
The Critics Rave... for Microsoft? - rkon
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/technology/microsoft-defying-image-has-a-design-gem-in-windows-phone.html?&pagewanted=all
======
cppsnob
If I remember the numbers, leading up to the WP7 launch, MS dropped roughly
100 million on marketing. They sold less than 100,000 units on launch week.
Whatever the exact numbers, I remember someone pointing out it would have been
more cost effective to give the phones away for the launch.

It's still that way today. They have no mindshare of the public at large, nor
the developers, nor the carriers, nor the handset makers. Somehow, you have to
make a product compelling to one of these. iOS is compelling for 2 of the 4
and Android is compelling for all 4. WP7 is compelling to zero of the 4.

For example, they have to fix the native C++ development option. This is
especially important for games. Whether or not C# is nice, thanks to only
being in C#, every development for that platform becomes a full-on port. If
you design your code right for iOS and Android, you can use mostly the same
code for both, and just a few glue points for the rest, AND you can develop
for both on the Mac instead of having to fire up Windows just for that
platform.

The 3rd party development option is so abysmal that Microsoft has been paying
for apps to be ported to this platform for two years now. This situation is
not sustainable by any measure.

At this point Microsoft is 4 years behind Apple and Google. No one cares if
something is arguably better. That's the Zune. That's the Mac in the 90s.
Microsoft has to do something that's _compellingly_ better, to someone,
somewhere, on some basis that makes money.

~~~
shareme
no no no..a game developers do not use the same exact code for both iOs and
Android..as the app life-cycle and other things are different enough that its
a full port..especially when you consider that the UI is 70% of the code

~~~
hesdeadjim
Yea no. Now that the NDK is somewhat decent, 95% of the code we write for a
game is shared between iOS and Android. We have our own GUI layer as well
because it was a cost effective choice when compared to the option of re-
writing our UI for each platform for each game. The parent is very correct as
well, lack of native code support is a HUGE problem if they expect to get a
rich ecosystem of games for their smartphone platform.

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latch
I know this is a damned if you do, damned if you don't attitude, but I think
this is bad news for Microsoft.

Microsoft lives in an echo chamber. The last thing they need is a product
people say is good, but that doesn't sell. This is going to stall them and
they are going to wait for the sales to catch up to the hype - which in their
mind it absolutely must/will. And when it doesn't, rather than acknowledge
just how bad their brand is or how late to market they continue to be, they'll
look at the outside world for what went wrong (it couldn't be them, people
loved their products!).

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d4nt
This is good news for Microsoft, and I really do hope they do well, but
there's still a mountain to climb: tech reviewers are not the same as normal
consumers and impressing them for the limited period of time it takes to write
a review does not necessarily translate onto having a successful product. Here
are a few challenges Microsoft still face:

1\. Getting the mobile networks to take handsets running Windows Phone.

2\. Training handset retailers on this new platform and promoting it enough to
ensure that these handsets are actively sold to consumers.

3\. Their advertising and PR must not be lame, like Microsoft advertising
sometimes is.

4\. The UX must be consistently slick enough over a long period of time that
word of mouth among non-technical people really takes hold and the phone moves
beyond the early adopter segment of the market. Phones must run for several
days without a reboot. Calls must not be dropped because of crashes. UI
Lockups or moments where the slick facade falls away to reveal clunky
technical menus are a big no no. And the inevitable bugs must be fixed and
rolled out in a timely and seamless mannor. Otherwise, when Bob from accounts
notices you have a Windows Phone and asks "what's it like?" he'll sense the
hesitation in your voice and choose the iPhone.

5\. If things start to work out, the team will need top level executive cover
to prevent in-fighting or politics from ripping the team appart or forcing an
unwanted technical strategy tax (think "Windows Phone - Bing/Azure/Office
Edition") from destroying the product.

