With the (rumoured) upcoming release of Windows Phone 8.1 Preview tomorrow,
I nonetheless, am a little bit emotional just thinking about this.
I will remember Windows 8, when it was released in October 2012.
I remember like it was yesterday.
Out of the sea of iPhones and Androids,
there was 1 lonely outsider who used a Windows Phone,
who used a Lumia, an HTC 8x.
Do you remember when you are the only one?
Do you remember when we made discussions, well somewhat sad discussions on why
no one has and no one uses Windows Phones?
It felt pretty lonely.
But I felt very special, because my phone was the subject of curiosity,
people would ask me if this was the Carl Zeiss phone. Lol. Carl Zeiss.
At least the camera made it through words of mouth.
I felt different, I felt proud because i was THE only one I knew
who has the Windows Phone. The Nokia Lumia 920.
I remember, when Windows Phone 8 was first released, and we had discussions
about seeing other Lumias in the wild, just to read the same stories:
"I'm the only one :("
Although as much as I was proud of my 920,
I felt dismayed, and somewhat unsatisfied with my Windows Phone 8.
There was literally no features to be proud of,
Live tiles are good, but 90% of the time they didn't even work. Lol.
No notifications, even some members argued that live tiles are enough.
But clearly it wasn't.
I guess that we are just some of the most passionate fanboys out there
that even with the mishaps and the shortcomings of the best phone OS,
we find reasons to justify them.
Sometimes they would sound stupid,
sometimes they do make sense.
But overall, we had to settle with what we had.
That's not to say we didn't make the most out of the little features we have.
Even with what we have, we were the most resourceful bunch.
We find ways to help ourselves, to help each other out,
to make the early Windows Phone 8 experiences more tolerable,
and more fun to have.
I will close my speech with more of this later, but
let me talk about the forums now.
All the friends I have made, jomarr, Georges, Alex, missy, .aR (they're members of a different forum but we're all Windows Phone fans)
Thank you to all the amazing moderators who made sure the forums are a pleasant place to be in.
All the annoying people too.
Well spaulagain was pretty annoying, because he kept bringing down the idea of a background,
and called me dumb,
and everyone else dumb for agreeing with me.
I get annoyed with him sometimes because he thinks that his views are superior than everyone else's,
and that it should be his opinions that only matter.
But we're getting backgrounds for 8.1! We won the fight!
And I shall put this behind. I have forgiven him.
He does bring really good insights and great points though.
And he can be pretty funny sometimes; he's quite the joker.
I remember when he made some comment "Was she stroking it" and I lol'ed for a good while.
All the agreements, all the disagreements. All the happy moments, all the sad moments.
I remember when Nokia released #ToInstaWithLove, and it started the Instagram revolution, and we did it! We got Instagram!
I remember when we get so excited at every single Instagram related article,
just to leave out sad, disappointed, crushed, even angry that the app is not going to be released, lol.
Well we did it.
I remember when we had no apps, now we do. Our apps are growing day by day.
But we are still lacking in this department. Hopefully the universal apps will be the holy grail
for the future Windows Phone apps.
I remember when we had no market share. We do now.
But it's still a long fight to get where we want to be.
Sometimes I wish that our market share stays the same, because it brings that special feeling
that I am part of the few special people who have Windows Phone.
But what good is it to keep the special feeling if I'm the only one with the WP experience?
I hope we grow more and more!
We're already #2 in many countries, and SHOULD be #2 in the US and Canada, if they just smack
their heads and rethink how they organize this whole carrier exclusivity mess.
But Windows Phone 8 is not without the star developers that contributed to Windows Phone.
Without them, Windows Phone wouldn't be what it is now.
Thank you
RiseUpGames for ProShot, and still continuing to support the best Camera app there is
Thank you Liquid Daffodil for your quirky, and extraordinary apps
Thank you, Skinnery, Wiztiles, for bringing in more colour to our Windows Phone experiences
IT IS because of you, that Microsoft listened, and now giving us backgrounds.
But rest assured that I will still use your apps to customize my screen.
Hell I will use it even more frequently now! I love everything that you have made.
But of course, we have to thank Rudy.
Words can't describe how much you mean to me,
to us,
to Windows Phone 8.
There is so much to thank you for, but it's better for that thank you
to be from my heart, and through spirit.
I hope nothing but more success to you.
Can you hire me? I promise to make you the best coffee everyday!
Lastly, thank you, WPC Editors, for making my day with your latest news,
especially with leaks, updates, and rumours.
Thank you for all the hard work you have done since Windows Phone 7, and Windows Phone 8.
My sexy Daniel Rubino who I proposed marriage to a many billion times, but left me heartbroken every. single. time.
And thank you everyone else.
Here is to me, and to us sticking together, through thin and thick.
Through happiness, and disappointment.
Through success and failure.
We MADE IT!
We are HERE!
We will be THERE!
We can finally say,
"I WAS THERE WHEN IT ALL BEGAN"
And to end this speech.
Here comes to us,
Windows Phone 8.1
The old chapter ends, and the book is not yet closed.
The new chapter awaits,
a new beginning,
a new era is upon us
Windows Phone 8.1 HERE WE COME!
