Android, iOS and then Windows Mobile. Microsoft's app development priority...

[xandros9]

Wow, I just love how a random post without any confirmation or proof from someone with only 3 posts can cause such a stir here. I just can't get the way Windows/MS fans love Windows/MS sometimes.

You may not have seen it, but he happens to have the flair reserved for confirmed Microsoft employees below his (unfortunately low-res) avatar - on the desktop site that is at least, like how us Moderators, Ambassadors, etc. are labeled.

Meaning someone higher up has it on good faith it is indeed the same person whose Twitter we have been faithfully F5'ing.

Well, some of us at least.

 

[ImaMess]

Do Android & i phones have the fake/scam apps too? Or is that a Microsoft store issue?

 

[Loc Ngo]

You may not have seen it, but he happens to have the flair reserved for confirmed Microsoft employees below his (unfortunately low-res) avatar - on the desktop site that is at least, like how us Moderators, Ambassadors, etc. are labeled.

Meaning someone higher up has it on good faith it is indeed the same person whose Twitter we have been faithfully F5'ing.

Well, some of us at least.

Well, if you mean the one below Gabe's or your avatar, then I can see none from the below of the avatar of the OP, whose ID is DBrandUSA, here aside from a mere "member" just like mine. And he is the one who I was referring to in my previous post. He happens to have the same number of posts as Gabe's.

 

[Visa Declined]

The way some of you are talking to Gabe is childish, and flat out embarrassing. The man is actually trying to communicate with us, and include us in the process of improving the platform. There's no reason to treat him like dirt.

These are mobile phones we are talking about here, but some of you act like they are the most important thing in your world. It's pretty scary. You need to also remember that Microsoft makes more money off of Android and iPhone users than they do you, that's just the way it is. Think about that next time you want to get angry that Microsoft is focusing more on them.

 

[v535]

There's always a chance that guest speaker from MS misspoke as he/she could be a die-hard fan of wp and was forced to use these words "First/second/third class" so that developers focus trend in the market these days. App gap doesn't matter now, since I felt some exclusive app for Lumia is a step above than the same app developed for i0S or android. Take MSO or Office for Mobile, how many guys felt that MSO or OM worked the best on WP or w10m than using it on iOS or android. For me, quality of the app is important rather than chasing against competitors. @Gabe already knows this and CEO already said we're not chasing against competitors rather we keep the product alive so that users won't be disappointed.

 

[Jazmac]

I think the person in question here either misspoke or was misunderstood. We would not just accept, nor settle for, 3rd place in Mobile for Windows. We’ve released great new devices, a new converged OS, and a new Universal Windows Apps platform just this year. All of these are clear investments and show our commitment to a great Windows experience across a broad range of devices.

 

[MysticForce]

Microsoft should make app first for Windows users. Then weeks or months letter for Android and iOS.
I don't care for MCSF excuses, if i can buy their product and respect their work as a user I expect from them to respect me.



Everything else is nonsense.


If you pay the hairdresser, I expect haircut to me, not to do haircut to my neighbor. It's only logic thing.

 

[locodice]

Totally agree with the above post.

 

[Pierre Blackwell]

If you look on the back of most if not all of MSFT's latest devices what image do you see?? The ever popular four squares symmetrically aligned to form a window. Windows has been the face of MSFT so why wouldn't that be the emphasis. Let us not forget that MSFT is a software company who is trying to expound its reach into the hardware realm. This doesn't mean that they are ignoring Windows mobile, but they are already conditioned to produce Windows for everyone. They've been doing that for decades, so why stop?? People keep saying the Office suite is more functional on other OS's, but at least for me, I don't see it that way. Word, Power point, Excel, Access, One Note, Sway, they all work just fine on my 940XL, but it's who they all work in relation to their Win10 desktop variants that make the performance on Windows mobile stand out to me. With universal apps when MSFT pushes out an update to the desktop Office suite, they will be pushing an update to the mobile one as well. I don't see that as third party.

 

[Krystianpants]

I think the person in question here either misspoke or was misunderstood. We would not just accept, nor settle for, 3rd place in Mobile for Windows. We?ve released great new devices, a new converged OS, and a new Universal Windows Apps platform just this year. All of these are clear investments and show our commitment to a great Windows experience across a broad range of devices.

You can tell the folks at MS that you have poopyfingers stamp of approval.

Microsoft should make app first for Windows users. Then weeks or months letter for Android and iOS.
I don't care for MCSF excuses, if i can buy their product and respect their work as a user I expect from them to respect me.



Everything else is nonsense.


If you pay the hairdresser, I expect haircut to me, not to do haircut to my neighbor. It's only logic thing.

