You excited about the MS ecosystem?

[dgr_874]

The most important thing for Microsoft, is making sure i can buy an app on my phone, and that same app can then be downloaded to all my other MS devices for free, like iOS.

What would be a massive improvement over iOS, is if i could get a cross (MS) platform price. IE, on iOS, iPad and iPhone apps are charged seperately (obviously i have the option of downloading the iPhone app onto the iPad). If MS could allow me a single purchase, that will buy all versions of an App (phone, console, PC, tablet) for cheaper than buying all seperately.

MS have already shown skydrive being used to sync content between platforms of an app, this NEEDS to be in every single first party app/game.

Done right, MS have the chance to take what has been previously done by iOS, and do it on a far larger scale. With the millions of xboxs out there, and potential millions of Windows 8 PCs, it should be easy.

This is one of just a tiny handfull of features that prevent me from completely switching over to Windows Phones. I have my entire family (5 phones) on the same itunes account with apple and when one person buys an app, everyone gets it. I would even pay a little more to enable this to happen.

 

[12Danny123]

Wow. You guys are extremely excited for windows 8 and wp8. I am as well !

 

[SnailUK]

This is one of just a tiny handfull of features that prevent me from completely switching over to Windows Phones. I have my entire family (5 phones) on the same itunes account with apple and when one person buys an app, everyone gets it. I would even pay a little more to enable this to happen.

I can't see W/WP8 changing that.

You (like me) abuse itunes somewhat, in sharing a single persons account across multiple peoples devices, thus giving one persons purchase to multiple people.

iOS makes this very simple, by making all features optional.

Micorosoft make everything common, and non-optional, so trying to do the same thing, would make the whole family share contacts, facebook details, pictures, skydrive account, etc.

 

[dgr_874]

Seems that it could be simple for microsoft to offer some sort of "famly app" ID similar to the XBOX Live Gold Family Pack. One microsoft account could be the primary account and they could share purchases among those included in the family pack.

Like I said, I understand why you cant share apps because of the Live ID and gamertag things, but it would make my life so much easier. I'm actually sitting here staring at my Lumia and Iphone trying to make a decision which to go with.

 

[SnailUK]

Seems that it could be simple for microsoft to offer some sort of "famly app" ID similar to the XBOX Live Gold Family Pack. One microsoft account could be the primary account and they could share purchases among those included in the family pack.

The questions would be, how much would a family app purchase cost?

If you were a developer, and Microsoft said, we are adding family id, and you'll get paid the same amount for a family, as you will for a single person, would you be happy?

If say, it was twice the cost to purchase a W8 family app, as it was to purchase one a single W8, or iOS one, would you consider it?

I'm never sure how these problems can be solved, without making someone unhappy.

 

[mmacleodbrown]

Like I said, I understand why you cant share apps because of the Live ID and gamertag things, but it would make my life so much easier. I'm actually sitting here staring at my Lumia and Iphone trying to make a decision which to go with.

How can you make a decision like that before WP8 comes out?
If you cant wait until then, you really just have to look at what you want from a mobile device and decide which of the two meets your needs best..

 

[Heron_Kusanagi]

and that I can't link my two accounts!

? I linked my outlook with my hotmail account just fine.

 

[justreason]

Every noob I have shown W8 Preview to have gone gaga over it. They can't wait. Just like me.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express Pro

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[CJ Thunder]

Micorosoft make everything common, and non-optional, so trying to do the same thing, would make the whole family share contacts, facebook details, pictures, skydrive account, etc.

Boohoo you can't steal from app devs.

I understand what you are saying and that is why Nook Lend Me is cool. Wish we could do that for apps as we can with physical goods. At least you can log in and out of W8 so that is one place you can have a family account for games and cookbooks and magazines and newspapers and...

 

[budney]

I am all geared up for the ecosystem. Bought a Xbox last February, bought a Lumia three months ago. Now I am looking to sell my iPad3 & Desktop PC to get a new W8 touch laptop/tablet.

Sent from my Lumia 900 using Board Express

 

[dgr_874]

Boohoo you can't steal from app devs.

I understand what you are saying and that is why Nook Lend Me is cool. Wish we could do that for apps as we can with physical goods. At least you can log in and out of W8 so that is one place you can have a family account for games and cookbooks and magazines and newspapers and...

How is it stealing? If apple did not intend for you to use it that way, they certianly would not allow it to happen. I happen to thing its a good compromise and the fact that several people in my family could use the app has swayed me into a purchase more than once.

 

[dgr_874]

The questions would be, how much would a family app purchase cost?

If you were a developer, and Microsoft said, we are adding family id, and you'll get paid the same amount for a family, as you will for a single person, would you be happy?

If say, it was twice the cost to purchase a W8 family app, as it was to purchase one a single W8, or iOS one, would you consider it?

I'm never sure how these problems can be solved, without making someone unhappy.

