasn't stopped twitching yet!
7. Re:LOL by mcswell · 2017-07-12 03:15 · Score: 1
  
  No, no, no!!! I'm the second user!
  Unless--gasp--there are more than two of us! But no, that wouldn't fit the \. ethos, so it couldn't be true.
8. Re:LOL by WallyL · 2017-07-12 05:59 · Score: 1
  
  Boys, boys, you're both ugly/use Windows phones.
UI Disaster by crafoo · 2017-07-11 05:29 · Score: 1

I remember looking at various screenshots and videos of the windows phone UI. It had bunches of flat-shaded boxes with random information and interactive elements. It was almost impossible to figure out what was interactive and what was passive information. Also very simple arrangements had boxes halfway scrolled off the screen requiring finger-fidgeting for no good reason. It just looked sloppy and mostly painful to use.
The tragedy is forcing this UI design failure into the desktop OS as well. It didn't even work well on the phone!
1. Re:UI Disaster by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:00 · Score: 0
  
  This is pretty much spot on. If you've ever used a Windows phone it's a bunch of stuff that's randomly blinking, and "animating" for no good reason. The stuff is placed halfway off screen to let you know to scroll and access more stuff...which is ridiculous . Live Tiles sounds like a good idea until you realize they're not big enough to meaningfully display any information.
  There's minimal ability to customize or reduce the absurdity of these choices by design.
2. Re:UI Disaster by mcswell · 2017-07-12 03:18 · Score: 1
  
  Strange, I switched from an Android phone to a Windows 8 phone several years ago, and found the Windows phone's interface far more intuitive, easy to use, lacking bloatware (and no warnings that my phone would stop working when I tried to uninstall a piece of said bloatware). In short, I find the Win8 interface much better than the Android.
  YMMV.
Unlike the Apple ecosystem? by p51d007 · 2017-07-11 05:31 · Score: 1

Phone, computer, iPad etc? Granted...their system integration actually WORKS, but still...
1. Re:Unlike the Apple ecosystem? by fred6666 · 2017-07-11 06:00 · Score: 1
  
  I'm also glad Apple doesn't have more than 10-20% market share in the computer and smartphone markets.
Yeah, well... by woboyle · 2017-07-11 05:33 · Score: 4, Interesting

I was working for Nokia Mobile Phones when MS took it over. A week before the deal was complete, MS said that everyone would be kept on. Two weeks after the deal was complete, they laid off 20,000 of us! Yeah. MS is a predator! We were a division of Nokia that was serving over 100 million customers world-wide...

--
Sometimes, real fast is almost as good as real-time.
1. Re:Yeah, well... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 12:35 · Score: 0
  
  Which is such a shame because the Nokia phones are darned good. I still have the Ikon Lumia and its still working even when I dropped it on the corner and the metal bent in and popped the plastic back out :(
2. Re:Yeah, well... by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 18:33 · Score: 0
  
  I was working for Nokia too (KOM), then for greedy Microsoft until they closed the factory.
  The first time I've tested a prototype way before street release date I knew it will be a flop.
3. Re:Yeah, well... by mcswell · 2017-07-12 03:20 · Score: 1
  
  In the interest of 1up, I've dropped my Nokia on concrete several times, had pieces pop off and the battery fall out. Put it back together, and it still ticks.
  So agreed, the Nokia phones are, in my experience, darned good.
4. Re:Yeah, well... by JohnFen · 2017-07-12 03:33 · Score: 1
  
  MS is a predator!
  You sound surprised, but shouldn't be! Microsoft's history makes this clear, and if you're too young to remember it firsthand, it's easily discoverable.
It sucked by nospam007 · 2017-07-11 05:36 · Score: 3, Funny

The only place where everybody had a Windows phone was on the TV show 'Under the Dome'.
And even there they couldn't get any service.
is there one or two WPhones ?? by stooo · 2017-07-11 05:40 · Score: 1

"Windows Phone Dies Today"
or is it rather
"Windows Phones Die Today"
?
is there one or two WPhones remaining in service to die today ?