It has nothing to do with that. Bad comparison.

If you already have a framework on the other OS's that you have built upon, it's easier to update and add to it.

If you're building from the ground up it takes longer. You must have seen how app updates have improved a lot of apps over the period you have been testing Windows 10.

I mean take the maps app, it now has traffic cameras built in. It's awesome.

Mail is consistently getting better with linked inboxes, ability to empty folder and select all messages. This sort of stuff shows that it's a project started from scratch. Hence why select all was never available, or any of those basic features. This also allows emphasis on optimization and to build a core that allows you to easily add more features in the future.

Applications are thousands of lines of code, you don't just click on a magic button and your app is built. Think about how much work MS has been putting into all these tools like in visual studio, feature improvements, bug fixing, optimization, building for cross device use. You can't think of it as a simple project. And all this has to come together from different groups and become a single entity. And you are now seeing more universal apps coming out because MS has worked on tools that allow for it. Those apps are coming because of all the work they are doing. Making the developers lives easier is the most important factor if you want your apps.

 

[DBrandUSA]

My post wasn't meant to stir anything, I posted it after I had the time to settle at home after such a long and draining meeting. I've been a die hard windows fan for over 20 years. I've made excuses for Microsoft over and over. I don't care if the Microsoft employee spoke incorrectly, he still said it! Afterwards, I felt really mad as I was holding my $800 paperweight (Lumia 950 XL). I also have a company iPhone and the same apps have way more features and are better polished. What he stated was fact in my opinion based on my own experiences. Luckily the meeting was recorded so if anyone wants proof I can export just that part of the audio.

 

[gcyoung]

I think the salient data point here is that Microsoft has just done a total reset on Windows Mobile.

From an app perspective, it means that, as a poster above stated, apps are being developed almost from scratch for the WinMo platform, which means that there will be both a lag in new apps coming out and some feature-disparity compared to apps on more mature platforms. It's also important to keep in mind that Microsoft's mobile platform market share is right now microscopic compared to the big two. So, right now, if you're in a software product group, inside of Microsoft or not, you're going to want your application(s) to be best-in-class on the leading platforms. It would be foolish not to.

From a "commitment" to the WinMo platform, it means that Microsoft is investing a massive amount of (limited, even for Microsoft) resources in that platform. If Microsoft were not committed to WinMo, it could have saved a whole lot of money (and headache) by just letting 8.1 die on the vine. They haven't.

In the short term, this means that the app gap, both in terms of quality and quantity, is and will remain very real. It means that the WinMo platform and app ecosystem will be developing very quickly (as we see with the OS and app updates and releases). In the longer term -- one-year plus? -- if Microsoft is successful, we'll see a vastly improved mobile OS with a few important differentiators, and a significant closing in the app gap.

For now, fasten your seat belts. It's going to be an exhilarating, and bumpy, ride. Buckle up and enjoy!

 

[TheFerrango]

Do Android & i phones have the fake/scam apps too? Or is that a Microsoft store issue?

Oh they have, they have so many of them! They have so many scam apps that they can actually choose who gets to scam them. Not like us WP users, who are stuck with the usual 2-3 scammers at best :winktongue:

 

[Stamper_wc]

This week I have been reading the forums, looking for information on when Windows 10 mobile was going to be launched. I have been reading so many poorly written posts (no arguments whatsoever) that sounded to me like a bunch of whining children who wants to have their new free toy now instead of waiting for it to be finished. So much criticism for an unfinished mobile OS we get to try and build together... This thread, however, is shining negatively on Microsoft but with some very constructive arguments. Considering the case that the representative is telling his customers that Microsoft isn't putting W10M in their prime focus, I do n?t believe him one bit.

It is hard to evaluate his statements completely and without bias without any context. Therefor, reading about it through a forumpost should make the statement as believable as a green brick telling himself he is red. But if we were to speculate...

- If a Microsoft representative has the balls to put his own company in such a negative light, what can we say about that representative? Right now, the community is pissed off about, what I consider, very small reasons, so a disgruntled representative is easy to believe. However, if an employee is shouting this to his customers, than I don't believe him as he isn't probably such a swell and loyal guy himself. Not someone very believable in my book.
- What title does the representative hold within Microsoft? Normally, marketing representatives get their stories from someone else and their job is to make it sound convincing. How is it that someone (pardon my words here, I do believe everyone is equal. I simply mean hierarchical) at the bottom of the foodchain is able to reliably communicate a stance from an enormous company like Microsoft that goes against what every other representative says? He is not in a technical department and he is not a manager. So how would he know what is focussed on and what not? Except if he heard it from someone else, who heard it from someone else who...

