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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella admits giving up on Windows Phone and mobile was a mistake
(www.theverge.com)
this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2023
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There’s nothing stopping Microsoft from coming out with a new phone line, other than poor management.
Replace "new phone line" with pretty much anything 'positive' and it fits Microsoft.
Better OS? Nope! Shit management. Better productivity software? Nope! Shit management. Better cloud and virtualization platform? Nope! Shit management.
The first day I used Windows 8 RC, I was flabbergasted that anyone approved that dumpster fire for release. They've been trying to unfuck that ever since, and at dead snail's pace. Thanks, shit management! You're why I left systems administration to be a bad programmer!
What do you program in? Ive really enjoyed the new .NET ecosystem, but I'm sure it'll go to shit eventually just like the rest of their products...
That's the irony! Mainly working in C# .NET (and some SSIS) and maintaining an unfair amount of legacy VB on ETL processes.
FWIW I was working in Java on the middle-end of Oracle for a few years before changing positions to where I am.
But at least I'm never on-call!
For real. AOSP is open source, and Google is taking more things private. MS could start driving AOSP since FOSS projects go where the group contributing the most wants it to go.
That would force them to adopt different languages internally though. I don't know what they are doing these days, but something tells me it's not kotlin and jetpack.
What about Windows subsystem for Android?
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/android/wsa/
It even gives developer options where you can sideload unsigned apk files for developing your own.
I mean, they've at least made inroads with Android, it's not impossible to consider them making moves in the area.
It sure seems like they still do love their Embrace, Extend, Extinguish strategy.
They’re already talking up .NET MAUI. Their cross-platform C# application UI.
I’m also not sure MS cares that much if that gets them in the game.
That's really not a big barrier. Just add a couple folks with experience in the desired tech and any good dev team will continue to be a good dev team, even if everything changed under them.
Absolutely, they could if they wanted to and they do have Android devs on staff for the Xbox app. I just get the impression there isn't a lot of focus put on those efforts (given the state and featureset of said Android app). But, they could focus on it if they really cared about it. Problem is, it's an unknown to the C level execs so it's probably too risky to spend money on. Gotta keep those shareholder profits up or risk their positions.
I wish this can be true but that's bow how trillion dollar companies work. There's lot of redtape involved. Think of it as one drug dealer is not allowed to deal drugs on other dealers turf. But something tell me if we start praising elon , probably he'll take the bait and might drive aosp away from google but I also fear he might burn the whole thing down to the ground lol
It's not that easy on the hardware side. Keep in mind that the way both Google and Microsoft previously entered this market was by buying an established manufacturer (Motorola and Nokia, respectively). But Microsoft squandered Nokia's manufacturing assets and would need to either start from scratch or acquire somebody else. But there aren't many manufacturers left that are decent, non-Chinese, and willing to sell.
There's also the option to pair with a manufacturer and ask them to put Microsoft's OS on their phones, but Google would most likely lean on anybody attempting that and threaten to revoke their access to Android trademark and Google Services. Samsung is the only manufacturer in a position to tell them to suck it but they're locked into a complex struggle with Google and it's anybody's guess if taking Microsoft on board would help or hinder their position.
The appeal of the "we could have been a contender" fantasy for Microsoft is the idea that they'd be printing money by collecting the 30% tax on apps and in-app purchases. If they were 100% dependent on Samsung, they'd be printing at least 50% less money
Microsoft does make phones - the Surface Duo line. Unfortunately it's really not comparable to other phones in the same price range.