Microsoft targets holidays for next Windows Phone update

[cgk]

Microsoft doesn't expect to release its next update to Windows Phone 8 before the holiday shopping season, according to a recent job posting.
Usually pretty tight-lipped about its Windows Phone product updates, Microsoft tipped its hand in a job posting late last week for a software development engineer for phone testing.
"This is a great time to join as we're completing our current release are getting ready for our next release targeting the holiday of this year and we're chartered with keeping the momentum for Windows Phone by bringing new killer devices and delightful user experiences," the post reads. "There are enormous growth opportunities in this role and organization."

Microsoft targets holidays for next Windows Phone update | Microsoft - CNET News


Thoughts? I am guessing that there will be a 8.5 during the year?

 

[fardream]

I cannot speak for many, but I will definitely jump ship to an iPhone if problems with Xbox music cannot be fixed, and they still don't support exchange ActiveSync as iPhone - before June. I cannot wait to holiday, and wait for another several months to get the update, and find these are not fixed - and in the meantime pay another 99 for that Xbox music mess.

 

[Muessig]

We got the news not long ago that MS are planning 3 GDR's for WP8 this year, with the first being Portico, GDR 2 guestimated Spring/Summer and GDR 3 guestimated August/Winter. I don't know if the "next Windows Phone update" speaks of a major revision and the GDR's planned are minor or whether it means MS have completely rethought their position on the GDR releases?

 

[DaveGx]

I am really hoping that this doesnt mean we arent going to get any decent updates between now and then. There are issues that need to be fixed and improvements to be made. No way will I believe to do some of those that it would take the entire year.

But I believe this is for that Windows Blue thing. Have no idea what that update will involve but Im guessing, hoping, it is separate from other WP updates and has more to do with fluidity and syncing of all Windows 8 devices, including the new Xbox perhaps.

 

[raul_junior]

this guy mis informed you!!! Joe B tweeted today that there will be 3 updates "gd2", "gd3" and "blue!!! the first two are major bug fixes and he also hinted at supporting more formats of multimedia!!

no don'd worry Joe belfiore tweeted the other day that there will be 2 major bug fixing updates in early summer and late summer

 

[nokiageek]

Why do these updates take so long, ridiculous it not as it is some guy working from his garden shed on his own, with a ten year old pc.

I could travel the world quicker
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 620 using Foroplex beta

 

[DaveGx]

Why do these updates take so long, ridiculous it not as it is some guy working from his garden shed on his own, with a ten year old pc.

I could travel the world quicker
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 620 using Foroplex beta

This bugs me too. Just how small is the WP team? I can understand a while for major release, but to have to wait months and months for fixes/improvements seems crazy.

Why can't they work on a couple at a time, then put a small update every month?

The way this is going, this means no really nice new features or improvements until years end. That's a long time

 

[eric12341]

Calm down everyone, bug fixes and minor updates will come sooner than the holidays. This is referring to the major update. We will still get at least 2 smaller updates before then.

 

[yetanotherguy]

Why do these updates take so long, ridiculous it not as it is some guy working from his garden shed on his own, with a ten year old pc.

I could travel the world quicker
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 620 using Foroplex beta

That's probably because software development needs testing time as well. For complex systems such as an OS this would mean testing quite a bit of the entire system. Then the OEMs and carriers join the loop, sequentially. Think of these as fixed overheads. Now if I were in charge I would want to space out my releases and group bug fixes. Moreover some fixes may require work arounds that may affect other pieces of codes/or functionalities and/or have other dependencies....that adds complexities.

Especially the fixed overheads make quick fixes difficult for MS (and Google with Android). Apple (and MS on desktop) don't have these extra overheads so their bug fix releases tend to be a bit less trickier...

 

[checkmate81x]

This is bullshaft

 

[Huime]

I cannot speak for many, but I will definitely jump ship to an iPhone if problems with Xbox music cannot be fixed, and they still don't support exchange ActiveSync as iPhone - before June. I cannot wait to holiday, and wait for another several months to get the update, and find these are not fixed - and in the meantime pay another 99 for that Xbox music mess.

huh? Dont get where you are going. Xbox is equally bad on iphone. And what do you mean not supporting ActiveSync? It always runs on Activesync.

 

[fardream]

huh? Dont get where you are going. Xbox is equally bad on iphone. And what do you mean not supporting ActiveSync? It always runs on Activesync.

Xbox music is not available on iPhone, and I guess there are enough posts on this forum to tell how bad the Xbox music is. The problem with ActiveSync is they omitted "secured storage card" even when Lumia 920 or 8x are missing a card slot anyway. Calendar support is poor too.

 

[JerseySal]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0X7RyGBq2E8

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

I have merged 2 posts that were what I believe an accidental double post. Don't worry, we've all made these errors before! All post content from both posts has also been preserved.

 

[jdhooghe]

huh? Dont get where you are going. Xbox is equally bad on iphone. And what do you mean not supporting ActiveSync? It always runs on Activesync.

What the frack. XBox music is not on the iPhone. 0.o''''''''''

 

[abhishek8605]

Did people forget that MS is trying to implement Apple's strategy of providing feature updates yearly? So, what this means to me, is that Windows Phone Blue is probably going to be the next feature update to WP8, meaning it will ship with the new phones that are announced end of year, and be available for updates for the older phones around the same time.

GDR1, GDR2, GDR3, are probably going to be bug fixes to stabilize WP8 before WPBlue is released. That's 3 updates within a year, and 1 major OS update. That sounds like a great plan to me.