[sst154]

Hi,
Most of us here have been supporting the platform for a long time. In between, we have witnessed how MS slowly started to desintegrate it after the Nokia acquisition. Canceling phones, slowing down development, no marketing, officially updating to W10 only some of the promised phones, etc etc.
Even though, most of us have still supported the platform, bought new phones, etc, with MS abandoning each day more all efforts to have a competing platform.
For many people here is not easy to spend $500 or more on a new phone, and now there's the risk of losing most of that money, with the time and effort associated with that, if MS decides to abandon the platform.
For the last year I don't remember MS showing real commitment to the continuity of the platform, even when lots of rumors start to run.
Now I think, considering that we are of the few still supporting this, wouldn't be fair for us if MS at least told us what's going to happen and what's their real plan? At least we could stop spending money and time on something that's not going to last much longer.
Isn't there any way that all of us together, as consumers and supporters, could ask them what's going to happen and have a real response?
Thanks

[a5cent]

MS is never going to explain, in detail, their current plans to consumers, for one, because plans can change and companies want the freedom to shift strategies without people feeling they are breaking more promises. You're lucky to get such explanations as a corporate customer. Unless you're a majority investor, it's unlikely you'll get anything more out of MS.

On the other hand, Satya Nadella has said pretty much everything consumers typically care about:

1. WM is not their current focus. Not in terms of development, marketing, or otherwise.
2. MS plans to give WM three years to evolve and start demonstrating that it can form the basis of a budding mobile ecosystem (not phone ecosystem). Although there are no promises, WM is unlikely to go away before that, at least not without MS throwing all their current plans overboard. edit: Similarly, I don't think people buying new WM devices are in danger of having their investments erased... MS' services, which is what you end up using and investing in, will endure either way. It could actually be argued that those are the safest services to invest in, as they are supported on all platforms.
3. If you're not necessarily an MS fan (i.e. you're practical rather than ideological), but you like MS' services and are looking explicitly for a smartphone, iOS / Android / Cyanogen is where you should look.