Petitioning to make Microsofts Windows Phone open source.

[anon(10172601)]

At first I thought this was a fairly crazy idea. But hey why not? Microsoft has obviously seriously dropped the ball on mobile. Andromeda sounds pretty cool, but will it really happen? Why not give the open source community a chance to do what M$ is obviously not interested in doing... something fun... something cool... instead of something just for $$$.

 

[Mitaines1]

Thanks for writing this article. I've gone through all the comments here and can't help but wonder if you are asking the wrong question or discussing the wrong topic. I still use my very expensive Nokia Lumia 1020 after almost 5 years. Why? Because it's still as good as it was on day one - almost. My only pain point is the browser which is not keeping up with advances in HTML and therefore has difficulty in rendering the most modern pages. If the browser was updated until WP 8.1 reached 10 years old, there would be a chance that it would survive long enough to partake in the movement to have web pages act as apps (sorry I forget the technical jardon), and therefore the app gap issue would disappear.

I can understand why there haven't been any protests in the streets when underpowered Android phones didn't get updates. But as I have already said, and many others will agree, my phone is as fast as it was on day one. The only reason 100's of millions of WP 8.1 phones are participating in environmental damage in landfills is because of a decision made by shortsighted, greedy little board room members.

I would encourage all fans of WP8.1 to band together (don't laugh) and, using social media, guilt Microsoft into updating the browser for another 5 years. It would be a coup for all WP 8.1 and MSFT could use the PR to their advantage.

 

[AgentTheGreat]

I still use my very expensive Nokia Lumia 1020 after almost 5 years. Why? Because it's still as good as it was on day one - almost.

I own two 1320's, one 920, one 830, I got my mom a 640XL, and my dad another 1320 (gosh this 1320 is a fine device) and every one of them run as smooth as silk (except for the 830 because I "updated" it to W10M).
If Windows Phone 8.1 was released TODAY with just a handful of additional features you wouldn't feel it is out of date at all; quite the contrary, you'd feel you're in a completely fresh territory.

But regarding 8.1 and supporting IE on it, Microsoft already announced they have stopped providing support on 8.1. My attempt here is to take it out of their hands completely, and have enthusiasts work on it the way you describe: to add features to IE on WP, and add features to other parts of the OS.

My goal is the same as yours, except I'm absolutely certain Microsoft will not be doing anything for WP8.1., so I figured we may have a shot at taking it from them and giving it to the community to accomplish exactly what you're describing.

 

[Mitaines1]

Ok then instead of having fantasies of WP 8.1 going open source or MSFT deciding to update it for another 5 years, how large of a project would it be for fan developers to take Chromium to WP 8.1? The app could be sold at 10 or $20 and users could show their commitment to buy by participating in a Go Fund me. I would gladly pay $20 to get a modern browser and I imagine many other users would as well. Please do it as I am feeling the tug of the dark side increasing daily.