--
aaaaaaa
1. Re:is there one or two WPhones ?? by green1 · 2017-07-11 06:11 · Score: 1
  
  Numbers in the article talk about "80%" and "20%" assuming whole numbers of devices, that would imply there were actually FIVE devices remaining in service!
2. Re:is there one or two WPhones ?? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 07:54 · Score: 0
  
  Pictures, or it didn't happen!
I hope you enjoy your apple/android duopoly by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:52 · Score: 0

You could of had competition, but no you didn't support the underdog when it mattered. The same thing happened with Linux on the desktop and not supporting Firefox which caused it to commit suicide with version 57.
You deserve all the android malware and $1500 iphones that are coming.
1. Re:I hope you enjoy your apple/android duopoly by green1 · 2017-07-11 06:24 · Score: 2
  
  Competition is good, however it's not worth picking an inferior choice just for the sake of competition, the competition needs to be able to compete on it's own merits.
  To be blunt, Despite the massive marketing push by MS that put these at the forefront of every carrier's store, discounted them to effectively free, and pushed them on every TV show and movie, nobody was willing to put up with Windows Phone.
  I also don't use Firefox because it isn't the best choice. I do however use Linux on the desktop, because it's better than the alternatives.
  The success of failure of a product is the responsibility of those developing the product, not of the consumers. It is not our obligation to adopt a product that we don't want just to support the concept of competition.
2. Re:I hope you enjoy your apple/android duopoly by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:25 · Score: 0
  
  I prefer either of those options compared to the alternative from microsoft... They have such a good track-record in terms of security.
  http://www.cvedetails.com/vuln...
  There you have a list of code-execution issues in Microsoft products... Most of them are remotely exploitable!!!
  Only 49 remotely exploitable issues reported since 2017-05-12...
He's jus' sleepin'! by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 05:54 · Score: 0

He's not dead, he's jus' sleepin'!
He's jus' sleepin'!
Man, whoever came up with using apostrophes for missing letters to show accents and short / silent letters should be punched in their apostrophe.
Teal'c agrees.
Window's Phone by stooo · 2017-07-11 05:55 · Score: 1

Window's Phone : https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1Z45FYq...

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aaaaaaa
RIP by tim620 · 2017-07-11 06:03 · Score: 1

A part of me had hoped Windows phones would have succeeded. But, I understand why it didn't succeed.
I had a Lumia 928 for a brief time. I loved the interface and the phone. But it really lacked apps. Unfortunately, iPhone and Android already had too much of a foothold. It is much easier to develop apps for 1 or 2 platforms than it is for 3 or 4. So, the top 2 platforms win.
I've used since WinMo 5.0 by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:14 · Score: 0

I've used Windows Phones since Windows Mobile 5.0 -> Lumia 950XL.
I have to say this, although I now use Android, I absolutely hate Android's look. I even tried all the different Windows Phone launchers, but nothing beats the Windows Phone OS.
The app situation was horrible though after a few weeks of using Android.
My windows phone was updated to Win10 by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:15 · Score: 0

Posting AC for obvious reasons. I own and enjoy Windows phone. It is quite secure and has useful AI. I don't much care for apps, that what browser is for.

My Lumina originally shipped with Win 8, now and for some time, it was upgraded to Windows 10. I don't see where 10% statistic in the article coming from, as all but oldest Windows phones were upgraded to Win10.
Stupid story by DogDude · 2017-07-11 06:15 · Score: 1

This is a stupid story. Support officially ended for it. That doesn't mean it's "dead". Here are the list of all of the products that have support ending in 2017. Are all of these "dead", then?

Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 2 January 10, 2017
Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 1 October 10, 2017

Microsoft Customer Care Framework 2005 .NET 2.0 Edition
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006
Microsoft Voice Command 1.6
January 10, 2017

Microsoft BizTalk Adapters for Host Systems
Microsoft BizTalk FileAct and InterAct Adapters for SWIFT
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007
Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Host Integration Server 2006
Microsoft Office Communicator Phone Edition
Microsoft Office InterConnect 2007
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals
Windows Vista
April 11, 2017
Engyro Product Connectors for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007
Microsoft Identity Lifecycle Manager 2007
Microsoft Integration Designer 2.5
Microsoft Intelligent Application Gateway 2007
Microsoft ProClarity Analytics Server 6.3
Microsoft ProClarity Desktop Professional 6.3
Microsoft ProClarity SharePoint Viewer 6.3
Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization 4.1 for Desktops
Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization 4.2 for Desktops
Microsoft SoftGrid Application Virtualization for Terminal Services 4.1
Microsoft Virtual PC 2007
Microsoft Visual SourceSafe 2005 Standard Edition
Windows Phone 8.1

July 11, 2017
Microsoft Excel for Mac 2011
Microsoft Lync for Mac 2011
Microsoft Office for Mac 2011
Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011
Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac 2011
Microsoft Word for Mac 2011
2007 Microsoft Office Servers
2007 Microsoft Office Suite
Microsoft Customer Care Framework 2008
Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0
Microsoft Dynamics SL 7.0
Microsoft Expression BlendMicrosoft Expression Design
Microsoft Expression MediaMicrosoft Expression Studio
Microsoft Office Groove 2007
Microsoft Office Groove Server 2007
Microsoft Office Project 2007
Microsoft Office Project Server 2007
Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007
Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
Microsoft Office Visio 2007
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007
Microsoft Visual J# Version 2.0 Redistributable Package Second Edition
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

--
I don't respond to AC's.
1. Re:Stupid story by Chris+Mattern · 2017-07-11 06:24 · Score: 1
  
  Yes, of course they're dead. Now, some businesses may be stupid enough to continue using a product that is unsupported, but that doesn't change the fact that they're dead.
2. Re:Stupid story by DogDude · 2017-07-11 06:26 · Score: 1
  
  What does it mean for software to be "dead"? We still use a bunch of the software on this list and it still works just fine.
  
  --
  I don't respond to AC's.
3. Re:Stupid story by Anne+Thwacks · 2017-07-11 07:43 · Score: 1
  
  We still use a bunch of the software on this list and it still works just fine.
  So you are brain dead.
  
  --
  Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
4. Re:Stupid story by JohnFen · 2017-07-12 03:35 · Score: 1
  
  "Dead" means no longer sold or supported.
Where's the hubris today? by UnknowingFool · 2017-07-11 06:17 · Score: 1

Remember when Microsoft held a "funeral" for the iPhone in 2010? Today the iPhone makes more money for Apple than all of MS.

--
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Didn't Micosoft have a funeral for the iPhone? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:25 · Score: 0

Guess they had a funeral for the wrong phone...
I've had every rev by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 06:51 · Score: 0

The early ones were great, but as they started to cram features into it (and moved it to NT kernel), it began to get real bad real fast. The latest is the worst phone I've had since WinCE 5(!). It lags in the most inopportune times, speech will sometimes just stop getting picked up at all (recent bug), the keyboard routinely shuts down (crashes) while typing (year old bug), and MS Edge has gotten almost unusable, as it now will get bogged down in (assuming) JS to the point where it's completely unresponsive and has to be killed.
Good riddance. They have no one to blame but themselves (but that's been the case since they ceded smartphones and tablets to Apple in the first place)
I love my Windows Phone by otopico · 2017-07-11 06:53 · Score: 1

I have a Lumia 928 with Windows Phone 8.1 and once it dies, I might not get another phone. Android and iOS are still clunky messes. For as much as Microsoft gets wrong, sometimes they get things right; and I think WP 8.1 on Nokia designed hardware was one of those moments.
1. Re:I love my Windows Phone by tim620 · 2017-07-11 07:54 · Score: 1
  