6\. Microsoft need to make money from these things, otherwise the project will
be shelved and resourced diverted to MS Office 2020.

~~~
freehunter

      The UX must be consistently slick
    

This point is useless, the entire number 4 in your post. First of all, if
you're using it as a point, you've never used a Windows Phone. It's as stable
as an iPhone (certainly moreso than Android), I've had one since April and
have never had a crash, lockup, or misplaced UI element. You seem to be
bringing that from Windows Mobile, which is hands down the biggest thing
holding Windows Phone back right now. Technical people who cannot and will not
distinguish between it and its unrelated predecessor.

This argument pisses me off because it's completely unfounded, yet I
constantly hear people saying "Well, I have my doubts since it's a Microsoft
product" without ever using it. The biggest hurdle to Windows Phone 7 is
ignorant techies casting misinformation to the general consumer just because
bashing Microsoft is a fun talking point.

~~~
d4nt
I used a Windows Mobile for a couple of years (two different handsets). I
found that while the main screens were reasonably well skinned and looked good
in the store, when used for real that often fell away to reveal a clunky UI
that was impossible to work with. I also found that I had to reboot every day
because of lockups and crashes, plus the phone often dropped calls and was
generally very slow.

I understand that this is a complete re-write of their phone OS, but I will
still be waiting for a couple of years to see how others find it before I'm
willing to trust that division of Microsoft again.

EDIT: I'll give you an example, our CTO recently got one of the new Windows
Phones, I asked him what it was like and his response was: "Good... but I
can't seem to get it connected to our Exchange server". If a rock star techie
can't get his phone talking to Exchange what hope is there for the non-techies
out there.

~~~
d4nt
The fact that I will base my purchasing decisions on past experience of the
brand and word of mouth about the product is not unusual. Many people will be
like me, and this is one of the challenges that MS will have to work hard to
overcome. Downvoting me for being that way is pretty immature; approach the
world as it is, not how you want it to be.

~~~
freehunter
I don't have the ability to downvote, but your reply completely missed my
point. My point was, you "past experience of the brand" doesn't mean anything
here, since there is no past of Windows Phone 7. It may be named number 7, but
it's brand new. There was nothing like it before. The fact that you keep
comparing it to Windows Mobile shows your ignorance. We as techies should have
the ability to give new technology the benefit of the doubt, especially when
every reviewer and user is giving it rave reviews. The only people complaining
about it are those who have never used it

Your CTO either doesn't know ho to use his phone or your Exchange server is
broken, and you should be able to see through that.

------
zmmmmm
Microsoft won't win with WP7 until they make it in their partners interests
for it to win. Google did that by giving them a say in how the operating
system looked and worked and a cut of revenue from apps.

Microsoft made a nice OS but there is just no reason for either the carriers
or the manufacturers to want this OS to win. Right now it is a nice option to
have around to keep Google honest and that's about as far as MS partners will
go to promote it. Beyond that, WP7's success is a net loss for everyone except
MS with no compensating upside. Microsoft has to figure out an equation that
wins for everyone like Google did, and then we'll see things happen.

------
ct
If they want to succeed:

1) Distance themselves from the "Windows" branding (like they did with the
XBox) -- as most people just upon hearing "Windows" won't even wait for the
"phone" part and will automatically associate it with a negative connotation,
whether warranted or not, with the desktop OS and Windows Mobile.

2) First impressions are the most important, and while people might actually
like it if they were _forced_ to use/try it for a few days the most crucial
thing is it appeals to the consumer during the first few mins in the store.
Every time I've watched someone at the store play with a WP7 they just
immediately move on to the more "glossier" home screens of iPhone/Android. If
it requires them to add embellishments to the home screen for the sake of
sales despite violating a Metro design principle then that's what needs to be
done. You have to give people what they like/want and not be stubborn about
sticking to certain principles and/or give options in addition to Metro if
you're struggling and about to go down in flames.

