
Microsoft has a new Android app called Switch to Windows Phone - scholia
http://www.citeworld.com/mobile/21768/switch-to-windows-phone
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jack-r-abbit
I think the name is a bit misleading. It is only useful for people that have
already switched and need to "port" everything over. This is not in itself
going to get more people to switch. If the app installed on the Android phone
just presented a side-by-side list of replacement apps, _that_ might actually
get more people to switch. Although, if MS is scared they don't have enough
solid replacements, that type of app might actually scare people away more.

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dromidas
Now if they only had an app that said "Fix Windows Phone Bluetooth so your
apps can work with your car #firstworldproblems".

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flootch
Hmm. I'm a bit surprised Microsoft hasn't created a Windows Phone launcher to
go along with that.

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benaiah
A Metro-style launcher for Android actually sounds quite nice. The only
problem is that few to no widgets actually adhere to that style, so it would
look a little weird. Still, I can hope.

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johnvschmitt
This also points to why "apps" are a broken model.

We desperately need mobile device standards, and HTML5 is just one step on
that needed path.

Could you imagine, if browser had to do this? (Say, you're on Firefox,
thinking of using Chrome, & have to use a complicated feature that analyzed
all of your most recently visited sites, & told you if those sites worked on
Chrome, & then if not, showed you comparable sites)

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jack-r-abbit
I don't really see this any more broken than trying to switch your PC from
Windows to Linux. As it is right now, I've been using Windows for so long and
have a decent list of apps I use everyday... I don't really have the
time/energy to start all over in a new OS and try to find the replacement
apps. But if I had an app that would analyze the currently installed apps on
my Windows machine and then gave me a super easy way to install all those same
(or replacement) apps on a Linux machine, I might be less hesitant to make
that switch.

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t0
Now that's just pathetic. Can they not come up with anything more clever than
blatant poaching of customers?

Same approach with many Bing commercials. Microsoft just hates Google for
reason.

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scholia
Yeah, it's not like Google ever tried never tried to poach Hotmail customers
with Gmail, tried to poach IE customers with Chrome, tried to poach Office
customers with Google Docs, tried to poach Windows customers with Chromebooks,
and so on. It's really unfair of Microsoft. It should just let Google poach
_all_ its customers.

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t0
Did Google ever come right out into the open and bash another company? No.
There are much more subtle ways to get your point across. Targeting another
brand, stealing happy users right in the middle of using their using the
software, right out in the open for everyone to see? It doesn't matter who it
is.

It's so aggressive it makes Microsoft look heartless and as if they're trying
too hard.

Maybe the downvotes don't understand what I said or what's actually going on
here.

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jack-r-abbit
Maybe you didn't really understand what the app does. It is only useful for
people who have _already_ switched from Android to Windows. This is a useful
tool for them to be able to make that switch easier by automagically locating
apps for their new phone that should be able to replace the apps they used on
their old phone. I don't see any bashing going on here. And it doesn't seem
that aggressive to me. Again... these are people who have already made that
switch. The only thing it _might_ do to make people want to switch is by
making it less painful to switch... thereby lowering the barrier to entry. But
that seems like a stretch to me.

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t0
" _Microsoft figures customers will be more likely to switch from Android
smartphones to Windows 8 phones if it makes it easier to find the same or
similar apps for their new phone as were on their old phones._ "

Are you sure? Either way, you shouldn't downvote somebody because you
disagree. I stated a valuable opinion, and personal love for some company
doesn't change that. I'm hesitant to comment at all now.

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scholia
Clearly other people didn't think your opinion was valuable, in this
particular case. HN is very fond of signal and generally has a low opinion of
noise. Unless it's witty, of course.

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t0
<\---------- Go ahead.

Here's another arrow for you to click. If it gives you that much pleasure,
I'll give you as many arrows as you'd like.

Whatever you do, don't reply to my actual comment with actual logic. Has your
argument been completely invalidated by me? I had better pay for that. Teach
me a lesson. Witty enough?

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scholia
Don't sweat the small stuff. Life moves on apace....

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_Simon
What a prig...

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scholia
lol