  I used to have a Lumia 928. I loved it. I wish I still had it, somedays.
2. Re:I love my Windows Phone by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 08:02 · Score: 0
  
  I have a Lumia 950XL with Win10Mo, and it has only gotten better. Not just since your phone came out, but since I bought my phone. They're still actively adding features.
  iOS is archaic by comparison. Pure 2007. And Android is just a dumpster fire.
No it doesn't by HalAtWork · 2017-07-11 06:53 · Score: 2

Headline does not match summary. Windows Phones running 8.x are now unsupported, but Windows Phones running 10.x are still around and supported. Headline should be "Windows Phone OS 8.x unsupported as of today"

--
Twinstiq, game news
1. Re:No it doesn't by ChunderDownunder · 2017-07-11 11:09 · Score: 1
  
  clickbait headline is clickbait.
  Windows Phone is on life-support. They can't kill it per se because their OEM partner, HP, released a Windows 10 phone only in August last year.
2. Re:No it doesn't by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 13:32 · Score: 0
  
  How about "80% of Windows phones still in use are now unsupported"?
  That's pretty close to "dead".
3. Re:No it doesn't by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 15:59 · Score: 0
  
  No, Windows Phone is DEAD. Just like Palm is dead even though somewhere someone probably is still using one and HP is still in the phone business, sort of. There is no Windows Phone 10, Microsoft called it "Windows 10 Mobile". "Windows Phone" is dead, no longer a supported brand. Windows 10 Mobile is also dead, not as dead, but dead as in Microsoft expects negligible revenue from it going forward, and is winding spending down to 0 (according to them, in their last earnings release).
  By next year, they'll end support for W10M and someone will write a "Windows Mobile Dies Today" story while others will say things like "Windows Phone and Windows are the same thing, they use the same code, so as long as any Windows exists Windows Phone will live, the headline should be 'Windows Phone Edition 10 For Mobile unsupported as of today.'"
4. Re:No it doesn't by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-12 06:22 · Score: 0
  
  Don't confuse the issue with facts.
  This is Slashdot. Facts have no place here!
Story mentions 8.1 - what about Denim? by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 07:03 · Score: 0

8.1 hits End of Support today, yup. But what about "Lumia Denim" (8.1 Update 1 / Update 2)?
Any comment from Balmer? by sandbagger · 2017-07-11 07:34 · Score: 1

Just curious.

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---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
Two things by rsilvergun · 2017-07-11 07:59 · Score: 1

a. Microsoft is not hip. You need to be hip to sell phones because like movies the sales are driven by what teenagers buy.

b. Microsoft, for whatever reason, refused to give rank and file phone salesmen a spiff. So if I went into a Sprint/AT&T/T-Mobile/Whatever and bought an iPhone or Android that salesmen got a few bucks. He/she got nothing for a Windows phone. So they were promptly relegated to the bottom of a filing cabinet in a disused lavatory behind a sign marked 'beware of leopard'.

--
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
1. Re:Two things by Trogre · 2017-07-19 12:46 · Score: 1
  
  a. Microsoft is not hip. You need to be hip to sell phones because like movies the sales are driven by what teenagers buy.
  Nonsense. Now sit still while I squirt you a couple of cool songs....
  
