Your wife is a smart lady
Not even close... I'm pretty sure that ANYONE who trusts MS at this point is a complete and total baboon. Everyone is jumping all over HTC for this when it's really MS's doing. I bet there was a conversation like:
HTC: Hey guys, we can't wait to get rolling on a Win 10 device for you.
MS: Yeah, we can't wait to make one either.
HTC: So what's the process like for doing this? Are we just going to port it over to our M9 like we did with the M8?
MS: Nope.
HTC: Well how about we make a new M10 for it? Get it, Windows 10, M10?
MS: Nope.
HTC: Well, how about we start with updating the M8 then? When will the update be ready to test?
MS: Uhhh...
HTC: What about features?
MS: <crickets>
HTC: Will Continuum work if we upgrade the M8?
MS: Nope...
HTC: USB OTG?
MS: Nope...
HTC: Hello Windows?
MS: Nope...
HTC: What will work?
MS: <crickets>
HTC: Hey guys, will you support the additional features of the Duo Cam if we rewrite the firmware for it?
MS: Nope...
MS Lumia Team: Hey guys, if we release a new Windows 10 phone, why don't we just cut features like Continuum out of it all together?
HTC: Whoa, hey Lumia, how's it going?
MS Lumia Team: We're the 1% man, it's going GREAT!
HTC: Hey we are too! Wait, is that bad or good?
MS: That sounds like a marketing plan to us Lumia! Get rolling on that one ASAP!
HTC: Hey guys, seriously, we were thinking about doing the upgrade, but we don't understand how this is going to happen. We write it, then submit it to you and it will be pushed out right?
MS: Nope...
HTC: How would it work then?
MS Lumia Team: Well if you were unlocked, you could push it out yourself.
HTC: Hey Lumia, our carrier partner Verizon never locked the device, it is unlocked for use on other networks you *****.
MS: Hey HTC, we could push it out, but we are bowing to stupid US carriers again and letting them issue the updates. By the way, thanks for letting us sell the M8 in our stores when we couldn't make a flagship device for over a year.
HTC: No problem, we have a 10 year relationship with you that goes back to before we were actually known as HTC. We were happy to jump out on a limb and show the world that your OS ran on Android hardware better than Android does.
MS: You bet... Tell you what, we won't publish the fact that we aren't going to support you going forward on Windows 10, we'll let your customers continue to ask you over and over again and you can just keep telling them there's nothing new to report.
MS Lumia Team: Hey, don't forget to do the same for us. Keep as many of our devices on the list as you can until the last minute. We don't care if all those people that bought phones last year for $50 get the update. They can get a new $100 phone later this year that already has it. In fact, maybe we could do a Smoked By Windows 10 deal and take them all in trade for a $25 gift card at the store? Might be a way to get cheaper devices back in the loop to support India and China sales a bit more.
MS: Dang it Lumia! You guys are awesome. Where do you get these great ideas?
MS Lumia Team: Hey, we just got together with our Xbox buddies and they told us all about long term marketing. Make a product, screw everyone over, then make a better one. It's a great idea. We bring things up like Continuum on one or two devices and then use it as a selling feature for the devices that don't have it. Sure, people get pissed, but not nearly as pissed as they do about the fact that the Store doesn't work or that the OS is buggier than Android Banana Bread was.
MS: Hey now, you're hitting a bit close to home on that one peeps...
HTC: Did you guys forget that we're still here?
Ok, so that might be a bit too close to the truth, but face it, Microsoft is the one that is continuing to SCREW over end users and all of us are standing in line for it. It started in 2012 with the the change from Windows 7 to 8. Running the defunct Lumia 900 out when in just 6 months, Windows Phone 7 was going to be dead. Then we run the 920 out in November 2012, which served as the flagship model until the 930 came out 18 months later. Sure, there was the 1020 in the middle of that (7/13) but it was a niche device only available on one carrier in the US initially. Oh wait, so was the 920 and 930... Sorry, carrier versions only - no choices there... Then once we got over the debacle of not having a flagship, three of the four major US carriers all launched the M8 (8/14) and all was good. Since 8/14, carriers have ditched contracts, Microsoft abandoned Windows 8 completely and everyone was stuck wondering what the heck was going on.
I personally love my M8 with the Win10 Preview. I don't use it as my daily driver any longer because of the lack of support for Google applications in Windows. As far as the OS goes, there are certainly more bugs than ever before, but that usually happens as it gets closer to RTM. Here's the bigger issue though... Did HTC break a promise to the users? Well, Windows 10 has NOT been released yet. Technically, if they release it before August, HTC might want to consider running it out to M8 users - even if there are only 4 of us. Otherwise, they could pull the March 2014 card and say the M8's life cycle ended yesterday - not that the Windows version of the device is a separate model that would have continued support through August. I'll just pull this from the fine print section of their Advantage Program TOS and let you read about that "broken promise" that everyone is lashing out about...
"Now when customers buy any HTC One they can rest assured their device will be future proofed, with major Android updates for 2 years from launch. And it’s nearly accident proof too, because we will replace a broken screen for free once within the first 6 months you own it—let’s face it accidents do happen and we want to keep your device in great condition."
Clearly, HTC states that the Advantage program offers users MAJOR ANDROID UPDATES for the next two years. It never mentions Windows anywhere in the fine print. It does say that they will support software updates for 2 years on the main page, but technically Win 8 was updated until it was killed off. Not saying its right, but lets start shifting the blame back to where it belongs - Microsoft.