3) Treat developers better. Right now there's so much uncertainty in the WP7
development ecosystem wrt Silverlight and XAML/C#. Personally I'm at stalemate
on the platform as I don't know if it's a waste of time to focus on XAML/C# if
Silverlight/WPF is going to die, and whether all of that is going to be
replaced with HTML/JS and/or WinRT/C++. Maybe after a year or two the dust
will settle and the messaging for what to use for development will become
clearer. But that's a significant time of lost opportunity to market share as
developers will just stick to Objective-C for iPhone or Java for Android to
avoid wasting time throwing away XAML/C# code for later HTML/JS, WINRT/C++,
etc...

------
joe_the_user
I actually Microsoft UI's have been good if not the best for usability in
terms of accomplishing a task over time.

MS' main problem has been the "ugly on first blush" problem and even then,
their interfaces have been ugly in the way an American cars, a twelve year old
boy's toy hero or a supermarket tabloid are ugly. They've been flashy. lowest
common denominators items that work perfectly for their intended purposes.

~~~
ugh
You are kidding, right?

One example: Have you ever actually tried to change settings or preferences in
any version of Windows (for the PC)? It’s a clusterfuck and it hasn’t gotten
better. The problem is not that it is ugly, the problem is that it is a pain
to use.

Windows 7 has done many things right and is pretty awesome in many respects
but there are important areas where its usability cannot reasonably be called
good.

~~~
Game_Ender
Yep. I was installing a network printer on both XP and Windows 7 after
Christmas. Those configuration dialogs have not changed in a decade, and you
could scarcely call them "usable" back them.

~~~
smspence
Seriously? Installing a network printer on Windows 7 is super easy and almost
completely automatic.

------
crcsmnky
Having played with it a bit, I would say that I enjoy the using the interface
and the OS has potential. They definitely need better ways to highlight or
identify elements with contextual menus. It's a guessing game at the moment,
at least for me.

Really, my biggest gripe is the lack of apps that meet the same levels of
functionality as their Android/iOS counterparts. I feel like the stock Twitter
app is terrible and none of the other Twitter apps are as good as the top 5-6
on the other platforms. The same goes for Facebook. That comprises a large
percentage of my usage outside of built-in functionality.

I will say though, I dig the People hub for managing all of the contact
information. The social networking built in is good for at-a-glance usage but
wouldn't replace a dedicated client for me.

~~~
vital101
I've had the Samsung Focus for the past 4 months. The OS itself is fantastic,
but it's plainly on obvious that the apps on WP7 don't get nearly as much
attention as their counterparts on iOS and Android. Hopefully with not
adoption will come better apps.

------
sliverstorm
This is interesting, I feel like I'm starting to detect a pattern. It seems
like every time Microsoft makes a product that is generally accepted to be
_good_ , they start spreading some of the team behind that product around the
company as a way to try and infuse the rest of the machine with some of the
new magic juice.

It makes sense, but I've never really heard of it being done much in the past.

~~~
petervandijck
I don't think it makes sense, a team is more than the sum of its parts.

~~~
nirvdrum
How is it any different than hiring from outside, where ostensibly you're
trying to hire people to make the team better?

~~~
petervandijck
You kill the magic of a successful team if you spread them out. If a team
works great together, you should keep them together. The team dynamics are a
lot of that success.

~~~
bmajz
Sometimes, it really does help though. The team running Windows 7 and now
Windows 8 was the core of Office (Steven Sinofsky, Julie Larson-Green, Jon
DeVaan). They really helped shake off the engineering problems during the
Vista timeframe and enabled a really cool, successful product in Windows 7.
Same with Terry Myerson (mentioned in this article) and his success first with
Exchange and now Windows Phone.

~~~
Someone
I am not familiar with what happened there, but the way you describe it, that
is not "spreading around" a team, but moving an entire team to a new project.

Spreading around a team is like spreading around a kindling fire. Moving it to
a new project is like adding fuel.

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tlb
Critics have strange biases. See Scoble's review of the Palm Pre for an
amusing historical example.

[http://scobleizer.com/2009/01/08/palm-did-what-nokia-rim-
and...](http://scobleizer.com/2009/01/08/palm-did-what-nokia-rim-and-
microsoft-couldnt-build-a-better-experience-than-apple/)

~~~
freehunter
Problem is, WebOS (much like WP7) _was_ actually better than any other mobile
OS at the time. It's lack of success in the market wasn't due to not having a
superior OS, and it also meant the competition was free to implement all the
best features before WebOS could capitalize on them.