I do believe you heard the representative say that; I am just trying to critically assess the (probable) truth behind his words. My guess is that he is not happy in his position or he heard it from someone who is not happy with their position. There is no evidence to his words. Only thing we know for sure is that he believes the focus is not on W10M.

Still, an enormous miss by Microsoft to have such representatives representing their company.

 

[arwars]

I think the person in question here either misspoke or was misunderstood. We would not just accept, nor settle for, 3rd place in Mobile for Windows. We?ve released great new devices, a new converged OS, and a new Universal Windows Apps platform just this year. All of these are clear investments and show our commitment to a great Windows experience across a broad range of devices.

I don't think they misspoke at all. I was raised to believe that actions speak louder than words... and MSFTs actions certainly do.

MSFT is quick to release something half-baked on WM, but fully baked and continually improved upon on iOS and Android. Please, keep the new releases... they just sit there unattended, forgotten about or discontinued.

Give us a MSFT that continually updates what it owns...on it's own platform FIRST (at a minimum, I understand 'services everywhere'). Allow the feature parity to flow downhill from the WM platform and not downhill TO it!

Give us a MSFT that includes the full list of features that they present to their competitors.

MSFT lacked loyalty and now we, the users are not loyal as well.

I swear that everyone at MSFT uses iOS or Droid as their personal phones otherwise there may be some incentive to make WM10 a top-notch platform and WM10 apps the apps everyone talks about.

Yes, I am a disgruntled user and one of the many who jumped ship to the competitors you give the features to. I believed and believed in something that should have been unbelievable (MSFT)...but ultimately just wasn't.. it was supposed to be 'coming soon'. From 6.5 through 7, 8, 8.1 and now 10. MSFT app parity is null on its own... I'm talking about 3rd party developers.. I'm talking about MSFT!

Be Productive like a Boss.... on iOS.

 

[Joe Acerbic]

apps are being developed almost from scratch for the WinMo platform

Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of scheme that if you already got a Windows 10 app, making it into a Windows 10 Mobile app only requires some mods but not developing it from scratch...? Did MS lose the source code for Office apps? :shocked:

 

[arwars]

.
Honestly, I thought OneNote Mobile was a UWP and supposed to be the same on Mobile (phone) and PC (tablet or desktop). Apparently, I was wrong. Much of the functionality of the OneNote store app in Windows 10 for PC is removed for OneNote for Windows 10 Mobile on the phone.

From what I understand, many of these apps are supposed to have expanded display scaling when used with continuum. I'd like to know from someone who is using Continuum if these features return to match the OneNote store app for the PC.

This!

 

[rhapdog]

MSFT is quick to release something half-baked on WM, but fully baked and continually improved upon on iOS and Android. Please, keep the new releases... they just sit there unattended, forgotten about or discontinued.

Actually, the Office Apps were first released in a much more complete way on Windows Mobile, and were released with very few features, with many features missing or crippled, on Android and iOS. It has taken years of development to get Android and iOS where they are today.

All of the Office Apps are getting very frequent and regular updates on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. Windows Phone 8.1 had Office baked into the OS, which was a mistake, because it took an OS update and getting that through carriers to update it. Microsoft has gotten smart and disconnected everything like that from the OS for 10, and turned everything in to Store Apps that can be updated.

Wasn't there supposed to be some sort of scheme that if you already got a Windows 10 app, making it into a Windows 10 Mobile app only requires some mods but not developing it from scratch...? Did MS lose the source code for Office apps? :shocked:

The Office Mobile apps, or touch apps for Office, have been re-written from scratch in order to fully optimize them with the new Windows 10 core. The Office app in WP8.1 was baked into the OS, and wasn't written in a way that would be able to be ported to tablets and PCs for touch, so new touch apps were written, supposedly as UWP, in order to take advantage of the range of devices.

Yes, most apps can be ported over easily, but Microsoft made a mistake in the way the Office app was developed for WP8.1, so they ditched it.

 

[elindalyne]

The W10M office apps work as well or better than the iOS or Android apps... Whoever said what they said will probably end up getting fired.

You don't invest billions of dollars retooling your entire OS codebase if you're going to treat part of that like "a third class citizen". The UWP push is already starting to work. We're seeing new apps every day.

Seriously whoever things that Microsoft isn't serious in the mobile space needs to a head check.

 

[Joe Acerbic]

The W10M office apps work as well or better than the iOS or Android apps.

Sorry, no. It may seem like I keep harping about OneNote, but it is the app I use all the time, about 100 times more than Word or Excel, and the fact that the W10M version has nothing but the most basic functions is the reason why I'm still not buying a Windows phone even now when the hardware finally is available. Just can't stand the stupidity...