There has been this uproar since a few months which was just accentuated by the recent news of word flow on iOS. People creating posts I'm leaving for this or that, or stuff like MS experience on iOS is better, while I'm not saying the experience is better on windows phone(it certainly is not) I'm going to try to why people should not be freaking out over it.
First a little history, i have been Nokia user since the 5233(fairly recent compared quite a few of you guys), moved on the windows bandwagon since WP7.5 with the Lumia 800. I have been an avid windows phone follower since then, worked through every version of the OS.
Now to the topic, quite a few people are tending to think MS doesn't do enough for its own platform and it has lost hope for the revival of windows mobile and therefore is planning to have its presence on other platforms, and that too a significant one in case it has to shut down the windows mobile division. Well its simply not true, ill tell you why.
Windows 10 is a rethinking of windows on a preposterous(i chose that word after some thought) scale! any one inside MS would know that, while the idea itself isn't difficult seeming, the OS architecture is vastly different on mobile and on PC and the time frame the MS has set itself I'm surprised we have gone this far this soon. MS is playing the long game here. {Think about it, why hasn't apple done anything yet with their OS's, i don't think their reluctance is to blame here, they know how huge the task is going to be and I'm guessing they are working on it, but not on an entire division scale. They will only be acknowledging it when they get close(minimum 2 years if they are indeed working on it) }
Now when you have this much work to do(not to mention the OneCore work going on right now) as a company head i would certainly want every windows developer to work on the basic blocks of the OS, and that to from the ground up. You see, MS has done that, and for a while now(at least 18 months if i had to guess) and not to mention the re structuring going on within the company in this time too, which would obviously slow it down.
Stuff like skype has better features on android etc, which is relevant now, it wont be for long and MS distributes it resources back to individual services.
Okay so now you have all your windows developers on OS's inner working, what do the other platforms dev's do, since they don't really have that to work on. They work on apps/services, some new apps, some that of windows built-in functions. I think word flow, Cortana have been in the working long time and you are seeing those coming out now. Also office 365, skype, outlook mail etc., have better features/performance for the same reason.
This is where MS hit a masterstroke imo. They are doing 2 things are once, completely changing the landscape of windows and also generating a presence on other platforms so once people actually start using MS services, it wouldn't be that difficult to get them to switch to windows mobile. Sure it means the other users get better treatment of their services, and windows phone fans get thrown under the bus, but it was a risk worth taking if they want to stay relevant.
After what MS has done now, i think it can be termed as the risky approach, but what if MS took the conservative approach and went through this process slowly as it started with windows 8.
DISASTER i would like to think. WHY? It isn't a well kept secret that W8 was a failure and MS needed something big, and fast. Sure people would have better experience for the time being but then MS would have lost the edge that it has now with windows 10, consider this, even with say 10% mobile share and obviously windows desktop domination continues. Would any one other than the fans would have chosen windows after Google and Apple managed to merge their OS's(it is inevitable and happening)? I'm not so sure.
MS wont abandon WM, it is something that has been clear ever since i understood their plans with windows 10. Think about it, what is MS going to gain from giving other platforms Cortana and workflow, except the data ofc. What their long term goal is get users hooked to those services and once that happens offer them that and in addition features like continuum(which btw is much more capable than in its current state), windows passport, ability to seamlessly interact b/w the phone and PC {(calls ,text etc.)rumoured coming in Redstone, even if it gets delayed I'm sure it IS coming}. That is supposed to be the major draw and also how everything works on every windows device you own, including your phone, laptop, desktop, Xbox one, Hololens, surface hub.
I would agree that there are a few things could have been handled better, like launch of the new Lumias. But overall this strategy is a long term play and if people don't see it now, they will in the next 2 years. For now you might be better of on an another platform, but I'm sticking with my Lumia 950XL, because personally what future holds is exciting and i would want to experience it first hand.
I also want to address some stupid comments that i read
MS is such a big company why doesn't it hire more dev's?
Sure, but that doesn't mean you should be hiring people and then letting them go(since the universal windows is a one time task, and wouldn't be requiring this much effort for a long time) because these are the guys who would be the first to take a dig at MS when they fire employees.
