Windows Phone is dead

[Jason]

It's official. Windows Phone is no more. There will still be security updates and bug fixes to support existing hardware but no new hardware for the foreseeable future or new versions of the OS.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/windows-phone-is-now-officially-dead-a-sad-tale-of-what-might-have-been/

[ssfc72]

Microsoft should have bought out Blackberry. :-)

[Jason]

Would have been cheaper than buying Nokia. But Blackberry isn't doing very well, either.

[fox]

Interestingly enough, the Ars Technica guy who wrote the article thought highly of the Windows OS and laments its loss. While I wouldn't buy one out of principle, the tile interface does make sense on a phone.

[bobf]

And I *know* you know what I'm going to say about that next... If Micro$oft hadn't been so damned arrogant when they shoved Win8 and the Metro GUI into each and every user's face & life, and had, instead, touted the evolutionary upgrade/buff'n'polish from Win7 - "and - HEY! Check out the new features we've built into it! We're building the same interface into cellphones & tablets - you could have a completely consistent interface on all of your devices! Try it, and see if you like it!"

History has been written...

[Jason]

I don't think Windows 7 on a phone makes much sense but the Metro interface did. The large squares seem like a good idea for touch. The article mentions the problems they had, many of which were poor design choices early on like trying to build on Windows Mobile instead of a new OS and poor feature-set resulting in a lack of users. Fewer users mean fewer developers and fewer apps which in turn means fewer users. Vicious circle.