10 ms·

I think cutting all the legacy is a good move -- start over from scratch. They have the wherewithal to round developer support (and also leverage their Xbox rel

by ttol 14y ago

I think cutting all the legacy is a good move -- start over from scratch. They have the wherewithal to round developer support (and also leverage their Xbox relationships), so cutting baggage is a good idea.

KeyBoardG 14y ago
Its not entirely a start over from scratch. Every WP7 app will work going forward. I do agree with the move though. Its better than having a bunch of old phones running WP8 with a poor experience.
glhaynes 14y ago
How much legacy is there? It doesn't seem like Windows Phone 7 handsets have been out that long... and my impression wasn't that they were generally extremely low-specced.
sjwright 14y ago
> I think cutting all the legacy is a good move Microsoft clearly agree with you, because they seem to be doing that with every generation of Windows Phone.
- brudgers 14y ago
  There's only been one generation of Windows Phone with two releases. Windows Mobile was substantially different and went through many generations with upgrades dependent upon carrier implementation.
  - glhaynes 14y ago
    True from Microsoft's perspective but from a customer's perspective it looks like "Windows for phones" changes radically and entirely incompatibly pretty often. Edit: On the other hand, most of the current market probably didn't know about Windows Mobile so perhaps that's mostly moot.
    - freehunter 14y ago
      Twice in the past 10 years, or once every 5 years. That's the difference between iOS 1 (2007) and iOS 5.
      - glhaynes 14y ago
        We could just as easily say "twice in 2 years, or once every year" since the first WP7 devices shipped in late 2010 and WP8 will be out by end of 2012.
        freehunter 14y ago
        That's ignoring the long history of Windows Mobile from 2002 to 2010 though.
        onetwothreefour 14y ago
        That history is irrelevant since we're talking about Windows Phone and not Windows Mobile. Did HN get over-run by MS employees or something? What the hell is going on! :)
        freehunter 14y ago
        I believe the original statement was "Windows on a phone". If Windows Mobile (Windows CE) doesn't count, Windows Phone 7 (also Windows CE) doesn't either. Windows Mobile 6.1 through 6.5 was actually branded Windows Phone. Maybe people are just realizing that the Microsoft of the Xbox era isn't the same as the Microsoft of the Windows 9x era and the grass isn't always greener on the Apple side. Maybe people are just sick of hearing the same anti-Microsoft circlejerk and facts-be-damned arguments. Hell, I'm a Linux user and I get pissed. Even when MS comes out with a good, competitive product, the Internet cries "failure!" before it's even released. "Why doesn't Microsoft just copy Apple?" "OMG Microsoft just copied Apple!" For the record, I felt the same way when the Internet started bashing on ChromeOS and the iPad before giving it a chance.
      - 14y ago
danieldk 14y ago
I have a Windows Phone (Lumia 710) besides my iPhone, that I bought two weeks ago. The phone itself was released in Europe in November 2011. And now it's outdated/legacy already? It breaks trust. How would I know that if I buy a WP 8 phone that it will be supported with upgrades a year down the line?
- desigooner 14y ago
  Wouldn't such criticisms be valid for Android as well?
  - cryptoz 14y ago
    Depends. No such criticism can be said of Android as an OS, but you could certainly make good arguments directed at the ecosystem in general. The interesting thing here isn't that the upgrade isn't compatible, it's that most people would expect Microsoft to support older systems. It's a break in their character. Maybe a good one? We'll see.
    - barista 14y ago
      So it is delivering an update for those phones too. Additionally there is a promise to support OTA upgrade of all released devices for 18 months. What android phone has that commitment?
      - cryptoz 14y ago
        > What android phone has that commitment? To the best of my knowledge, all pure Android phones have that, plus more in some cases (the Nexus line). Additionally, many of the higher-end ones from other manufacturers likely do as well.
        barista 14y ago
        Source? and what percentage of android phones are these pure android devices?
huggyface 14y ago
Legacy? For reals? WP7 is much younger than Android and the iPhone. Already they're cutting out the "legacy"?

by ttol 14y ago

KeyBoardG 14y ago

Its not entirely a start over from scratch. Every WP7 app will work going forward. I do agree with the move though. Its better than having a bunch of old phones running WP8 with a poor experience.

glhaynes 14y ago

How much legacy is there? It doesn't seem like Windows Phone 7 handsets have been out that long... and my impression wasn't that they were generally extremely low-specced.

sjwright 14y ago

> I think cutting all the legacy is a good move Microsoft clearly agree with you, because they seem to be doing that with every generation of Windows Phone.

brudgers 14y ago
There's only been one generation of Windows Phone with two releases. Windows Mobile was substantially different and went through many generations with upgrades dependent upon carrier implementation.
- glhaynes 14y ago
  True from Microsoft's perspective but from a customer's perspective it looks like "Windows for phones" changes radically and entirely incompatibly pretty often. Edit: On the other hand, most of the current market probably didn't know about Windows Mobile so perhaps that's mostly moot.
  - freehunter 14y ago
    Twice in the past 10 years, or once every 5 years. That's the difference between iOS 1 (2007) and iOS 5.
    - glhaynes 14y ago
      We could just as easily say "twice in 2 years, or once every year" since the first WP7 devices shipped in late 2010 and WP8 will be out by end of 2012.
      - freehunter 14y ago
        That's ignoring the long history of Windows Mobile from 2002 to 2010 though.
        onetwothreefour 14y ago
        That history is irrelevant since we're talking about Windows Phone and not Windows Mobile. Did HN get over-run by MS employees or something? What the hell is going on! :)
        freehunter 14y ago
        I believe the original statement was "Windows on a phone". If Windows Mobile (Windows CE) doesn't count, Windows Phone 7 (also Windows CE) doesn't either. Windows Mobile 6.1 through 6.5 was actually branded Windows Phone. Maybe people are just realizing that the Microsoft of the Xbox era isn't the same as the Microsoft of the Windows 9x era and the grass isn't always greener on the Apple side. Maybe people are just sick of hearing the same anti-Microsoft circlejerk and facts-be-damned arguments. Hell, I'm a Linux user and I get pissed. Even when MS comes out with a good, competitive product, the Internet cries "failure!" before it's even released. "Why doesn't Microsoft just copy Apple?" "OMG Microsoft just copied Apple!" For the record, I felt the same way when the Internet started bashing on ChromeOS and the iPad before giving it a chance.
    - 14y ago

danieldk 14y ago

I have a Windows Phone (Lumia 710) besides my iPhone, that I bought two weeks ago. The phone itself was released in Europe in November 2011. And now it's outdated/legacy already? It breaks trust. How would I know that if I buy a WP 8 phone that it will be supported with upgrades a year down the line?

desigooner 14y ago
Wouldn't such criticisms be valid for Android as well?
- cryptoz 14y ago
  Depends. No such criticism can be said of Android as an OS, but you could certainly make good arguments directed at the ecosystem in general. The interesting thing here isn't that the upgrade isn't compatible, it's that most people would expect Microsoft to support older systems. It's a break in their character. Maybe a good one? We'll see.
  - barista 14y ago
    So it is delivering an update for those phones too. Additionally there is a promise to support OTA upgrade of all released devices for 18 months. What android phone has that commitment?
    - cryptoz 14y ago
      > What android phone has that commitment? To the best of my knowledge, all pure Android phones have that, plus more in some cases (the Nexus line). Additionally, many of the higher-end ones from other manufacturers likely do as well.
      - barista 14y ago
        Source? and what percentage of android phones are these pure android devices?

huggyface 14y ago

Legacy? For reals? WP7 is much younger than Android and the iPhone. Already they're cutting out the "legacy"?