There have been a few other comments which i cant remember right now, as is the post is already way too long for a rant.
First a little history, i have been Nokia user since the 5233(fairly recent compared quite a few of you guys), moved on the windows bandwagon since WP7.5 with the Lumia 800. I have been an avid windows phone follower since then, worked through every version of the OS.
Now to the topic, quite a few people are tending to think MS doesn't do enough for its own platform and it has lost hope for the revival of windows mobile and therefore is planning to have its presence on other platforms, and that too a significant one in case it has to shut down the windows mobile division. Well its simply not true, ill tell you why.
Windows 10 is a rethinking of windows on a preposterous(i chose that word after some thought) scale! any one inside MS would know that, while the idea itself isn't difficult seeming, the OS architecture is vastly different on mobile and on PC and the time frame the MS has set itself I'm surprised we have gone this far this soon. MS is playing the long game here. {Think about it, why hasn't apple done anything yet with their OS's, i don't think their reluctance is to blame here, they know how huge the task is going to be and I'm guessing they are working on it, but not on an entire division scale. They will only be acknowledging it when they get close(minimum 2 years if they are indeed working on it) }
Now when you have this much work to do(not to mention the OneCore work going on right now) as a company head i would certainly want every windows developer to work on the basic blocks of the OS, and that to from the ground up. You see, MS has done that, and for a while now(at least 18 months if i had to guess) and not to mention the re structuring going on within the company in this time too, which would obviously slow it down.
Stuff like skype has better features on android etc, which is relevant now, it wont be for long and MS distributes it resources back to individual services.
Okay so now you have all your windows developers on OS's inner working, what do the other platforms dev's do, since they don't really have that to work on. They work on apps/services, some new apps, some that of windows built-in functions. I think word flow, Cortana have been in the working long time and you are seeing those coming out now. Also office 365, skype, outlook mail etc., have better features/performance for the same reason.
This is where MS hit a masterstroke imo. They are doing 2 things are once, completely changing the landscape of windows and also generating a presence on other platforms so once people actually start using MS services, it wouldn't be that difficult to get them to switch to windows mobile. Sure it means the other users get better treatment of their services, and windows phone fans get thrown under the bus, but it was a risk worth taking if they want to stay relevant.
After what MS has done now, i think it can be termed as the risky approach, but what if MS took the conservative approach and went through this process slowly as it started with windows 8.
DISASTER i would like to think. WHY? It isn't a well kept secret that W8 was a failure and MS needed something big, and fast. Sure people would have better experience for the time being but then MS would have lost the edge that it has now with windows 10, consider this, even with say 10% mobile share and obviously windows desktop domination continues. Would any one other than the fans would have chosen windows after Google and Apple managed to merge their OS's(it is inevitable and happening)? I'm not so sure.
MS wont abandon WM, it is something that has been clear ever since i understood their plans with windows 10. Think about it, what is MS going to gain from giving other platforms Cortana and workflow, except the data ofc. What their long term goal is get users hooked to those services and once that happens offer them that and in addition features like continuum(which btw is much more capable than in its current state), windows passport, ability to seamlessly interact b/w the phone and PC {(calls ,text etc.)rumoured coming in Redstone, even if it gets delayed I'm sure it IS coming}. That is supposed to be the major draw and also how everything works on every windows device you own, including your phone, laptop, desktop, Xbox one, Hololens, surface hub.
I would agree that there are a few things could have been handled better, like launch of the new Lumias. But overall this strategy is a long term play and if people don't see it now, they will in the next 2 years. For now you might be better of on an another platform, but I'm sticking with my Lumia 950XL, because personally what future holds is exciting and i would want to experience it first hand.
I also want to address some stupid comments that i read
MS is such a big company why doesn't it hire more dev's?
Sure, but that doesn't mean you should be hiring people and then letting them go(since the universal windows is a one time task, and wouldn't be requiring this much effort for a long time) because these are the guys who would be the first to take a dig at MS when they fire employees.
There have been a few other comments which i cant remember right now, as is the post is already way too long for a rant.
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