There is so many details to work out that it's hard to say. If I were to get say 5 licences for double the cost of a single licence, I would definetly purchase it. Thats half what apple lets you have. W8 should be agressive in getting people into its ecosystem. You could purchase one game and have the whole family play it, maybe even port it over to the XBOX to drive sales there. Like I said, the way it's set up not does not prevent me from switching it only makes it a tiny bit more difficult because I have seen how easy the other side makes it for my family.

 

[sconrad308]

I'm very excited for the ecosystem.
I will be getting a WP8 at launch, a W8 hybrid probably RT because if I do need the regular x86 apps, I still have my laptop dual boot running windows 7 and Windows 8 but I will probably change that to some form of Linux again. I also have an Xbox 360. So, I'm nicely invested into the MS ecosystem.

I have an iPod that I haven't used in about 8 months since I bought a zune pass.

 

[jwckauman]

With windows phone 8 and windows 8 and Xbox and other stuff. Are you excited about the new MS ecosystem?

Oh Yeah!! I was born for a fully integrated ecosystem and I've invested in Microsoft for so many years. What is fun for me is I was one of the few that owned a Zune from day one, and all this new metro-style UI comes from Zune. It's been fun watching it evolve.

 

[12Danny123]

Oh Yeah!! I was born for a fully integrated ecosystem and I've invested in Microsoft for so many years. What is fun for me is I was one of the few that owned a Zune from day one, and all this new metro-style UI comes from Zune. It's been fun watching it evolve.

Agreed. I like windows since I was a 9 yr old. Which was in 2007. And I love the windows 8 metro ui it's very fun and interactive

 

[CJ Thunder]

How is it stealing? If apple did not intend for you to use it that way, they certianly would not allow it to happen. I happen to thing its a good compromise and the fact that several people in my family could use the app has swayed me into a purchase more than once.

Guess I should have added /s at the end or did you not read my second paragraph. I said I agree, digital wares need to act more like physical ones...though...

Apple allowing it, doesn't make it right or the best. They also take 30% but that is devs only option to get on that marketplace...point being if I have two Xboxes and one disc based game I can't play it on both Xboxes. I can't listen to one CD in two players. If I have a PC and a phone why should I expect only one app purchase to cover an install on two devices?

Steam does it best, install it on many machines. Only play it when you are logged in, only allow one log in at a time. Fair to everyone.

? I linked my outlook with my hotmail account just fine.

Lots of people can't. Many threads on MS community.
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...-instead/cd917beb-e9aa-4d83-8732-fcffad0a3695

 

[Daniel Ratcliffe]

Guess I should have added /s at the end or did you not read my second paragraph. I said I agree, digital wares need to act more like physical ones...though...

Apple allowing it, doesn't make it right or the best. They also take 30% but that is devs only option to get on that marketplace...point being if I have two Xboxes and one disc based game I can't play it on both Xboxes. I can't listen to one CD in two players. If I have a PC and a phone why should I expect only one app purchase to cover an install on two devices?

Steam does it best, install it on many machines. Only play it when you are logged in, only allow one log in at a time. Fair to everyone.

You can play it on both Xboxes, just not simultaneously. It's essentially the Steam system. Of course it is rumored that with the Xbox 720 you activate a disc game to your account, and then only you can earn achievements for it. If true, that's gonna annoy me a LOT, as I like to play with my friend for achievements while having fun. He laughs and playfully mocks me for my epic fails, but it's all a good laugh and we both enjoy it. Now, with the lack of ability to earn achievement, it loses a lot of sheen. Why bother going round to a friend's house to play it when you have to buy it yourself to get achievements? I've got my own Xbox for that... I think that will further dissolve the social aspect of gaming.

 

[brmiller1976]

The closing up of ecosystems by Microsoft, Apple and Google is going to hurt user experience. But it's also opening up a big opportunity for another player to roar in with the same sort of chaotic open development environment that put Windows on top of the PC heap in the 1990s.

 

[Heron_Kusanagi]

The closing up of ecosystems by Microsoft, Apple and Google is going to hurt user experience. But it's also opening up a big opportunity for another player to roar in with the same sort of chaotic open development environment that put Windows on top of the PC heap in the 1990s.

Maybe. Someone has to deal with the legacy support that MS, Apple and Google are doing well though. Unless the new tech can supersede everything and be so revolutionary that we will throw away our old systems just to use this new tech from the new player.

Besides, the 3 main tech companies are opening enough stuff to make things happen in a creative way. There's also the internet which is hard to close. Unless you threaten to close every single server in the world.

 

[Laura Knotek]

The closing up of ecosystems by Microsoft, Apple and Google is going to hurt user experience. But it's also opening up a big opportunity for another player to roar in with the same sort of chaotic open development environment that put Windows on top of the PC heap in the 1990s.

Everyone kept claiming [insert year] would be the "year of the Linux desktop," however Linux is only popular on servers.

If Linux never became popular on desktops, I do not see a new OS becoming popular.