  --
  "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
My Windows Phone met a Brick Wall by Northdot · 2017-07-11 08:28 · Score: 1

Had a cheap Lumia with Windows 8.1 mobile and it was a great little phone. Snappy well designed UI. I figured the apps would come eventually.
So I upgraded to another Lumia with Windows 10 mobile and it was a buggy, laggy mess. It would constantly show me outdated "live" tiles, and basic functions stopped working after an automatic update. Furthermore it was a dual sim phone, and they stupidly designated the sims as 1 and 2 instead of A and B. So the message and phone tiles would always have a 1 or 2 on them and it appeared like you had 1 or 2 messages - what a stupid design decision. Ended up literally throwing it against a brick wall in frustration. Completely smashed with satisfying chunks of the screen missing.
Got an iPhone. Way more expensive but you get what your pay for. Very happy. Oh and it has every app you could want.
1. Re:My Windows Phone met a Brick Wall by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:49 · Score: 0
  
  Oh and it has every app you could want.
  Console emulators? Nope.
And Hawaii 5-0 by lamer01 · 2017-07-11 09:00 · Score: 1

And a few movies I've run across but don't remember the names.
Nokia 650 rocks with Windows 10 by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 09:11 · Score: 0

Amazon had it for $120 and it runs like a champ...a shame that MS couldn't do more.
They pissed off Nokia fans by Stormwatch · 2017-07-11 10:10 · Score: 1

Microsoft thought they could hijack Nokia's passionate fanbase. But those people were hyped for MeeGo, so when that died, everyone was furious. So you could say that WP didn't merely start from zero, it started from a huge negative number: millions of people who hated it by default.

--
Circumcision is child abuse.
its not dead by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 10:31 · Score: 0

my windows phone 7 is charging right now, im not replacing it until it actually dies, probably dozens of chinese people died in a factory somewhere to make it, ill honor their sacrifice, because im a real man, unlike the honorless faggots that buy iphones every year and think they are saving the planet
I have used Android, Apple, and Microsoft phones by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-11 12:26 · Score: 0

Lumia 635 with Windows Phone 8.1 is still my favorite. I don't need 1000 crapplets on the device for it to meet my needs. If I want a tablet, I get a tablet. If i want a PC, I get a PC. Trying to turn a phone into a tablet or PC is a fools errand. You are adapting your behavior to the phone, and not vice versa.
Lumia 530 by tezbobobo · 2017-07-11 12:39 · Score: 1

Hey Windows guys,
I know you're reading this. Could you please, please, please flick the switch that lets me install Windows 10 on my Lumia 530 before you turn out the lights.
Thanks,
Tezbobobo.
Apple was the first to give the dev kit away by rsilvergun · 2017-07-11 16:23 · Score: 1

At least in the States. Up until then the cheapest one I knew was a couple grand. And there were big fees for getting your app hosted. Forget about 'free' apps.

--
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I love my windows phone 8.1 by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-12 00:35 · Score: 0

The hardware is fantastic, and the os was the easiest to use. I love the fact that an os setting was reflected in every app, not just the ones that wanted it. Or if you didnt want facebook, you could uninstall it without having to root the device.
Today? by JohnFen · 2017-07-12 03:14 · Score: 1

It seems to me that Windows Phone died years ago. They're just finally burying the body.
Misleading Clickbait by Anonymous Coward · 2017-07-12 04:39 · Score: 0

The summary of this article is very misleading, even by Slashdot's standards. Borderline fake news.
Millions?? by beastofburdon · 2017-07-12 05:00 · Score: 1

dozens of devices still running the operating system
There fixed that for you.
Mac mini for $499 by tepples · 2017-07-12 06:52 · Score: 1

Apple has quite a viable alternative, and if they introduced a few Macs in the $500 range, they'd be good to go.
I don't know what country you're posting from, but as of today, a Mac mini is $499. I'm aware that doesn't include a monitor, but let's say $514 if you reuse your living room HDTV as a monitor and source a keyboard and mouse from Goodwill.
Would that explain why ... by RockDoctor · 2017-07-15 00:22 · Score: 1

My wife can't call me on Skype (an Microsoft product, now) on a Nokia (Microsoft) Windows (Microsoft) phone, while she can call her Babushka in Pyccia on Skype (Microsoft) on a white-box PC running pirated Windows.
Tell me again, Apple-o-philes, of the benefits of single-supplier ecosystems.

--
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"