a5cent
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updated post above with a link to a wpcentral article on this topic
I saw the article, but it doesn't answer any of what I think are the most important questions... or am I missing something?
updated post above with a link to a wpcentral article on this topic
True. keep on voting against Android apps everyone.
We do NOT want Android apps on WP ?€“ Feature Suggestions for Windows Phone
Yes. And? That makes this thread exactly about all the open questions in both of our comments...
Will Android ports be tweaked for WP?
Will Android ports include any WP specific enhancements?
Will developing native WP apps make any sense at all, when it is far cheaper to port the Android version?
Will developers choose to remove their native WP apps from the marketplace and replace them with direct Android ports instead? If so, how many developers would do that, and which ones?
As I've said many times in this thread - apps will likely need porting (or tweaking, if you prefer) to run on WP/Android. And in any likely scenario, Microsoft will control what apps are available, so can *enforce*, for example, design guidelines as they can for WP 'native' apps.
Given the above, why would it matter whether apps where 'native' WP or WP/Android?
You are speculating, and your assumptions are not ones I'm willing to make.
While it is true that WP apps are tested before being published to the WP store, that has always been, for the most part, an automated process. The level of automation is soon to reach 100%. In other words, there is nobody at MS who rejects apps if they fail to conform to "modern" UI design guidelines.
The UI consistency we enjoy on WP exists not because of the app testing process, but because of WP's "consistency-enforcing" UI APIs. These APIs do not exist on Android. MS could replicate them and mandate their use, but that would again make it very costly to port apps. This defeats the whole point of Android compatibility and thus makes little sense. I don't see how to enforce what you think should be enforceable, without being self defeating or cost prohibitive.
I admit it wouldn't. I just doubt that the above is 'given'.
IMHO, to decide if this is a good idea or a terrible idea, requires a lot more information than we currently have.
Lots of speculation on this thread, though it is a credible rumor based on the sources that have published it. We really don't have enough information to know what this would look like, how it would work, or if it would be beneficial or disastrous. Since we are all speculating though, I'll add my two cents below.
What I think might be a fairly strong possibility is that Windows Phone will simply support apps written in Java, aka the language that most Android apps are written in. It would probably be similar to how Windows Phone already supports apps written in HTLM5/JS, C#, C++, etc. It might not mean literally opening and running the .APK on WP8.X, but instead Windows Phone officially supporting a coding language that a lot of mobile developers, ie Android developers, are familiar with.
It could be a way to make the platform more appealing to developers who haven't looked at Windows Phone before due to coding preferences and familiarity with using Java. I think one of the biggest hurdles for Microsoft right now is that the other platforms have a head start with app development and Microsoft's development tech has seen a decline in popularity recently. If they added support for a popular coding language it could be a boost for interest. It would also maintain the integrity of the Windows Phone ecosystem, since it wouldn't mean that "native" Windows Phone apps would be shoved aside for Android ports, but only that they would be adding more options for app development.
The efforts to "maintain the integrity of the platform" are vain for Windows Phone. If the OSs proliferate the incentives for the adoption of cross platform technologies increase and integrity is destroyed in all the platforms. If there is a consolidation in just one or two big platforms, native apps become viable for more use cases, but you could find the integrity only on Android and iOS, WP would be dead.
In the short term some OSs are using the Android SDK as the cross platform tech because HTML5 is still immature, probably in 2014 more than 50% of the Android compatible devices won't use GMS. In the long term HTML5 should be the cross platform tech.
So, if WP survives integrity is an impossible scenario. Microsoft, just bring us the Android apps we need before WP dies.
i dont understand why u need more evidence for MSFT products being better, after living in a world built up on Windows."Always will be" - that's quite a significant claim. Evidence please.
Then don't install any.
i dont understand why u need more evidence for MSFT products being better, after living in a world built up on Windows.
there are other OSs and products competing with MSFT products, but cant replace it fully.
that's what it meant.
i remember a comment read long ago (or it might be a fake argument posing someone else)
it was like Google arguing MSFT.
Google is saying i am dominating the Internet, u r nowhere and u will be nowhere in the future.
Microsoft's Reply was, "cool down buddy. the waves u r riding on are created by me. without me, there would not have been internet, there will be 90% less revenue to you, and u will be lost, where google cannot find u."
i think its true, as 80-90 % of Non-windows users, use other OSs, because it's free.
Same thing is true with Android. the main reason android grown this much, is because its free. (another reason is wrong policies of Symbian foundation, which died own death).
i dont understand why u need more evidence for MSFT products being better, after living in a world built up on Windows.
I wasn't asking for evidence that Microsoft's products are "better". That is largely a matter of opinion. I was asking for evidence to support the claim (make by k0de, if I remember correctly), that "MSFT products are and will always be the best that computing can offer." (my emphasis). Unless Ms/Mr k0de has a time machine, I'm not sure how she/he can make that claim, so I'm curious to know what the foundation for it is.
A thought... what if this plan only applied to games on Android? From what I understand, a lot of the 'fad apps' happen to be games such as Candy Crush. What if Microsoft focused this project to making it easy for developers to push the latest games to Windows Phone with little effort and cost?