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joejohnson
Both Android and iOS devices have a large ecosystem of apps and services that
users can access from day 1. This may seem small, but I feel that this is the
number one reasons why a normal consumer is drawn toward these more popular
options. Is Windows Phone going to have a sexy app store with immense games
and productivity apps? Maybe eventually, but if Mocrosoft can't attract
consumers, they will continue to struggle with attracting developers.
Microsoft may have made a great mobile OS, but without the cloud backbone,
they will remain uncompetitive.

------
vyrotek
I really want to see Microsoft be successful with this. I was due for a phone
upgrade months ago but I'm personally waiting for Sprint to release a new WP7.
I really love the phone.

I also thought it was interesting that I recently had a neighbor get his first
smart phone ever and he chose a WP7 and he loves it. He made the choice on his
own (no other nerds were consulted) which I think is a good sign.

------
SODaniel
The new Nokia handsets carrying Windows Mobile 7.5 are nothing short of
spectacular! I LOVE mine and it has quickly replaced iPhone and Android
handset for me.

I can't wait for Windows 8 and mobile integration myself and feel that picking
up some MSFT stock might be very wise for the coming years.

~~~
akarambir
I've read these exact lines before. Do you work for Microsoft?

------
rayhano
Too bad the marketing just isn't quite "I have to have one" yet. The Nokia
Lumia seems slick... but have you seen the pop-up Nokia booths in the malls?
They haven't got a bloody clue. The phones are tethered to a FAT security
device...

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colinm
Could be an intersting year for Win Phones. Nokia has signed up with ST-
Ericsson to produce low cost chips, and Appollo (WP8) should be released Q3. I
suspect Christmas 2012 will be a much more attractive WP offerings across all
price points. Is it too late? I don't think so the oppurtunity for growth in
the smartphone market is still huge. Will Nokia try and replace all feature
phones with WP8? If Nokia is still capable of pumping out a million phones a
day, then things could change fairly quickly. MS & Nokia need to get some
momentum rolling this year though.

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vectorpush
_Facebook and Twitter are wired into Windows Phone_

Is this truly the case or are these apps just leveraging developer APIs? The
former would make Windows Phone an automatic never for me.

~~~
crcsmnky
As far as I know, just leveraging APIs to unify contact lists. If you never
set them up, you're not forced to interact with them.

~~~
emmelaich
Yep. Some android phones (like mine) have facebook and twitter apps that
cannot be uninstalled, too. Presumably by my mobile network company, not the
manufacturer. I've never used them, but they do annoy with occasional update
requests. Will put Cyanogen on the phone soon enough though.

~~~
jrockway
They can't be uninstalled because they are installed in a compressed read-only
filesystem that is expensive and risky to rewrite. This engineering compromise
forces you to look at the icons of applications that you don't want to look at
in exchange for more functionality from a cheaper device.

We all wish this was some conspiracy by the carriers to force you to expose
your personal information to Facebook, but the reality is, it's a convenience
for the 99.9% of people that _do_ want to use Facebook. It would be
inconvenient if phones came with no applications. It would be too expensive if
every phone shipped every application on every Android market. So the carriers
aim somewhere in the middle. The rest is an implementation detail.

A feature to "soft delete" applications in Android would be nice; instead of
physically deleting the bits from the filesystem, just hide the icons and
intents. I'm sure a patch implementing this would be most welcome.

~~~
gergles
Said feature exists in ICS. You can "disable" any app, even the ones in ROM.

