Microsoft to axe Windows Mobile

[Portreve]

CNBC.com: Microsoft recommends switching to iPhone or Android as it prepares to kill off Windows phones

Thoughts, folks?

[catweazel]

CNBC.com: Microsoft recommends switching to iPhone or Android as it prepares to kill off Windows phones

Thoughts, folks?

I think it reflects Microsoft's utterly blinkered marketing and thoroughly delusional notions about Windwoes. There was enough information in the market to tell them that any attempt at breaking into the phone market would fail because Windwoes simply did not ignite people's desires in the same way that Apple and Android did. Microsoft tried to dish up a plate of same old, same old and pass it off to unsuspecting passers-by as something new to be desired. Fortunately for the shareholders, Microsoft is big enough to absorb the cost of the failure. Rinse, repeat... at least until Ballmer was ejected.

[lsemmens]

Though I can see why M$ tried the mobile market. If they came in with a competitive product (which it wasn't) at a price point to compare with decent androids, AND it conformed to the Windwoes OS without following the standard (BSOD, rinse, repeat) then they might have stood a chance in the mobile sector. If all your familiar windwoes programs worked as well on the mobile, then they might have stood a chance. Problem was, too little, way too late!

I can forsee Apple going the same way if they don't modify their marketing practices. The younger generation, especially, will not put up with "the Apple way or the Highway". They'll just develop for 'roid and eventually computers as we know them will become relics of History.

[BigEasy]

Microsoft to axe Windows Mobile? What the news once again!
https://www.cnet.com/news/windows-10-mo ... microsoft/

[michael louwe]

CNBC.com: Microsoft recommends switching to iPhone or Android as it prepares to kill off Windows phones

Thoughts, folks?

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I'm waiting for M$ to axe Windows 10 also.

Win 10's forced auto-updates/upgrades and collection of Telemetry & Data make it unpalatable for most consumers. By itself, Win 10 is an OK OS.

But for the moment, there is no viable alternative to desktop Windows 10, especially for businesses, governments, professionals and gamers. If only Google would acquire desktop Ubuntu/Canonical Inc and axes her failing web-based Chrome OS.
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I think free Windows Phone 7/8 and Win 10 Mobile were disfavored by phone users who were mostly consumers(ie not business users), because of their bad experiences with bullying M$ in desktop Windows, from Win 8(= 2012) onward. On top of that, most consumers hated M$'s squarish Metro Tiles UI. IOW, consumers favored Google's free Android only as the lesser of 2 evils.

[BigEasy]

... and nobody favored ubuntu touch

[Portreve]

So, to add some commentary here in my own thread...

Other countries are not necessarily as bought and paid for by Microsoft or Apple as the United States. For that matter, the European Union in particular is not such a big fan of Google any longer, nor as much as the United States has ever been.

We see higher GNU+Linux desktop adoption rates in other countries than in the US, and while perhaps not a "day vs night" kind of thing, it's not, in my view, insignificant nor unimportant.

The problem, in my view, is there isn't some credible alternative right now to Google and Apple in the view of the general public. There almost was with OpenMoko. There almost was with Firefox OS. There almost was with Ubuntu Touch. And now, once again, there could be with Purism's Librem 5/PureOS offering. However, one simply cannot put out an alternative platform, tell the general public "Here it is!" and expect them to beat a path to your door.

This isn't the 1970s or 1980s. Thus isn't an enthusiast-driven market.

Don't get me wrong: I'm glad Microsoft failed here. I hope it cost them a lot of money and development resources. Hell, I hope Microsoft burns one day. Nothing would make me happier than to see them removed from the face of the Earth. But that all said, Microsoft's exit from this particular market is only notable for being utterly un-remarkable.

EDIT: Even Walmart's utter failure in Germany is more remarkable than Windows Mobile's.

[Hoser Rob]

... and nobody favored ubuntu touch

That was a ridiculous failure and made Canonical look like Spinal Tap. Good thing Mint has LMDE as a fallback strategy.

[Moem]

The problem, in my view, is there isn't some credible alternative right now to Google and Apple in the view of the general public. There almost was with OpenMoko. There almost was with Firefox OS. There almost was with Ubuntu Touch. And now, once again, there could be with Purism's Librem 5/PureOS offering. However, one simply cannot put out an alternative platform, tell the general public "Here it is!" and expect them to beat a path to your door.

It's not aimed at the general public, but for those who don't mind a little tweaking and like Android an sich, just not Google... there's LineageOS, the successor of CyanogenMod. I'm using it now and it works fine for me. I've disabled all Google features and replaced them with options that suit me better (Brave browser, FDroid for open source software, Here for navigation, Startpage for searching. No voice assistant.)

[vansloneker]

I've got a Lumia 630 phone and I think it's not bad at all. It's not perfect, has a few quirks but not more than an android phone has. For me this Windows phone worked well. You got to understand, it's not android -it's Windows.
But, as one after another app was no longer supported and discontinued, I had purchase a new android phone to keep the functions I wanted to use on the phone.

[vansloneker]

I've got a Lumia 630 phone ...

In defense of myself: it was a gift.