HD2 a dead end??? LOL!!

[R32_Rocky]

Where is the comment section to be able to reply back to such a blatantly stupid article? Not only does that original author (Mossberg) look like a Peter, Paul, and Mary (or would that be one of the old Papas without the Mamas???) REJECT, but through his other articles, and even his own reader's comments - he is a blatant Apple lover!!!!! What, he maybe spent a whole 5 minutes with the HD2?? Cause his review sure reads like it. He even misrepresented the number of apps out for Windows phones (said only a little over 1000 apps). And of course he mentions the 100,000+ apps for the iphone. Just did not mention that 50,000 of them were the same or similar. I mean come on folks, just how many different versions of phone farts can there be on the iphone????

And he blasted theHTC Sense screen for having too FEW shortcuts? LOL!!! If he had realy done any looking into our phone, he'd have seen all the tweaks out there to make the phone do or be anything you want it to. Heck, without even a custom rom, just Cookie Monster's home screen tweak, I have a ton of shortcuts available! Can THAT be said for his beloved iphone? NOT! What a total LOSER he is! But the very scary thing about him, is that posting articles for the Wall Street Journal, people will beleive him!! Just like the many who followed Jerry Jones and drank the cool-aide!!!! Honestly, he is an old DORK! A relic! And I can say this, cause I am 55, but yet still way more tech savy than he is, duh!

 

[d-signet]

firstly i totally agree that there's no place to put comments on the article itself...alsmost as stupid a decision as the article itself.
You're correct, there may be only 1000 apps ON MARKETPLACE - but unlike the iphone i can install any of the thousands of apps available on the net that ARENT on marketplace too

However i have to agree that it's a dead-end device - as are ALL current WM phones.

It's all very well MS saying that they're going to continue developing the system etc but since they discontinued the development tools it's plain that they're not really planning on it being around any longer than it needs to be. If i want to develop an app for WM6.x at the moment i need to spend ?500-?1000 on an obsolete version of visual studio pro - and nobody in their right mind will do that.
I think it's a great device and i've been using various WM phones for that last 8 years or so...but unfortunately unless a cheap/free toolset for development comes out (which wont happen) or at least the ability to write code using the current version of v.studio (which ALSO wont happen) i can see this being the end of the line.
WP7 just doesn't do it for me...i'm a business user and removing copy&paste and the ability to install custom apps is a total platform killer for me.
As anybody writing new apps will need 2 different versions of v/studio (2010 for WP7 and 2008 pro for wm6.x) I think the available new software for this OS will dry up pretty quickly once WP7 devices are launched

I WAS planning on buying an HD2 , but it was the same day VS2010 was released and when i checked the trial version for WM6.x support i changed my mind. I'm sticking with my old Diamond for now, and when it dies i guess i'm going to head over to android. Very sad

 

[R32_Rocky]

Just something to think about: as a business user, then you must also remember that Windows Vista was supposed to kill off Windows XP too. Everyone was supposed to dump XP and migrate over to Vista. Even with the more stable Windows 7 out now, most companies (and many home users and hard core gamers) still use XP. Even the developers still make programs for XP, and how many times has MS had to push back the end of support for XP?

It could very well happen again here on the phone OS, if MS makes WP7 too much of a twitter tweet phone and forgo the business users needs. And sadly, WP7 does look like it is more targeted towards the "hip" crowd and constant TxTiNg updates than business power users. So who knows if 6.X.X is totally forgotten? I don't seriously see MS wanting to lose users to Android. Perhaps once again their bluff would be called, and the users will force MS to keep support going for 6.X.X like they did with XP.

 

[d-signet]

i see what you're saying, but the analogy doesnt quite work
YES vista was supposed to kill off XP - and in the long run it (along with windows7) will...can you see many places selling XP machines now? The difference was that you could still mostly buy XP software and install it on vista - and mostly vice-versa....
That's why microsoft DID support the business users in this case...even a year or so after Vista was released you could still get XP systems and...why not? Brand new off-the-shelf software could still run on XP, it was a tested platform...until you had 100% faith in vista you didn't NEED it for any reason - despite the fact it was preferable in many ways.

That's not the case with this system. Software needs to be specially written for EITHER wm6.5 or WP7 from the ground up - very few places are going to code for both becuase they need to be written in totally different tools using totally different technologies and they both have totally different delivery methods.

IF microsoft had released vista and said "we're realeasing vista in a few months...we're also not going to let programs for XP and vista to be written using the same programs or using the same languages, as of NOW we've superceeded the dev. tools needed to write XP software so you'll need to try to find it 2nd hand or buy it before the stores run out, and you wont be legally able to buy XP and Vista software from the same store unless it's an actual microsoft store" that would've been a lot closer to what's happening here....and doesn't it sound crazy?

MS can't re-introduce WM6.x development into visual studio without a HELL of a lot of work (from the few conversations i've had with people) The entire Compact-Framework / Smart Device toolset and development chain has been left out of VS2010. It'll need an entirely new release (usually every 2-3 years) or an entire stand-alone product (costing a HELL of a lot of money to develop)

Let me expand on this :

WM6.x :
Tools Used : Visual Studio 2005 Standard , Visual Studio 2008 Pro
Coding Languages : C++ (native) or compact framework (up to v.3.5)
Delivery : Marketplace (rarely) or however you want either as direct download install to the phone or installed via ActiveSync/WMDC, or cooked straight into the ROM from the supplier
cost : Around ?600-?1000 GBP for visual studio, plus registration for marketplace distribution (optional) - around ?100 GBP (IIRC) .... total : Approx ?700 - ?1100

WM7 :
Tools Used : Visual Studio 2010, or the Windows Phone 7 Developer tools CPT
coding Languages : .NET Framework v4 and Silverlight
Delivery : Marketplace only
Cost : Same price as above for Visual Studio, WP7DT CTP is free , plus marketplace distibution (mandatory) ... Cost (using CTP tools) Approx ?100

there is NO crossover for using the same languages OR tools .... and very little crossover for delivery mechanisms

and it costs approx 10 times as much to develop - using out of date software (if you can find it) - for WM6.x as WP7

do YOU think they're still supporting WM6.x as a platform ?

perrsonally - i'm angry as hell about this - if you hunt around the net i'm sure you'll find many people - including me - ranting at whichever MS spokespeople are available about how STUPID this has been - but every time we're either given suggestions which just plain don't work in a reliable way for day-to-day development (using a combination of around 5-10 separate free SDK downloads and open source tools and trying to get them working together) - or are fobbed off with "steve balmer has said he still supports wm6.x as an enterprise platform"

They've decided WP7 is their baby now and they're leaving WM6.x platform to rot in the corner - hoping it doesn't cry too loudly as they starve it to death.

 

[jmaz]

What a bunch of hogwash! HTC HD2 with WinMo 6.5 in it is not a dead end if you don't mind using a very powerful micro OS for as long as it is supported. What is a dead end is saying nonsense for the thrill of saying it. as for Mr. Mossberg: He used his ingrained, superficial expertise of looking at tech ware superficially and rejecting what does not conform to his style of reviewing tech ware based on brand allegiance. This style of review so popularized by Mr. Mossberg is now used by reviewers at sites such as engadget.com and gizmodo.com Through his own words, you can tell that he did not do a thorough technical review of the HTC HD2 and how WM6.5 functioned with it. Instead, the big icons, and the unfamiliarity of the Sense interface seem to have scared him out of his patterned expectations. Instead of rejecting the phone, the most that he could have said was that it is not a phone for the average Joe.

 

[Castle]

The notion that the HD2 is a dead end is rather humorous to me. Most phones these days are dead ends 6 months out of the box. How many people keep their phones past the end of their contracts? Few in my neck of the woods. When the new iPhone is released, how many fanboys will dump their iPhone 3g for it. Plenty! I've had loads of fun with my Droid and Nexus One but I can tell you from personal experience that Android has it's own problems. Their Market Place is loaded with apps but you better know exactly what you're looking for and what you're getting because thousands of them are utter crap that do little more than junk your system. The only phone that I'd consider trading up to right now is the EVO 4G. I'm just too happy with my HD2 right now to move to Sprint. This phone is damn nice especially with the latest rom update. Who knows, maybe eventually I'll get the EVO or maybe a WP7 HD3 will pop up by the time I'm ready for a change. HD2 a dead end? Please! Tell that to the T-Mobile stores that can't keep them in stock.